Run: 2026-09-29-01M3P2BVWWPKAV1N74VDSB644K

Rain hammered the windows of Blackwood Manor as Inspector Halloran stepped over the threshold and shook water from his coat. Somewhere upstairs, a clock struck midnight, and its final chime seemed to hang in the air like a held breath. Lady Verity Blackwood lay sprawled across the library floor, her pearl necklace scattered around her like tiny, lustrous, accusing eyes. Constable Pryce, pale and trembling, met him beside the body and whispered that all windows were bolted from the inside. Halloran knelt, studied the crimson stain blooming across her silk dress, and noticed no weapon lay anywhere in the room. Then he heard it: a faint, deliberate creak from the corridor, proving that someone in this house was still listening. Halloran smiled grimly, buttoned his coat, and resolved that before dawn, someone in Blackwood Manor would tell him the truth.