Page 57 of Stay Scared

Owen straightens.

Ash gestures toward the photographs. “Every private habit he took from you is still stored here. He can revisit any of it whenever he chooses.”

He looks at me. “I wanted you inside something I built.”

Owen pushes away from the cabinets, forcing Ash either to move or let their shoulders meet. Ash shifts only enough to give him the space.

“I never said the archive was harmless,” Owen says.

“You kept it anyway.”

“And you used my work anyway.”

“I used what you supplied. I did not authorize this.”

The two men remain facing each other.

I put the photograph stamped 2:16 between them. “Someone copied Owen’s system and took this inside my apartment.”

Ash looks down at the image. His shoulders tighten.

“Inside your apartment?”

“Yes, inside.”

He reaches for the photograph, but I keep my fingers on the edge.

Ash stops before touching it and looks at me.

Only then do I release it.

He studies the image. “That is your current apartment.”

“It is.”

“You have never shown that room publicly.”

“I haven’t.”

Owen points toward the evidence sleeves. “There are more.”

Ash goes through them without speaking. The first stays pinched carefully between his fingers. By the third, his mouth has flattened.

“The timestamps align with the messages.”

“They do.”

He looks at Owen. “When did you know these existed?”

“I knew the archive had been breached. I couldn’t open this folder until tonight.”

Ash steps toward him again.

I cut between them. “Deal with each other later. Find whoever did this first.”

Neither man looks pleased, but Owen returns to the workstation while Ash follows me instead of him.

“There’s another problem,” Owen says.