At the Mingo Auditorium, Jerome uses Barbara Robinson’s name to gain access to Sista Bessie’s crew as they set up for a show. He sees Barbara thriving as a roadie, then meets Sista Bessie, who pulls him aside and explains that Barbara is collaborating with her on a song and has the voice to sing backup and duet on tour. Barbara has resisted going beyond roadie work, so Bessie asks Jerome to persuade her. When Barbara confirms that Bessie wants more from her, Jerome tells Barbara she does not have to choose between being a poet and being a performer.

In Iowa City, Holly stands guard during Kate McKay’s press conference at the Radisson, carrying pepper spray, a siren, and Bill’s revolver as a last resort. Kate mentions the vandalized hotel room and the Biblical threat but not the blood and guts on her luggage, using the incident to argue that religious extremists have twisted scripture. Holly scans the crowd for the disguised woman she saw earlier but finds no obvious threat. Later, Holly checks security arrangements at Macbride Hall, confirms that bag inspections will be limited, returns to the hotel, and has an early dinner with Kate, who admits she feels excited rather than nervous before going onstage.

At the same time in Buckeye City, Izzy Jaynes is forced into a Guns and Hoses charity press event instead of working the surrogate juror murders. She is irritated by the empty public-relations routine and then by firefighter George Pill, who patronizes her in front of reporters and again afterward. The event briefly turns serious when a crime reporter asks Izzy about the murders and Fred Sinclair, but Chief Patmore shuts the questions down. Izzy leaves annoyed and eager to get back to real police work.

After a dental appointment, Trig returns to work only long enough to leave early, then drives to condemned Holman Rink in Dingley Park. Using an old maintenance code he learned from his abusive father’s work talk, he enters the abandoned building and studies its dry boards and isolation. Remembering childhood trips to the rink, he decides this is the place for a larger attack and revises his earlier idea: instead of trying to kill every target individually, he will plan a spectacular “grand finale” that could expose their names publicly. On his way out, he meets a desperate young addict, lures her into the rink by offering drugs and privacy, and later leaves the name Corinna Ashford in her dead hand.

That night at Macbride Hall, Holly watches from stage left as Kate commands the crowd. A group in LIFE AT CONCEPTION shirts tries to disrupt the event by chanting, but Kate defuses them, reclaims the room, and turns the interruption into a stronger statement of her cause, thrilling Corrie and most of the audience. In the crowd, Chris sits unarmed in the third row, having come prepared to die if necessary but hoping he and his sister can continue targeting Kate on later tour stops. Kate’s performance leaves him impressed by her charisma but even more determined to kill her.

Working late afterward, Izzy gets a 911 transfer from a man claiming to be the killer. Calling himself "Bill Wilson," he refuses to answer questions, demands her cell number, and texts her a close-up photograph of a dead woman’s hand holding the name Corinna Ashford, Juror 7 from Alan Duffrey’s trial. Elsewhere, Trig disposes of the burner phone in the parking lot of the Mingo Auditorium and reflects that contacting police was risky but necessary because he wants the murder understood as punishment on Ashford’s behalf, while still preserving Holman Rink for his planned finale. After Kate’s successful appearance, Holly gets Kate and Corrie out through a side exit, rides with them to a Holiday Inn, and stays on edge when Corrie cannot identify the Reno attacker from audience photos and Holly can never be sure whether a follower is behind them.