Chapter 2

The patrol officers and a crime scene tech arrived fast.

The locks were perfectly intact. No signs of forced entry. The windows hadn't been touched. The tech swept the apartment—no hidden recording devices, no bugs, nowhere a grown man could hide.

I gave them a complete, step-by-step statement.

From the missing breakfast toast months ago, to the grease stains on clean clothes.

Then to what happened last night. My hands shook so badly as I spoke.

I had spent months convincing myself I was just remembering things wrong.

One of the officers patted my shoulder and escorted Claire and me down to the property management office to pull the fob access logs.

At 5:20 PM yesterday, I left the Riverview Apartments.

I never came back.

At 11:07 PM, Claire badged into the building. She left at 8:10 AM. In between, the hallway cameras only caught a food delivery guy and the registered tenant of 12B coming and going normally.

But the tenant from 12B never stopped in front of my door. My electronic lock was never triggered.

Claire gripped the edge of the desk, her voice trembling.

"Then who was I with last night? His voice, his build... he was exactly like Ethan."

"That's not the point right now." I looked at the officer. "I've suspected someone was getting into my apartment for a long time."

Detective Ward left his contact card. "Right now, we don't have physical evidence of an intruder in your specific unit. If these anomalies are affecting your sleep, or your memory, you might want to consult a doctor. But we'll keep looking into it."

That night, Claire and I checked into a hotel.

She contacted a security company, demanding they install indoor cameras in my apartment.

She clung to me, her hands shaking non-stop.

"We'll catch him."

I didn't tell her that half a month ago, I had secretly installed three hidden cameras of my own.

Every single one of them had gone black a few days later.

They caught nothing.

Chapter 2

The patrol officers and a crime scene tech arrived fast.

The locks were perfectly intact. No signs of forced entry. The windows hadn't been touched. The tech swept the apartment—no hidden recording devices, no bugs, nowhere a grown man could hide.

I gave them a complete, step-by-step statement.

From the missing breakfast toast months ago, to the grease stains on clean clothes.

Then to what happened last night. My hands shook so badly as I spoke.

I had spent months convincing myself I was just remembering things wrong.

One of the officers patted my shoulder and escorted Claire and me down to the property management office to pull the fob access logs.

At 5:20 PM yesterday, I left the Riverview Apartments.

I never came back.

At 11:07 PM, Claire badged into the building. She left at 8:10 AM. In between, the hallway cameras only caught a food delivery guy and the registered tenant of 12B coming and going normally.

But the tenant from 12B never stopped in front of my door. My electronic lock was never triggered.

Claire gripped the edge of the desk, her voice trembling.

"Then who was I with last night? His voice, his build... he was exactly like Ethan."

"That's not the point right now." I looked at the officer. "I've suspected someone was getting into my apartment for a long time."

That night, Claire and I checked into a hotel.

She contacted a security company, demanding they install indoor cameras in my apartment.

She clung to me, her hands shaking non-stop.

"We'll catch him."

I didn't tell her that half a month ago, I had secretly installed three hidden cameras of my own.

Every single one of them had gone black a few days later.

They caught nothing.