Proof of Presence: Cold Cases in the Paper Trail

A handwritten name added after departure. A lost-and-found tag that belongs to nobody. An overnight rail permit with a timestamp gap no one can explain. A ride-along waiver that goes blank like it was never signed.

In this cold-case collection, each story is told in a first-person, conversational voice by the person who handled the document that should have kept the truth straight: a ferry purser, an airport lost-and-found supervisor, a signal technician, and a patrol officer. They don’t chase glory. They chase what systems leave behind, logs, addenda, CAD notes, chain-of-custody forms, and the quiet edits that turn a living person into an administrative problem.

Inspired by publicly accessible case-file patterns and filings, these dramatized narratives follow the evidence where it actually leads: into contradictions, missing footage, overwritten records, and the seams where “policy” becomes a weapon. Names and locations have been changed for privacy, but the procedural bones remain, the kind you can feel in your hands when ink becomes liability.

Some cases don’t end. They just get filed.