Holes continues his efforts to prove that Potts is the East Area Rapist. As he combs the files, he finds mention of a ski mask recovered from one of Potts’s crimes. He rushes to evidence storage and then sends the mask off for testing. However, he knows that the recent moratorium on cold cases means that it will be months until it is the mask’s turn for processing.

While he waits, he contacts Anne Marie Schubert, an assistant district attorney in Sacramento whom Holes met 10 years previously in connection with the EAR case. Through Schubert, he learns that EARONS is currently being investigated in Sacramento. They agree a new task force is warranted, and the first meeting is scheduled for June 2011. At the meeting, Holes makes a case for Potts being the EARONS killer. As he leaves, he grows impatient for the DNA results on the ski mask. He phones the lab and asks for a favor, but the technicians are unable to retrieve any DNA from the mask.

Frustrated, Holes convinces law enforcement to issue an order to have Potts arrested on outstanding domestic violence charges. Holes has been unable to locate Potts—further evidence, in Holes’s mind, that Potts is intentionally hiding.