Chapter 73 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with the narrator, Katarina, and Heath arriving in Sochi, Russia, after more than twenty-four hours of travel—two planes, a train, and a final leg on foot. Before they can even reach their hotel, they are intercepted by doping control officials, who escort them to an unmarked building and require them to drink watered-down fruit juice until they are hydrated enough to provide urine samples. Katarina notes that both she and Heath have already submitted to random drug testing back in Boston, making this additional check feel redundant and invasive.
By the time they reach their hotel, it is well after dark. The building is still under construction, with sawdust covering the lobby furniture, loose wires dangling from light fixtures, and a clerk named Boris wearing a handwritten name tag. Katarina gives her last name as Lin, but Boris insists there is no reservation. Heath steps in and negotiates in Russian—a skill Katarina finds both attractive and unsettling—but Boris remains unmoved, repeating what Katarina assumes are phrases meaning the hotel is fully booked. Eventually, Heath relays that there is one room available, though it is quite small. Katarina, exhausted to the point of envying the stray dogs sleeping on the street, accepts without hesitation.
The room turns out to be a cramped shoebox with a tiny bathroom bulging off to one side, a coatrack instead of a closet, and a single double bed. The smell of fresh paint is overwhelming, yet the walls look grungy. Katarina hangs up the garment bags containing their costumes—Heath's mostly black, her free dance dress a delicate sea-foam satin that she is careful not to let touch anything in the room. Heath drops the luggage on the carpet and jokes that the place is even worse than a motel they stayed at in Cleveland. Katarina counters by pointing out the amenities: a portrait of Vladimir Putin on the wall and a light fixture containing two dead flies. They both dissolve into laughter, on the verge of fatigue-induced hysteria. When the light burns out with a loud pop, they collapse onto the bed, holding their stomachs, tears streaming down their faces.
As the laughter subsides, Katarina realizes how close they are—their fingers brushing on the thin comforter, one of her legs flung over his. They both try to pull away, only to end up closer, eyes shining inches apart in the dark. Before anything can happen, a heavy thump rattles the door. Heath switches on a standing lamp, and Katarina opens the door a few inches to find a vase filled with red roses sitting on the floor outside. The hallway is empty.
Katarina brings the flowers inside and asks Heath if they are from him, noting that it is Valentine's Day—though she admits they never cared much about the holiday even when they were a couple. Heath says they are not from him, then points out that something red is dripping from the vase onto her shoes and hands. Katarina drops the flowers, and the glass shatters, covering the floor in sticky crimson shards. In the center of the mess is a small white card printed with Cyrillic script: с возвращением Катарина. Heath translates the literal meaning as