When he wakes up Friday George looks out his window to see if Dave's car is still there. It is and George figures that his latest victim has not been found. He wonders when it will be found. When he leaves for work, an hour later Dave's car is still parked in front of his house. George becomes angry that his latest prostitute has not been found. He curses his mother and then Donna for destroying his life.

When he arrives at the hospital, he sees that the only decent parking space open is next to Linda's car. Other parking spaces are too far from the hospital entrance. He curses Linda and hopes that he can avoid running into her today. He is unsuccessful. As soon as he gets off the elevator on the fifth floor, she is standing there waiting to catch the next one to the seventh. She had come down to invite him to lunch with her and another neonatal nurse.

She figures that maybe she can get him to open up more if the two of them are not alone. But she does not tell him this. Instead, she just tells him that her neonatal nurse friend would like to know something about CPR and maybe he could tell her. George does not feel pressured so he accepts the lunch date.

Linda's plan fails; while they were eating the only thing that is talked about is how to resuscitate heart patients. Linda is disappointed but is happy that she got to eat with George as she learns that he knows more about CPR than what can be learned at a two-day seminar. She realizes that George is very well educated.

When he gets home from work, the first thing George does, is to turn on his television in order to catch the news. He is ecstatic that the fourth victim has been found. The WDSU-TV reporter is announcing that 'the rapist' has struck again. She adds that with Mardi Gras only a few days away it doesn't look good for the New Orleans tourist industry. George curses her. He hollers at the screen that he is doing a service for the tourists; he's getting rid of the whores. He then paces back and forth in front of the television. After several minutes of pacing he decides that he is going to show that bitch of a TV reporter a thing or two. He waits until eleven o'clock and then goes to the French Quarter and gets another prostitute.

After stripping off her clothes and hanging her from the contraption of cables and shackles he has fixed up, he takes off his own clothes, sits on the floor in front of her, and masturbates. Then he waits until she wakes up. As soon as she does so he beats her with his whip. He beats her until she has welts and lash marks all over her body. Then he goes to bed. For the next two days he beats her once in the morning and again in the afternoon. After he beats her Sunday he showers and gets ready to go to out for a drive. He enters the punishment room before he leaves to inspect her once more. She raises her head and looks imploringly at him. He ignores her plea and tells her that he will brand her when he returns.

He has no particular place that he wants to go so he drives to St. Charles Avenue. That is his favorite street in the whole city. After driving down the street for several blocks he decides to take a street car ride. He parks his car and gets on the next car that comes by. He rides the street car all the way to Canal Street. Then he gets off and walks up Canal Street to the River. He continues to walk aimlessly about until he finally ends up at River Front Park.

He sits on one of the benches and tries to figure out where he will dump his latest whore once he kills her. He gets no answer. After sitting there until late in the afternoon he gets up and walks back down Canal Street. When he gets to the St. Charles Street car stop he waits for the next car. When it comes he gets on it and goes back to his car and then back home. He brands the prostitute and murders her as soon as he gets home.

He waits until after the evening news is over. He wants to see if that bitch reporter is going to say anything else about the serial rapist. There is nothing said about the killings. As soon as the ten o'clock news is over, George puts the corpse into the trunk of his car and starts to drive around the city. For a long while, he cannot find any place and he curses the dead woman in his trunk. Then he curses his mother for screwing up his life. Around midnight he finally gets on the interstate and goes to New Orleans East. He dumps the woman along side of the interstate near Highway 11, not having found a better place to dispose of her.

He makes an illegal U-turn across the median of the interstate and heads back to his house. On his way back to his house he sees a couple of police cars flashing their lights and with their sirens blaring heading in the opposite direction. They are driving really fast. George wonders if they found the whore already. When he gets home he puts his television on to see if there is any news of his latest victim. There is nothing so he goes to the punishment room. He has to clean up the mess the prostitute made; she had defecated while he was strangling her. When he finishes, he goes to bed.

The Monday morning headlines are full of pictures and stories about the serial killings. One story chronicles the string of murders. Another story lists some details that the murders have in common. Still another story discusses what the police have done thus far to locate the killer. But the biggest story is about the latest victim who was left on the side of Interstate 10 near where it crosses highway 11.

A man who was picking up his crawfish nets in the Irish Bayou claimed to have seen the man dump the body. He said at first he thought the man was just dumping some garbage and he ignored him. After the man left he went over to inspect what he pulled out of his trunk. It was then that he discovered the body. He immediately called the police on his cell phone. When asked to give a description he couldn't, saying that he was too far away to get a good look at him. But he described the man's car as a red Mazda. When George reads this, he laughs. He has a maroon Toyota.

