In the week fol­low­ing a trau­mat­ic event, the pro­tag­o­nist, Saint, finds her­self in the haunt­ing land­scape near the San Xavier del Bac mis­sion church, nav­i­gat­ing through a world col­ored by her mem­o­ries of pain and long­ing for Jim­my. She checks into a mod­est hotel in San Car­los, where she remains iso­lat­ed for three days, grap­pling with her past while try­ing to hide the truth from her friend Nor­ma.

One Tues­day morn­ing, an urgent call pulls her from her intro­spec­tion. She learns from a vis­i­bly shak­en bank teller that a sus­pect emerged just moments ear­li­er, direct­ing her pur­suit. Saint speeds down treach­er­ous moun­tain roads, recall­ing the folk­lore and her con­nec­tion to the Super­sti­tious Moun­tains, all the while feel­ing the weight of her badge and her past.

As she dri­ves, she catch­es sight of a famil­iar figure—a boy she once cher­ished, now a man turned away from her. With trep­i­da­tion, she approach­es him, not­ing changes in his appear­ance but feel­ing a pow­er­ful emo­tion­al pull as he engages her in con­ver­sa­tion. Their dis­cus­sion dances between hope and despair, touch­ing upon a girl named Eloise Strike, whom he believes is sig­nif­i­cant to him. This sparks a bit­ter­sweet acknowl­edg­ment of lost poten­tial and dreams.

Saint’s heart aches as they dis­cuss fam­i­ly, smiles, and the inno­cence of chil­dren at the lake, draw­ing her deep­er into the nos­tal­gia of bet­ter times. How­ev­er, the tone shifts as she is forced to con­front her duty. She reveals to him the truth about Jim­my and the vio­lence she endured. The moment is laden with ten­sion as he grap­ples with his own guilt and grief.

When he steps clos­er, their con­nec­tion is pal­pa­ble; she allows her­self to feel com­fort in his pres­ence, yet the neces­si­ty of her role as an offi­cer weighs heav­i­ly on her. Ulti­mate­ly, the con­ver­sa­tion spi­rals into a heart-wrench­ing rev­e­la­tion about a mur­dered girl. The trust between them begins to frac­ture as Patch refus­es to relin­quish his quest for redemp­tion.

Their exchange cul­mi­nates in trag­ic urgency, lead­ing Saint to a dire deci­sion when he attempts to flee. Torn between her emo­tions and her respon­si­bil­i­ties, she pulls the trig­ger, frac­tur­ing the rem­nants of their bond and con­fronting the harsh real­i­ty of her role in a cycle of vio­lence and loss.