Run: 2026-10-08-01M4DA15C53MSAYX79SSGC1M3M

The rain had fallen without pause across the harbor town since Tuesday, and nobody in Westbrook remembered a colder November. Detective Inspector Helen Marsh stood beneath the dripping awning of the Gull and Lantern pub, watching officers unroll yellow tape. Inside, the body of Gerald Ashworth, the town's most generous benefactor, lay slumped forward across his old mahogany writing desk. Nobody had heard a shot, and the only witness, a nervous housekeeper, insisted she had seen nothing whatsoever that night. Marsh crouched beside the victim, noting the half-empty decanter, the scattered letters, and the faint, sweet scent of cloves lingering. Her sergeant, Tom Reilly, hovered at the doorway, clutching a damp notebook he had not yet begun to fill properly. Whoever had killed Gerald Ashworth had known exactly where he kept his secrets, and that frightened her most of all.