The most powerful signal of deception is sometimes the simplest: what’s missing.
I call it AWOL. A witness recalls every dramatic detail of an event but forgets who else was in the room.
A staff member explains what happened but skips the consequences that followed.
Real memory includes the ordinary and the mundane. The coffee spilled, the name mentioned, the delay that annoyed everyone.
Fabricated stories skip the boring parts.
Absence is evidence. What is AWOL is as important as what is present.