Run: 2026-02-16-01KHKAAAEDBFWN1QCVVHHBP6GV

Rain stitched silver lines across Hawthorne Manor as Detective Mara Quinn climbed the porch steps, summoned at midnight without warning. Inside, candlelight trembled on wallpaper roses, and the butler held out a note signed with unfamiliar initials only to her. The guests waited in the music room, whispering behind gloves, while a phonograph clicked softly between songs for the moment. Upstairs, Lord Ashbury lay facedown near the library door, his pocket watch stopped at one thirteen exactly, and blood cooled. Mara noticed muddy prints leading toward the conservatory, yet every boot in the hall appeared freshly polished under harsh lamps. A gardener swore he heard laughter outside, but the storm swallowed details, leaving only shattered glass nearby in wet gravel. When Mara opened the note, a single sentence warned her that the killer would greet her first before dawn arrived.