Run: 2026-09-23-01M36NTD83CEN6DSBWZ2A3BSNJ

At midnight, the clock above Bellweather Station stopped, though every passenger swore they had heard it strike thirteen again tonight. Detective Mara Venn arrived carrying a wet umbrella, a sealed warrant, and the certainty someone had summoned her too late. Inside the room, twelve strangers stood around a man whose throat was untouched, yet whose shadow lay facedown beneath him. His ticket named no destination, his pockets held seawater, and the stationmaster insisted the dead man had boarded without witnesses. Mara crouched beside the corpse and noticed one fresh footprint in dust, pointing away from every door in the room. Then the clock began ticking backward, and all twelve strangers turned toward Mara as though expecting her to explain why. She recognized the footprint’s narrow heel immediately; it matched the impression she had left beside her own bed that morning.