[ 14:07:22 ]
Pak
Mr. Marchetti, I've read the summary from your initial screening. I'd like to go back through the timeline of your partner's behaviour in more detail. You've indicated the changes began approximately six weeks ago. Can you tell me what you noticed first.
Marchetti
The sleeping. Or — not sleeping. I'd wake up at two, three in the morning, and he wouldn't be in bed. I'd find him in the kitchen standing at the window. Not doing anything. Just standing there. And when I'd say his name it would take him a moment. Like he was coming back from somewhere.
Pak
Coming back from somewhere. Can you describe what that looked like, specifically.
Marchetti
His eyes would be open the whole time. He wasn't sleepwalking. I know what sleepwalking looks like — my sister used to do it. This was different. He'd be looking out the window, very alert, very still, and then when I spoke it was like — you know when someone's on a phone call and they hold up a finger like one moment? That kind of pause. Then he'd turn around and smile and ask why I was up.
Pak
And you said the smile was notable.
Marchetti
It was his smile. Exactly his smile. That's what made it worse, I think, because there was nothing wrong with it. It was perfectly him. But he doesn't smile like that at three in the morning. No one does. It was the right smile at the wrong time.
Pak
I'm going to note that. What came after the sleeping disruption.
Marchetti
The food. Luca has been vegetarian for eleven years. Longer than I've known him. Two weeks after the standing-at-windows started, I came home and he was eating a steak. Just — a steak on a plate, no sides, barely cooked. And when I asked him about it he looked at me like I'd said something very strange and said he'd always eaten meat. He wasn't joking. I could tell. He genuinely did not understand the question.
Pak
Had he seen a doctor at that point.
Marchetti
I made him go. His GP ran bloods, referred him to neurology. MRI came back clean. The neurologist said he seemed perfectly healthy and suggested couples counselling. I think she thought I was the problem.
Intake Note — Pak
Client provided medical documentation at this point (see attached, Appendix C). Results unremarkable. Neurology referral letter describes the client, not the subject, as "significantly distressed" and recommends therapeutic intervention for the client specifically. Pattern is consistent with pre-identification stage of Category 3+ involvement, in which medical professionals default to diagnosing the reporting party.
Pak
You mentioned in your initial screening that there were also changes to his speech.
Marchetti
Not his speech exactly. His — knowledge? He started knowing things. We were watching the news and there was a segment about Turkey, some political thing, and Luca started talking about it in detail. Names, dates, context I'd never heard. Luca doesn't follow international politics. He's a landscape architect. I asked where he'd read about it and he just said "around" and changed the subject. A week later it was marine biology. Then it was the history of Portuguese colonial administration. Every few days there's a new one. He talks about these things like he's remembering them, not like he's learned them.
Pak
I need to ask you something and I'd like you to consider it carefully before you respond.
• • •
[ 14:23:08 ]
Pak
Is it possible that Luca is having an affair.
[ Silence — 4 seconds ]
Pak
I understand this is uncomfortable. But the reason I ask is that the behavioural profile you're describing — disrupted sleep, changes in routine and diet, new areas of knowledge that can't be accounted for, a general sense of unfamiliarity in a long-term partner — is, in approximately seventy percent of the cases we see, attributable to a conventional personal situation rather than anything in our area of expertise. I'm required to explore that with you before we proceed.
Marchetti
I know what an affair looks like. My father had three of them. This is not that. He's not hiding anything. He's not guilty. That's the problem — he's completely comfortable. Whatever is happening, he doesn't think anything is wrong. A man having an affair knows something is wrong.
Marchetti
Ms. Pak, my partner did not learn the history of Portuguese colonial administration from a woman he met on an app.
Pak
People develop new interests for all kinds of reasons. A new social circle, a new colleague, a podcast. I've seen cases where a client was completely certain something supernatural was occurring and the explanation turned out to be a book club.
Marchetti
He forgot he was vegetarian.
Pak
People change their diets.
Marchetti
He didn't change it. He doesn't remember ever having been one. There's a difference between deciding to eat meat again and believing you never stopped. I have eleven years of grocery receipts that say otherwise. He looked at me like I was confused.
[ Pause ]
Pak
I have to be direct with you. If we accept this case and our investigation determines that the situation is domestic rather than paranatural in nature, our fees are not refundable. Our initial assessment alone runs to four figures. The full investigative and — if warranted — containment process can be significantly more than that. If there is any part of you that suspects this might be a relationship issue, it would be considerably less expensive to explore that avenue first.
Marchetti
I've been with Luca for eight years. I know him better than anyone alive. Something is in my house that looks exactly like him and sounds exactly like him and knows his middle name and where he keeps his keys, and it is not him. I don't know what it is. That's why I'm here. If you won't help me I'll find someone who will, but I'd prefer it was you because your name is the one that came up when I started looking for — for this kind of thing.
Pak
I didn't say we wouldn't help you. I said I'm required to explore alternatives before we proceed. I've now done that.
Pak
And I'm going to note for the record that you were offered a mundane-cause consultation referral and declined, that you have been advised of our fee structure and non-refund policy, and that you wish to proceed with a full intake. Is that correct.
Pak
Then I have a few more questions. You said earlier that Luca stands at the kitchen window. Which direction does that window face.
Pak
And what is east of your property, Mr. Marchetti. What's out there.
Marchetti
Nothing. It's — there's a field. And then past that the old Kellaway land. It's been empty for years. There's nothing out there.
[ Pause — 6 seconds ]
Pak
Alright. I'm going to mark this as accepted and assign a preliminary survey team. Someone from Operations will be in contact within forty-eight hours. In the meantime, I need you to not discuss this meeting with Luca. Do not alter your routine. Do not attempt to — test him, or confront him, or confirm anything for yourself. If you wake up and he's at the window, go back to bed. Do you understand.
Marchetti
Is he in danger.
Pak
We don't have enough information to assess that yet. What I can tell you is that the most useful thing you can do for Luca right now is behave normally and let us work.
Marchetti
You didn't answer my question.
Intake Note — Pak
Interview concluded at 14:55. Remaining material (window orientation, property survey consent, emergency contact protocols) documented on Form GH-8 and filed separately.
Preliminary assessment: Client presents as credible and observationally precise. Behavioural profile of subject is consistent with several known entity-involvement typologies, most closely matching passive-occupation (Category 3-B) or identity-displacement (Category 4-A). The dietary amnesia is noted with particular interest. Recommend priority scheduling for field survey.
Re: the Kellaway land — cross-referencing against the registry. If this is what I think it is, loop in Hargreaves before the survey team goes out.
S. Pak