In Chap­ter 143 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Misty dri­ves an ’85 Mus­tang with Patch as they nav­i­gate onto Inter­state 35. Dressed in boots and a rain­coat, her blonde hair is con­cealed beneath a cream woolen hat. They pause by the Gold Run Riv­er, where Patch opens the win­dow to feel the seren­i­ty of nature, not­ing the silence that envelops them. The scene tran­si­tions as they stop beside a deep, nar­row box canyon, evok­ing images of Grace, whose body has long returned to the earth.

As Misty reclines her seat, she soon drifts into sleep, leav­ing Patch alone with his thoughts until day­break. He exits the car to gaze at the expan­sive, leaf-cov­ered wood­land, rec­og­niz­ing the site extends over a mil­lion acres. Misty takes his hand, guid­ing him through a steep ter­rain where they encounter fall­en joists. Here, Patch recalls Toom­s’s vague accounts of his actions regard­ing a young girl’s trag­ic end.

The envi­ron­ment is depict­ed vivid­ly, a great oak inter­twin­ing with the sky, while Patch seeks a stream that glim­mers like shat­tered glass over rough rocks. Fol­low­ing Saint’s instruc­tions, they progress through the short­leaf pine until reach­ing a rust­ed sign. Patch declares, “This is it,” sig­nal­ing the loca­tion they had sought.

Misty, breath­ing heav­i­ly, reflects on their slow pace along an all-weath­er grav­el road, which has not been tra­versed for some time. Saint’s detailed map­ping has helped them trace a route from Mon­ta Clare, along an area where Tooms could have accessed the for­est. As they ascend a steep trail, Patch express­es dis­be­lief that Tooms could have car­ried the girl such a dis­tance, the chill­ing thought caus­ing Misty to snug her hat and coat tighter.

Their descent uncov­ers secrets of the ter­rain as they exam­ine the dirt search­ing for clues. Even­tu­al­ly, they arrive with­in sight of the access road, prompt­ing Misty to recall a storm that had hin­dered trav­el dur­ing her abduc­tion. Patch con­tem­plates the implications—if the road was blocked, it would have been impos­si­ble for Tooms to bury the girl there.

As they return, silent and reflec­tive, Patch makes a call from home. Saint, as usu­al, is quick to respond. Despite their con­ver­sa­tion, Patch insists on the deceit of Tooms, while the pos­si­bil­i­ty of the girl being alive lingers unset­tling­ly in the air. The chap­ter clos­es with a blend of ten­sion and uncer­tain­ty as they grap­ple with the impli­ca­tions of their find­ings.