Field Notes

A glossary of terms, phrases, and geographic quirks from 9 years of knocking on doors people didn’t want to answer.

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THE GAME

True
98% or better accuracy. Only variance is memory and purposeful changes of location, identity, and critical personal details that may inadvertently “out” someone.

True(ish)
Sticks to my life philosophy: “Never let the facts get in the way of a great story.” May not be absolutely True, but the truth is a more boring story or observation.

Fiction
Flat out made it up, but in context of where the file was going.

DC GEOGRAPHY

The Beltway
Interstate 495, the circular highway that surrounds Washington, DC. When people say “inside the Beltway,” they mean DC insiders—politicians, lobbyists, bureaucrats. When they say “outside the Beltway,” they mean everyone else.

NW, SW, SE, NE (Quadrants)
DC is divided into four quadrants based on the Capitol building. Every address includes a quadrant (e.g., “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW”). If you don’t know which quadrant, you’re lost. Check your ADC map book.

The DMV
DC, Maryland, Virginia. The metro area. Not the Department of Motor Vehicles (though that’s also a nightmare).

Anacostia
Southeast DC neighborhood. Historically Black, historically ignored by tourists and white residents. Home to Frederick Douglass’s house and some of the best views of the city.

PI & PROCESS SERVER TERMS

Pretense
A deliberately false appearance, action, or claim used to mislead, conceal a true purpose, or obtain information. Example: “I’m looking for the building manager” when you’re actually looking for the guy who’s three months behind on child support.

Service of Process
The legal requirement to deliver court documents (subpoenas, summons, complaints) to a defendant. You can’t sue someone unless they’ve been properly served. That’s where I came in.

Subject
The person you’re trying to serve, surveil, or investigate. Not “target” (too aggressive), not “defendant” (too formal). Just “the subject.”

Skip Trace
The process of locating someone who doesn’t want to be found. “Skip” = someone who skipped town. “Trace” = find them anyway. Pre-internet, this meant phone books, utility records, neighbors, ex-girlfriends, and a lot of driving.

Serve
To deliver legal documents to a subject. “I served him at his office.” “She wouldn’t answer the door, so I couldn’t serve her.” The verb that defined my job.

Evasion
When someone actively avoids being served. Ducking behind furniture when you knock. Sending a receptionist to lie. Moving to a different address without updating records. My job was to outlast their evasion.

LEGAL TERMS

Subpoena
A court order requiring someone to appear in court or produce documents. Ignoring a subpoena = contempt of court. My job: make sure they couldn’t ignore it.

Summons
A legal document notifying someone they’re being sued. Receiving a summons is never good news. Delivering one? That was my Tuesday.

Affidavit of Service
The sworn statement I filed after serving someone, documenting the time, date, location, and circumstances of the serve. This was proof. Without it, the serve didn’t count.

Default Judgment
What happens when someone gets served and doesn’t show up to court. The other side wins automatically. This is why people tried so hard to avoid me.

INVESTIGATIVE TERMS

Surveillance
Watching someone without them knowing. Could be for infidelity cases, insurance fraud, custody battles, or just verifying someone actually lives where they claim to live. Boring 95% of the time. Critical 5% of the time.

Stakeout
Waiting. Hours of waiting. In a car. Outside a house, hotel, an office, a bar. Waiting for the subject to show up so you can serve them or document their activity. Bring snacks. Bring a pee bottle. And sometimes a full tank of gas and a toothbrush.

Cold Knock
Showing up at someone’s door unannounced. No phone call. No warning. Just knock and see who answers. The most direct method. Also the most likely to get a door slammed in your face.

Burn
When the subject realizes they’re being watched or followed. Once you’re burned, the surveillance is over. They’ll change their behavior, and you’ve lost the advantage.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

ADC Map Book
The map book of the DC metro area. Before GPS, this spiral-bound atlas was how you found addresses. Each page was a grid. You looked up the address, flipped to the page, found the grid square. If you lost your ADC book, you were done for the day.

