Run: 2026-10-08-01M4DZHQ3Z13GQGYPFAA6ZXP0K

The rain fell hard on Ashford Manor tonight. Detective Mara Holt arrived just after midnight. Her flashlight cut across the wet gravel driveway. Officers had already roped off the eastern garden gate. Nobody had touched the body near the fountain. Lord Edwin Thorne lay face down in shallow water. A silver letter opener protruded from his back. Mara knelt beside him and studied the scene. The victim's pocket watch had stopped at eleven. Someone had wound the clock on his mantel. Her partner, Sergeant Dunleavy, approached with a muddy notebook. "Three guests claim they never left the house," he said. Mara glanced up at the lit windows above. One figure stood motionless behind the glass. It was watching her, and it did not blink.