After Dinah’s body is discovered, the police want to talk to the Op. He provides Lieutenant McGraw with the false alibi, claiming to have been at the Tanner House all night. The Op privately believes that Whisper killed Dinah. Meanwhile, Pete the Finn has made an alliance with the police, and his “mob” is being sworn in as special deputies. Later, the Op hears from Mickey that Dan Rolff went to the hospital with a fractured skull, only to sneak out and disappear. 

A lawyer named Charles Proctor Dawn calls the Op and requests a meeting. Then, someone knocks at the hotel room door. A man named Ted Wright, dressed in a gaudy suit, is standing outside. He enters the room and claims to be friends with Whisper, though mentions that he would be willing to kill Whisper for “half a grand” (173). The Op grills Wright, who claims that Whisper and Dan shot at one another. Dan is dead and Whisper is wounded. The wounded Whisper is holed up in a warehouse on Porter Street. Wright was willing to pretend to have shot Whisper, hoping that he could earn some money from the Op.