The next two days are uneventful between George and Linda. She does not bother him to eat lunch with her. He hopes it is because she has found someone else to eat with. He does not realize that she is just biding her time until she can figure out a way to get him to open up to her about why he does not want to have sex with her. She is determined to find out and has finally decided to space her lunch dates with him several days apart. That way she figures George won't suspect that she wants to get him into her bed.

Meanwhile, George is anxious to get to Dave's in order to get the latest information on the two prostitutes who were found on Almonaster Avenue and on I-10 in New Orleans East. The time between Sunday and Wednesday evening, when he and Dave play chess together, seems to drag by. When Wednesday finally does arrive, George does not waste any time. As soon as Dave sets up the chessboard he asks him if he is any closer to catching the serial rapist. George says that he saw him on television when that little reporter from WDSU-TV interviewed him.

"Hey! I saw you on television the other day. Have there really been five victims?" he questions Dave.

"I'm afraid so, George. But we got a big break in the one that he dumped on Almonaster. We were able to get a casting of his tire treads. He drove through some wet mud right next to where he left the body. When we catch him we'll be able to match his tires with the imprints we picked up."

"That's great, Dave," George lies. He makes a mental note to purchase four new tires later in the week. "But what about that guy who said he saw him take the latest victim out of his trunk?" George is attempting to find out just how good of a description he was able to give to the police.

"That jerk. He gave us a description all right, but not a very good one. All he could say was that it was a white man with a red car. He's no good as a witness. He was half drunk. He'd been drinking beer and craw-fishing all day."

"That's not what the newspaper said. It said that he described a red Mazda."

"George, it was the middle of the night and the lighting out there on that section of the interstate is terrible. I don't put much credence in his description. That and the fact that the man reeked of alcohol when I interviewed him. Hey, the killer could have been driving a red dump truck and I don't think he could have been able to describe it any better than he did."

"Knight to knight five, check. You left your bishop exposed there Dave. Now I'm going to get it. After you moved your rook, your king was the only thing that was protecting it." George notes that he will have to be more careful about where he dumps his next victim. He'll have to make sure that no one is around to witness it.

"I see that. Tell me George, are you asking me questions about the killings just to distract me from the game?"

"No, actually I'm thinking of becoming a lawyer and defending him in court after you catch him. And I'm trying to learn all that I can so that I can get him acquitted. Are you going to concede now so we can play another game or are you going to force me to capture your queen in about three moves?"

"Think your smart don't you? Set the board up and I'll go see what kind of dessert Darlene has fixed for us. It's my turn to have white."

They play two more games. Dave wins the second game and George wins the third. During the time they play Dave reveals little that George does not already know. For the most part, he reveals little that someone with a little forethought cannot figure out, mainly because he is closed mouthed about the evidence. But also because George's questions to him seem superficial, that he is not trying to obtain undisclosed information. George gives him the impression that his questions are only for the sake of keeping the conversation friendly, that he is only interested in the killings because they are in the news.

Although he does tell George some things that are classified, he does not tell him everything. He gives this confidential information to George because he trusts that George is not going to reveal anything he tells him to the news media. What Dave does not realize is that everything he divulges, George is using to his own advantage.

George asks him about the branding of the victims that was reported in the news. Dave tells him that there is not much to it. That it is just the murderer's way of marking his victims. He tells George that many serial killers do the same thing. They have a certain way of tying their knots, of mutilating their victims, killing their victims and things of this nature. He tells George that some serial killers keep trophies of their victims, earrings, bracelets, scarves, and other such mementoes.

This particular serial killer brands his victims with the word WHORE across the upper part of their chests, right above their breasts. When George asks him what, the killer branded the women with Dave tells him that he does not know. He says that his partner is looking into that, that it is probably some metal letters that he just heats up on his stove or something and then brands the women with them once the letters are hot.

George also asks him if there have been any bodies found in the other parishes. Dave tells him no, but that they have formed a multi-parish task force of Orleans Parish and the seven surrounding parishes: Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, St. John, and St. Charles. They are all on alert in case he dumps one of his victim's bodies in their parish.

