Tucker dreamt he entered all four Avallon bathhouses; in Avallon IV he found June Hudson’s waterlogged corpse and woke shaken in Trillium House, the cabin he had quietly secured through Woody Littlepage. The cabin’s rainwater cistern soothed his anxiety about water, but the dream left him unsettled and alone. He reread a telegram from his SAC urging him to create a low-risk, newsworthy arrest without causing an international incident, a directive at odds with Tucker’s current focus on tracing coded German intel.

Seeing Pony Harris leave the Winnet Cabinet entwined with a hello girl, Tucker felt both judgment and envy, his thoughts circling back to June. By morning, rain had cleared and the hotel appeared unusually cheerful: diplomats exercised and studied, and staff were lively. At the front desk, Basil Pemberton told him June was out and had left notes; Tucker’s read, “TRM, talked to S, PB has info,” confirming Sabine Wolfe had spoken to June and that Pennybacker had information.

Tucker phoned room 411, finally drawing out the long-term guest for an interview. She revealed her name and past fame as a designer and deflected questions by critiquing the hotel’s amoral luxury while nudging Tucker to ask dining staff about the journalists’ maid uniforms. Tucker pressed about a family dispute between Francis and Sandy Gilfoyle but she withheld details, inviting him to see her later.

After curfew, Tucker observed the hotel’s off-hours bustle in the Magnolia Dining Room and joined the staff as they rearranged tables. He interviewed head waiter Sebastian Hepp while helping configure a Rising Sun seating plan for the Japanese legation, intended to restore hierarchy for their diplomats. Sebastian joked about his awe at the Avallon and its demands, and Tucker asked whether Sebastian felt sympathy for the German guests.

When Tucker asked what would happen to journalists like Lieselotte Berger if negotiations failed, he deduced Sebastian had supplied the maids’ uniforms for the escape. In front of the staff, Sebastian admitted it, calling it the right thing to do. Tucker warned him of the seriousness—such acts amounted to aiding enemies of the state and could jeopardize Pennybacker’s efforts to let the journalists remain in the U.S.—but did not arrest him. Tucker reflected on the tension between principled justice and pragmatic compromises shaped by his past in Pensacola.

Before leaving, Tucker visited room 411 in person. Through a cracked door, she answered that Francis had wanted to leave the hotel to Sandy, who said he would close it, and suggested Tucker ask others for deeper reasons. Returning to the cabin, Tucker found a Grotto dessert and a note thanking him for his help. He weighed arresting Sebastian—a move that would please Hoover and protect Tucker’s career—against destroying Sebastian’s future, and resolved to stay Bureau-minded while feeling the pull of the Avallon’s sweetwater.