Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Dexter wakes in a cold sweat after upsetting dreams tinged with a preternatural awareness that the Tamiami Slasher is about to strike again. He wonders if the slasher’s Dark Passenger can in some way speak to his own, and he is sure that a new body will soon be discovered. Unable to get back to sleep, he goes out for a drive to mull over the case. He drives from one part of the city to the next until he is shocked to notice a refrigerated truck. He follows it, feeling slightly foolish. But then it seems that the truck knows it is being followed and does its best to lose him. Dexter wonders if he is pursuing the slasher; he becomes increasingly convinced as the refrigerated truck performs a series of moves designed to lose his tail. Dexter briefly loses sight of the vehicle, but then it comes screeching back at him. As it passes, the driver hurls something at Dexter’s vehicle: a human head.

Dexter is still by his car. The investigative team has gathered, and LaGuerta says the rest of the body was discovered at the local hockey team’s arena. Dexter flirts and flatters his way into getting LaGuerta’s permission to accompany her to the arena, and the two set off. There, Dexter is excited to see the body lying in one of the rink’s two goals. Deb is also there, and she is furious that Dexter did not share his hunch and went searching for the ice truck alone. She angrily tells him that she should have been the one to make a break in the case and points out that he could have gotten himself killed. Puzzled by her heightened emotions, Dexter finds himself distracted by thoughts of the slasher.

The team locates what appears to be a mirror from a refrigerated truck among the body parts in the arena. Dexter ponders this strange occurrence and concludes that the mirror is a message for him specifically. He is sure the slasher dumped the body at the arena to divert investigative attention away from the real site of his kills and the truck he uses to transport bodies. He is equally sure the mirror is a way for the slasher to communicate to Dexter that he knows Dexter is watching him—and he is watching Dexter.

LaGuerta doesn’t consider the mirror for too long. She tells the team that they are no longer looking for a refrigerated truck because the slasher has been using the arena to chill bodies. Deb is angry, and Doakes is unconvinced. LaGuerta sends Dexter home. Not long after he goes to sleep, Deb calls. She found the refrigerated truck, but LaGuerta doesn’t care. She’s already arrested someone who had access to the arena, and he confessed. Dexter and Deb are sure that this man is lying and the real killer is still on the loose.

The arrested man, Daryll Earl McHale, is a career criminal. He is a violent domestic abuser and a petty thief with a long rap sheet of alcohol-fueled crimes. Dexter knows without a doubt that this man lacks the intelligence, precision, and planning ability to be the Tamiami Slasher, although LaGuerta seems convinced of his guilt. She holds a series of press conferences and public briefings, showcasing her skills as an investigator and her expensive wardrobe. Deb is beyond frustrated, so Dexter advises her to publicly contradict LaGuerta. He argues that the real killer will be so offended when he sees McHale that he will stage another brutal killing right under the department’s nose. Being the one to insist that McHale is innocent will help Deb in the long run.

When Dexter returns home, he knows someone was inside his apartment. There is no sign of forced entry and nothing is missing, but a sixth sense tells him someone was there while he was at work. He performs a careful, methodical search and initially finds nothing out of place. Then he notices the head of a Barbie doll taped to the front of his refrigerator. Inside the freezer is the rest of the doll, her limbs severed in the same manner as the slasher’s. In her tiny hand, she holds a mirror. The mirror again, he thinks. What does it mean? Does it mean the slasher is holding a metaphorical mirror up to Dexter to show him himself? He is unsure. He decides not to report the doll, and the secret buoys him the entire next day.

After work, he gets a call from Rita. He’d kissed her on their last date, which upset her. He guesses that she’s forgiven him and reflects that he should not have kissed her. He knows she doesn’t want a physical relationship, and he violated that boundary. He vows to do better. He likes having Rita in his life.

Dexter’s next victim is another child killer who lives very near Dexter in Coconut Grove, an area that, like much of Miami, moves from low-income housing to lavish mansions in the span of mere blocks. The man is employed as a janitor at a local school, and since he began working there, many students have “run away.” The police interviewed him but were unable to charge him because of a lack of evidence. Dexter does not operate through official channels and plans to take care of the man himself. He surprises the killer as he is stealing copper wiring from a building site. He has to remove one of the killer’s ears to get him to talk, but the man ultimately admits his guilt. He says he is not sorry for his crimes, and Dexter replies that he is not sorry for killing him.