Run: 2026-04-24-01KQ0PC0A5M0T5F3NMFP50B7PW

Rain polished the manor windows while Inspector Vale arrived, counting thirteen candles and one chair turned toward the locked study. Inside, Lord Aster lay beneath scattered chessmen, his silver cufflink missing, and the grandfather clock stopped at midnight precisely. No one admitted hearing screams, though the guests stood pale and silent, each clutching secrets like knives under velvet. Vale noticed wet footprints crossing the Persian rug, beginning at the corpse and ending before a bookcase without handles. Then the widow laughed softly upstairs, and every candle in the hall extinguished at once, except the thirteenth.