The narrator arrives at midday in Vantôme to meet Pascal Balmy at the Café de la Route. She first inspects the dilapidated village church and notices its narrow side door, painted oxidized green, where Cagots historically received Communion. Recalling Bruno's writings, which she has cross-checked and verified, she experiences a moment of eerie certainty when a wind moves through the churchyard, as if affirming her recognition of the door.

At the café, she observes the village square: two old men drinking inside, a handsome dark-haired waitress with a widow's peak, and a middle-aged couple in Mao caps and army backpacks who, after declining a table, settle against the church wall to vape. She infers they are also waiting for Pascal, though uninvited.

The narrator reflects on her past undercover work as a young woman embedded with the Gypsy Jokers biker gang, her first job that led to her current career. She muses on subcultural pretending and identity. A man in a Chrysler Sebring blasting Serge Gainsbourg's "Lemon Incest" arrives, clashes with homophobic road workers by stubbing a cigarette in their wet paint, and walks off.

At exactly one p.m., Pascal Balmy arrives, dressed unexpectedly in cargo shorts and Birkenstocks, carrying books. He briefly acknowledges the Mao-cap couple but ignores them, walking directly to the narrator's table. Recognizing each other from Lucien's photograph, they greet warmly and hug like old friends, beginning her infiltration of his circle.