I brought Reeve's evidence tools to Pell Alterations: a property camera, fibre lamp, seal cards and three signed pairs of tweezers. The workshop lit the cutting table before he opened the case.
The sewing machine printed ALTERATIONS PENDING and struck its wheel against the coat's left cuff. Reeve photographed it. I set the twenty-three repair receipts beside the sleeve in locker order.
Each receipt, placed under the machine's guide, received a garment number and one incomplete adjustment. Reeve read the audit codes while I found their matching thread positions along the lining.
There had been no repair. Edda had registered threatened people as pending alterations. When the main record was purged, the unfinished garment work kept each name in the equipment ledger because no job could close without its named wearer.
We processed all twenty-three receipts. Each name returned on Reeve's reader beside a promised cuff, hem, pocket or button. He sealed the printout to the coat's claim number. The building lowered its lights.
The door opened before he shut the case. Two Public Reassurance officers entered with a seizure notice describing the receipts as wearable misinformation. Their inventory box contained only the notice.
The senior officer ordered the archive surrendered before noon. Tomorrow I must attend the seizure inventory with the coat, receipts and Reeve's signed record, and ensure that all three are logged together.
An official Sanctuary Serial