Dave further tells George that all the victims were prostitutes who were tied up and beaten with a whip, raped probably with a broom stick or mop stick of some kind and then were strangled and dumped nude in an isolated spot, all information that is known by the news media. Dave discloses that they know that he raped his victims with a broom stick because forensics was able to find some splinters of wood inside the vaginas and anuses of the victims. But he does not tell George that forensics was also able to match splinters of paint from the pieces of wood; all the victims were raped by the same broom stick. Nor does Dave tell George of the bent leg on the letter H. These latter two pieces of information is not known by anyone except the coroner, his partner Erica, himself, and now the district attorney.

Finally, Dave reveals that the murderer punched one of the victims in the face so hard that he knocked a tooth loose. It fell out when the coroner was attempting to take X-rays of her teeth to help identify her. This is classified information, but Dave gives it to George believing that anyone with a half an ounce of sense can figure that if a man is beating a woman in the face, then he can in all likelihood knock out a tooth or two.

Dave comments that the killer must be one really bad dude. He believes that to hit a woman in the face and knock out a tooth, especially one that cannot defend herself, must take one vicious monster. He tells George that he can hardly wait to catch the lousy bastard. Being called a lousy bastard gets George angry and he promises himself to punch his victims in the face more often.

As he is leaving Dave's house, Darlene gives George an extra slice of peach cobbler that she made earlier that day. She knows that her neighbor loves her cooking and she is always happy to share whatever she has fixed with him. George does like Darlene's cooking, but he cannot stand being indebted to her. He hates having to accept anything from her; she reminds him too much of his mother. But most of all, she reminds him of a life that he did not have, a loving husband and children, a happy family, a wonderful future. Her generosity toward him only increases his hate for her and for all women.

Walking across the lawn between the two houses, he curses her. When he gets inside, he puts the cobbler on his kitchen table. He stares at it for several minutes, contemplating what he should do. He wants to get himself another whore in order to bash her face in and knock out all her teeth. He wants to show Dave that he's not a monster, that these are filthy whores that he is taking off the streets. But the peach cobble beckons to him. It has made him hungry. After staring at the cobbler for about twenty minutes, he finally decides to eat it tonight. He tells himself that he will get himself another prostitute tomorrow night.

After eating the peach cobbler he goes to the punishment room and stands in the doorway just looking at the picture of his mother on the wall. After a few minutes he wonders why he never took it down. He goes to the other side of the room and grabs it. She is staring down at him. He cannot take it down. Something inside of him will not let him remove her from his life. He curses her for fucking up his life. Then he curses her for taking Donna away from him. Then he breaks down and cries. He lets himself fall to the floor and sitting there below the picture of his torment, he cries himself to sleep. When he wakes up, it is just after two in the morning. He showers and goes to bed.

When he arrives in the Ochsner Hospital employee parking lot, the next morning Linda is there to greet him.

"Good morning George. I got a King Cake. Why don't you come upstairs later on and have a piece? If you get the baby don't say anything to anybody else and I'll buy the next cake for you. That way there's no danger of you getting stuck with having to buy the next King Cake."

"I don't know, Linda," George answers her. "That doesn't seem fair to the others or to you."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I love getting them. Eating King Cakes is one of the Mardi Gras traditions I like. I get them from this little bakery on Veterans Boulevard. It's got apple and cream filling. Come on we can have a little King Cake party during lunch with the other nurses."

"Yeah, I like eating King Cakes for Mardi Gras too. You hooked me. I'll see you for lunch." George steps off the elevator and smiles at her. The door closes and he suddenly realizes that he has given her a glimpse into his weakness. His two loves are chocolate and pastries. Darlene is always making brownies or fudge or some other kind of dessert for him, and he cannot refuse what she offers him. Now he will have Linda giving him desserts too. He curses himself for slipping up and allowing her into his world. But Linda is all smiles the rest of the day.

Another nurse in the intensive care ward gets the baby hidden inside the King Cake. When George comes upstairs to get his piece of cake, Linda manages to get him to promise to come for a piece of cake whenever there is another King Cake. Again, she tells him that she will buy the cake from her favorite Veterans Boulevard bakery if he gets the baby. George agrees to come to the King Cake parties. He tells Linda that if he gets the baby hidden inside the King Cake he will buy the next cake.

He feels safe meeting her amongst all the other employees, but he silently curses himself for his own weakness and allowing her to see it. He knows that she will eventually use it against him and coax him into having dinner with her. For her part, Linda is ecstatic that she has finally found a way to get George to eat lunch with her. Maybe by offering him slices of cake and pie and other desserts he will open up to her.