After the argument with Libby, Avery assumes Oren overheard everything but will not comment. Needing a distraction, Avery returns to the search for the Davenport desk and reasons that Hawthorne House’s many libraries are the likeliest places to look.

Over the next two hours, Avery and Oren search four libraries before reaching a fifth, a second-floor room with slanted ceilings, paperback-lined shelves, and a stained-glass window. Avery finds no Davenport there and begins to feel that Tobias Hawthorne’s trail was not meant for her. Avery thinks she needs Jameson, then rejects the thought and leaves.

On the way downstairs, Avery hears piano music and follows it to a large room with open windows, paintings, and an enormous grand piano. Nan is seated at the bench, but Avery realizes the piano is playing remotely. Nan explains that a master musician elsewhere can make the keys move, then reveals that she once played piano until her husband broke her fingers for receiving too much attention. When Avery reacts with horror, Nan implies that her husband later died in a suspicious “tragic accident.”

Nash enters and gently accuses Nan of frightening Avery, but Nan says Avery will not last at Hawthorne House if she scares easily. After Nan leaves, Nash questions Avery about whether Libby knows she is exploring, and Avery defensively says yes. Nash warns Avery that Libby is bearing much of the pressure surrounding Avery’s inheritance, then counters Avery’s question about his intentions toward Libby by asking about Avery’s intentions toward Jameson.

Avery admits that Nash was right about Tobias Hawthorne’s game and Jameson’s motives. Nash warns that the closer Avery gets to the end, the worse the game will become, but Avery still wants answers and wants to win. When Avery asks whether Nash knows where Tobias might have hidden a Davenport desk, Nash suggests she has not checked every library after all.