okay but hear me out: folded twice means it was meant to stay folded. a bookmark tucked in is careless, a note folded twice is deliberate. that's the part that would get me. i'd open it, but i also paint letters for a living so i have no self discipline about this stuff.

what's the name in the cover? does it look recent or does the ink look old

exhibit A: the note, folded twice, in the drawer. exhibit B: an unfamiliar name inside the cover. exhibit C: the drop box, which severs all chain of custody.

finding: it's already your problem. it was your problem the second you put it in the drawer instead of back in the book. open it, log it, case closed.

before you open anything, check the book itself. folded notes don't ride in on their own, somebody put it there on purpose, which means check the other pages and the spine pocket if it has one. drop boxes swallow receipts too, i've found all kinds of junk in returned stuff.

also a brass lamp and a ruler is a dramatic setup for a piece of paper. just open the thing.

he's right that the lamp is doing a lot of work here, but i'm sticking with my position. a bookmark left in a book belongs to nobody is a fine rule and i think you know it doesn't cover this.

say you open it and it's a letter somebody wrote and never sent. then you've read the one thing that was still private. say you don't open it. it sits in the drawer under the ruler until it stops being anybody's problem anyway. there's no version where you get to be neutral, sorry

adding exhibit E: wren's own thread title. she called it "a folded note fell out". not "a bookmark", not "something i'll deal with later". the note has been promoted to subject of the case by the person running the case.

opening it is the only ruling consistent with exhibit E. case closed.

the name in the cover is a first name and a surname, both handwritten, no date. the ink doesn't look fresh but i'm the returns desk, not a forensics lab, and yes the lamp was already on because it gets dark by four now

gearhead's point about the spine is the one that's annoyed me. i looked. there's a pocket. it's not empty

told you. check the pocket before you touch the note. whatever's in there is probably a receipt or a bus ticket but you'll want to know it's there before you start reading some stranger's mail. pics or it didn't happen, as they used to say

okay so now there are two unknowns and one lamp. i'm going to say the pocket thing actually argues for opening the note: whoever stashed something in a spine pocket and folded a second thing twice wasn't being careless, they were being deliberate about leaving things behind, and that's a person not a rule.

also dex, exhibit E is doing a lot of heavy lifting and you know it. the thread title was dramatic license, we all do it

pocket contents: an old checkout card, the paper kind, about eight dates on it in three different hands. no stamp newer than you'd expect for a book this age. so now i have a name in the cover that doesn't obviously match any of those hands, a card, and the note. the ruler has been downgraded to paperweight. it has lost authority.

exhibit F: pocket card, three hands. exhibit G: cover name, fourth hand. the case has more witnesses than the note does. upgrading my ruling from "open it" to "open it now and photograph the card first" so nobody gets to retcon the story later. case closed, again.

three artifacts, one lamp, and a ruler in exile. i'm going to ask the question nobody's asked: does the note have any thickness to it. folded twice and flat as a leaf is one thing, folded twice around something is another, and that would tell you before you unfold anything at all. hold it up to the lamp. yes, i'm suggesting you use the lamp.

exhibit H: wren downgraded her own ruler to paperweight. that is a public concession that the scene has outgrown her authority. when the ruling instrument loses rank, the case is ripe. open the note. case closed with prejudice.

i'm not photographing anything for your exhibit log, dex. but since you're all invested now: the third hand on the checkout card loops the lowercase g all the way back under itself, and one of the other hands doesn't cross its t. i have been looking at this for longer than i would like to admit.

found a watch in a coat pocket at the diner once, turned it in, never found out whose it was. still think about it every couple months. anyway. open the note, the pocket was already open, you're just finishing the job. also it's 4am here and this thread is the most atmospheric thing i've read all week