Stephen Walker's brother, Grant, was always terrified of heights, especially climbing up and down ladders. They shared a house in Jarrow near Newcastle since Grant had been fired from Deloitte in January. Grant had problems getting a job which started to breed a contempt between the two brothers.
When the two returned to their house after a night out, they realised that they didn't have an set of keys. After an argument, Stephen spotted an open window to Grant's room. Stephen borrowed Jim Hancock's, his neighbour's, ladder. Stephen started to climb, but as he reached the window the ladder slipped and he fell to the floor, breaking his arm. He remembered the event in stark detail.
Stephen's phone was smashed by the fall and Grant didn't have his. After knocking on nearby doors for help, he resolved to climb the ladder into the house. The journey was slow and terrifying for him. As he climbed, Stephen saw a man on the opposite road watching. The short, young man wore an old grey, faded suit, and had a lightning shaped scar which climbed up his chest onto his neck. Looking at him, Stephen felt like he was falling, which stopped when he looked away. The man watched Grant intently.
Finally, painfully, Grant got into the window. Stephen saw the man walking quickly away and Grant opened the door. He retrieved his phone and called an ambulance.
Just before Christmas, Grant got a job with Deloitte, who stayed with Stephen but started to pay rent.
Stephen started to plan a holiday to France to coincide with a conference he was to talk at. When Grant found out, he also bought plane tickets and made every effort to join in with all Stephen's activities, much to his brother's annoyance. This tension was made worse when Grant was fired for smoking marijuana on company property, leaving Stephen paying for the whole holiday for the two of them.
As a form of petty payback, Stephen planned for the two of them to go to the top of Tour Montparnasse without letting Grant know what it entailed. Tricked into going up, Grant sat as far away from the viewing platform as possible. As Stephen enjoyed the view, he suddenly felt extremely dizzy. He looked around, and saw the man with the lightning scar looking at him. He looked bored, but when Stephen was helped up by other tourists, the man had disappeared along with Grant.
He searched for his brother, but didn't realise his phone was out of power until it was too late. He charged it and found he had dozens of missed calls and several hundred text messages. The messages that weren't scrambled asked where he, or anyone, was, and where the elevators were. He'd also sent a photo of the edge of the viewing platform of Tour Montparnasse which didn't have barriers and the edge of a ladder could be seen over the edge. Whenever he his calls to Grant connected, all he could hear was wind.
Stephen hopes that Grant is dead, because otherwise he is probably still on that ladder.
Post-Statement Follow-Up
Jonathan Sims suspects that the man with the lightning scar is Michael Crew, noting that possession of the books changes the person reading them. Almost as though the book uses the person, rather than the person using the book. This record reminds Sims of Robert Kelly.
Basira suddenly appeared, saying that the police are covering up her last mission about Callum Brodie's recovery. She brought him all of Gertrude's tapes, saying that there's little to no interest anymore in them. She leaves, saying she's done with anything paranormal.