Run: 2026-03-18-01KM0AFNWCZXWG9DSPGQHGZ6YN

Rain ticked against the manor windows as Detective Lark arrived, holding an umbrella and a folder of unanswered questions today. Inside, the housekeeper whispered that Lord Merrow vanished from his study, leaving only a locked iron key behind the desk. Sheriffs found him dead on the library rug, yet every clock there had stopped exactly midnight for the entire evening. Lark knelt beside the body, noting bruised wrists, cold tea, and a scent of almonds drifting upward from crushed glass. The coroner suggested poisoning, but the keyhole bore fresh scratches, like someone testing secrecy repeatedly under lamplight before disappearing quietly. Servants gathered nervously, blaming storms, strangers, or love, while Miss Elowen Merrow wept without tears and stared at her ring. Lark asked about the last visitor, and Master Finch offered a grin that never reached eyes during supper, he insisted. In the study, a revolver lay polished beside manuscripts, as if staged for a simpler story than anyone here expected.