Chap­ter 27 begins with Patri­cia feel­ing a wave of uncer­tain­ty as she dri­ves down Rifle Range Road towards Six Mile. Her palms are sweaty as she grips the steer­ing wheel, the nerves gnaw­ing at her. Despite the dis­tance that has grown between her­self and Mrs. Greene, she attempts to con­vince her­self that the vis­it is noth­ing out of the ordi­nary. Maybe Mrs. Greene won’t be home, and that would offer her an easy escape from the dis­com­fort she’s feel­ing. The new devel­op­ment along the road brings a strange sense of dis­con­nec­tion, with emp­ty hous­es and For Sale signs lit­ter­ing the once vibrant com­mu­ni­ty. Patri­cia feels the change, not just in the phys­i­cal land­scape but in her­self. She’s com­ing to terms with the qui­et after years of tur­moil, yet her unease is pal­pa­ble as she pulls into Mrs. Greene’s dri­ve­way.

The high-pitched noise of con­struc­tion from the near­by Gra­cious Cay site assaults Patricia’s sens­es, adding to her ten­sion. She raps on the win­dow and waits, but there’s no response. In a small relief, Patri­cia starts to walk back to her car, but her atten­tion is caught by Mrs. Greene’s voice. Sur­prised, Patri­cia turns to find Mrs. Greene stand­ing at the door, look­ing unkempt and tired. The con­ver­sa­tion begins with pleas­antries, but Patri­cia quick­ly notices the exhaus­tion on Mrs. Greene’s face. She learns that Mrs. Greene works long hours between her clean­ing job and stock­ing shelves at Wal­mart, some­thing that takes a toll on her well-being. Yet, despite the fatigue, Mrs. Greene main­tains a cer­tain lev­el of pride in her inde­pen­dence.

Their con­ver­sa­tion turns to fam­i­ly, and Patri­cia is remind­ed of the stark dif­fer­ences in their lives. Mrs. Greene’s chil­dren, Jesse and Aaron, live far away, and Patri­cia sens­es the sad­ness in her voice as she talks about the two boys. The ten­sion grows as Patri­cia inquires about Mrs. Greene’s thoughts on the changes in the com­mu­ni­ty, espe­cial­ly the large-scale con­struc­tion hap­pen­ing around them. Mrs. Greene’s refusal to leave, cit­ing her attach­ment to the church, high­lights her deep roots in the area, even as the world around her is chang­ing. Patri­cia, feel­ing a sense of guilt about her own depar­ture from Six Mile and the changes in her own fam­i­ly, offers to help Mrs. Greene with some clean­ing. How­ev­er, Mrs. Greene, now work­ing for a clean­ing ser­vice, seems less inter­est­ed in small talk and more resigned to her cur­rent sit­u­a­tion.

Patricia’s dis­com­fort grows as Mrs. Greene reveals the nature of her work for the clean­ing ser­vice, high­light­ing the imper­son­al, detached nature of her job. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts to a more per­son­al top­ic as Patri­cia brings up Miss Mary, a fig­ure from their past who looms large in Patricia’s mem­o­ry. Mrs. Greene’s reac­tion to the men­tion of Miss Mary is sub­tle, yet Patri­cia sens­es a deep­er, unspo­ken con­nec­tion to the elder­ly woman. The past and its painful mem­o­ries con­tin­ue to weigh on both women, and the ten­sion in the room becomes pal­pa­ble. As the con­ver­sa­tion turns to the sub­ject of the chil­dren, Patri­cia finds her­self ques­tion­ing the choic­es she made years ago. She nev­er ful­ly under­stood Mrs. Greene’s strug­gles or her own role in the changes that took place.

Patricia’s dis­com­fort reach­es its peak when she broach­es the sub­ject of the pho­to­graph. Mrs. Greene’s response is defen­sive, and Patri­cia feels the walls go up between them. She is des­per­ate for answers, yet every attempt to gain insight is met with resis­tance. The pho­to­graph she holds in her hands, an image of two men from years ago, one of whom bears an uncan­ny resem­blance to James Har­ris, becomes the focal point of their con­ver­sa­tion. Patri­cia press­es Mrs. Greene for answers, yet she is met with skep­ti­cism and con­fu­sion. The pho­to­graph, along with the unset­tling mem­o­ries it stirs up, forces Patri­cia to con­front the haunt­ing ques­tions that have plagued her for years.

Mrs. Greene’s reluc­tance to share the pho­to­graph is under­stand­able, giv­en the emo­tion­al weight it car­ries. As she hands the pic­ture over, Patri­cia is struck by its age and poor qual­i­ty, but it’s the man in the pho­to who haunts her. The resem­blance to James Har­ris is unde­ni­able, and the con­nec­tion to their past grows clear­er. The writ­ing on the back of the pho­to­graph, dat­ing it to 1928, sends a chill down Patricia’s spine. James Har­ris, despite the years that have passed, appears unchanged. Mrs. Greene, in her qui­et way, acknowl­edges the unset­tling nature of the pho­to­graph, but she refus­es to enter­tain the idea of con­fronting the truth. She seems to have accept­ed the hor­rors of the past as a part of her real­i­ty, but Patri­cia is not ready to let go.

Patri­cia, filled with a mix of fear and deter­mi­na­tion, real­izes that the answers she seeks may lie in con­fronting the past head-on. Mrs. Greene’s unwill­ing­ness to face the truth becomes a road­block, but Patri­cia knows that she can­not ignore the pho­to­graph any longer. The unset­tling feel­ing in her gut grows as she con­sid­ers the impli­ca­tions of what she’s learned. The real­iza­tion that James Har­ris may be far more dan­ger­ous than she ever imag­ined forces Patri­cia to act. She knows that the time for hes­i­ta­tion is over; the children’s safe­ty, her family’s safe­ty, is on the line.

As Patri­cia stands in Mrs. Greene’s house, torn between the past and present, she is faced with a dif­fi­cult deci­sion. The pho­to­graph and the grow­ing evi­dence point to the real­i­ty that James Har­ris is not just a fig­ure from their past—he’s a threat that has lin­gered for decades. Patri­cia knows that con­fronting this threat will not be easy, but the stakes are too high to ignore. Mrs. Greene’s warn­ings about the con­se­quences of fac­ing the truth weigh heav­i­ly on her, but Patri­cia can­not turn back now. She must find a way to stop James Har­ris, no mat­ter the cost.