In Chap­ter 235 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Saint, engages in a heart-wrench­ing con­ver­sa­tion with Mar­ty Tooms about Cal­lie Mon­trose. As they talk, it becomes clear that Tooms is grap­pling with pro­found grief and regret. His tears reveal the emo­tion­al bur­den he’s car­ried regard­ing Cal­lie’s death, and as he recounts the events, the con­ver­sa­tion shifts between sor­row and mem­o­ries of love.

Tooms recalls the hem­or­rhage that occurred dur­ing Cal­lie’s pregnancy—an event he feels respon­si­ble for, even though it was beyond his con­trol. Through­out their dis­cus­sion, Toom­s’s emo­tion­al tur­moil is evi­dent. Saint learns that Cal­lie’s father is a cen­tral fig­ure in this tragedy, and when Tooms final­ly men­tions Nix, the depth of their con­nec­tion and love is revealed. Saint reflects on how their affec­tion unfold­ed amidst soci­etal judg­ment and per­son­al tur­moil.

Tooms had helped preg­nant girls in secret, a fact he nev­er dis­closed to Nix to pro­tect him from com­plic­i­ty in the scan­dal. His loy­al­ty to Cal­lie is unwa­ver­ing; he refus­es to betray her even after her pass­ing. Despite Nix’s fre­quent urg­ing for Tooms to recount the truth regard­ing Cal­lie’s sit­u­a­tion, Tooms stands firm in his belief that she deserves safe­guard­ing in death, just as she did in life.

The rev­e­la­tion sur­faces that Cal­lie’s father had assault­ed her, lead­ing to her preg­nan­cy and sub­se­quent demise. Tooms acts out of a fierce sense of duty to hon­or Cal­lie’s mem­o­ry and pro­tect her lega­cy. He had writ­ten to Richie, Cal­lie’s father, to warn him that he would not find peace. Saint con­tem­plates the moral com­plex­i­ties of betray­al and alle­giance as she real­izes the stakes involved in their trust and con­nec­tions.

As the chap­ter con­cludes, a poignant moment occurs when Saint embraces Tooms, illus­trat­ing an emo­tion­al exchange that under­scores the weight of the truths they’ve shared and the trust they’ve fos­tered. The chap­ter encap­su­lates themes of love, loss, and the dif­fi­cult choic­es peo­ple make when faced with betray­al and the pur­suit of jus­tice.