In Chap­ter 149 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the nar­ra­tive begins with Saint awak­en­ing ear­ly and explor­ing a down­town area rich in his­to­ry, marked by build­ings from the first gold rush. With her cam­era in hand, she doc­u­ments sites such as the Chi­nese Laun­dry House and the Pol­lock House, reflect­ing on the min­ers who forged the town, char­ac­ter­ized by resilience and tragedy. As she col­lects a conker from a horse chest­nut case, she finds her­self con­tem­plat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of life and loss.

Dur­ing her vis­it to a toy store, Saint exam­ines a wood­en train and perus­es shelves filled with a wide range of books, includ­ing chil­dren’s tales and his­tor­i­cal works. Her obser­va­tions are inter­rupt­ed by a heart­warm­ing inter­ac­tion between a moth­er and son, which prompts her to note the title of “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Upon return­ing to her motel, Saint encoun­ters Patch, who appears weary after dri­ving straight through the night. Their exchange is brief but filled with unspo­ken emo­tions, cul­mi­nat­ing in a somber jour­ney to the police sta­tion to meet with Mrs. Reynolds. Patch car­ries a large pack­age con­tain­ing a paint­ing of their daugh­ter. The reunion, steeped in nos­tal­gia, reveals the last­ing bonds of fam­i­ly, regard­less of time’s pas­sage.

Lat­er, in the Blue Riv­er Café, Patch strug­gles with the mem­o­ries of a girl he nev­er knew, the weight of loss bear­ing down on him. Saint shares that the DNA results from the Tooms farm revealed no match­es among numer­ous sam­ples, cast­ing a shad­ow over their hopes for clo­sure. Patch’s frus­tra­tion erupts when he slams his fist on the table, shat­ter­ing cups, prompt­ing Saint to inter­vene with the wait­ress.

As the day turns to evening, the con­ver­sa­tion shifts to the unre­solved cas­es of Sum­mer Reynolds and Cal­lie Mon­trose. Saint con­tem­plates Richie Montrose’s recent bar brawl, illus­trat­ing the entan­gled lives with­in their inves­ti­ga­tion. Patch’s anguish about the poten­tial num­ber of vic­tims adds a lay­er of urgency and despair, pos­ing a haunt­ing ques­tion about the fate of the girls he has paint­ed. The chap­ter encap­su­lates themes of loss, famil­ial bonds, and the relent­less search for truth amidst haunt­ing mem­o­ries.