His Notes

Ash put the page face down when Delilah arrived, then wished he had left it alone. He had asked her to read his words. Leaving her to turn it over would not make that a kinder invitation.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“The passage about you. There are no customer details in this copy. It isn’t the whole working file.”

She took off her coat and sat opposite him. They had chosen a quiet table in a café she used near home. He had suggested Tuesday because he didn’t want to bring the note to the cinema tomorrow. She had said she wanted to read it before then too.

He had been grateful for the agreement. He could see now how badly he had wanted it to mean they agreed about everything that would follow.

Delilah turned the page over.

The heading was Working hypothesis: possible internal source. Beneath it…