A lab report is a clue that cannot be argued with. The numbers are the numbers, the laboratory has no stake in the case, and the one line in the table that should not be there is the moment the investigation changes direction.
The laboratory’s letterhead and a report number, the particulars of who sent the sample and when, and a short description of what arrived. Then the table: each test with its result, unit and reference range, and a flag. A result flagged high, low or anomalous is marked on the page, each style in its own way, from a red typewriter ribbon to a warning badge. The findings, the method, the analyst’s and the reviewer’s signatures and the laboratory’s stamp close the page.
An alchemists’ guild certifying a cask of wine, a 1920s college laboratory typing onto its printed form, an Eastern Bloc institute with a boxed table and a violet stamp, a modern toxicology printout signed in ballpoint, and a biotech corporation’s assay report under a restricted clearance. A4 at 300 DPI.
The report that sent the sample to the laboratory is an Official Form, and the picture of where it was found is a Photograph.