The old mansion stood silently at the end of Blackwood Lane, its windows dark against the cold and unforgiving night sky. Detective Sarah Chen stepped out of her car, pulling her coat tighter against the bitter wind that howled through bare trees. A single light flickered in the upstairs window, casting eerie shadows that danced like restless ghosts across the overgrown front lawn. The call had come at midnight, a trembling voice whispering that someone lay dead in the library of the grand estate. She approached the heavy oak door, which hung slightly ajar, revealing a darkness inside that seemed to swallow all available surrounding light. The scent of old books and something far more sinister greeted her as she crossed the threshold into the grand foyer. On the marble floor, a trail of dark crimson droplets led from the staircase toward the closed double doors of the library. She pushed the doors open slowly, her flashlight beam cutting through the shadows to reveal a scene of absolute and utter horror. A man in a tailored suit lay sprawled across an antique desk, a silver letter opener buried deep in his still chest. His eyes were frozen open in surprise, staring at the ceiling as if the answer to his murder was written up there.