The rain pattered against the fogged windows, casting an ominous glow over the dimly lit study. Detective Samantha Noir stepped through the doorway, her gaze scanning the room. Lying on the ornate rug, the lifeless body of the renowned businessman, Maximilian Blackwood, stared lifelessly at the ceiling, a single gunshot wound to his temple. Carefully, Noir knelt beside the corpse, her gloved fingers tracing the edges of the fatal injury, her mind already piecing together the puzzle that lay before her. Across the room, a grandfather clock ticked methodically, the only sound in the eerie silence that blanketed the scene, as if time itself had paused.