- The morning after their romantic evening, Herzog escorts Ramona to the shop she owns. They make out in the taxi the entire way there. When Ramona is gone, Herzog does some serious thinking about marrying her.
- Of course, Herzog melts right back into his old self once he's alone in the cab again. He thinks that Ramona is trying to trap him and that he must do everything he can to protect his freedom.
- At the end of his thinking, Herzog decides that he's going to visit his son Marco and then see his lawyer Simkin about the custody battle for June.
- When he calls Simkin the next day, Herzog floats the idea of hiring a private detective to spy on Madeleine and make sure she's being an okay mother. Simkin tells Herzog there's no way he the kind of dough it would take to hire a P.I.
- While talking to Simkin, Herzog realizes that he can imagine himself murdering Madeleine and Val without feeling any guilt. The more he thinks about the couple, the more he feels this murderous impulse taking over.
- Herzog mentions that the last time he was in Chicago, he tried to track down Val and have a man-to-man talk with him. But he couldn't find the dude, so he sent the guy a telegram saying, "Dirt Enters At The Heart." Now if that sounds like total nonsense, that's because it is. Herzog sent this message because the first letters of each word spell "DEATH." He's not sure if Val ever understood the coded threat though.
- Herzog insists on seeing Simkin in person, pledging to come downtown and find the guy at the courthouse if he has to. Then he hangs up and has a bath. He thinks long and hard about what he plans on doing to Madeleine and Val: putting them both on the stand and asking them in public to describe every detail of their affair. Part of him thinks he should just leave them alone and let them be happy.
- Herzog hops in a cab to head downtown and chats with the cabbie, who recognizes him from earlier. This cabbie saw Herzog on the street kissing Ramona, and if Herzog doesn't mind his saying so, he thinks Ramona is super-hot.
- When he gets to the courthouse, Herzog wanders around a few rooms and sits in on the hearings. The first case he checks out is about one man who allegedly offered another man a drink and then tried to rob him for sixty-eight cents. The next case involves a young transgendered person who is up for prostitution and theft charges. Listening to these cases can't help but make Herzog wonder what life is really all about.
- Sitting in the courtroom, Herzog thinks about death and how afraid he is of it. He also remembers when his mother died. Herzog was only sixteen at the time and he stayed away from his mother's deathbed as much as possible, burying himself in abstract philosophical thoughts. He remembers how much his sensitive brother Willie cried after the woman had died.
- Impatient, Herzog telephones Simkin's office again and gets a narrowed-down list of the courtrooms the guy could be in. He checks out another courtroom and hears a grisly description of how two parents beat and neglected their young child until the child died. Herzog can't believe people would be so horrible. But then again, he realizes that people have a lot of darkness in them.