Walls Within Walls

Ray takes Eloise and the children on a guided driven tour of Harlem, showing them significant places in New York’s history and places where influential people—such as Thurgood Marshall, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie—lived. While Eloise remembers places that meant a lot to her family, Brid tries to press forward to locations built by Guastavino. When they arrive at Grant’s Tomb, they find a general’s star symbol, which Patrick recognizes—he saw it behind the wall while riding up the dumbwaiter. Ray overhears their conversation and is despondent that Eloise is back on the investigation. She tells him what the kids found, and they agree to return to the apartment because Eloise has a plan to see the carvings behind the wall and the shape Patrick describes as a sideways empty stocking.

CJ has a friend from school—Brent—over to hang out. Brent notices that some poems have marks above them, indicating a code called dot writing; when postage got too expensive, people would put dots above letters in newspapers and send them to friends for free (due to rules about government-owned items going free through the mail). Brent finds a message guiding them to the silver room, and CJ hurries him out of the apartment before he can learn more.