Merry disappears , and is the FBI 's prime suspect , though Swede and Dawn believe she is innocent or , if involved , being forced to act by older radicals she met in New York . Swede searches for her , hounding the FBI for information , but she is not heard from . Some time later , 22-year-old university student Rita Cohen presents herself at the glovemaking factory , ostensibly working on a report for business class . Rita tips off Swede with credible information about Merry , hints that she knows Merry 's whereabouts , then asks him to meet her at a hotel with $ 10,000 cash . Swede meets Rita in the hotel room , but spurns her mean-spirited attempts to seduce him . Rita runs off with the money and leaves no further information regarding Merry . Swede calls in the FBI , pointing to the Rita connection and the recent bombing in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion , but the agency has no more use for Swede 's inept interference
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
American Pastoral (film)