…Minus 013 and COUNTING… Dan Killian was talking, had been pe

After Killian reveals that Sheila and Cathy have been dead for more than ten days, Richards stops fully hearing Killian. Richards’s shock pulls Richards into a rapid sequence of memories: Sheila as a schoolgirl, their early love, their wedding, Richards at brutal work, Sheila pregnant at a window, and Richards holding baby Cathy with joy.

Killian continues explaining that the Network did not kill Richards’s family. Richards believes Killian may be telling the truth because the story sounds too raw and because Killian knows Richards could verify it quickly in Co-Op City if Richards accepted the offered Chief Hunter position.

Killian says three prowlers, likely drugged, attacked Sheila and Cathy. Richards briefly wonders whether Sheila had been hiding something during their last phone call, but the thought collapses under the detail of their deaths. When Killian says both died of puncture wounds, Richards erupts and demands the truth.

Killian tells Richards that Sheila was stabbed more than sixty times. Richards responds by saying Cathy’s name, hollowed out by grief, while Amelia recoils and hides her face. Killian offers Richards time to think and insists the Network would have used Sheila and Cathy as leverage, not murdered them, because Richards would never serve people who butchered his family.

Killian tries to turn Richards’s grief toward the job offer, suggesting that as Chief Hunter Richards could hunt down the killers and others like them. Richards asks for time, cuts Killian off, and turns the Free-Vee black. Alone with the plane droning into darkness, Richards sits motionless and realizes everything has come unraveled.