It's night, and some dude in a piece-of-crap werewolf mask roars like a douche and the girl he's with giggles, even though it's not even close to funny. Wow, that was unnecessarily harsh. "I love Halloween," Dexter VOs matter-of-factly. "The one time of year when everyone wears a mask, not just me." He's in a costume store, and some kid is trying on a George W. Bush mask. "People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I'm not. Brother, friend, boyfriend...all part of my costume collection." Uh huh. Ah, I see. Rita's here, too, with the kids. They're all messing around, looking at costumes, playing with retractable knives. Referring to the kids, Dexter observes, "They're so excited." "Sure they are," says Rita. "They get to binge on sugar for an entire day. Who wouldn't love that?" Dexter wonders what Rita's going to go as, and holds up a standard witch costume as a suggestion. Rita says she'll probably just go as Snow White, as usual. "It's kind of a tradition." Whatever. Astor says that she's a princess, too, and Dexter agrees. Cody says he wants to be some Blue's Clues character. Joe, I think. Rita rolls her eyes, saying, "A rugby shirt is not a costume." Cool, I guess? See you guys. I'll be with...

...Dexter, the next day, who's staring at a soccer ball outside an office park. Not just any soccer ball, mind you, but one that is sitting next to a cleat-wearing severed foot. Hmm. "Another picture from my family album," Dex VOs. "He's recreating my past with Tony Tucci's body parts." Yeah, that's pretty sadistic. "Nobody's payin' you to stand around and goddamn stare!" Doakes chimes in, jolting Dexter back to reality. Dexter tries to remind him that "Angel was supposed to be working this case," but yet again, Doakes is more concerned with the intimidating-looking dudes from Guerrero's crew, who are back with their big truck, across the marsh, giving Doakes the ice-grill. "Friends of yours?" asks Dex, and Doakes quickly responds, "Don't worry about it. Worry about this." Dexter notes aloud the precise cuts, and Doakes wants to know why, after body after body with no blood, the ITK is changing it up. Dexter wings it: "He's trying to send a message. One that's more important than his ritual need to drain the blood and wrap the parts." "Okay, so what's the message?" "Not sure." "Well, who's he sendin' it to?" "I can't tell you that, either..." "Well, what fuckin' good are you?" Heh. Nice one, Doakes. Dexter's distraught, and puts his hand to his face. Angel asks him what's wrong, and he says, "He's mocking me." "Don't take it personally. Doakes hates all you lab geeks." "Who?" asks Dex, realizing that he almost just blew his cover to Angel. Whoops! Dexter moves in to grab the soccer ball as evidence, and when he does, another Polaroid is revealed, this time of the foot and ball together. After a long pause, Angel takes off, and Dex VOs, "He knows. He's not corrupting the happy Hallmark images of my youth. He's revealing the ugly truth behind them." Whoa, dude. How can he do that? He wasn't there, at the beach, listening in to your man-to-man with Harry. Or at this upcoming flashback, when you were at...