diff --git a/src/App.tsx b/src/App.tsx
index 47b30f9..f3f929b 100644
--- a/src/App.tsx
+++ b/src/App.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import { Shell } from './layout/Shell';
 import { Login } from './pages/Login';
 import { QueueScreen } from './screens/QueueScreen';
 import { CaseScreen } from './screens/CaseScreen';
-import { NewInvestigationScreen } from './screens/NewInvestigationScreen';
 import { RunReviewScreen } from './screens/RunReviewScreen';
 
 /**
@@ -25,7 +24,6 @@ export function App() {
       <Route element={<Shell />}>
         <Route path="/q/:q" element={<QueueScreen />} />
         <Route path="/c/:id" element={<CaseScreen />} />
-        <Route path="/new" element={<NewInvestigationScreen />} />
         <Route path="/review" element={<RunReviewScreen />} />
         {/* Awaiting Review is the landing page, not "all cases": it is the
             queue with work in it, and the one the console exists to serve. */}
diff --git a/src/api/config.ts b/src/api/config.ts
index 6a8afe6..c3771be 100644
--- a/src/api/config.ts
+++ b/src/api/config.ts
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ export const DECISIONS_VIEW = 'dni-rv-ava-decisions';
 // hardcoded: each activity's fields are read from view-service at open time.
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 export const ACT = {
-  REVIEW: 'dni-act-review', // INIT — the daily sweep. No question, no form.
-  START: 'dni-act-start', // INIT — a human asks a specific question
+  REVIEW: 'dni-act-review', // INIT — the daily sweep. The ONLY way a case is born.
   FINDINGS: 'dni-act-findings', // Ava
   NOTHING: 'dni-act-nothing', // Ava — a quiet morning; closes the case itself
   APPROVE: 'dni-act-approve',
@@ -135,7 +134,9 @@ export const STAGE_ACTIONS: Record<string, Action[]> = {
       label: 'Send Back to Ava',
       roles: ['revenue_cycle_manager'],
       kind: 'secondary',
-      hint: 'She re-runs the investigation with your note',
+      // The only way a person asks Ava anything: in the context of something
+      // she already found. There is deliberately no "ask a question" door.
+      hint: 'She re-runs the review with your note',
     },
     { activity: ACT.REJECT, label: 'Reject', roles: ['revenue_cycle_manager'], kind: 'danger' },
   ],
diff --git a/src/layout/Shell.tsx b/src/layout/Shell.tsx
index 24f9dea..20fb3a9 100644
--- a/src/layout/Shell.tsx
+++ b/src/layout/Shell.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { NavLink, Outlet, useNavigate } from 'react-router-dom';
-import { LogOut, Radar, Search } from 'lucide-react';
+import { LogOut, Radar } from 'lucide-react';
 import { useZino } from '../api/provider';
 import { QUEUES, prettyRole } from '../api/config';
 import { NorthlakeLockup } from '../components/NorthlakeLogo';
@@ -29,15 +29,12 @@ export function Shell() {
           <NorthlakeLockup />
 
           <div className="ml-auto flex items-center gap-3">
-            {/* The sweep is the product; the question is the exception. */}
+            {/* The only way a case is born. Nobody asks Ava a question; she
+                decides what is worth a person's time. */}
             <Button kind="primary" onClick={() => navigate('/review')}>
               <Radar className="h-4 w-4" />
               Run daily review
             </Button>
-            <Button kind="ghost" onClick={() => navigate('/new')} title="Ask Ava a specific question">
-              <Search className="h-4 w-4" />
-              Ask a question
-            </Button>
 
             {user && (
               <div className="hidden text-right sm:block">
diff --git a/src/screens/CaseScreen.tsx b/src/screens/CaseScreen.tsx
index a007dc4..2356aaa 100644
--- a/src/screens/CaseScreen.tsx
+++ b/src/screens/CaseScreen.tsx
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ export function CaseScreen() {
   const scanned = str(row?.scanned_summary);
   const flagged = num(row?.flagged_count);
   const kind = str(row?.finding_kind);
-  const isSweep = scanned !== '' || flagged != null || !str(row?.question);
   const quiet = flagged === 0 && !str(row?.summary);
 
   const trace = useQuery(() => client.avaTrace(String(id)), [id], true, aiOwned ? 4000 : 0);
@@ -102,12 +101,9 @@ export function CaseScreen() {
               )}
             </div>
             <p className="mt-1.5 max-w-2xl text-sm text-muted">
-              {str(row.question) ||
-                (isSweep
-                  ? `Daily review — every payer, department and front desk${
-                      str(row.review_as_of) ? `, as of ${str(row.review_as_of).slice(0, 10)}` : ''
-                    }. Nobody asked; Ava decides what is worth your time.`
-                  : `Scope: ${str(row.scope) || 'all payers and departments'}`)}
+              Daily review — every payer, department and front desk
+              {str(row.review_as_of) ? `, as of ${str(row.review_as_of).slice(0, 10)}` : ''}.
+              Nobody asked; Ava decides what is worth your time.
             </p>
           </div>
 
@@ -172,15 +168,13 @@ export function CaseScreen() {
       <AvaLive steps={trace.data ?? []} decisions={decisions.data ?? []} working={aiOwned} />
 
