Run: 2026-04-24-01KQ0PBX4RPPHFX0ZCDPB6M74R

Rain stitched threads across Blackwood Manor's windows as Inspector Vale arrived, summoned by a bell no living hand rang twice. Inside, twelve guests waited beneath chandeliers, their faces pale with secrets, while Lord Ashbury lay cooling in the library alone. A chessboard rested beside his chair, all pieces standing except the black king, which was missing from the board entirely. On the carpet, a single white rose bled crimson where someone had pressed it into the dead man's wound deeply. Vale removed his gloves slowly, noticing the fireplace smoke drift sideways, though every door and window stood firmly shut tight. Lady Ashbury whispered that her husband had feared supper, clocks, and the portrait watching from above the mantel each night. Before Vale could answer, the hall clock struck thirteen, and someone laughed behind the locked library door upstairs in darkness. The inspector studied the guests and knew one of them had already arranged another death before midnight with terrible care.