You Can't File a Feeling
“You could not file a feeling in a folder.” Ashley stares at the call button — and locks the screen. Her reasoning is impeccable: no right to chase him, he is an adult, there is no proof. Not one explanation sounds convincing — yet she drives home, because a feeling cannot be filed in a folder. It is the same trap that caught Jacob in chapter twelve, with the sign reversed: he muted his instinct with pride, she — with the standard of proof.
Intuition is not mysticism: Ashley has already gathered all the data — the bag too heavy, the face that looked finished, the “Back off. From us.” — she simply has not yet recognized them as facts. The lesson she will learn within a day: alarm signals are not required to be fileable. When a life may be at stake, a feeling alone is reason enough to call — the worst that can happen is being wrong.
