Alex and Dawes take Darlington’s spotless old Mercedes to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington. To avoid looking like a student, Alex swaps her coat for Dawes’s sweatshirt and texts Turner to create a pretext. Inside, Alex persuades front-desk worker Moira Adams—by invoking Turner’s name and a family story—to let her view Tara Hutchins, then uses her last coin of compulsion on a coroner to gain unsupervised access.

In the morgue, Alex identifies Tara’s body and prepares a necromantic-adjacent diagnostic rite. After chanting to start limited circulation, she places a scarab on Tara’s tongue and traces a balm over key points, then applies flame to reveal a shimmering "map" of injuries. Testing the haze at Tara’s elbow briefly immerses Alex in a memory of a bike crash, confirming the ritual’s function as a record of bodily harm.

Alex then plunges her hand into the dense blur above the chest wounds and experiences Tara’s final moments: being with her boyfriend, Lance Gressang, tasting something acrid, hearing Lance say, "I’m sorry," then disorientation and, moments later, the sound and sensation of stabbing without pain. An unknown voice told Tara to close her eyes. Alex infers that Tara had been drugged with a powerful hallucinogen, explaining the lack of pain during the attack.

She notes the map shows no signs of organs taken or magical harm, concluding Tara’s death was a brutal, non-occult murder, likely by Lance, who must have left plentiful blood evidence. The familiarity that had tugged at Alex remains unresolved, but she decides she has enough answers and tries to leave.

Detective Abel Turner confronts Alex at the door, furious that she tampered with evidence. The compelled coroner lingers vacantly as Turner hustles Alex out. Alex presses Turner about drugs and society involvement; Turner insists it’s none of her business and warns her that interference could jeopardize the case against Lance. Outside, Alex argues that both of them have jobs to do and asks for one lead.

Turner relents slightly, stating there was only one society contact in Tara’s phone: Tripp Helmuth of Skull and Bones, who was working the door at a prognostication that night and is being cleared. He orders Alex not to contact Tripp and threatens arrest if she meddles again. Alex counters that Turner won’t risk the mess of Lethe at a police station, and they part with mutual hostility and warnings.