As soon as the door was opened a crack, Raskolnikov forced his way into the pawnbroker's. She is frightened, and he gives her the pledge that he had wrapped so carefully, telling her that it is a silver cigarette case. As she laboriously unwraps the package, he removes the axe and, while her back is turned, he hits her with the butt end of the axe. He then strikes her again and again with the blunt end of the axe. Very carefully, he lays the axe down by the body and begins to search through her pockets for keys.
While searching for the keys, he notices that Alyona Ivanovna wears two crosses, one of cypress wood and one of copper. He then finds some keys and a small leather purse stuffed very full and he takes them. As he searches the rooms, he finds all sorts of gold and silver items, but he suddenly hears footsteps in the entranceway. He discovers Lizaveta standing over her murdered half sister. Raskolnikov immediately takes the axe and with Lizaveta staring at him in utter horror, he strikes her with one heavy blow "with the sharp edge just on the skull and splits at one blow all the top of her head." This "second unpremeditated murder" makes him want to completely abandon the entire project. After the second murder, he begins to think of confessing and immediately begins to cleanse the blood from his axe, hands, and clothes.
As he is ready to leave, the doorbell rings. Two individuals wait outside for their appointments with Alyona Ivanovna. As they try the door, they realize that it is locked from the inside. One leaves to go get the porter and then when the other leaves for a moment, Raskolnikov slips out and hides in the empty, newly painted room just below the pawnbroker's flat. When the murder is discovered, he slips out unnoticed and returns to his own room, where he replaces the axe in the porter's lodge and then falls into a state bordering on unconsciousness.
