File: Malion_ivory_p_i.002.rar ... -

The hunter had officially become the lead character in someone else’s case.

The notification sat on Detective Malion Ivory’s screen like a digital ghost: File: Malion_Ivory_P_I.002.rar .

Ivory stood, his hand drifting to the holster beneath his coat. He walked to the wall and tapped the plaster. It sounded hollow. He used a heavy letter opener to pry away a strip of molding, revealing a silver-cased recording device that had clearly been there for years. File: Malion_Ivory_P_I.002.rar ...

Should we continue with in the next file, or

Ivory, a private investigator known for finding things that didn't want to be found in the neon-slicked alleys of New London, didn't recognize the sender. The file size was tiny—too small for video, just enough for a few documents or a single, high-resolution audio clip. The hunter had officially become the lead character

As the realization hit him—that his entire career had been a staged performance for an unknown audience—his monitors flickered. A third file began to download automatically: Malion_Ivory_P_I.003.rar .

He unzipped the archive. Inside wasn't a ransom note or a client’s plea. It was a map of his own office, rendered in blueprints he hadn’t seen since the building was constructed twenty years ago. Red dots pulsed at specific intervals behind the drywall of his north wall. He walked to the wall and tapped the plaster

The second file in the .rar was a text document. It contained only one sentence: “You weren’t the only one watching, Malion.”