Mango asks for proof that Isabella can actually slow Blackridge's response. Not suspicion, not theory, not your instinct dressed up as expertise. Proof. Something you can drop into a chat without sounding like you're negotiating for your life, even though you are. His demand strips your excuses to the bone. You want to argue, to narrate, to sound clever enough to be spared. None of that is currency here. If you came up through Dane first, this feels like Mango finally reading the fine print on someone else's summary and deciding he doesn't trust commas he didn't type. If you opened with Mango directly, it's simpler: you taught him early that you'll gamble on shorthand, so tonight he wants paper to balance the nerve. For once his bluntness helps. It tells you exactly what your board is missing. Not drama. Receipts. You stare at your fragments until they stop looking like a story and start looking like a case. [[Keep investigating|Keep investigating]]