# Claude-Tic Audit - Chapter 16

Target: `output/chapters/chapter_16.md` after Comedy/Plain-Translation repairs.

Mechanical input: per-chapter gate PASS, open=0, WATCH=71. Main WATCH groups: repeated descriptor 43, hands/body 16, trailing participle 5, three-part cadence 1, and two false-positive uncontracted dialogue hits (`"where they are"`, `"whenever we are"`).

- `CLEAR - em-dash/rhythm crutch` - checked all dash-like clauses; the remaining `keys--he repainted...--` and `Odile's my aunt--three words` are local panic/withheld-confession beats, not chapter rhythm.
- `CLEAR - shimmer prose` - strongest candidate `"drowned salmon"` is literal paint color from the green/orange/primer process, not atmospheric drift.
- `CLEAR - default-elegant noun phrases` - prior `kind of thing` frames are absent; current equivalent `"The painting could hang in any hallway"` is an in-world portability verdict for Theo's wrong canvas.
- `CLEAR - theme-explanation after beat` - prior order repaired to `"he had kept the steps and missed the work she lost"` and `"On the way out, nobody said *fear*"`; both remain local to paint/class action.
- `CLEAR - over-balanced sentence structures` - prior information/information mirror is gone; the closest counter-candidate is `"The real one went over it. A room being made ready. Her own roller in the tray."`, which is fragmented layer-logic, not balanced thesis prose.
- `CLEAR - profundity-stamp close` - chapter closes on action: `"checked the front bolt twice, and put Odile's keys in his pocket."`
- `CLEAR - physical reaction substituting for interiority` - Theo's fear response is in miscounting, repainting keys, shaking outlet screws, and withholding the three-word confession, not generic chest/throat shorthand.
- `BOOK-SPECIFIC CLEAR - no offer leakage` - zero Tasker/Philadelphia/Nia/Asha/Dana/Kessler knowledge appears in Theo's POV.
- `BOOK-SPECIFIC CLEAR - catalog reveal protected` - catalogs appear only as `"nine gray-spined catalogs"` and `"paper slip tucked inside"`; no Brennan/Eileen/nephew acknowledgment.

Chapter verdict: `TICS-CLEAR`.

REVISION ORDERS: none. Repairs already executed from prior tic/comedy/plain rounds: portable phone quip removed, baby-teeth simile replaced, Ruth tag stripped, clementine repetitions cut, Odile rule speech flattened, and two verbatim narration echoes varied.
