Avery returns to the solarium after another failed lead, still unsettled by Toby’s captor’s promise to be in touch. Inside, Avery finds Eve photographing one of the files because the records cannot leave the room. Eve is exhausted and emotional, but Avery reassures Eve that the idea is not foolish and tells Eve she needs sleep.

Avery then checks Jameson’s wing and her own, but Jameson is not there. Avery thinks about how painful it was to learn new truths about her mother and how Libby helped Avery remember what had truly mattered. Avery wonders what comfort could possibly help Jameson, Xander, or the others reconcile themselves to Tobias Hawthorne’s brilliance, manipulations, conscience, and choices.

Xander’s memory of Tobias’s final words stays with Avery: by the time the game is over, Xander will know what kind of man Tobias was and what kind of man Xander wants to be. Avery questions what “over” meant—finding Xander’s father, completing Tobias’s final games, or something broader.

Needing progress and distraction after two days of stalling on the kidnapper’s riddle, Avery turns back to the leather satchel and lays out the unused objects: the steamer, flashlight, beach towel, and blue-green glass circle. Repeating the clue “Don’t breathe,” Avery focuses on the towel and the circle’s color. Avery realizes the clue points toward situations in which someone stops breathing, especially being underwater.