Part Three, Beyond Madness; Epilogue and Afterword Summary and Analysis

Billy begins to improve in chapter twenty and is allowed to leave the hospital building, first with an escort and then alone, eventually being allowed a furlough. While visiting his sister Kathy, he asks about his father's suicide note. She reluctantly hands it over and that note paints a very different picture about Johnny Morrison from the stories told by Dorothy. Johnny indicates that it's Dorothy who is hanging out with the wrong crowd and hints that she is cheating on him. He says that he tried several times to get her to marry him in order to legitimize the children, but that she refuses, saying that the tabloids might pick up the information. The letter requests that a Mr. Rau look into protecting the children from Dorothy. Billy...