Run: 2026-09-03-01M1KXK8HTTX2HT42R3J9AB9HC

The cold rain hammered the dark windows of Blackwood Manor as Inspector Hayes arrived at half past eleven that night. A single lamp burned in the upstairs study, its glow falling across the wet gravel driveway below the dark hill. The trembling housekeeper stood on the porch, her pale face streaked with rain as she waited impatiently for him there. Hayes climbed the steps, noting the mud on the marble tiles and the broken lock on the massive front door. Inside, the air smelled of smoke and parchment, and the grandfather clock had stopped at the hour of the murder. A body lay facedown on the Persian rug, a silver letter opener still cruelly buried deep in the victim's back. Hayes knelt beside the corpse, already knowing that this quiet, sleepy, little old village would never be the same again.