Run: 2026-02-16-01KHKB02FCX1XXYDX15WR66S7S

Rain hammered the boardwalk as tourists scattered from thunder overhead. Detective Mara Quinn sheltered beneath the pier, watching the chaos. The carnival lights flickered, staining puddles with nervous, bleeding color. Somewhere beyond the Ferris wheel, a scream sliced the storm. Everyone nearby assumed another drunken fight, except the detective tonight. She knew panic's timbre, raw and rising, unmistakably different here. Mara moved toward the voice, shoes slipping on streaming planks. Beneath the rusted roller coaster, people formed a hesitant circle. At its center lay a man, face down, motionless there. Cheap carnival music warbled overhead, grotesquely cheerful funeral accompaniment tonight. Blood threaded between the boards, disappearing into the roaring ocean. A stuffed panda floated in it, soaking up darkness slowly. Mara knelt, fingers hovering above his neck, not touching yet. The crowd's chatter dimmed when they noticed her police badge. Lightning revealed his features: carnival manager Elias Kade, feared, charming. He was supposed to open tonight's fireworks, not headline morgues. Mara finally touched his skin; the warmth shocked her badly. Someone knelt opposite her, dripping seawater, eyes wide with terror. The woman whispered, trembling, barely audible above crashing waves everywhere. “I watched him drown on land, without any water today.”