It’s possible that Sergeant Bickle has information the girls don’t have—or he could simply be taking Mr. Winterbottom at his word that everything is fine, and that they don’t need law enforcement to help them find Mrs. Winterbottom. But to Phoebe, this again feels like a betrayal because Sergeant Bickle is refusing to take her seriously and see the situation from her point of view. Meanwhile, Sal’s discovery that Sergeant Bickle’s son is the lunatic reveals that they’ve misjudged this young man—clearly, the lunatic isn’t who Sal and Phoebe thought he was, and she’s connected to them in a way they didn’t expect.