       {/* ---------------- the ask, in full ---------------- */}
-      <Card title="The request" subtitle="What was handed to Ava">
+      <Card title="This review" subtitle="How the case came to exist">
         <div className="px-4 py-4">
           <Facts
             rows={[
-              { label: 'Scope', value: str(row.scope) || '—' },
-              { label: 'Payer', value: str(row.payer) || 'All' },
-              { label: 'Department', value: str(row.department) || 'All' },
-              { label: 'Look-back', value: row.period_weeks ? `${str(row.period_weeks)} weeks` : '—' },
-              { label: 'Question', value: str(row.question) || '—', wide: true },
+              { label: 'Started by', value: str(row.review_as_of) ? 'Replay of a past morning' : 'Daily review' },
+              { label: 'Anchored on', value: str(row.review_as_of) ? str(row.review_as_of).slice(0, 10) : 'Latest data' },
+              { label: 'Look-back', value: row.period_weeks ? `${str(row.period_weeks)} weeks` : '6 weeks' },
               ...(str(row.review_note)
                 ? [{ label: 'Sent back with', value: str(row.review_note), wide: true }]
                 : []),
diff --git a/src/screens/NewInvestigationScreen.tsx b/src/screens/NewInvestigationScreen.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 7cb2459..0000000
--- a/src/screens/NewInvestigationScreen.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
-import { useState } from 'react';
-import { useNavigate } from 'react-router-dom';
-import { Brain, Database } from 'lucide-react';
-import { ActivityForm } from '../components/ActivityForm';
-import { Card } from '../components/core';
-import { ACT, LAKEHOUSE } from '../api/config';
-
-/**
- * Ask Ava a question.
- *
- * The form is the INIT activity's own schema, read live from view-service — so
- * the scope picker, the payer list and the look-back are whatever the workflow
- * says they are, not a copy maintained here.
- *
- * The page around the form exists to set the expectation: the manager is not
- * running a report, he is handing work to an analyst who will take a few
- * minutes and come back with a recommendation.
- */
-export function NewInvestigationScreen() {
-  const navigate = useNavigate();
-  const [open, setOpen] = useState(true);
-
-  return (
-    <div className="mx-auto max-w-2xl space-y-4">
-      <header>
-        <h1 className="text-xl font-semibold text-ink">Ask Ava</h1>
-        <p className="mt-0.5 text-sm text-muted">
-          Hand her a question about denials. She investigates and comes back with a cause, a
-          dollar figure and a recommendation for you to approve.
-        </p>
-      </header>
-
-      <Card className="px-4 py-4">
-        <div className="flex items-start gap-3">
-          <span className="rounded-full bg-ai-soft p-2 text-ai ring-1 ring-ai-edge ring-inset">
-            <Brain className="h-4 w-4" />
-          </span>
-          <div className="text-sm text-muted">
-            <p className="font-semibold text-ink">What she will do</p>
-            <ol className="mt-1.5 list-decimal space-y-0.5 pl-4">
-              <li>Reconcile the claims data against the finance report before trusting it</li>
-              <li>Baseline the denial rate, then slice by payer, reason code, department and desk</li>
-              <li>Find where the change concentrates and when it started</li>
-              <li>Look for the cause in the payer's own policy bulletins</li>
-              <li>Count what is still inside the appeal window and what it is worth</li>
-            </ol>
-            <p className="mt-2.5 inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-xs text-faint">
-              <Database className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
-              Read-only against {LAKEHOUSE.platform} · {LAKEHOUSE.catalog}.{LAKEHOUSE.schema}
-            </p>
-          </div>
-        </div>
-      </Card>
-
-      <ActivityForm
-        open={open}
-        onClose={() => {
-          setOpen(false);
-          navigate('/q/investigating');
-        }}
-        activityUid={ACT.START}
-        title="Start an investigation"
-        subtitle="Ava picks this up as soon as you submit"
-        submitLabel="Send to Ava"
-        onDone={(r) => {
-          if (r.instance_id) navigate(`/c/${r.instance_id}`);
-        }}
-      />
-    </div>
-  );
-}
diff --git a/src/screens/QueueScreen.tsx b/src/screens/QueueScreen.tsx
index 78f6cce..3f4dc9b 100644
--- a/src/screens/QueueScreen.tsx
+++ b/src/screens/QueueScreen.tsx
@@ -79,15 +79,12 @@ function CaseCard({ row, onOpen }: { row: Row; onOpen: () => void }) {
   const summary = str(row.summary);
   const atRisk = num(row.amount_at_risk);
   const recoverable = num(row.recoverable_amount);
-  const scope = str(row.scope);
-  const question = str(row.question);
   const aiOwned = state === 'Investigating' || state === 'Monitoring';
   const scanned = str(row.scanned_summary);
   const flagged = num(row.flagged_count);
   const kind = str(row.finding_kind);
   // A sweep that found nothing: closed by Ava herself, never on a desk.
   const quiet = flagged === 0 && !summary;
-  const isSweep = scanned !== '' || flagged != null;
 
   return (
     <Card className="cursor-pointer transition-colors hover:border-brand/50" >
@@ -99,7 +96,6 @@ function CaseCard({ row, onOpen }: { row: Row; onOpen: () => void }) {
           <Badge tone={quiet ? 'slate' : tone} dot={aiOwned}>
             {quiet ? 'Nothing to report' : state}
           </Badge>
-          {isSweep && <Badge tone="slate">daily review</Badge>}
           {kind && FINDING_KIND[kind] && <Badge tone="violet">{FINDING_KIND[kind]}</Badge>}
           {aiOwned ? (
             <span className="inline-flex items-center gap-1 text-[11px] text-ai">
@@ -117,10 +113,7 @@ function CaseCard({ row, onOpen }: { row: Row; onOpen: () => void }) {
         </div>
 
         <p className="mt-2 line-clamp-2 text-sm text-ink">
-          {summary ||
-            (quiet ? scanned : '') ||
-            question ||
-            (isSweep ? 'Ava is reviewing every payer, department and desk…' : `Scope: ${scope || 'all payers'}`)}
+          {summary || (quiet ? scanned : '') || 'Ava is reviewing every payer, department and desk…'}
         </p>
 
         {(atRisk || recoverable) && (