Avery finds Jameson on the climbing wall and tells him that Tobias Hawthorne left Avery a game designed to activate if Avery ever met Eve. Jameson immediately drops from a dangerous height, then apologizes for the previous night before focusing on the puzzle. Avery explains that Avery solved the first clue and now needs a chess set.

Jameson says there are six chess sets in the game room, enough for Hawthorne chess, but Avery has already checked them. When Avery asks about a seventh set, Jameson suggests consulting Alisa’s inheritance binder. In the binder, Avery finds an entry for a royal chess set valued at nearly half a million dollars, made of white gold and thousands of diamonds.

Avery realizes the set must be in the Hawthorne vault and calls for Oren to take Avery and Jameson there. Oren warns that some valuables may be stored off-site, but Avery and Jameson begin opening the vault’s steel drawers. Avery notices an ornate scepter that makes Jameson murmur about a queen, briefly prompting Avery to reconsider whether the clue might point to the Queen’s Gambit rather than a chessboard.

Jameson then finds the diamond chess set. Because Tobias’s game appears to be meant for Avery, Jameson lets Avery examine the pieces. Avery inspects the white pieces, then the black pieces, and discovers a nearly invisible seam in the bottom of the black queen.

With a jeweler’s loupe, a file, and tweezers, Avery works carefully to extract a tiny strip of black paper hidden inside the queen. The note is written in Tobias Hawthorne’s familiar handwriting. Avery reads the new message aloud to Jameson: “Don’t breathe.”