In Chap­ter 178 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Patch immers­es him­self in the vibrant atmos­phere of Man­hat­tan, tak­ing a soli­tary walk through its bustling streets. After cross­ing Sixth Avenue, he indulges in the sweet aro­ma of sug­ared almonds, a reminder of his emp­ty stom­ach, while pass­ing the carousel in Bryant Park—a sym­bol of Mid­town West­’s live­ly spir­it.

At Bar­bet­ta, Patch dines alone, savor­ing gar­ganel­li in toma­to and basil sauce, accom­pa­nied by red wine, which he tips heav­i­ly on. Reflect­ing on his soli­tude, he feels con­nect­ed to the foot­steps of some­one spe­cial as he walks through the late night and ear­ly morn­ing. As dawn breaks over the city, he wan­ders in the shad­ows of the Brook­lyn Bridge, where mem­o­ries of a past night in Boston resur­face, high­light­ing moments of fate and con­spir­a­cy.

Patch immers­es him­self in the Union Square Greenmarket’s buzz, observ­ing the vibrant hus­tle of shop­pers gath­er­ing fresh pro­duce and arti­san goods. He’s swept along by the mul­ti­tude of com­muters, tourists, and fam­i­lies dis­cussing Bat­tery Park, paus­ing momen­tar­i­ly to etch the sky­line fea­tur­ing the Twin Tow­ers into his mem­o­ry.

Once it’s a good hour, he meets with Sam­my at the Plaza, where they find a qui­et table. Sam­my, fresh from a tri­umphant sale, recounts their over­whelm­ing suc­cess, not­ing that new buy­ers are eager to pay dou­ble for the items sold. There’s an under­stand­ing between them regard­ing send­ing a por­tion of the sales to sup­port the fam­i­lies of miss­ing girls, a ges­ture intend­ed to pro­vide them a mea­sure of free­dom to grieve or seek res­o­lu­tion.

Lat­er, Char­lotte enters the cham­pagne bar, car­ry­ing a news­pa­per. As she joins Sam­my and Mrs. Mey­er, she spreads out the paper, show­ing them a full-page fea­ture in the Arts sec­tion with the head­line “A Pirate Takes Man­hat­tan.” Unable to sup­press her joy, Char­lotte turns away, real­iz­ing her father has made it to The New York Times, a sig­nif­i­cant recog­ni­tion that brings a beam­ing smile to her face, encap­su­lat­ing a moment of pride amidst the chap­ter’s heavy themes.