In Chap­ter 139 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Saint observes a white van at the mud trails while three women don foren­sic suits. Patch, against her advice, lingers in the back­ground among win­ter-stripped trees. The Tooms farm­house stands resilient, hav­ing weath­ered sig­nif­i­cant storms, built just before the 1896 St. Louis tor­na­do. Saint, drawn to the house, reflects on its weath­ered beau­ty and the sur­round­ing wild land, not­ing the high bluestem grass and white birch trees begin­ning to change col­or.

Saint refrains from enter­ing the house, allow­ing the foren­sic team to con­duct their work, aware of recent judi­cial changes lead­ing to over­turned con­vic­tions for sev­er­al on death row. She recalls con­ver­sa­tions with Himes regard­ing genet­ic sequenc­ing, which fill her with uncer­tain­ty. As the team works dili­gent­ly through­out the day, mov­ing to an under­ground store lat­er, Saint observes the work being done, though grap­pling with the hor­ror of sort­ing through human remains.

As the foren­sic team con­cludes their work, Saint watch­es the van dri­ve away, leav­ing deep tracks in the grav­el. When Patch approach­es her after what felt like sev­en hours, she ques­tions when they will hear back about results. Saint is unsure, rec­og­niz­ing the com­plex­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion and the favors owed. The two share a moment on a slick rock, their knees brush­ing togeth­er, as Saint pours black cof­fee from her ther­mos.

She finds a mag­no­lia leaf, plac­ing it care­ful­ly in her pock­et, while the light rain does not dis­rupt their moment of reflec­tion. Patch express­es his hope that this case may lead to a res­o­lu­tion, con­tem­plat­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of find­ing clo­sure and locat­ing a long-lost fam­i­ly. Saint empathizes, acknowl­edg­ing Patch’s need for clo­sure in a painful­ly pro­longed jour­ney. The chap­ter encap­su­lates themes of resilience, the search for answers, and the quest for per­son­al res­o­lu­tion amid lin­ger­ing grief.