In this chapter, we learn that the murder victim was once an informant for the police, and that he and his sister used to play in a local softball league together. When the police arrive at the scene of the crime, they find the body of the murdered man lying on the ground. Detective Pezzini tells us that the victim is a former friend of the detective's, who used to be a member of the same softball team as his sister. Pezzini says that he's going to take a "back seat" on the crime scene, since it's a mercy killing. He says that if the victim asks him about the new version of himself, "the new version . . slimmer version is an improvement" . He also says that maybe the victim was just looking for an opportunity to get ahead in the world. He wonders if the mob is going to "hack up a body" , and wonders if they're going to send two people to do it. He feels that they've ignored "some important things" and feels that the kid is becoming "a whiny, needy pain" in the "ass" of his father. He tells the kid that he doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up, but that he can look at him as a crutch until he figures out what to do with his life. He asks the kid if he was surprised to find out that Sara was looking for him after he'd left her, and the kid says that it wasn't the way she'd always done it. The kid asks how it felt when he "bared his soul to her," and the girl says that she forgives him.