“Did anyone in the compound know your mom before she, you know, died?” Mearzt asked gently.

“Probably. Maybe. I don’t’ know,” Ayn cried, her throat tight with tears. What if she couldn’t recover the images from the frames hard drive? “And even if there is, why would they do this?”

“Don’t know,” Mearzt said through a yawn. “Just thinking out loud, you know?”

Suddenly Ayn felt exhausted. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. There would be no solving this tonight. “You should get to sleep,” she said. “Thanks for talking me through this.”

“Make sure everything’s locked, then I’ll go,” Mearzt said, her voice sluggish with sleep.

“It’s not that kind of security system,” Ayn said. “There aren’t locks. You have to hold your hand up and be scanned. Door won’t open unless you’re in the system.”

“Just do it,” Mearzt said. “Please,” she added.