Nikki narrowly escapes Yuri, Meemo, and the unnamed third assassin after the three crash the prison bus, with the help of Mr. Wrench, who is linked to her by their handcuffs. Nikki and Wrench kill the unnamed assassin and break apart their chains, after being shot several times with crossbows by the unnamed assassin and Yuri. Wrench throws an ax in Yuri's direction and cuts his ear off.

Nikki and Yuri wander, bloodied and bruised, for a long time through the woods, eventually finding a near-empty bowling alley. Nikki orders a drink at the bar and winds up seated next to Paul Marrane. Paul speaks cryptically to her, showing her a kitten that he's named Ray and telling her about the concept of souls finding new bodies.

Nikki believes the kitten to be a reincarnation of Ray and cuddles it. Paul tells Nikki to deliver a message to "the evildoers" when the time comes and informs her that there's a car outside she can take with Wrench. He tells her she has to leave the kitten behind. They leave in the car.

Yuri enters the bowling alley shortly after. Paul calls him by name and tells him he has a message for him from Helga Obrecht and Rabbi Nachtman. When Yuri looks up, he sees a group of clearly dead Jewish spirits from a massacre in the 1700s that Paul had told Nikki about. Yuri never rejoins Meemo and Varga and is presumably now dead.

Gloria is called away during her family's awkward Christmas to the bus crash scene, where the male marshals blow her off when she tries to get information.

Meanwhile, Sy stops by Emmit's house for a meeting, but Varga and Meemo don't allow him to see Emmit. Instead, they force Sy to drink a cup of tea and Varga tells a reluctant Sy that he's now $5 million richer, thanks to some recent end of the year bonuses.

When Sy gets back to the office, he begins to feel ill. He quickly throws up and then collapses, going into cardiac arrest. He slips into a coma for several months. The narrative picks back up on March 15, when Emmit visits Sy in the hospital.

Gloria and Winnie come by to harass Emmit, questioning him. Emmit tries to brush them off but is spooked when he goes to retrieve his car and finds Ray's old busted up Corvette instead. When he returns to the office, he finds every piece of art replaces with various size copies of his stamp. He freaks out and calls Varga who tries to reassure him. Emmit believes that Ray must somehow be alive and be messing with him.

Emmit drinks heavily to drown his anguish and paranoia. When he goes to the bathroom, he spots himself with a mustache and panics. Emmit feels guilty about Ray. Meemo and Varga try to trick him into taking a tranquilizer, telling him it is a sedative.

Emmit only pretends to take the pills and pass out. When they leave (after Meemo lugs a fake-unconscious Emmit to bed), Emmit goes immediately to Gloria's police station (where Gloria has just finally decided to sign her divorce papers) to make a confession.