Run: 2026-02-16-01KHKAXQF7R29CJ75R5DNT2RD7

Rain hammered the sleepy town. Sirens wailed against distant thunder. Detective Mara Quinn arrived late. Headlights carved through the fog. Harbor Street glistened like oil. Police tape fluttered, yellow, accusing. Officers hunched beneath dripping awnings. Radios crackled with clipped urgency. The Gull's Nest sign flickered. Inside, music played without listeners. Glass crunched under Mara's boots. The bar smelled of bleach. Someone had cleaned, then stopped. A single stool stood overturned. Blood mapped arcs across wood. The jukebox hummed, note dying. Body lay behind the counter. White shirt, black vest, lifeless. Eyes stared upward, demanding explanation. Stormlight shimmered on the knife. Handle protruded from his throat. No splatter marked surrounding surfaces. Mara noted absence of struggle. This murder wanted careful reading. She checked the silent doorway. Rain pattered, masking approaching footsteps. In the mirror, something moved. Not her reflection, someone behind. Mara turned, gun already rising. The lights died without warning. Darkness swallowed the room whole. A chair scraped, then silence. Somewhere nearby, a watch ticked. Mara smelled cordite beneath bleach. There was someone else watching.