Avery and the others split up to pursue the two clues from the envelope: the unknown seal or disk and the number 363-1982. Because the disk remains unidentified, Avery focuses on the number. Grayson investigates financial records, Xander, Thea, and Rebecca examine December 29, 1982, and Avery and Jameson begin testing the number as a phone number with different area codes.

After many failed calls, Avery searches the number online and finds only scattered possibilities, including a housing discrimination case, a valuable baseball card, and an Episcopal hymn. Then Thea receives a call from a blocked number and immediately hands the phone to Avery. Toby’s captor asks, “Who am I?” and makes clear that he knew the disk’s worth when he sent it as proof that Toby was alive.

Jameson urges Avery to ask about the disk, but the captor refuses to explain and mocks guessing as weakness. The captor reveals that a program was installed on Thea’s phone, allowing him to track and listen to the group. Because he knows Avery is in Tobias Hawthorne’s study, he tells her that he is tired of waiting and instructs her to “look up” before ending the call.

Oren destroys Thea’s compromised phone to stop the surveillance, while Avery reasons through the captor’s clue. Since the captor could hear but likely could not see her position, Avery imagines where someone would expect her to be in Tobias Hawthorne’s “inner sanctum.” She sits at Tobias’s desk, then stands on the other side and looks up.

Avery’s gaze lands on the wall displaying the Hawthorne grandsons’ trophies, medals, creative works, photographs, and patents. The patents catch Avery’s attention because each certificate has a seven-digit number, linking them to the 363-1982 clue and suggesting that the number may not be a phone number at all.