Spiral Notebook
Pocket-sized. Logged everything: times, dates, addresses, descriptions, license plates, who said what. I’d scribble shorthand during surveillance. Eventually destroyed all of them when I left the business. No evidence, no liability, no looking back.

Film Camera
35mm, usually with a telephoto lens. Used for surveillance documentation: cheating spouses, insurance fraud, verifying addresses. Film was expensive. No instant review.

Binoculars
Compact pair, usually 7x or 8x magnification. Used for distance surveillance. Easier than a telephoto lens. Cheaper too. Non-negotiable.

Clipboard
Standard office clipboard with a legal pad or official-looking forms. Pure pretense. People see a clipboard and assume you belong. They just saw the clipboard and waved me in. Best $3 investment I ever made.

Accessory Clothing
Hats, jackets, anything that changed how people saw me. The goal wasn’t disguise. It was looking like I belonged. And it never hurt that in tense moments they wondered what the jacket might cover.

Maglite
10-inch metal flashlight. Helped me see in the dark. Also helped when someone decided getting served meant getting physical. A jab to the sternum with the business end created enough distance for me to get back to my car.

Bag Phone
Motorola bag phone. Showed up mid-to-late ‘80s. Looked like a briefcase with a phone handset sticking out. Weighed 10 pounds. Had to plug into the car’s cigarette lighter. Expensive (and billable) but a game changer.

Wits
The most important tool. Situational awareness. Reading body language. Knowing when someone was lying, scared, or about to get aggressive. Knowing when to knock and when to walk away. You could have the best gear, the best pretense, the best plan. But if you didn’t keep your wits about you—if you got complacent or overconfident—that’s when you got hurt. Or worse.

ERA-SPECIFIC TERMS

Payphone
Before cell phones, this is how you called the office to get your next assignment, or how you verified an address with the client. Always kept a pocket full of quarters.

Pager / Beeper
One-way communication device. The office paged you, you found a payphone, you called back. If you didn’t check your pager, you missed work.

Blockbuster
Video rental chain. Stopped there on the way home after a serve to rent The Fugitive or Lethal Weapon. Closed in 2010. Gone but not forgotten.

BEHAVIORAL TERMS

The Tell
A subtle behavior or verbal cue that reveals someone’s true state of mind. Poker players look for tells. So do PIs. Over-explaining? That’s a tell. Avoiding eye contact? Tell. Saying “I’m not lying”? Massive tell.

Over-Explainer
Someone who provides way more detail than necessary to justify their story. Truth-tellers state facts and move on. Liars build scaffolding. The more they explain, the more I knew they were lying.

Evasive Language
“He’s not here” vs. “He doesn’t live here anymore.” One is a fact. One is a story. Evasive language = stalling, misdirection, or outright lying.

CHRONICLES-SPECIFIC TERMS

6:07
The time every Case File publishes (Sunday 6:07 AM CT for premium, Tuesday 6:07 AM CT for free). Also the time reveals drop (Thursday 6:07 PM CT). Why 6:07? Because 6:00 is boring.

The Reveal
The post where I tell you which clues were true, which were false, and why I thought you’d fall for it. Premium subscribers get it immediately. Free subscribers wait 48-72 hours.

The Breakdown
Audio file where I walk through each clue one by one: TRUE or FALSE, context, and why I thought you’d believe it (or not).

Behind the Scenes
Audio file where I share what didn’t make it into the written Case File—deleted scenes, extra context, reflections 30 years later.

Sealed Case File
A story too sensitive to publish publicly. High-profile subject, legal risk, or just too damn good to give away for free. Available only to Tier 1 referral program members (3 referrals). Access opens Thursday at 6:07 PM CT. Link rotates monthly.

Wall of Honor
The permanent list of subscribers who referred 25+ people. Lifetime premium access, personalized Case File dedication, first access to future projects. The hall of fame.

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Not legal advice / not professional guidance / do not imitate tactics
Fictionalized/composite/altered details + no identification intended