The old mansion stood silent beneath the cold autumn moon. Detective Sarah Chen stepped out of her car very slowly. Yellow police tape fluttered in the wind like dying butterflies. A body had been found inside the grand library room. She walked up the cracked stone path toward the door. Officer Mills greeted her with a grim nod and sigh. The victim was wealthy businessman Thomas Reid, aged sixty two. His wife had discovered him slumped over his oak desk. Blood pooled beneath his chair and stained the Persian rug. No signs of forced entry had been found anywhere inside. Sarah pulled on her gloves and entered the crime scene. The smell of old books mixed with something much worse. She studied the dead man's face frozen in pure terror. Someone in this house knew exactly what had happened tonight. The grandfather clock in the corner had stopped at midnight.