- Rita is not a nymphet – she is in her twenties and has a shady history. They become companions. Together they travel to California, as he continues looking for Lolita and doing some heavy drinking. He takes her to some of the hotels he and Lolita stayed at, in a desperate attempt to relive those moments. He has, in a sense, given up on finding her.
- He returns to the town in which The Enchanted Hunters hotel is located. He goes to the library for a little research trip. In the town's paper, Briceland Gazette, dated mid-August 1947, he seeks the photograph that was taken of him in the hotel lobby two years before.
- Rita is drinking heavily and becoming fearful that Humbert will leave her.