Warden Haddock calls Robert into his office, offers him a cold Coca-Cola, and speaks in an almost fatherly tone to lower Robert’s guard. Robert stays frightened because he expects punishment and remembers Mrs. Hamilton’s advice to tell the truth. Haddock then reveals the real reason for the meeting: Boone has told him Robert can see ghosts regularly, and Haddock wants Robert to serve as a "spotter" who can track the haints on the school grounds.

As Haddock explains his plan, Robert realizes the danger has shifted from punishment to exploitation. Haddock says Gracetown is full of ghosts, claims he used to see them too, and even alludes to being haunted by his dead baby sister. He frames the dead boys as a threat to the school’s reputation and says many boys have died there, especially in the 1920 fire. By mixing confession, self-pity, and authority, Haddock tries to make Robert believe he is not a monster and that helping him is reasonable.

Haddock then makes the bargain explicit. He places a typed early-release petition with Robert’s name on it and promises to ask the judge to free Robert sooner if Robert helps capture ghosts. At the same time, Haddock warns that ghosts are deceitful and dangerous, insists they cannot be trusted, and implies that Robert’s friends will be safer if Robert cooperates. Robert hears the threat beneath the favor and reluctantly toasts Haddock with a Coke because he fears the warden’s anger.

To strengthen the bargain, Haddock shows Robert a mason jar containing ash from previously captured haints and says each ghost Robert helps Boone trap will shorten his sentence. Robert struggles with the moral cost because he has seen pitiable dead boys and does not want to betray them for his own freedom. Haddock keeps pressing, claiming the captured ghosts are only unholy remnants and that destroying them is righteous.

Finally, Haddock produces a photograph from the 1920 fire and says he especially wants one dangerous ghost named Kendall Sweeting, the youngest boy in the shed. Looking at the burned pile of bodies, Robert senses details the photograph cannot show and recognizes the child at the center. The chapter ends with the devastating revelation that Blue, Robert’s ghostly friend, is Kendall Sweeting, one of the boys who died in the fire and one of Haddock’s main targets.