Robert Langdon wakes in the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan to what sounds like military drumming, only to realize Katherine Solomon has changed the hotel wakeup music to Ravel’s Boléro. Langdon teases her by “waiting” for the right musical moment, turning the morning into flirtation and confirming their new intimacy after Prague.

Later, they linger over room service breakfast in robes, enjoying the view over Central Park. Although relaxed, Langdon is mentally fixed on their upcoming meeting at Random House Tower with editor Jonas Faukman, who does not know they still have Katherine’s manuscript.

Langdon and Katherine review their precautions: the manuscript is locked in the room safe, and before leaving Prague they made three photocopies and sent one each to Katherine, Langdon, and Jonas as backups. When Langdon asks about a title, he argues that Katherine’s core question—what happens when we die?—is “the secret of all secrets,” and he proposes The Secret of Secrets as the book’s name. Katherine is moved by the support and thanks him.

With several hours before their appointment, Katherine asks to explore the city, and Langdon promises to guide her—jokingly listing churches before insisting he knows the perfect place. On a Circle Line boat in New York Harbor, he brings her to the Statue of Liberty to show her the radiant crown: seven spikes long associated with enlightenment spreading across continents.

Katherine interprets the crown in reverse—as ideas and cultures flowing inward to shape America—and reflects on immigrants like her own ancestors, and on what she has come to accept about consciousness and the possibility of something real beyond physical death. In the wind, Katherine rests her head on Langdon’s shoulder, wishing they could stay, but Langdon reminds her the moment is temporary because Katherine has a book to deliver.