In Chap­ter 72 of “We Solve Mur­ders,” Eddie finds him­self at a crit­i­cal junc­ture as he nav­i­gates his next steps. With Amy, Rosie, and Steve hav­ing flown to Eng­land, a bribe at the air­field has con­firmed their arrival in the New For­est. Eddie, after perus­ing a map reveal­ing the area’s dense wood­ed ter­rain, decides to fol­low them to main­tain over­sight.

In what seems to be an advan­ta­geous move, Eddie opts not to inform Rob Ken­na about Amy; he sees her as some­one else’s con­cern and thus shifts his focus back to his mis­sion. Hav­ing retained most of Rob’s fif­teen grand, he books a stay at a hotel called The Pig—an ide­al retreat known for its tran­quil­i­ty, delec­table food, and pleas­ant staff, not to men­tion pic­turesque views of deer out­side his win­dow.

Despite the seren­i­ty, Eddie wres­tles with uncer­tain­ty about whether he is ready to pro­ceed with his plan. The moment must be per­fect; he rec­og­nizes that he only gets one chance at this. To solid­i­fy his deci­sion, he con­tem­plates a sig­nif­i­cant ques­tion: if he can shoot through a pane of glass in a high-rise build­ing, will it deflect the bul­let? If he can affirm this, he will feel pre­pared.

Eddie descends to the hotel din­ing room, keen for a peace­ful meal amid chaos. He appre­ci­ates the classi­ness and warmth of the restau­rant and looks for­ward to indulging in local­ly-sourced fish and chips, although he remains curi­ous about the bat­ter.

As he approach­es the din­ing area, sun­light reflects off a strik­ing ruby-and-emer­ald brooch worn by Rosie D’Antonio, who is sit­ting at a win­dow table con­vers­ing with an old­er man in a typ­i­cal coun­try­side out­fit. Real­iz­ing that Rosie could be stay­ing at the hotel com­pli­cates Eddie’s plans but could ulti­mate­ly work to his advan­tage. Thus, he retreats to his room to con­sid­er his next move and to final­ize prepa­ra­tions for the task at hand.

In Chap­ter 72 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Patch grap­ples with exhaus­tion as he cleans late into the night. Despite his fatigue, he feels a com­pul­sion to scrub the gallery floor, drop­ping to his knees in pain yet deter­mined. While clean­ing, he dis­cov­ers a hefty book on a glass table, cap­ti­vat­ed by an image of a woman resem­bling Ophe­lia from Shake­speare’s *Hamlet*—a stark visu­al of beau­ty inter­twined with nature.

Sam­my, a sharply dressed man with an air of flam­boy­ance, inter­rupts Patch’s rever­ie. Clad in styl­ish brogues and a neck­tie that seems out of place, Sam­my’s pres­ence hints at a charis­mat­ic yet men­ac­ing per­sona. When Patch denies read­ing *Ham­let*, Sammy’s mock­ing ques­tion about his school­ing leaves him silent. Their exchange is cut short by the appear­ance of a woman, flushed and clutch­ing a hand­bag, hint­ing at a pri­or con­ver­sa­tion as she pre­pares to leave. Sam­my’s jovial, almost pirate-like demeanor fades, and the mood dark­ens as he pre­pares to con­front Patch about a griev­ance.

Upon the wom­an’s depar­ture, Sam­my emp­ties the room of its light­ness, accus­ing Patch of attempt­ing to steal from him. Despite Patch’s protests of innocence—claiming he took nothing—Sammy implies that he is expect­ed to uphold a code of hon­or even among those who are deemed thieves. Sammy’s nar­ra­tive sug­gests he learned hard lessons in life and is poised to impart this wis­dom harsh­ly on Patch.

When Patch asks what he has tak­en, Sam­my reveals that he believes Patch pil­fered a ream of paper, assert­ing that some­one from the com­mu­ni­ty has labeled Patch a pirate. Patch, enraged, vehe­ment­ly denies this accu­sa­tion. How­ev­er, the con­ver­sa­tion takes a somber turn as Sam­my assures Patch that he will have to inform the agency of his actions, tight­en­ing the knot of anx­i­ety in Patch’s stom­ach as he imag­ines his moth­er receiv­ing the ter­ri­ble news of her job loss.

In defi­ance, Patch stands at the thresh­old and reveals the sketch­es of Grace he had tak­en, fling­ing the heavy paper at Sam­my in sym­bol­ic rebel­lion before depart­ing, watch­ing as his mem­o­ries fall to the ground, taint­ed and frag­ile. The chap­ter encap­su­lates a strug­gle between inno­cence and the harsh real­i­ties of sur­vival, leav­ing Patch on the cusp of cru­cial changes in his life.