Chap­ter 28 begins with an unex­pect­ed phone call that sets a chain of events into motion. Patri­cia receives a call from Slick, who is eager to brain­storm ideas for an upcom­ing Hal­loween cel­e­bra­tion. How­ev­er, Patri­cia is tak­en aback when Slick reveals she has decid­ed to throw a Ref­or­ma­tion Par­ty instead of cel­e­brat­ing Hal­loween in its tra­di­tion­al form. Slick explains that her deci­sion stems from her strong oppo­si­tion to Hal­loween, par­tic­u­lar­ly due to its asso­ci­a­tion with Satanism, and she pro­pos­es that they hon­or the Ref­or­ma­tion instead. With a blend of humor and pas­sion, she begins out­lin­ing her plans, which include cos­tumes based on his­tor­i­cal fig­ures like Mar­tin Luther, John Calvin, and oth­er heroes of the Ref­or­ma­tion. As the con­ver­sa­tion unfolds, Patri­cia feels the weight of the fold­er in her purse, its con­tents burn­ing through the fab­ric, but she push­es the thought aside to engage with Slick. Despite the odd nature of the theme, Patri­cia can’t help but be amused by the cre­ative spin Slick puts on it, such as mak­ing a “Diet of Worms” cake and plan­ning reverse trick-or-treat­ing.

As Slick con­tin­ues with her par­ty plans, Patricia’s thoughts are dis­tract­ed by the pho­to­graph and the fold­er hid­den in her purse. She begins to feel the pres­sure of the mount­ing dan­ger around her and the grow­ing sense of urgency. Slick’s care­free atti­tude seems to con­trast sharply with Patricia’s grow­ing unease, and the dis­so­nance only deep­ens her resolve. She had hoped that the past few years of peace meant that the worst was behind her, but as the con­ver­sa­tion unfolds, she can’t shake the feel­ing that James Harris’s dark influ­ence still lingers. Slick, in her usu­al opti­mistic way, brush­es aside Patricia’s con­cerns, insist­ing that every­thing is fine. But Patri­cia can­not ignore the pho­to­graph that has been tor­ment­ing her—its unset­tling famil­iar­i­ty and the eerie con­nec­tion it has to James Har­ris. The evi­dence she holds in her hands is unde­ni­able, yet she fears the con­se­quences of con­fronting the truth.

Patri­cia strug­gles with the deci­sion to reveal the pho­to­graph to Slick, know­ing that doing so could poten­tial­ly undo the progress she’s made. She has tried so hard to move for­ward, to con­vince her­self that things were dif­fer­ent now. But the real­i­ty is impos­si­ble to ignore: chil­dren are still dis­ap­pear­ing, and James Har­ris is at the cen­ter of it all. Slick, in her usu­al prag­mat­ic way, urges Patri­cia to ignore the past and focus on the present, to leave the past behind and not dredge it up again. But Patricia’s instincts refuse to let go of the sus­pi­cion that some­thing dark­er is at play. With the weight of her deci­sions bear­ing down on her, Patri­cia final­ly pulls the fold­er from her purse and lays it on the table. Slick’s reac­tion is imme­di­ate, but not in the way Patri­cia had hoped. As she picks up the pho­to, her fin­gers tight­en around it, and her expres­sion grows unread­able. She looks at Patri­cia with a mix­ture of dis­be­lief and con­cern. The ten­sion is pal­pa­ble as Patri­cia press­es for an expla­na­tion, urg­ing Slick to see the truth.

The con­ver­sa­tion between the two women becomes increas­ing­ly tense, as Patri­cia lays out the evi­dence before Slick. She reveals the trag­ic pat­tern that has unfold­ed over the past few years, link­ing the dis­ap­pear­ances and deaths of chil­dren to James Har­ris. Each case, from the mys­te­ri­ous death of a young boy in Awen­daw to the strange and unex­plained cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the death of a lit­tle girl in North Charleston, seems to echo the same dark force. Slick’s response is filled with skep­ti­cism, as she tries to ratio­nal­ize the events, attribut­ing them to coin­ci­dence. How­ev­er, Patri­cia can’t ignore the grow­ing num­ber of chil­dren who have been lost to this pat­tern of death and suf­fer­ing. The weight of the past three years hangs heavy on her, and as the pieces of the puz­zle begin to fit togeth­er, Patricia’s frus­tra­tion builds. She is des­per­ate for Slick to see what she sees, to under­stand the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion.

Patricia’s voice trem­bles with con­vic­tion as she press­es Slick for answers, demand­ing to know why James Har­ris has remained unchanged over the years, while every­one around him has aged. How is it pos­si­ble that he looks the same now as he did years ago? This ques­tion becomes the cen­tral focus of Patricia’s inves­ti­ga­tion, as the pho­to­graph and the let­ters from the past all point to the same unset­tling con­clu­sion. Slick’s resis­tance to acknowl­edg­ing the truth grows more appar­ent, as she tries to deflect Patricia’s prob­ing ques­tions. But Patricia’s mind is made up. She can­not let the past slip into obliv­ion, espe­cial­ly when it con­cerns the safe­ty of the chil­dren she holds dear. The con­ver­sa­tion between them reach­es a boil­ing point, and Patricia’s frus­tra­tion gives way to a sharp, demand­ing tone. She is no longer will­ing to stay silent, to ignore the evi­dence that has been star­ing her in the face for so long. She press­es Slick for an expla­na­tion, cer­tain that the answers lie with­in the dark his­to­ry that James Har­ris has been hid­ing.

As Patri­cia con­tin­ues to lay out the time­line of events, her deter­mi­na­tion grows stronger. She speaks of the dis­ap­pear­ances, the strange deaths, and the pat­tern that has per­sist­ed, all of it point­ing back to James Har­ris. Slick’s attempt to dis­miss Patricia’s con­cerns is met with Patricia’s unwa­ver­ing resolve. She insists that the deaths are no acci­dent, that there is some­thing far more sin­is­ter at play. The more Slick tries to down­play the sit­u­a­tion, the more Patricia’s sense of urgency inten­si­fies. She knows that time is run­ning out, and the longer they wait, the more chil­dren will fall vic­tim to what­ev­er malev­o­lent force is lurk­ing behind the scenes. Patri­cia can no longer ignore the evi­dence, and with the weight of the truth press­ing down on her, she makes a deci­sion: she will con­front James Har­ris, no mat­ter the cost.

Slick’s reluc­tance to believe that James Har­ris is capa­ble of such hor­rors only strength­ens Patricia’s resolve. She knows that she can­not do this alone, but she also real­izes that her search for jus­tice will not be easy. As the chap­ter ends, Patri­cia steels her­self for the dan­ger­ous path ahead. She knows that the truth will not be easy to con­front, but she also knows that it is the only way to stop the cycle of vio­lence that has plagued her com­mu­ni­ty. With the pho­to­graph still fresh in her mind, Patri­cia pre­pares for the next steps in her inves­ti­ga­tion, know­ing that every moment counts.