Chap­ter 29 finds Patri­cia in a high­ly pre­car­i­ous sit­u­a­tion as she attempts to nav­i­gate her way through tense moments and a chaot­ic envi­ron­ment. On Thurs­day, Slick makes a call at 10:25 AM, express­ing her inten­tion to come, but with the con­di­tion that she won’t open any­thing that’s sealed. Patri­cia responds with a brief thank you, acknowl­edg­ing the risk involved in this dan­ger­ous endeav­or. When Slick admits her dis­com­fort with the sit­u­a­tion, Patri­cia, too, shares her con­cerns, but they press on, hop­ing that their col­lec­tive effort will speed things up. The phone call is the begin­ning of an unfold­ing dra­ma that is far from sim­ple, with both women ful­ly aware of the poten­tial con­se­quences.

Patricia’s day is filled with nor­mal activ­i­ties, such as drop­ping Blue off at Sat­ur­day school and run­ning errands. How­ev­er, her encounter with Mrs. Greene height­ens the ten­sion when she sees Slick’s white Saab parked in the dri­ve­way of James Harris’s home. The sight of the house, which had once belonged to Mrs. Sav­age, now trans­formed into a sprawl­ing man­sion, stirs up feel­ings of dis­com­fort in Patri­cia. As she approach­es the house, she can’t shake the eerie sense that some­thing is off, par­tic­u­lar­ly giv­en the ren­o­va­tions that have stripped the prop­er­ty of its orig­i­nal charm. Step­ping onto the porch, Patri­cia knocks, and Mrs. Greene answers, her casu­al demeanor mask­ing the ten­sion between them. The con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues with Patri­cia pre­tend­ing to search for lost keys, all while keep­ing an eye out for Slick.

As Patri­cia moves through the house, she is struck by the stark empti­ness that seems to echo in every room. The house feels cold, devoid of per­son­al touch, and Patri­cia notices the strange absence of famil­iar house­hold items. Her unease deep­ens when she heads upstairs, instinc­tive­ly know­ing that the answers they seek are like­ly hid­den with­in the upper floors. Each room she enters feels more ster­ile than the last, with no sign of per­son­al belong­ings or mean­ing­ful history—just an emp­ty shell of a home. The feel­ing of being watched hangs in the air, and Patricia’s dis­com­fort grows. She reach­es the mas­ter bed­room, where the decor is stark and uninvit­ing, devoid of any per­son­al­i­ty. As she explores fur­ther, she is greet­ed with more cold, untouched spaces. This cold­ness is bro­ken when Mrs. Greene catch­es up with her, mak­ing it clear that there is more to find.

Mrs. Greene, still act­ing as a guide, insists that Patri­cia should con­tin­ue her search, but Patri­cia is filled with a sense of futil­i­ty. The lack of any­thing valu­able or telling in the house only adds to the feel­ing of empti­ness that per­me­ates every cor­ner. Patricia’s mind races as she con­sid­ers the impli­ca­tions of what might be hid­den else­where. When the attic door is final­ly revealed, Patricia’s nerves are test­ed once more. The attic, with its neglect­ed state and unset­tling atmos­phere, holds the poten­tial for answers—or fur­ther dan­ger. With Mrs. Greene’s help, Patri­cia man­ages to open the attic door and is greet­ed by a dry, musty smell that fills the air. She climbs the lad­der, step­ping cau­tious­ly, aware that every move could bring dan­ger. The flash­light she uses flick­ers weak­ly, but it’s enough to reveal the dis­ar­ray in the attic. Amidst the clut­ter, Patri­cia finds the rem­nants of Mrs. Savage’s belong­ings, pre­served in a jum­ble of moth­balls, old suit­cas­es, and bro­ken fur­ni­ture. But it’s when she opens one suit­case that every­thing changes—the con­tents of which are far more hor­ri­fy­ing than she ever expect­ed.

Patricia’s reac­tion to the suitcase’s con­tents is vis­cer­al, as she stum­bles back, her body tense with fear and revul­sion. The dis­cov­ery con­firms that the sit­u­a­tion is far more dan­ger­ous than she could have imag­ined. The sight of Francine’s remains, hid­den under lay­ers of plas­tic and moth­balls, sends a shock­wave through Patri­cia, freez­ing her in place. Her heart races as she des­per­ate­ly tries to make sense of the hor­ror she’s uncov­ered. With trem­bling hands, she exam­ines the suit­case more close­ly, real­iz­ing the depth of the night­mare she’s been unwit­ting­ly drawn into. The attic, once a place of qui­et stor­age, now feels like a tomb—a dark and suf­fo­cat­ing space filled with secrets that Patri­cia can­not ignore. As she steps back, near­ly los­ing her bal­ance, she grips a beam above her to steady her­self. The fear that had been a dis­tant wor­ry now surges through her, stronger and more imme­di­ate than ever before.

Patricia’s thoughts swirl as she process­es what she’s just dis­cov­ered. The hor­ror of the sit­u­a­tion is over­whelm­ing, but there’s no time to dwell on it. She knows that every moment spent here is one step clos­er to dan­ger. The sounds of move­ment below her only serve to height­en her urgency. With every creak of the stairs and every muf­fled voice from down­stairs, she is remind­ed that James Har­ris could return at any moment. Her pulse quick­ens, and the weight of what she has uncov­ered begins to set­tle in. She needs to leave, but the thought of being caught in this house with such damn­ing evi­dence fills her with dread.