Debbie wakes early feeling refreshed after her nighttime trip. Cooper remains unconscious beside her, snoring and drooling, which confirms to Debbie that the drugs are still affecting him and that she can leave before her daughters wake.

Debbie showers, dresses in dark clothes, and drives her Subaru to Kenneth Bryant’s house. Because Cooper had told her that Ken is always up early and first to the office, Debbie expects to find him awake and alone before the day begins.

Ken answers the door rudely and initially mistakes Debbie’s name, but he lets her inside after she identifies herself as Cooper Mullen’s wife. His house appears cold and impersonal, matching Debbie’s impression of him. Ken assumes she has come to argue for Cooper’s promotion.

When Debbie raises Cooper’s long service and work ethic, Ken dismisses Cooper as ordinary, replaceable, and better gone after quitting. Debbie quietly puts on leather gloves, then pulls a gun from her purse, making clear that the visit is not a normal plea for Cooper’s career.

Debbie orders Ken to sit on the sofa at gunpoint. As Ken trembles and asks what she is doing, Debbie considers the seriousness of what she is about to do, recognizing that using a gun crosses a far greater line than her earlier acts of sabotage and poisoning. She concludes that the moment has been building for a long time and notes that her black clothes will hide bloodstains.