In chapter five Meursault receives a call from Raymond while he's at work. Raymond is concerned that a group of Arabs, which contains the brother of the woman he beat up, has been following him. He asks Meursault to watch for them outside their building when he returns home that night. Then his boss spoke to him about the possibility of being transferred to Paris, which Meursault said was fine, but it was all the same to him. He remembered how when he was a student he had some ambitions, but when he had to give up his studies, he stopped caring. That night Marie asked if he wanted to marry her, and he said it really didn't matter to him. She said that she wanted to marry him, and she would love to see Paris.

     He went to dinner at Celeste's and a robotic little woman asked to sit with him. They didn't speak, and she ate hurriedly, paying before she even finished eating, then left. Salamano was waiting outside his door when he returned, still upset about his missing dog. It made him think about his loneliness after his wife died, whom he didn't seem to have liked much either. He shook hands with Meursault before leaving, and Meursault felt the scales on his skin, which mimicked those on the missing dog enough to allow most people to feel a bit sorry for Salamano although Meursault never would.

     In chapter six Marie arrived early Sunday morning to wake Meursault because Raymond had invited them to go to his friend's beach house. Meursault had recently testified that the woman had cheated on Raymond, so Raymond was let off with a warning. They passed a group of Arabs on the way to the bus, which included the woman's brother, but the group didn't appear to follow them. They got off at the outskirts of Algiers and walked to the bungalow belonging to Raymond's friend, Masson.

     Masson and his wife were very friendly and fed them. Then they went swimming at the beach then returned to the house for more food and drink. After the meal, the men took a walk. The spotted two of the Arabs, one of whom was the brother of the girl that Raymond abused. Raymond struck the first blow then Masson knocked out the other man who fell face first into the water. Raymond had landed a punch on his foe's face when he turned away for a second, and Meursault alerted him that the guy had pulled a knife. The Arab slashed Raymond on the arm before he and his friend backed away and ran off.

     The men returned to the bungalow then Masson left with Raymond to take him to a doctor. When Raymond returned he wanted to go for a walk, so Meursault followed him. They came to a little spring where they spotted the two Arabs again. Meursault advised Raymond to give him his gun, hoping to keep Raymond from doing anything too rash. The Arabs slipped away, so he and Raymond left. When they got back to the bungalow, Meursault didn't feel like going up the steps and facing the women, but he also couldn't stand the blinding sun although he said to stay or go amounted to the same thing.

     Ultimately, he turned back to the beach and started walking. He was thinking about that cool spring where he thought he could find some relief from the sun, but as he approached he saw that Raymond's man was also back. The man put his hand in his pocket, so Meursault did the same and gripped Raymond's gun. He could have turned around, but he didn't. The Arab drew his knife and sun glinted off it shining into his eyes, so Meursault fired. He then fired four more shots, which ends part one of the book.