It was all of them.
Every single document.
Noel stared at the stack in front of him and then looked at Hale, who had returned to his own desk and resumed working as if he had not just placed a mountain of paperwork in front of someone and asked if they were ready.
He was apparently ready.
Noel turned back to the stack.
He picked up the first document.
.
The assessor's notes were different from the public ledger.
The ledger had the official version of everything — clean language, standard categories, the kind of record that existed to be shown to people. The assessor's notes had the real version. Actual observations about applicants. Handwritten comments in the margins. Reasons that never made it into the formal record because they were the kind of reasons you didn't write down officially.
'Applicant lacks the right connections.'
'District not a priority this quarter.'
'Known associate of — see attached.'
