- While the men continue to talk about the events at the Breen place, Tom goes off alone to think about the wood. Based on Joe's description, he figures she used about two weeks' worth of the wood he stacked, which would mean she died around the middle of March.
- He wonders if she had been afraid, but then he thinks she was the sort of woman who would have known death was coming and faced it head-on.
- Ox notices that Tom seems to be affected by the death, and he asks if Tom had seen her recently. Tom nods and tells him all about how he had seen her in February and worried about her loneliness.
- Ox thinks Tom ought to repeat the information to Mr. Hook, so he does. Mr. Hook asks if Tom had gone up just to see Mrs. Breen, and Tom feels that the only way to explain it is to tell them about his plan to get the barn, even though he doesn't want to because it seems like such a farfetched plan for a young teen with hardly any money.
- Mr. Hook thinks Tom probably should have told someone about the state Mrs. Breen was in at the end of February, though he doubts it would have do much good.
- Mr. Hook says Tom will have to give the information to the Sheriff and Coroner as well, which alarms Tom, but Mr. Hook says he will go with him.
- Whew.