Devil in a Blue Dress: Chapter 26 Summary & Analysis

As Easy lies naked and vulnerable in the bathtub, Daphne undresses and washes his body. After, she leads him into the bedroom, where they have sex through the night. Easy feels strangely drawn to Daphne—it’s a kind of magnetic desire he’s never felt in his life and doesn’t fully understand. He notices her eye color sometimes changes from blue to green. In bed, Daphne muses that the world won’t let them be their true selves, won’t allow them to be together, which is why they’ve had to escape. Later, Easy reflects on this time with Daphne. To him, Daphne is like a chameleon, always becoming a different version of herself for whatever man she happens to be with at the time.

The next day, Easy demands answers, first asking how Daphne knows Howard Green. She admits she met him while dating Richard, before Todd Carter entered her life. Howard had driven Matthew Teran to purchase a young Mexican boy from Richard, who was involved in child trafficking. Later, when Daphne shared this information with Carter, he opposed Teran’s mayoral bid and made his disapproval known. In retaliation, Teran, Howard, and Richard—who Daphne claims still harbored feelings for her—conspired to cause her trouble and pressure Carter. They threatened to expose secrets about her that could ruin her life. Finally, Daphne reveals that Joppy was the one who killed both Howard and Coretta.

Daphne explains that after Joppy told her Albright was looking for her, she figured she could kill two birds with one stone. She explains how she enlisted Joppy’s help, offering him $1,000 to ensure Albright wouldn’t find her and to confront Howard on her behalf, hoping to stop him, Teran, and Richard from exposing her secrets. She believes Howard’s death was unintentional—he was known for his “fast tongue,” and Joppy for his faster fists—but that Coretta’s murder was deliberate. Joppy likely panicked after killing Howard and saw Coretta’s curiosity as a threat he needed to eliminate.

Easy asks Daphne who Frank Green is to her if he isn’t her boyfriend, but she refuses to explain, claiming that Easy wouldn’t understand. When Easy suggests going to Carter, Daphne insists she’s never going back to him because she loves him and wants to keep him safe. She says that Frank will pay twice what Carter is offering if Easy brings Daphne to him instead. When Easy asks why Daphne called him the previous day, she simply smiles and says that she loves him—she knew it from “the first moment [they] met.”