The Quiet Participant
6 panels · 3 across × 2 down · LEAD: TRACY GRANT · the tonal break lands on the row break
Row 1 — the old case (flashback · full noir · double frame)
1
TWO YEARS BACK
It was the DRIFT trial. My first one as PI.
Sixty subjects. Twelve weeks. And a quiet you only get in a conference room where somebody has just read the entire consent form out loud. All eleven pages. Including the optional saliva sample.
2
Somebody clammed up. I didn't know until closeout when I pulled the export. An empty column of data. Six weeks.
The column stared at me and I stared right back, like a raccoon stares at a motion-sensor porch light.
3
Six weeks of silence, and I'd been sitting on it the whole time.
Sure, you can write it up. Put it in the report. Hand it to the IRB with a straight face and a fresh haircut. What you can't do is get it back.
Row 2 — tonight (hinge, then the product · single frame)
4
TONIGHT
⚠ 031 — no response in 3 days
This time was different. This time I had a canary.
Three days in, it sang. Somebody was watching the joint, and it wasn't the night janitor.
5
Hey — haven't heard from you. Everything okay?
Her mother was in the hospital. She needed a week. We paused her, and she finished the study.
6
Three days is a phone call. Six weeks is a limitations section.
The coffee was cold. Cold as Reviewer 2.
I guess there's some things software just can't fix.
Series rules: the Casebook