# Ending Quality Audit - Chapter 16

id: ending_quality | owner: codex | target: `output/chapters/chapter_16.md`

- `LANDS - chapter-final` - final lines: `"After the show, he thought... He recognized the plan making itself useful and kept it anyway. He turned off the lights, all but the one over the door, checked the front bolt twice, and put Odile's keys in his pocket."` What closes the beat: the concrete lock/key action after chosen delay. Pressure it cuts on: Theo still holds Odile's room/keys instead of the truth.
- Strongest weak candidate considered: `"He recognized the plan making itself useful"` could become a thesis closer, but it is followed by flat lockup action and explicitly marks his failure rather than blessing it.

Chapter verdict: `ENDINGS-CLEAN`.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
