He first meets Abby Black (Viola Davis), who is in the process of divorcing her husband, but she tells Oskar she did not know his father. None of his further encounters yield any information, but he meets a variety of people, photographing and recording notes on each one in a scrap book. One day, Oskar ventures into his grandmother's apartment, but instead of finding her there, encounters the reclusive elderly renter (Max von Sydow) that has been living there, whom his grandmother had warned him to avoid. The renter does not talk, communicating instead with the words "yes" and "no" tattooed on his hands and a writing pad. Oskar confides in him, and the man offers to accompany Oskar on his outings. As they explore the city together, Oskar learns to face his fears, such as those of public transport and bridges. Eventually, Oskar concludes that the stranger is his grandfather and plays the increasingly desperate answering machine recordings, but the man becomes agitated, refuses to listen to the final one, and tells Oskar to stop his search. Later, Oskar sees him arguing with his grandmother and packing to leave, and angrily confronts him as his taxi pulls away. Oskar then notices a phone number for an estate sale circled on the back of a newspaper clipping of his father's. He dials the number and reaches a surprised Abby, who takes Oskar to meet her ex-husband William (Jeffrey Wright). William realizes Oskar's key is the one he has been looking for, left to him by his own deceased father in the vase, unbeknownst to him when he sold it to Thomas at the estate sale. Oskar confides that on the day of the attacks, he was home when the phone rang a sixth time, but was too afraid to answer. After witnessing the tower collapse on TV as the phone call cut off, he replaced the answering machine so his mother would never find out. He leaves the key with William, but runs away from Abby, distraught. Back in his room, he proceeds to destroy the material from his search, until his mother reveals to him that she had been aware of all his outings, and had gone ahead of him to meet all the Blacks to prepare them for his visit. Finally realizing how much his mother cares about him, he accepts his father's death and writes letters to all the people he met to thank them for their kindness, including his grandfather, who returns to live with his grandmother.