Run: 2026-07-09-01KX41FECY3ZSPH0F0VHTQHC15

Rain stitched silver lines across Blackthorn Manor, while Inspector Vale watched the library window glow beneath the midnight storm outside. Inside, someone had arranged three wineglasses beside the corpse, though only two guests remained awake downstairs in the house tonight. Vale entered cautiously, silently noticing muddy footprints circling the body before disappearing beneath an antique Persian rug near the fireplace. The dead man clutched a torn playing card, its missing corner matching fragments discovered inside Vale's coat pocket earlier tonight. Behind him, the manor doors slammed shut, and every candle extinguished simultaneously, leaving one whispered accusation hanging in darkness alone. “You should not have returned,” murmured a voice from the corridor, using the exact phrase found beneath the victim's fingernails. Vale turned, but the corridor stood empty, except for a fresh red handprint pressed against the wallpaper directly behind him. On its palm, someone had drawn a tiny black star, the private symbol of the person who murdered Vale's brother.