In Chap­ter 72 of We Solve Mur­ders, Eddie Flood finds him­self at a cross­roads, men­tal­ly prepar­ing for the next phase of his mis­sion. After suc­cess­ful­ly brib­ing some­one at the air­field, he con­firms that Amy, Rosie, and Steve have land­ed in Eng­land and are mak­ing their way toward the New For­est. With their move­ments now trace­able, Eddie stud­ies a detailed map, tak­ing note of the thick­ly wood­ed ter­rain that sur­rounds their des­ti­na­tion. The vast­ness of the land­scape offers both an oppor­tu­ni­ty and a challenge—perfect for eva­sion, but also for ambush. Instead of imme­di­ate­ly fol­low­ing them, he decides to exer­cise cau­tion, know­ing that patience is often the key to suc­cess. He also resolves not to inform Rob Ken­na about Amy’s pres­ence; after all, that is some­one else’s prob­lem. His focus remains locked on his pri­ma­ry objec­tive, one that he knows will require pre­ci­sion and care­ful exe­cu­tion.

After pock­et­ing the major­i­ty of the £15,000 Rob had giv­en him, Eddie choos­es to set­tle into an upscale coun­try hotel known as The Pig. Tucked away in an idyl­lic coun­try­side set­ting, the hotel is renowned for its fresh, local­ly-sourced cui­sine, impec­ca­ble ser­vice, and a charm­ing yet dis­creet atmosphere—a per­fect place to regroup while keep­ing a close watch on events. His room over­looks a pic­turesque view of rolling green fields, where red deer can be seen graz­ing just beyond the tree line. To an ordi­nary guest, this peace­ful scene would inspire relax­ation, but for Eddie, it serves as a stark con­trast to the tur­moil brew­ing in his mind. The hotel’s cozy decor, rus­tic ele­gance, and scent of fresh­ly baked bread make it almost impos­si­ble to believe he is here to orches­trate some­thing far more sin­is­ter. Yet, despite the seren­i­ty of the set­ting, his mind remains tan­gled in cal­cu­la­tions, prob­a­bil­i­ties, and contingencies—all cru­cial ele­ments of what lies ahead.

As Eddie tries to set­tle in, he con­tem­plates the mechan­ics of his poten­tial attack, run­ning through dif­fer­ent sce­nar­ios. A seem­ing­ly minor but cru­cial ques­tion gnaws at him: if he were to fire a shot through a win­dow, would the glass deflect the bul­let? If the angle is wrong, if the glass shat­ters unpre­dictably, or if the resis­tance is high­er than expect­ed, it could alter his tra­jec­to­ry com­plete­ly. He can­not afford mis­cal­cu­la­tions. He mulls over these tech­ni­cal­i­ties while pac­ing near his win­dow, his fin­gers brush­ing over the sleek sur­face of his care­ful­ly con­cealed weapon. He assures him­self that he has only one oppor­tu­ni­ty to act, and any error could cost him more than just money—it could cost him his life.

With his nerves on edge, Eddie decides to head down­stairs for a meal, hop­ing that a good plate of food might pro­vide a momen­tary dis­trac­tion from the weight of his mis­sion. The din­ing room, with its warm light­ing and soft mur­mur of con­ver­sa­tions, presents an almost sur­re­al scene of normalcy—couples enjoy­ing wine, fam­i­lies shar­ing sto­ries, and busi­ness­men lost in their screens. He scans the menu, even­tu­al­ly set­tling on a clas­sic fish and chips, though his mind remains pre­oc­cu­pied. As the wait­er takes his order, Eddie catch­es a glint of some­thing strik­ing in the dim light—a ruby-and-emer­ald brooch adorn­ing the shoul­der of a woman seat­ed near the win­dow. His pulse quick­ens when he real­izes who it belongs to: Rosie D’Antonio.

Rosie is deep in con­ver­sa­tion with an old­er gen­tle­man, dressed in an under­stat­ed but ele­gant coun­try­side ensem­ble, exud­ing an air of qui­et con­fi­dence. Eddie clench­es his jaw, know­ing her pres­ence here changes every­thing. If Rosie is in the hotel, it means she is like­ly stay­ing near­by, which pos­es both a risk and an oppor­tu­ni­ty. He must reassess his strat­e­gy care­ful­ly; too much move­ment or atten­tion drawn toward him­self could alert her, and the last thing he needs is for Rosie to become sus­pi­cious of his pres­ence. This new vari­able forces Eddie to recon­sid­er his next move.

Instead of lin­ger­ing in the din­ing area, Eddie makes a cal­cu­lat­ed deci­sion to return to his room. His steps are steady, but his mind is rac­ing with pos­si­bil­i­ties. Could Rosie be involved in some­thing larg­er than he antic­i­pat­ed? Has she already sensed his pres­ence, or is this pure­ly a coin­ci­dence? He knows he can­not afford to make assump­tions, and from this point for­ward, every choice he makes must be mea­sured and pre­cise. As he clos­es his door behind him, Eddie takes a deep breath, stead­ies his hands, and begins prepar­ing for what comes next.