From the neighboring cell, White tells Patch that Warden Riley had him dragged to the warden’s office after the recent trouble and left him bloodied and shaken. White describes Riley as harsh but is less focused on the punishment than on a painting hanging in the office, a scene so vivid that White keeps thinking about it.

Patch initially treats the conversation as idle prison talk. White says the painting feels real in a way talent cannot be taught, and he even wonders whether he could get a copy for his cell. As White talks, Patch thinks about his own exhaustion and decides he is finished resisting: he will give up the library key, stop fighting the Brand, and accept whatever comes.

The conversation changes when White mentions that the painting shows a specific place in Alabama. Patch, who has been tied to that painted image for years, suddenly realizes White is not speaking abstractly about style but about a real town. Patch moves to the bars and presses White for details.

White explains that he grew up near the area and had visited the town many times, even casing its large houses as a teenager. When Patch asks directly whether the town is real and demands its name, White confirms it without hesitation. The chapter ends with the revelation that the town in the painting is Grace Falls, Alabama, shattering Patch’s resignation and opening a concrete new lead.