At the abandoned Holman Hockey Rink, Corrie Anderson is still taped up, drugged, and barely able to breathe when a dark-haired figure in a pants suit approaches her. Corrie recognizes the husky voice from Reno and realizes the visitor is Christopher Stewart in disguise. Stewart shows Corrie that another woman has already been killed there, explains that Trig spared Corrie for a reason, and states the conclusion Corrie has already reached: Corrie is being kept alive as bait.

Back at the Mingo, Trig returns to his office thinking through his broader plan and his old success at pressuring the Duffrey jurors into a guilty vote. Wanting more "surrogates," he calls Barbara Robinson from Corrie's phone, pretends that Betty Brady is upset and asking for her, and convinces Barbara to come back alone through the service entrance. When Barbara arrives, Trig injects her with pentobarbital, binds her in the van, and drives her to Holman Rink, where he tapes her beside Corrie. Watching from hiding, Christopher Stewart sees Barbara delivered and decides not to free either captive yet, believing God is using Trig to bring Kate McKay to the rink. Barbara and Corrie, unable to speak, manage only the small comfort of touching shoulders.

Meanwhile, Holly Gibney reaches the Garden City Plaza Hotel and gets a call from John Ackerly, who passes along a remembered AA remark about "elephant shit at ten in the morning." The clue almost triggers Holly's missing insight, but not quite. Soon after, Kate McKay stops by Holly's room, learns more about Stewart's church from Holly's research, becomes briefly emotional over anti-abortion protest imagery, and then insists on continuing her public appearances despite the danger.

The chapter then widens to show the afternoon closing in around the trap. Trig returns to the Mingo, is briefly interrupted by Alberta Wing, and reflects that all of his victims are merely stand-ins for something larger. He admits to himself that the Duffrey case was only a pretext for violence, links his murderous compulsion to his father's cruelty and to the Holman Rink, and decides that the whole sequence must end there in fire. Elsewhere, Izzy Jaynes gets no news of either suspect, Holly remains tormented by a half-formed realization about the Mingo visit, and people connected to the evening's events move unknowingly toward the park.

Near four o'clock, Trig steels himself with memories of his father's command never to flinch and calls Kate using Corrie's phone. Kate assumes Christopher Stewart has taken Corrie, but the caller does not correct her; instead he threatens to maim or kill Corrie unless Kate comes alone to Holman Rink between 5:15 and 5:30. He sends Kate a photo proving Corrie is alive and warns that telling anyone or arriving with help will get Corrie killed. Kate decides not to involve Holly, arms herself only with pepper spray, leaves Holly a note, and calls the hotel manager to ask how she can get out of the hotel without being seen.