At supper that night, it is peaceful until Lt. Baird shows up. He comes in and tells Mason he wants to start a “new dialogue” (249). He tells Mason he knows that someone sawed through the top rung of the ladder that killed Benny. He suspects Mason got rid of his handsaw in the orchard to alleviate suspicion. Mason realizes that Lt. Baird believes he was the person who sawed halfway through the rung and killed Benny. 

Lt. Baird leaves, and Mason is panicking. Uncle Drum and Grandma try to comfort him, but Mason can’t really hear: “He’s leaving. But he’s staying inside of me. Because I know what he thinks” (253). Mason runs outside to tell Lt. Baird he is missing a big piece of his puzzle. Lt. Baird tells Mason that he hasn’t been helpful, he hasn’t written in the notebook or typed much for the police to go on. Mason realizes that all those sad-to-see-you looks weren’t about grief. Those people in town believed Mason was evil: “It is not just the lieutenant who believes all this bad about me” (255). Mason goes to bed and holds his head in his hands.