At the Lion and the Serpent
- Rojack arrives at the hotel. There's a huge commotion outside, apparently because "the First Lady" is there to "take a visiting princess out to a nightclub" (8.3). Fancy.
- He nervously makes his way into the building and rides the elevator to Mr. Kelly's floor, all the while still hearing the voice in his head telling him to go to Harlem.
- Kelly's door is opened by none other than Ruta. She looks done up to the nines, and to Rojack's surprise, she tells him that he should talk to Deirdre, Deborah's daughter, before meeting Kelly.
- Although Rojack is resistant, Ruta tricks him into going into Deidre's room. Rojack can immediately see that Deirdre "had grown since [he] had seen her last" (8.40).
- They talk about Deborah's death. The girl is still in shock, and she wants to move in with Rojack, but they both burst into tears after he tells her about Cherry. Before he leaves her room, he tells her that he's not going to attend Deborah's funeral.
- Ruta leads Rojack to Kelly's room. There are two people there, besides Kelly: Eddie Ganucci and "an old woman" (8.112) whom he recognizes but can't remember. Kelly passionately embraces Rojack.
- The woman is Bess, a "distant cousin of Deborah's mother" (8.117). She's a bit drunk and a bit upset—not the best combo. It's implied that she used to have a fling with old man Kelly. This guy gets around, huh?
- Ganucci is here paying his respects for Deborah's death. Bess is not a fan of this friendly neighborhood mobster, though, and mocks him the whole time.
- Out of nowhere, Kelly excuses himself from the room. Bess tries to take this opportunity to leave, too, but Ruta stops her.
- Upset by the whole spectacle, Rojack opens a window and walks out on the terrace. He feels compelled to "stand on the parapet" (8.181)—and so he does.
- He also feels compelled to jump off the edge, but decides against that one. Wise choice, buddy. Kelly is back by the time Rojack reenters the room.
- Bess and Ganucci decide to leave and Kelly walks them to the elevator, leaving Ruta and Rojack alone to make some awkward conversation.
- Rojack asks Ruta about Deborah's supposed spy-work. Ruta doesn't think much of it; she claims that Deborah simply dated a few spies and "pretended to be important" (8.236). She also alludes to knowing some secret information about Kelly that she'll use to get him to marry her.
- Kelly returns; he checked up on Deirdre after walking the two guests out. As if on cue, Ruta leaves the room.
- Rojack denies killing Deborah and explains that he won't be attending the funeral. Kelly demands that he does come, explaining that the "public show […] must be flawless" (8.323).
- Kelly leads Rojack into a ridiculously over-the-top library to tell him a story.
- Kelly grew up poor, and only built his trucking empire by stealing what little savings his family had. Like Rojack, he only married his wife (Leonora) because it was a wise business move—in fact, it was only then that he converted to Catholicism.
- Bess and Kelly's affair starts soon after Deborah's birth. Things get weird fast though—one night, Bess brings her daughter over along with some seriously creepy sexual vibes. This incident scares Kelly straight, and he comes clean to Leonora immediately afterward. She divorces him.
- Deborah comes to live with Kelly some years later when she's fifteen. He talks about standing up to some of her boyfriends and being "seductive" (8.388). Oh man, we hope this isn't going where we think it's going…
- One night, Deborah comes home late for dinner. Infuriated, Kelly rushes into her room and slaps her in the face. Then—to our utter horror—he kisses her on the mouth. He stops, but Deborah kisses him back.
- Kelly rushes back to his room, as homicidal and suicidal as Rojack has been throughout this whole novel; after this incident, he sends her to live in a convent.
- Rojack is utterly horrified. Kelly doesn't seem bothered, though, telling Rojack to go outside and "take a stroll around the parapet" (8.421). Rojack refuses.
- Finally, Kelly puts all his cards on the table, asking Rojack if he killed Deborah. Rojack tells the truth. The tension is thick.
- But then Rojack realizes something insane: that Kelly wants to have sex with him and Ruta right now. Things just go from weird to weirder in this book…
- Instead, though, Rojack walks out to the terrace, handing Shago's umbrella to Kelly as he climbs up the parapet.
- It's really windy out there, but Rojack somehow manages to walk all the way around. Suddenly, Kelly shoves the umbrella into Rojack's "ribs and gave a push" (8.461).
- Rojack manages to sidestep the blow and hops down to safety. Then he takes the umbrella from Kelly's hands and strikes him twice in the face before leaving.
- He rushes out of the building and hops in a cab to Cherry's place. Of course, he takes a quick stop at the bar before making it home, though.
- When he arrives, he's met with a horrible scene. Cherry is being carried on a stretcher to an ambulance, having been beaten by one of Shago's bros. Just as she predicted, she dies right there.
- Afterward, Rojack goes out to a bar with Roberts, the cop. Roberts just cries a bunch and talks about beating his wife. Yikes.