A Catenary of Manners
- They take a cab to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Cherry's apartment, which is in a large tenement building, mostly inhabited by Puerto Rican families.
- The apartment is, well, dirty. It's also filled with paintings. Cherry explains that her "sister used to live here" (5.4), but doesn't go into detail.
- Finally, Cherry reveals what happened to her sister: She was dating a bad dude—a pimp—who beat her, and after one especially bad incident, she committed suicide.
- Ominously, Cherry says that the man was "taken care of" (5.23). This is some Godfather-level stuff right here.
- It turns out that Cherry's sister was only dating the pimp because Cherry stole her old boyfriend, who was also the love of her life. How's that for sibling love? That guy was Shago Martin, the musician we mentioned earlier.
- Shago had tons of girlfriends, so Cherry's sister was just one of many. Cherry didn't like this arrangement and tried to distract Shago, if you catch our drift. It worked, but Cherry ended up simply picking up where her sister left off.
- Then, of course, Rojack and Cherry make love, but Rojack doesn't use protection. Is that a baby we see in your future, Mr. Rojack?
- They fall asleep. Rojack wakes up and realizes that he has to go home before meeting Roberts at the police station. He leaves Cherry a note before leaving, though, telling her that he'll "try to be here by tonight" (5.56).
- Although Rojack is head-over-heels for Cherry, he can't help but fantasize about Ruta—and getting drunk out of his mind—while riding home. He becomes so agitated by these thoughts that he needs to get out of the cab and walk.
- The phone is ringing off the hook at Casa Rojack. Rojack picks up—it's Arthur, "the producer of [his] television show" (5.81). Arthur acts concerned, but we can tell that he's a little suspicious of Rojack's involvement in Deborah's death.
- Although Rojack just wants to take a short break from filming, it's clear from the conversation that the show is being cancelled. And what's replacing it? Oh, just a little musical variety show… hosted by none other than Shago Martin.
- When they're finished, Rojack checks his messages. There's a call from Barney Oswald Kelly, Deborah's dad; Rojack is to meet him at the Waldorf Towers Hotel at seven thirty tonight.
- Just then, Rojack receives a call from Dr. Tharchman, the head of his Psychology Department. As you might imagine, the good doctor wants Rojack to "announce [his] bereavement and retirement […] for an indefinite period" (5.199). Before they hang up, Tharchman mentions that he's been interrogated by some powerful people, but not the police. Hmm….
- The phone rings once again, and this time it's Gigot, one of Deborah's friends. Gigot believes Rojack's story because she heard Deborah talk about suicide a lot.
- Interestingly, she also reveals that Ruta is Kelly's mistress, and that he requested that she live with Deborah. Although Gigot doesn't believe that Rojack killed Deborah, she's sure that she was murdered by someone.
- Why? Well, because "Deborah was a spy" (5.281), of course. Duh. Although Gigot doesn't have any evidence, she claims that Deborah once dated a man who worked for MI6. Close enough, right?
- Afterward, Rojack heads to the police station, where Roberts looks extremely hung-over.
- Roberts plays it tough, though, telling Rojack they have medical evidence that proves he killed Deborah so he should just confess now and get an easy deal for himself.
- Rojack argues with Roberts, claiming that he could find plenty of experts to dispute the official autopsy. Roberts keeps on coming up with more evidence, but a phone suddenly rings and he rushes out of the room.
- To Rojack's surprise, Roberts returns and tells him that he's free to go—it turns out that Rojack has some "big brother" (5.380) out there who ensured his release. Roberts asks Rojack if he is with CIA, which is pretty interesting after what Gigot just revealed. Pretty interesting indeed.
- Rojack leaves utterly confused. He receives a call saying that Mr. Kelly wants to meet at midnight now, so he hops in a cab toward Cherry's place.
- Naturally, they make love immediately.