A tender farewell becomes the first tremor of an earthquake. Three days before the storm breaks, Mr. Toad sends his son upstate with promises of quiet brooks and safer skies. It’s tea in the “good mugs,” jokes to hide a debt he can’t outrun, and a hug that lingers like a last photograph. When the news finally hits, Snow White is left with the weight of a promise she couldn’t keep and a single thread to pull: a missing housekeeper named Gretel. As the city shrugs and moves on—ice-cream openings over obituaries—Snow and Detective Brannigan choose the harder path, comparing notes in the rain and preparing to dig where the records have been wiped clean. This chapter is grief, resolve, and the moment two women decide to stop looking away.