Connor knows there is some explanation for Branwell's silence and that he did not intentionally hurt Nikki. He knows that Branwell needs him, and he visits him daily. Because Branwell does not speak, Connor does all the talking and communicates by a kind of sign language, inspired by Jean-Dominique Bauby. "Remember the story of the paralyzed Frenchman who wrote a whole book with the blink of his left eye? I no sooner had the sentence out of mouth than Branwell blinked his eyes twice, very rapidly, and I knew he understood our rules of communication." Initially he elicits clues by presenting keywords on handwritten cards, which leads to Connor writing the alphabet on the backs of these cards and pointing to the letters in order to form short phrases and eventually sentences. Connor recounts his daily visits to his older half-sister Margaret, after her workday, and together they work towards solving the mystery of why Branwell will not speak, and what happened to baby Nikki.