The Swell Spoon
- The conversation between Dinah and the Op continues. Dinah tells the Op about Noonan's brother Tim, who committed suicide a few years before.
- Apparently, Dinah knows that Tim didn't commit suicide, but that Max killed him for trying to steal his then-girlfriend Myrtle Jennison.
- Flashback time.
- About a year ago, everyone was gathered at a summer resort at Mock Lake when Myrtle and Tim snuck off to talk together.
- A few minutes later, Tim winds up shot to death and Myrtle tells Dinah that Max had killed Tim. Before Tim died, he had whispered the name "Max" into Myrtle's ear.
- Dinah says she thinks Max will be able to bribe the policeman Bob MacSwain from making it look like Tim committed suicide. Max comes up with an airtight alibi, Myrtle bribes MacSwain with $200 and a diamond ring, and Tim's death is passed off as a suicide.
- Myrtle is now dying at a hospital in the city.
- Dinah tells the Op that Peak Murry, one of the four men who corroborated Max's alibi is now one of Max's enemies. She suggests that maybe Peak would be willing to rat out Max.
- Back in his hotel room, the Op jots down a note written in the first person saying that Tim said Max had killed him and that Bob MacSwain was bribed to keep silent.
- The Op then goes to City Hospital to visit Myrtle. He asks Myrtle to sign the document he had written, which she does.