Page 114 of Hunt Me, Daddy

I opened Apartment.

I should not have. I knew I should not have, but knowing rarely stopped me.

There were photographs of my apartment. There weren’t many, but there were enough. My desk. My kitchen table. The crossword. My bedroom doorway, taken from the hall, just far enough back that the bed was visible in the dim light. My bed unmade on one side. A note beside the image.

Sleeps curled toward window despite door-facing defensive arrangement. Exhaustion overrides some physical caution. Vulnerable when alone. Does not know.

I swallowed hard.

I didn’t open Evan. Instead, I picked up my phone, found Evan’s contact, and blocked him. It took four seconds. I had been meaning to do it for approximately six months and had not, because inertia was its own kind of decision and I had been too busy with larger problems. The folder resolved my ambivalence. Then I set my phone face-down on the desk.

I opened Watcher Response.

There was my file. It wasn’t the whole thing. There were pieces. Extracted notes. His annotations beside them. He had read everything.

Beside that one, he had written:

She is closer than she realizes.

I felt Ivan watching me now. I opened the fire escape note because I hated myself enough to finish.

The entry was dated the night I came home early.

She returned at 21:43, nearly one hour ahead of expected window. Exit via bedroom/fire escape. Near detection. Subject aware of environmental disturbance, armed herself, cleared apartment effectively. Strong physical instincts. Stayed at kitchen window for 4m 12s. She did not see me. Or chose not to register me. Unclear.

I read that twice. Then the next line.

She did not open laptop for 2h 03m. Impact greater than anticipated.

The last entry sat at the bottom of the file, dated the night he called me, the night he told me Orlov had my name, the night his voice came through my phone and changed the size of the room around me.

Subject status:Orlov exposure confirmed. Direct intervention required. Objectivity no longer credible.

Then:

Mine.

I closed the laptop very slowly. Then I looked at him. He was already watching me. He looked calm.

“How long?” I asked, my voice very quiet.

His eyes held mine. “From the first anomaly.”

I nodded once.

“You found me there within the Orlovs’ system.”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“I traced the intrusion.”

“To me.”

“Yes.”

“How long until you had my name?”