Two weeks into his new life with the crew, a couple of the younger men pull Patch out for a night in Boston. They drink on the way in, boast crudely about women, and arrive in the city’s bars while Patch wears old, faded clothes and keeps mostly to himself.

At the first Irish bar, women notice Patch and one flirts with him, but Patch is detached from the attention. In another bar, the Boatman, Patch studies every woman he sees, still searching for traces of Grace in strangers’ faces, voices, smiles, and mannerisms. His obsession remains unchanged: even surrounded by people, he is still hunting for the missing woman he cannot forget.

Patch also notices two police officers walking by and feels a reflexive fear, even though no one there knows him. That moment reinforces how narrowed and isolated his world has become. Patch is anonymous in Boston, but he is still living with the tension of his past and the habits of a hunted man.

When Patch hears a woman speaking loudly enough to suggest distress, he turns and sees a tall blonde woman trying to push away a broad, drunken man who keeps grabbing her and pulling her close while his friends laugh. Patch reads the situation immediately, moves toward them, and waits only until the woman tears herself partly free before throwing a hard punch.

The fight ends quickly. The man goes down, the woman stumbles, and Patch catches her in his arms. Only then does Patch see her clearly and realize the woman is Misty Meyer. As the man’s friends gather, Patch’s own crew steps in, a bottle smashes nearby, and a wider bar fight erupts, but Patch ignores the chaos long enough to carry Misty out into the Boston night.