“Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer’d?” —Shakespeare

This quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nick’s favorite play and a quotation from a section he quoted to Valerie on one of their early dates, opens Part 4. Spoken by Claudius after Hamlet kills Polonius, the question asks: what recourse should this bloody deed be met with: Revenge? Punishment? Honor? Atonement? Is there an answer? Part 4 offers Valerie’s answer, not just to her crime or to Nick’s crime, but to all the crimes that led up to Garvin’s school shooting.

At school, in Mrs. Tate’s office, Valerie accepts information about colleges for a deferral, once she feels ready to return to school. Across from a beaming Mrs. Tate, she explains, “Now that I knew who I wasn’t, I was determined to remember who I was. Who I would become” (390).

In contrast to last year, May 2009 is hot. Valerie notes feeling heat on her and sticking to her, instead of the icy chill running past and through her this time last year, on the day of the shooting. Her entire family attends graduation, as do Dr. Hieler and his wife,

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