Whitney reflects that over two months have passed since she tipped off Blake’s boss, Wayne Vincent, about the stolen client files, leading to Blake’s firing and blacklisting. Blake has since deteriorated, obsessively exercising, gaming, and staying up at night, with dwindling funds that Whitney confirms by checking his laptop. She suggests taking in a tenant, knowing Blake’s finances leave him no choice but to agree.

Whitney turns to Amanda Lenhart, the woman who stole Whitney’s identity, and arranges for Amanda’s eviction. She sends Elijah to Amanda’s building to pose as a disheveled associate asking for “that girl Whitney who sells crack,” prompting management to remove Amanda, who ends up couch-surfing. Whitney then posts a cheap room ad at Cosmo’s; Amanda calls the next day, falling into the funnel Whitney designed.

To ensure Amanda is the only serious candidate, Whitney uses money from selling Blake’s files to hire acting students to pose as terrible roommate prospects. Elijah also "auditions" as a disruptive candidate by trying to drill into a wall, pushing Blake toward desperation.

Although confident Amanda’s clean-cut look will sway Blake, Whitney wants extra insurance. Remembering Blake’s disdain for the supernatural, she seizes on a psychic shop she passes and decides a staged reading will unsettle him and influence the choice.

Whitney enters the small, incense-filled psychic storefront and meets an older woman who introduces herself as Quillizabeth. Whitney, using the name Krista, asks Quillizabeth to pose as an interested renter and deliver ominous psychic impressions during a visit, offering payment.

Quillizabeth objects to deception and to inventing psychic claims she does not believe, but she ultimately agrees out of sympathy for Whitney’s stated desire to “neutralize” the house spiritually. She promises to come and give her own recommendations. Whitney, delighted, abandons her prewritten script, trusting Quillizabeth to improvise something more effective.