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“I’m Noah,” their guest reiterated. “And you’re right, I have a tendency to offer help without being asked. It’s a risk of the business.”

“What business? What is it you do that lets you see ghosts?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you everything, but I wanted to let you know that I only meant to give you a little nudge.”

“You gave the entire internet a nudge.”

“Yes. It was rather more effective than I expected.”

“That doesn’t make it acceptable,” Leo said.

Noah’s expression sobered. “No. It doesn’t.”

The coffee maker spluttered behind Nate. He turned to get the mugs, which gave Leo a moment to study their visitor.

Noah looked comfortable enough at the kitchen table. He’d been given very little reason to expect a warm welcome, yet he seemed quite prepared to stay for coffee. Leo couldn’t decide whether he admired that or found it insufferable.

Nate passed him a mug. Noah accepted it gladly.

“So,” Noah said. “I understand that I overstepped. There were some things in those videos you might not have wanted to be amplified.”

Leo looked down at the table. The noises he’d made in those recordings while he was up in the turret…

He hadn’t known he could sound like that.

“I knew some of what you were doing was for the camera,” Noah said to him. “I assumed the rest was too.”

“It wasn’t.”

“I know that now. I’m sorry.”

Nate, though, did not seem ready to forgive. “You claim you came here before I did. You’ve met Leo before. Did you know he was torn?”

That… was an interesting question.

Noah took a moment before answering. “I knew. Yes. That is why I… Never mind. I knew you could help him.”

Nate stared at him. “You knew that, and you still put those noises in the video?”

Noah looked down at his coffee.

“Yes,” he said. “I should have been more careful. I thought I understood what I was looking at, and I didn’t.”

Leo watched him. Noah seemed less comfortable now, which was probably appropriate.

“I should have asked,” Noah continued. “Even if it had all been deliberate, I should have spoken to you before uploading the video.”

“You should have,” Leo agreed. “Those videos were ours. They weren’t for you to put together.”

“Quite right. The internet is a tricky thing.”

Leo nodded. He still didn’t quite understand the internet himself, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. “So you admit that you were wrong.”

“About some of my actions, yes.” A faint smile returned to Noah’s face. “But not about you two.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Noah only smiled and sipped his coffee.