Run: 2026-07-09-01KX406H79NAQ3MS0WWPJ8AZ7G

Rain hammered Blackthorn Manor while Inspector Vale arrived, carrying a sodden invitation and a profound distrust of midnight callers outside. The butler admitted him, then pointed toward the library, where seven guests waited together beside an unlit fireplace in silence. At their center, Sir Alistair Crowe reclined beneath his portrait, smiling as though death had already entertained him that evening. Then lightning revealed the bloodstain spreading across the carpet directly beneath the locked study door behind the guests waiting silently. Nobody noticed the clock stop until Vale bent down and found a silver cufflink embedded within the crimson fibers there. Its engraved initial matched Crowe's name, yet the corpse's sleeves displayed plain black buttons not matching silver cufflinks at all. Before Vale could question anyone, a scream rose from upstairs, followed by the unmistakable sound of shattered glass in darkness. The butler paled, and every guest turned toward the staircase, except Sir Alistair Crowe, who had vanished from his chair.