At dawn, Saint rides the first bus out with laborers and travels through a bleak rural landscape toward the address connected to Eli Aaron. She changes buses in Chesterwood, sits alone under the driver’s watchful interest, and keeps moving toward a place she fears may finally hold answers about Callie Montrose.

When the bus leaves her on an isolated road near a sign for a minimum-maintenance route, Saint continues on foot. She checks her map repeatedly, then follows twin tracks through fields, woodland, and a stream crossing, pressing deeper into a remote property despite the growing sense that she is walking into danger.

As Saint nears the buildings, the setting confirms her suspicions that this is no ordinary farm. She studies the weathered house and outbuildings carefully, moving slowly and quietly through leaves and nettles while searching for signs that connect the place to Eli Aaron.

The clearest sign comes at the largest barn, where Saint sees a navy van through the gaps in the wall, its chrome fender hanging from the front. The discovery turns suspicion into near certainty, because the van links the property to the man she has been hunting. Startled by a noise and then realizing it is only a squirrel, Saint regains control, steps onto the porch, listens at the door, and prepares to enter with only her slingshot and her grandfather’s gun.