# The Case of the Invisible Line

Strip: The Invisible Line
Meta: 6 panels · 3 across × 2 down · LEAD: CONNIE CHASE · present tense throughout

<b>Lead: Connie Chase.</b> One case from the series. Unlike The Quiet Participant this page is <b>entirely present tense</b> — no flashback, no time tags, no double frames. The tension is a near miss, not a past disaster.

Radio version at <a href="radio-invisible-line.html">radio-invisible-line.html</a>; case notes at <a href="case-notes-invisible-line.md">case-notes-invisible-line.md</a>.

> **This is the source.** The build is `comic-invisible-line.html`, generated from this file
> by `rake comedy:build`. Write here; the build is disposable and gets overwritten.
>
> Format: `##` opens a row · `**PANEL n · tone**` opens a panel · `>` is a
> balloon, one per line · `!` is the art note · `` `backticks` `` are
> on-screen text · everything else is a caption. They render in the order
> written, and captions number themselves (CAP 1/2, CAP 2/2). Blank line
> between blocks; a caption or balloon may wrap onto unmarked lines.
>
> Tones: `noir` `arena` `turn` `product`, plus `flashback` and `wide`. A tone
> carries forward, so write it only where it changes; the first panel must state
> one. Modifiers never carry: `wide` describes one frame, not a run.
> `Layout: widerow` under a row heading merges it to one frame, whose beats are
> then `### BEAT n` blocks each holding their own captions.

---

## Row 1 — the case (full noir)

**PANEL 1 · noir**

Sixty came through the door this month for a sleep study called ASCEND. Nobody could tell you what the letters stood for, including the three of us who made it up.

The flyer in the grocery store worked surprisingly well, which usually spelled trouble.

**PANEL 2 · noir**

Every lane looked healthy. Counts always look healthy. That's what counts are for.

**PANEL 3 · noir**

I had my coat on.

## Row 2 — the break (hinge, then the product)

**PANEL 4 · turn**

`SCREENING&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;12 waiting&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;23d avg`

Then I remembered. This board doesn't just count people.

It counts days. Like marks on the wall of the slammer while the warden goes on a Caribbean vacation.

**PANEL 5 · product** <!-- 5 — CLIMAX -->

> Ms. Zamora? It's Connie, from the sleep study. You applied on the third — are you still interested?

She was. She'd been checking the mail every day since the third, figuring she hadn't made the cut.

**PANEL 6 · product** <!-- 6 — BUTTON -->

Time was, the early ones through the door could get shut out.

One of them back in, and the study rests easy for one more night.