The night was dark, the hour late, as Detective Lila Novak arrived at the sprawling manor, an ominous scene unfolding before her eyes. The front door stood ajar, inviting an intrusion, a violation of the home's sanctity, signaling the horror that awaited inside its walls. Detective Novak cautiously entered, her senses on high alert, observing with a practiced eye the traces of a violent struggle. A trail of blood led deep into the house, a crimson path marking the perpetrator's ruthless journey, leaving destruction in their wake. In the study, the body lay sprawled, the victim's life extinguished, a once-prominent figure now reduced to a macabre spectacle.