Song Description
"Clipboard Man" unfolds like a quiet chase told in reverse. Ethel knows clipboard man isn’t her threat. He’s a signal. A reflection. He's part of a larger thing that needs eyes and ears for its own protection.
When surveillance starts to fold back on itself, she sets her own decoy in motion. She hires a private investigator as a second set of eyes. A moving mirror.
What follows is assessment without panic. Hotels, side streets, small cues that build into proof. Kinley’s people are tracking Ethel but Ethel is also tracking them.
Lyrics
He's not my threat
He's my reflection
If they're watching him
they're reading my direction
He's not their man
He's in my plan
Up before noon
Shared kitchen tension
No conversation
just the sound of someone
wondering where I go that early
No plan
Just distance
Ten k inbound
Dash light cold
Mirror clean
Motor warm
Didn't brief the PI
Didn't name the threat
Said just enough to make it legal
Said little enough to keep it useful
He logs my loop
But the trick isn't what he sees
It's who sees him
If they trace him?
They'll find a real license
Real pay
Real reason
Not their reason
Mine
Side street
Black bike
Kickstand soft
Four Seasons
Kinley 1:10
Exit cue
different tie
same woman
I walked in
Slight glance
Just filed it
Not scandal
Just routine
He doesn't see me
Not really
But he feels it
That flick in the spine
When something's been logged
Split at the fountain
I peeled right
Bike just ahead
And parked nearby
Clipboard
Not flashy
Not branded
Grey beard
Thinning hair
Didn't write
Didn't read
Just… carried it
That's when I named him
Not "the man"
Not "the tail"
Clipboard Man
He's not my threat
He's my reflection
If they're watching him
They're reading my direction
He's not their man
He's in my plan
And that's why
I named him:
Clipboard Man
Back on the bike
Rocks behind me
Harbour bridge ahead
Kinley stlyed south
I didn't
Wind sharp
Mirrors steady
Clipboard tailing
Two cars back
Low gear wrong lane
But rhythm matched
That's not coincidence
That's rehearsal
I cut north
Didn't rush
Just broke line of sight
In the turn
He slowed
Didn't stop
Didn't search
My guy kept with him
Just back one set
Let the rhythm reset
Clipboard rolled into
A side-industrial patch
Not sketchy
Just not coffee
Stayed parked
Fifteen minutes
Glove box lean
Phone glance
No call
Then:
A bag from the passenger side
Not groceries
Just enough
To get logged
My PI stayed on him
Not close
Not loud
Just long enough
To make it seem
Coincidental
Clipboard cut east
Didn't call
Silver sedan
Front seat
No plates worth logging
Ten minutes later:
Warehouse block
Quiet
Not quiet-quiet
Just "extra"
Not illegal
Just… indicative
He's not my threat
He's my reflection
If they're watching him
They're reading my direction
He's not their man
He's in my plan
And that's why
I named him:
Clipboard Man