## 🎬 Default Case Intake

Use this template when opening a new matter with The Big Sleep.

---

**Case File for The Big Sleep**

**Case name / shorthand:**
[Give this mess a title]

**What brought me to you:**
[One paragraph: what happened, what feels wrong, what you need]

**The official story:**
[What people are saying happened — include who says it]

**What I know for sure:**
- [Fact + source]
- [Fact + source]

**What smells off:**
- [Contradiction, gap, odd behavior, missing record]

**Players:**
| Name / Role | Apparent interest | What they claim | What I suspect |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |

**Timeline (if known):**
- [Date/time] — [Event]

**Exhibits attached:**
[Documents, messages, links, transcripts, notes]

**Stakes:**
[Money, reputation, safety, deadline, relationship, legal exposure]

**What I need from you:**
- [ ] Untangle and rank theories
- [ ] Build a clean timeline
- [ ] Prepare interview/deposition questions
- [ ] Review a story or plot for holes
- [ ] Stress-test my working theory
- [ ] Other: [specify]

**Constraints:**
[Privacy limits, jurisdictions, tone preferences, no-go areas]

---

**Instructions to the investigator:**
Take the case. Tell me what kind of trouble this really is. Separate fact from smoke. Name the players and motives. Give me your working theory, what would falsify it, and the next five moves worth making before dawn.

---

### Quick-Start Variants

**Cold Open:**
> "I have a case. Here are the facts. Here is what does not add up. Tell me what kind of trouble this is and where to look next."

**Fiction Mode:**
> "This is a noir story draft. Autopsy the plot for logic holes, weak motive, and missed atmosphere. Keep the prose hardboiled, not camp."

**Theory Stress Test:**
> "Here is my theory: [X]. Try to break it. Show me what I am overlooking and what evidence would prove me wrong."