Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Spoilers welcome discussion topic for chapters 21-26 (to the end) of Deacon King Kong by James McBride.
If the first to post please briefly summarize to guide the discussion.
What did you think of the book?

Chapter 21 - New Dirt

Potts stops by Elefante’s and they both try to find out what happened without actually giving up any info. Potts lets Elefante know that he did talk to his father sometime and tells him how Guido probably saved his life back when Potts was a young cop. Potts was chasing a suspect when the man turned with a gun in his hand. Then a truck came out of nowhere and ran the suspect down. They both let each other know that they are retiring, Potts to go fishing and the Elephant to make bagels.

Chapter 22 - 281 Delphi

Bunch Moon is meeting with Haroldeen at his secret lair. Bunch is mad that the hit did not go as planned. Haroldeen wants her money and states she will make it good. Bunch ridicules her dream of an accounting degree and Haroldeen remembers all the bad things Bunch has done to her and her mother. Bunch agrees to give her half of the money and tells her to go to the basement and she will find an envelope there. Then he wants her to go out the back basement door. Haroldeen does that but also detours to the front door which she unlocks. Joe Peck and some of his guys come in the door and take care of Bunch.

Chapter 23 - Lasts Octobers

Sportcoat shows up at the hospital to visit Deems. Deems is not very respectful to him and Sportcoat finally snaps and holds Deems down with a pillow (the doll the Haitian made) over his face. Sportcoat tells him he know remembers why he shot him (because he wants to remember Deems as the great pitcher and nice young man instead of the drug dealer he has become). Sportcoat lets him go but tells him if Deems ever comes near him he will deaden him where he stands.

Chapter 24 - Sister Paul

Sportcoat goes to Bensonhurst to visit Sister Paul. The trip takes a lot out of him since he has not had anything to drink almost a day and he has trouble getting the receptionist to understand who he wants to visit. Luckily an older man who works security knows Sister Paul (he is the one who sends her tithes to the church each week) and Sportcoat is ushered to her room. Sister Paul is over one hundred years old and looks it but seems to have all her mental faculties. After sparring back and forth a bit she then relates to him the story of how she helped out Guido Elefante when he hit the man who was going to shoot Potts which led to the church and the free cheese. She also tells him that Guido hid something in the wall of the church when he was helping with the construction.

Chapter 25 - Do

Elefante and the Governor’s daughter, Melissa, have become very close and she is helping him out with her father’s affairs. They both go and visit Sister Paul and Melissa is able to get Sister Paul to tell her story of the church and his father’s role in the building of it. Elefante then meets Sportcoat at 4:20 in the morning to find the box. There is some confusion but ultimately they find it and Elefante promises to also make good on the Christmas money along with fixing the wall.

Chapter 26 - Beautiful

Twenty-two months later Sportcoat has passed on and his funeral is the biggest in the history of the church. Besides the usual suspects, Potts, Elefante and his wife, and many others attend including Deems who is now playing baseball for the Chicago Cubs minor league team. After the ceremony Sister Gee gets Hot Sausage to tell her about what actually happened to Sportcoat and then later, Sister Gee takes the Staten Island Ferry, for the first time in her life, to visit the newly retired and divorced Potts.

Thanks for the summaries, Sandi. This book grew on me and by the end I was thoroughly entertained by the plot twists and the characters.
Do we know if something happened to Reverend Gee, Sister Gee's husband? I wasn't hopeful that anything would happen with Potts because they were both married, but McBride dispatched of Potts' wife through divorce. I don't remember reading anything about the Rev, maybe I missed it.

I don't remember anything about the Reverend after he performed Sportcoat's funeral. I was a bit fuzzy on the timeline after that to when Sister Gee went on the ferry because Sportcoat's fate was revealed by her memories on the ferry.

It was nice that Deems was scared straight and really most of the characters had nice endings. And Bunch got what he deserved though Joe Peck did not or least not on the page.

I also very much enjoyed this and am going to make sure to try some more of the author's works.

Great summaries Sandi, thanks for doing them! I remember being a bit disappointed that the free cheese stopped. The camaraderie of that lively distribution was pretty special.

Sandi wrote: "Chapter 21 - New Dirt

Potts stops by Elefante’s and they both try to find out what happened without actually giving up any info. Potts lets Elefante know that he did talk to his father sometime an..."

Ann wrote: "Spoilers welcome discussion topic for chapters 21-26 (to the end) of Deacon King Kong by James McBride.
If the first to post please briefly summarize to guide the dis..."

Hi Sandi, You write great summaries. Many thanks, Mary Jo

I was partially right, thank you sister Paul for the confirmation. Haroldeen got her revenge for all that Bunch had done to her and her mother in the past. Elefante got his wish to marry and get out of the business. Deems pursues a pitching career as Sportcoat wanted. Sportcoat made the same choice as his Hetty. What a delightful end to a life filled with calamity. Sportcoat found his peace. I enjoyed the book.