On the third hour, he’s not making music. He’s making a map. Each beat a text she didn’t reply to. Each hi-hat a time he watched her through the bookshop window.

He taps a pad. A kick drum thuds — low, possessive. Another pad: a snare, sharp as a slammed door.

“You said you wanted honesty,” he whispers to the empty room. He loops the rhythm. Four bars. Then eight. Then a voice sample — her laugh from a voicemail. Pitched down. Warped.

Joe stares at the blinking screen of the MPC. Not his — hers . Beck’s. Left on the nightstand like a confession.