Roman visits Keith in the hospital, sitting beside his comatose father and reflecting on their strained relationship, his mother's affair with Oscar Conley, and the rare times his father said he loved him. He kisses Keith's forehead before leaving for the crematory.

At the shop, Neveah snaps at Roman for being late and rushes off to the state office, leaving him to handle two cremations and an incoming body from Weldon Travis. While working, Roman hears the doorbell and finds Detective Chauncey Mansfield instead, a man Roman immediately distrusts and suspects is sleeping with the married Neveah.

Chauncey questions Roman about the supposed jumping he and Dante endured, noting Roman's lack of emotion. He reveals that John Paul Mathias Getty, a confidential informant who worked with the police, has gone missing and that his rented house in the Skids was broken into and bloodied. Chauncey pressures Roman to talk, citing Dante's connection to Getty.

Roman responds by recounting a childhood story about how he and Dante manipulated a violent kid named Roland Rundgren into beating up a bully who was tormenting Neveah, emphasizing that the Carruthers siblings protect their own. He shows Chauncey out with a veiled threat and the detective leaves with his own warning.

Alone, Roman processes the crucial revelation: Getty was a snitch but apparently was killed before he could inform on Dante's debt. Roman recognizes this as a strategic opening. He decides Khalil could be his fulcrum, and combining Yellaboy's flight with Getty's status as an informant, he believes he has identified the fault line in the Black Baron Boys that he can exploit to free his family.