In Chap­ter 237 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the nar­ra­tive cap­tures a moment of ten­sion and reflec­tion as the pro­tag­o­nist, Saint, ends her long day. Just before set­tling into bed, she receives a phone call. Hav­ing just splashed water on her face in the bath­room, she grap­ples with the impli­ca­tions of her actions regard­ing Mar­ty Tooms. Black­jack, pre­sum­ably a secu­ri­ty fig­ure, is watch­ing Tooms as he’s escort­ed back to his cell. Despite the uncer­tain­ty sur­round­ing him, Saint con­tacts Jasper to inform him that Tooms, now in need of legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion, will retain him. Jasper’s groans about the late hour quick­ly shift to excite­ment as he real­izes the sen­sa­tion­al poten­tial of the news.

Saint is aware of the com­plex legal­i­ties involved; she under­stands that Tooms, regard­less of his past mis­takes, has served his sen­tence and deserves a sec­ond chance. How­ev­er, her emo­tions are heavy with the knowl­edge that there are deep­er reper­cus­sions at play, espe­cial­ly con­cern­ing her daugh­ter, Char­lotte. The rela­tion­ship between moth­er and daugh­ter is fraught, with Char­lotte har­bor­ing feel­ings of betray­al that may not eas­i­ly fade, even if Saint can ensure her father’s safe return.

Through­out this chap­ter, there’s an under­cur­rent of fatigue in Saint’s demeanor, which dulls her abil­i­ty to feel anger, espe­cial­ly towards Himes, who has cho­sen to place a trace on her phone line. This act, although it irri­tates her, res­onates with the neces­si­ty of vig­i­lance in her life. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in an inti­mate, poignant moment as Saint checks on Char­lotte, con­firm­ing her daugh­ter’s sleep, but also solid­i­fy­ing the lin­ger­ing ten­sion between them—highlighting the emo­tion­al stakes she faces in nav­i­gat­ing her fam­i­ly’s com­pli­cat­ed dynam­ics.

Saint’s reflec­tions and the heavy sense of inevitabil­i­ty sur­round­ing Tooms’ release serve as piv­otal ele­ments in this chap­ter, encap­su­lat­ing a com­plex inter­play of jus­tice, famil­ial bonds, and per­son­al choic­es.