Gloria speaks to Papa on Miz Lottie’s party line after waiting anxiously for his call. Papa angrily blames Gloria for leaving Miz Lottie’s protection and going back to the family house, then shifts into problem-solving: he tells Gloria to find John Dorsey, an NAACP lawyer staying in Live Oak, and says Miss Anne’s cash should be saved because this fight will not end with one lawyer. Papa apologizes for blaming Gloria, asks after Robert, and briefly considers catching a train south, but Earl Hatchett interrupts with a warning that white men are already watching for Papa on the county roads. Forced to stay in Chicago, Papa gives in, and Gloria promises that she and Miz Lottie will go find the lawyer themselves.

Before dawn, Miz Lottie wakes Gloria and hurries her into the truck. Miz Lottie has prepared a cover story by packing laundry baskets and linens so they can claim they are making a delivery like Gloria’s mother once did. As they leave Lower Spruce, a sheriff’s car waits near the railroad trestle and then follows them through town, turning the drive into a test of nerve. Miz Lottie keeps to the careful "Negro speed limit," refuses to let Gloria speak if they are stopped, and stays outwardly calm until the deputy finally turns back; only then does Gloria’s fear break and she vomits by the roadside.

On the long drive toward Live Oak, Gloria is overwhelmed by dread and uncertainty about whether John Dorsey will help Robert at all. To steady herself, Miz Lottie sings "Walk with Me," and Gloria joins her while the sky slowly brightens. Their singing leads into a conversation about faith, where Gloria admits that Mama’s death has shaken her belief in God and made it seem as though people like the McCormacks receive all the blessings. Miz Lottie answers that the world’s appearances are false, that only God’s kingdom is true, and that her faith comes from the heart rather than the head, though Gloria still cannot fully share that certainty.

After crossing the Suwannee River, Gloria sleeps in the truck and wakes in Live Oak outside an impressive yellow house. Miz Lottie has gone inside to speak with Ruby McCollum, whose name they had already used in their cover story. When Ruby comes to the truck, she reassures Gloria that Robert will come home and confirms that John Dorsey is real, currently in town, and known around Belle’s and the Kinsey boardinghouse as a northern NAACP lawyer who seems eager to advertise his importance while also wanting secrecy. Ruby’s information turns Papa’s thin lead into a real chance at help.

During this meeting, Gloria is struck by a powerful, unsettling vision of Ruby McCollum’s hidden life and future. Looking at Ruby, Gloria feels an almost prophetic knowledge of grief, rage, lies, sexual violation, and a coming act of violence in which Ruby will shoot a white doctor. Gloria says nothing, but the moment deepens the chapter’s sense that she can perceive danger and buried truths in ways she cannot control. As Miz Lottie drives off, she tells Gloria that Ruby and Sam McCollum are wealthy, secretive, and capable of surviving by paying the right people, underscoring the chapter’s lesson that finding allies and knowing whom to trust may be as important as finding a lawyer.