The old grandfather clock struck midnight precisely as Detective Sarah Chen arrived at the sprawling Victorian mansion on Blackwood Hill. Rain pelted the windows with furious intensity while thunder rumbled ominously in the distance like some ancient beast awakening slowly. She stepped inside the foyer and immediately noticed the body sprawled across the marble floor near the grand staircase. Lord William Ashworth lay motionless in a pool of dark crimson blood, his eyes frozen open in eternal silent terror. A crystal champagne glass rested shattered beside his outstretched hand, its contents now mingling grotesquely with the spreading red stain. The butler stood trembling in the corner, his face ashen white, unable to tear his horrified gaze from his master. Five dinner guests remained gathered in the adjacent parlor room, each one wearing expressions that mixed shock with something else. Sarah knelt beside the body and examined the small puncture wound visible just below the victim's left ear with care. This was no accident and certainly no suicide; someone in this house tonight had committed a cold and calculated murder. She rose slowly to her feet and turned to face the assembled suspects who waited nervously for her next words.