In Chap­ter 117 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Saint, immers­es her­self in the city’s atmos­phere, engag­ing in activ­i­ties like attend­ing a the­ater per­for­mance of “Ham­let” and indulging in bar­be­cue chick­en dur­ing soli­tary din­ners. She reg­u­lar­ly returns home to see Jim­my, who has been with­drawn since his exam fail­ure. Their con­ver­sa­tions reveal ten­sion, par­tic­u­lar­ly when Jim­my reacts vio­lent­ly to her deci­sion to spend more time in Kansas.

Saint reflects on Jim­my’s anger, attribut­ing it to inse­cu­ri­ty, while also nav­i­gat­ing her own path toward self-improve­ment. She starts run­ning at dawn, grad­u­al­ly increas­ing her sta­mi­na. A vis­it to a local salon leads to a new hair­style, sig­nal­ing her desire to embrace change as she observes the evolv­ing fash­ion trends around her.

On Sun­days, she fre­quents the farmer’s mar­ket, chan­nel­ing her grand­moth­er’s nur­tur­ing spir­it as she selects fresh pro­duce, cook­ing enough to savor through­out the month. This rou­tine brings her peace in her soli­tary apart­ment, a space she appre­ci­ates more with­out Jim­my’s pres­ence. Their phone inter­ac­tions high­light the emo­tion­al dis­tance; he often remains ret­i­cent about her day, inten­si­fy­ing her soli­tude.

Evenings find Saint on her new sofa, lis­ten­ing to old inter­view tapes of Patch, whose wist­ful dec­la­ra­tion of miss­ing some­one res­onates with her own feel­ings of long­ing. The con­text of her mis­sion becomes clear­er as she con­tem­plates her trade with Himes: her search for Grace in exchange for FBI resources to locate Joseph Macauley. Train­ing with Himes’s team intro­duces her to a seri­ous side of crime-fight­ing, marked by his somber reminder of the stakes involved in their pur­suit.

Sain­t’s lunchtime inquiry into Himes’s motives reveals a per­son­al con­nec­tion; his hope for his daugh­ter evokes a sense of urgency to save Joseph before anoth­er harsh real­i­ty befalls him. Himes’s reflec­tions about luck and con­se­quences under­score the grav­i­ty of their mis­sion, pro­pelling Saint fur­ther into the com­plex­i­ties of her task as she con­tem­plates the moral impli­ca­tions of their pur­suit.