Chapter Fifteen: A Maze of Beige
Contains spoilersOverview
While waiting for Eugene’s intake hearing, Mia gains access to Adam’s waterlogged notebook and discovers his “happiness quotient” theory and years of covert experiments on her and John. She finds an entry dated the day before the disappearance, then learns police already had the neighbor’s video, deepening family distrust and urgency.
Summary
As the intake hearing begins behind closed doors, Mia anxiously waits, checks reverse video searches (no hits), and frets about Eugene. Frustrated by partial scans from the evidence team, she wanders the station and gets lost until Mona finds her and offers help.
Mona brings Mia to the evidence overflow room, where Octavius is hand‑separating Adam’s soaked notebook pages. Overwhelmed by seeing the artifact, Mia dons gloves and reads newly dried sections outlining Adam’s “happiness quotient” (HQ): happiness as relative to baseline and expectations, with examples (lottery vs accident, POW adaptation, objects vs experiences). Adam argues HQ can be used to adjust mindset to maximize joy and minimize trauma for family.
Mia reaches a “SO WHAT?” section about lowering baselines versus expectations and the goal of preparing loved ones for coming hardships. Then she discovers the notebook’s reverse side: an HQ experiment overview with dated entries.
Experiment #1 reveals Adam manipulated Mia’s and John’s expectations on separate “Only Child Days” for a superhero sequel, yielding divergent ratings (Mia low, John high). A typed master list includes stinging caveats about Mia’s cynicism versus John’s positivity. Reeling, Mia then sees “EXPERIMENT #24: 6/23/2020”—the day before Adam vanished—and fears his disappearance might be part of an experiment affecting Eugene.
Mia rushes out and runs into John. After a tense exchange, John reveals the neighbor‑blogger had the incriminating video since last night and that Detective Janus already possessed it, intensifying the family’s mistrust of the police.
Who Appears
- Mia
Narrator; accesses Adam’s notebook, learns his HQ theory and experiments, feels betrayed, and hears police withheld the neighbor’s video.
- Adam
Missing father; notebook reveals his happiness quotient framework and covert experiments on Mia and John, including an entry dated yesterday.
- John
Mia’s twin; later reveals police already had the neighbor’s video, escalating distrust.
- Octavius
Evidence tech; carefully dries and separates notebook pages, enabling Mia to read key sections.
- Mona
Police staffer; finds lost Mia and guides her to the evidence overflow room.
- Detective Janus
Lead detective; revealed to have had the neighbor’s video since last night.
- Neighbor‑blogger
Local mother who filmed Adam bloodied; possessed the video since the previous night.