He hit Enter.
He looked at the cold coffee. He looked at the laptop bag with the presentation notes. He looked at the blinking cursor, as if it were mocking him.
The search results loaded instantly. The answer sat at the top, stark and unforgiving in its simplicity:
He remembered a line Rust Cohle had just said: “Time is a flat circle.”
But then his mouse hovered over the "Next Episode" button.
He’d already broken it. He was halfway through the second episode. And the pull was irresistible.
It wasn't a casual question. It was the question. The fulcrum upon which his entire night—perhaps his entire weekend—now balanced.
