Summary
Back at his store, Ray opens the briefcase from Freddie and discovers a large emerald necklace, a Valentine's Day card and a Joe DiMaggio baseball card. The night before, Ray's Aunt Millie called to say that her house had been ransacked. Ray got dressed and went over to assess the damage. He saw that clearly her home had been worked over by professionals looking for something valuable. Ray meets with Munson and they talk about the robbery and the riots. Munson tells him about the cops closely monitoring activist activity in the neighborhood. Ray realizes Munson is interrogating him about Linus's death and gets out of his car.
Freddie then shows up at the store. He then tells the entire story of how he and Linus became close friends. He said he spent a long period of time crashing at Linus's place. Linus was from a wealthy, well-connected family and had a nice apartment. They would go to parties, get high, and watch television together. Linus disappeared for a while and he decided to try and get his life together. He got clean for a while and started working some straight jobs, hoping to emulate Ray. Then Linus resurfaced and pulled Freddie back into his orbit. They started hanging out again and Linus was, at that point, using heroin every day. They decided to take a road trip. Linus and Freddie went down to St. Augustine and rented some rooms. Linus mentioned a potential score at his parents' house. Freddie dismissed it at first but Linus kept mentioning it. They returned to New York and decided to go through with their plan. They staked out Linus' family's Park Avenue home and started to scheme.
Freddie kept watch and eventually went in to see what happened. Linus was caught by his father, Ambrose, and the two engaged in a scuffle which knocked Ambrose to the floor. They left with the contents of the family safe. They laid low with the briefcase at an abandoned movie theater. After an encounter with the cops, Linus became paranoid and suggested leaving the briefcase with Ray, which made them feel relieved. Freddie went out for breakfast the morning of Linus’s OD and when he came back it was too late to save him. Ray decides to contact Pepper to help him manage the robbery fallout. Ray goes to a bar to meet up with Pepper. They discuss how to handle the situation with Freddie.
Ray visits Moskovitz, attempting to move the necklace, but Moskovitz tells him things are too hot. He is then accosted by two of the Van Wycks’ goons. They take the necklace and Ray runs off. He realizes Moskovitz turned on him. Back at the store, Pepper is set upon by two red-headed enforcers. He fends them off and tells them to leave before he shoots them. He goes to the store and talks to Pepper about what happened. Elizabeth says they received a call from the Van Wycks’ lawyer, Ed Bench. Ray realizes they have Freddie. He makes plans to meet the lawyer.
They look over the remaining contents of the briefcase. They realize that the Valentine's card contains a hidden code for a bank account. They have dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant before grabbing two guns, loading up into his truck, and departing for the meeting. They go to Park Avenue and have a private meeting with Ed Bench and the two red-headed henchmen.
They turn over the briefcase and ask about Freddie. The lawyer says Freddie has been deposited in the back of the truck. Ray looks down and sees his cousin's mangled body; he appears to be barely alive. One of the henchmen says something snide about Freddie and Pepper shoots him. The other man shoots Pepper in the leg and Pepper shoots him several times, killing him. They leave and Bench is too shocked to chase after them. They take Freddie to a hospital and Pepper says he will find treatment for his bullet wound elsewhere. A severely injured Freddie whispers that he didn't mean to get Ray into trouble.
The novel's final chapter picks up a few months later. Ray heads downtown to see the new Van Wyck construction site. He reflects somewhat bitterly on the lack of real progress in the city. The cop whose hate crime motivated the riots was acquitted. Freddie died after two months in a coma. For a few months, he worried about retaliation from the Van Wycks but eventually felt confident the moment had passed. He visits the former spot of Aronowitz's store which has been bought up by someone else. He learns from another business owner that Aronowitz died. He looks out on the city skyline and sees the World Trade Center being built. He thinks that the city is perpetually changing.
Analysis
Crime is a key thematic component in this part of the novel. In the first part of the book, the reader sees Ray reluctantly handle a bad situation and become ensconced in the "crooked" world. In the second, the reader watches him take revenge on someone who wronged him. Finally, here, Ray is forced to confront a problem that involves more money and power than he can manage. He is betrayed by an associate and faces numerous pressing threats to his safety and well-being. He narrowly manages things, settling things with the Van Wycks, but is ultimately unable to protect Freddie. Freddie's penchant for risky jobs creates a situation that Ray cannot save him from. In the closing chapters, Ray shows his fully formed prowess as a criminal, dodging the wrath of several major power players, while losing his cousin. Ray is faced with the terrible consequences of a job gone awry. He is now more wrapped up in the underworld than ever, but has painful knowledge of its costs.
Family is another important theme in these chapters. Ray is heartbroken in the aftermath of Freddie's death. Before slipping into a coma, Freddie says "I didn't mean to get you into trouble," echoing the words he used to say when they were kids. Ray goes to great lengths to protect his cousin even as the pressure and heat on him rapidly mounts. Despite everyone advising him to just give up his cousin, Ray chooses to keep things under wraps and try to make the best of a dangerous predicament. After Freddie dies, he feels haunted by his memory and by the gruesome circumstances of his death. Whitehead's portrayal of Ray's relationship with Freddie highlights Ray's care for Freddie, showing how far he was always willing to go to try and protect. His ultimate failure to do so clearly leaves him bereft.
Racism is also a major theme in the novel. The third section occurs against the backdrop of the Harlem race riots, sparked by a white police officer's murder of an unarmed Black man. The novel's final chapter informs the reader that the police officer was acquitted on all charges. These events enrage Ray's wife, Elizabeth, who feels that people must protest these terrible injustices. While Ray is more skeptical of the rioters and protestors than she is, he is sympathetic to their cause, as he too feels that the city's real power is concentrated largely in the hands of rich white families like the Van Wycks. Whitehead uses both Ray's and Elizabeth's perspectives as a way of exploring how racism and power structures worked hand in hand to shape modern New York City. Elizabeth's outlook is more hopeful, as she sees a brighter future through activism, while Ray assumes the systems will remain broken and that survival is only possible outside of them.
City life is a theme in these pages as well. At the end of the novel, Ray looks at the city skyline from the former spot of Aronowitz's electronics store. He thinks to himself that the city is always in flux and that something new is always cropping up in the place of something old. At the same time, he thinks bitterly about how the actual politics of the city have shifted little in the intervening months between his encounter with the Van Wycks and his trip downtown. In this way, the book captures the shifting nature of city life and shows how New York is in a perpetual state of physical alteration. Simultaneously, it also suggests that the systems of power mostly continue to prop up the same players, even if the roster changes by one or two names.
Ray manages to survive another day and settle back into his old routines, but suffers the grievous loss of his cousin. He is glad to have secured a future for himself and his family but also recognizes the terrible cost of a life of crime. As he takes a last look at the latest Van Wyck construction site, he remains aware of what changes appear dramatic and what has stayed mostly the same. His keen understanding of the city and its many moving parts is highlighted, as it is a knowledge that will likely allow him to survive to another day.
