In Chap­ter 41 of We Solve Mur­ders, Max High­field arrives at The Wilber­force, a pri­vate mem­bers’ club in Lon­don that oozes sophis­ti­ca­tion and wealth. The atmos­phere is one of qui­et ele­gance, with its oak pan­el­ing, pol­ished leather chairs, and the low hum of con­ver­sa­tion that indi­cates both exclu­siv­i­ty and tra­di­tion. Max, who is famil­iar with this set­ting from past film shoots, expects a straight­for­ward entrance, but he is imme­di­ate­ly con­front­ed by a stern porter. The porter refus­es him entry due to the train­ers Max is wear­ing, cit­ing the club’s strict dress code. Max protests, argu­ing that his train­ers are expen­sive and styl­ish, but the porter remains unmoved. After a brief exchange, dur­ing which the porter rec­og­nizes Max as a film star, he relents and offers Max a pair of brown brogues to wear instead. Max is not pleased with the shoes, as they clash with his out­fit, but he accepts them, aware that his need for pri­va­cy and dis­cre­tion in the meet­ing out­weighs his fash­ion con­cerns. Despite the incon­ve­nience, Max choos­es to com­ply, feel­ing a mix of frus­tra­tion and res­ig­na­tion. The exchange brings to light Max’s abil­i­ty to adapt to uncom­fort­able sit­u­a­tions, a skill honed over the years through both his work in the pub­lic eye and per­son­al expe­ri­ences.

As Max puts on the ill-fit­ting shoes, his mind drifts to the com­plex­i­ties of his rela­tion­ships and pro­fes­sion­al strug­gles. He reflects on his dete­ri­o­rat­ing con­nec­tion with Jeff Nolan, his estranged friend who has been dis­tant and unre­spon­sive. This silence leaves Max ques­tion­ing what might have caused the rift and whether it’s some­thing that can be repaired. In con­trast, Max finds a sense of oppor­tu­ni­ty in his deal­ings with Henk van Veen, real­iz­ing that align­ing with Henk could poten­tial­ly ben­e­fit his career. How­ev­er, as Max men­tal­ly pre­pares for the meet­ing, his unease grows when he recalls the threat­en­ing note he recent­ly received, which chill­ing­ly states, “You will die, High­field.” The note, though vague, sends a wave of anx­i­ety through Max, and he can’t shake the feel­ing that the mes­sage could be con­nect­ed to the larg­er web of threats sur­round­ing him. As he con­tin­ues to digest this dis­turb­ing piece of news, he turns to his ther­a­pist’s advice for com­fort, remind­ing him­self to focus on mov­ing for­ward rather than dwelling on the dan­gers that might lie ahead. Despite the guid­ance, Max remains unsure of how to bal­ance his per­son­al growth with his pro­fes­sion­al dri­ve. He ques­tions whether his ambi­tion is push­ing him too far or if he’s mere­ly play­ing the role that soci­ety expects of him.

As the porter leads Max toward the library where he is to meet Henk, Max feels a mix of antic­i­pa­tion and appre­hen­sion. He’s accus­tomed to fac­ing chal­lenges head-on, but this sit­u­a­tion feels dif­fer­ent. He reflects on how ther­a­py has helped him man­age his emo­tions bet­ter over the years, yet some of the ther­a­pist’s advice regard­ing his ambi­tions and rela­tion­ships con­tin­ues to feel out of place. Max has spent much of his life chas­ing suc­cess and recog­ni­tion, and it is not easy for him to change his mind­set. Though he’s made progress in con­trol­ling his reac­tions, the pres­sures of his career, com­bined with the per­son­al threats, have left him feel­ing con­flict­ed. As Max ascends the stairs to meet Henk, he is marked by a sense of fore­bod­ing, under­stand­ing that the con­ver­sa­tion ahead could either pro­vide answers or lead to more com­pli­ca­tions. The weight of the uncer­tain­ty he faces in his career and per­son­al life inten­si­fies with each step. Nev­er­the­less, Max is res­olute in his deter­mi­na­tion to nav­i­gate these chal­lenges, know­ing that what­ev­er unfolds will shape the course of his future.