Run: 2026-02-16-01KHKA8CSGSW4ZFRCSPRMPD55X

Rain hammered the seaside hotel as Detective Mara Quinn studied the faded carpet, awaiting the evening's tedious charity banquet alone. The guests drifted through the lobby, sequins glittering, false laughter rising, masking tensions she'd learned to hear beneath every toast. Hotel manager Victor Hale approached nervously, twisting his cufflinks, whispering that a donor threatened cancellation over some missing artwork upstairs. Mara followed him toward the elevator, noting smeared fingerprints on brass buttons and a single crimson thread caught there earlier. On the sixth floor, the corridor smelled of chlorine and perfume, carpet muffling their footsteps toward the locked penthouse suite. Victor's keycard trembled in the slot, red light blinking twice before accepting, as thunder rolled like distant, disapproving applause outside. The suite's lights were off, curtains billowing from an open balcony door, letting in rain, salt, and something metallic unmistakable. Lightning flashed, revealing billionaire patron Charles Renner sprawled across the white piano, throat opened neatly, blood veining ivory keys below. Rain speckled his polished shoes, impossible from this angle, and Mara knew the balcony scene had been deliberately constructed earlier. Downstairs, the orchestra struck its first waltz, while upstairs Mara quietly locked the door, announcing everyone's evening had changed forever.