Run: 2026-04-24-01KQ0N1TFFFWGSWQ9TVHBX7Z8G

Rain needled the windows as Inspector Vale entered Ashbourne Hall. Twelve guests watched silently, their champagne forgotten beside cooling plates. At midnight, the grandfather clock began striking without its pendulum. Then Lady Marwick screamed from behind the locked library door. Vale forced it open, revealing Sir Julian facedown, bloodless, smiling. In his hand lay a violet ribbon, freshly torn. Every guest denied knowing why the ribbon smelled of smoke. Outside, muddy footprints circled the house, then simply vanished. Above the mantel, a portrait had been slashed open. Inside its canvas, Vale found one word: forgive me.