Chap­ter 87 begins with Eddie Flood wak­ing up after a full, rest­ful nine hours of sleep, feel­ing the effects of a sol­id rest as he pre­pares him­self men­tal­ly for the day. He under­stands the val­ue of good sleep, espe­cial­ly on the eve of such an impor­tant moment in his life. Today is a day that requires all of his focus and deter­mi­na­tion, and despite the chal­lenges and obsta­cles stacked in his path, Eddie feels ready. His expe­ri­ence with dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions gives him con­fi­dence, yet there’s still a small trace of ner­vous­ness that lingers, remind­ing him of the high stakes at hand. But this ner­vous­ness is not enough to over­shad­ow his readi­ness and com­mit­ment to what needs to be done. He knows this day could change every­thing, and his focus on the task ahead over­shad­ows any fleet­ing doubts he might feel.

Eddie begins his morn­ing rit­u­al with the method­i­cal process of pack­ing his bag, care­ful­ly orga­niz­ing each item he plans to take with him. The act of pack­ing feels almost med­i­ta­tive, as he works his way through each task with delib­er­ate pre­ci­sion. When he fin­ish­es, he takes a moment to pause and pats the bag for reas­sur­ance, a small ges­ture that reminds him of the impor­tance of his mis­sion. His plan for the day is straight­for­ward yet fraught with ten­sion: fol­low Rosie care­ful­ly through­out the day, keep­ing his dis­tance until the moment arrives when she is alone in her room. That is when Eddie will make his move. The care­ful buildup of his day—his every move­ment and thought—centers around this one, defin­ing moment. He knows that once he acts, there’s no turn­ing back.

As Eddie stands at the win­dow, his gaze lands on the sight before him—aluminum air-con­di­tion­ing ducts twist­ing and turn­ing against a decay­ing stone wall. The urban view, while mun­dane and unre­mark­able, serves as a reminder of the fleet­ing nature of wealth, of the fif­teen thou­sand dol­lars Rob Ken­na gen­er­ous­ly hand­ed him. The mon­ey, which once seemed like a small for­tune, now feels insignif­i­cant, almost as if it is slip­ping through his fin­gers, remind­ing him that time is run­ning out. That real­iza­tion strikes him hard, ampli­fy­ing his deter­mi­na­tion to act. Eddie knows that today is the day he must seize con­trol of his fate, and the urgency of the moment becomes clear­er with each pass­ing minute. It’s a crit­i­cal turn­ing point for him, one that he can­not afford to let pass by. The weight of the deci­sion is unde­ni­able, and with it, his resolve strength­ens.

As the min­utes pass and Eddie pre­pares to take action, his thoughts become sharp­er and more focused on the mis­sion at hand. There is no room for dis­trac­tion now—he is ful­ly immersed in the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion. His inner dia­logue fluc­tu­ates between excite­ment and ten­sion, and the antic­i­pa­tion of what he’s about to do fills him with a sense of pur­pose. Every small detail, every step tak­en toward this inevitable moment, rein­forces his belief that this is the right course of action. Eddie is keen­ly aware that today is not just any ordi­nary day; it is the day that will alter the course of his life. It’s a day where his choic­es will have last­ing con­se­quences, and the uncer­tain­ty of what comes next only adds to the inten­si­ty of the moment. With each breath, Eddie becomes more cer­tain that this piv­otal moment must be seized—there’s no turn­ing back from here. The pres­sure mounts, but so does his readi­ness, and as he moves toward his goal, the stakes have nev­er been high­er. Today, Eddie will face what he’s been prepar­ing for, and the out­come will shape every­thing that fol­lows.