Chap­ter 31 of We Solve Mur­ders opens with Steve Wheel­er step­ping off a pri­vate jet onto the sul­try heat of South Car­oli­na, imme­di­ate­ly feel­ing out of place. Dressed in casu­al attire, he’s sharply aware of the con­trast between his usu­al Eng­lish sur­round­ings and the pol­ished envi­ron­ment around him. This cul­tur­al dis­par­i­ty is under­scored as Steve nav­i­gates the air­port, his mind pre­oc­cu­pied with the task ahead: help­ing Amy, a woman he admires great­ly, even though he strug­gles with per­son­al grief. They rarely delve into any­thing too emo­tion­al in their con­ver­sa­tions, pre­fer­ring to keep things light and uncom­pli­cat­ed. The weight of the task ahead hangs over him, but his focus on help­ing Amy keeps him going.

As Steve steps onto the tar­mac, his thoughts turn to Andrew Fair­banks, whose mys­te­ri­ous arrival at this very air­port has been a sig­nif­i­cant point of inter­est in the inves­ti­ga­tion. Fair­banks’ pres­ence seems to hold the key to unrav­el­ing the mys­tery Steve is try­ing to solve. Deter­mined to get to the bot­tom of it, Steve resolves to inves­ti­gate fur­ther. He recalls his brief inter­ac­tion with Brad, the flight atten­dant, who offers advice on sun pro­tec­tion. Steve declines, feel­ing both self-aware and a bit too self-dep­re­cat­ing for the well-mean­ing advice, as his mind is set sole­ly on his inves­ti­ga­tion into Fair­banks’ arrival and sud­den dis­ap­pear­ance.

Clutch­ing his ruck­sack, which looks rather out of place in the pris­tine sur­round­ings of the air­port, Steve is direct­ed toward cus­toms, where he meets Car­los Moss. The exchange between them is filled with Steve’s dry wit and attempts to gain access to areas of the air­port where he might find more clues. Car­los, how­ev­er, remains com­posed and cau­tious, remind­ing Steve that their ban­ter may lead to com­pli­ca­tions. Despite Steve’s play­ful attempts, Car­los main­tains a firm sense of author­i­ty and ensures that the bound­aries are clear. Steve’s deter­mi­na­tion is evi­dent as he push­es for a look at the airport’s CCTV footage, hop­ing that the footage might pro­vide insight into the mys­te­ri­ous ride that picked up Fair­banks.

Car­los, while ini­tial­ly hes­i­tant due to his oblig­a­tions and a sched­uled flight, begins to show a flick­er of curios­i­ty as Steve con­tin­ues to press him for access. Their con­ver­sa­tion grows more seri­ous, with Steve sug­gest­ing that the footage may hold vital infor­ma­tion. In an unex­pect­ed twist, the two bond over their music pref­er­ences, with Steve find­ing a way to nego­ti­ate with Car­los, offer­ing to engage in a friend­ly dis­cus­sion about their shared inter­ests in return for a glimpse at the cru­cial footage. The play­ful ban­ter shifts into more seri­ous nego­ti­a­tion, with Steve will­ing to use his charm and wit to gain the nec­es­sary access for his inves­ti­ga­tion.

Through this inter­ac­tion, Steve’s deter­mi­na­tion shines through. While he uses humor to light­en the mood, it’s clear that he is deeply focused on uncov­er­ing the truth behind Fair­banks’ mys­te­ri­ous arrival and dis­ap­pear­ance. The ban­ter between Car­los and Steve serves to devel­op their rela­tion­ship, mak­ing Car­los a key char­ac­ter who may have vital infor­ma­tion about the inves­ti­ga­tion. Steve’s will­ing­ness to push bound­aries, as well as his abil­i­ty to blend charm with per­sis­tence, marks a turn­ing point in the inves­ti­ga­tion. The chap­ter ends with Steve secur­ing an agree­ment to view the CCTV footage, set­ting the stage for a deep­er dive into the case and the clues that could unrav­el more about Fair­banks’ fate.

The inves­ti­ga­tion’s momen­tum con­tin­ues to build, with Steve’s approach to Car­los mark­ing a sub­tle yet sig­nif­i­cant move for­ward in their pur­suit of the truth. The nego­ti­a­tion over the CCTV footage is just one step in Steve’s larg­er plan to uncov­er the details sur­round­ing Fair­banks’ arrival at the air­port, his dis­ap­pear­ance, and how it ties into the broad­er mys­tery. The play­ful yet pur­pose­ful inter­ac­tion high­lights Steve’s skill in nav­i­gat­ing com­plex sit­u­a­tions, blend­ing his humor with the seri­ous­ness of his mis­sion. As the chap­ter clos­es, the stage is set for a deep­er explo­ration of the events sur­round­ing Fair­banks, and Steve is one step clos­er to unrav­el­ing the mys­tery that has been con­sum­ing his thoughts.