Run: 2026-10-27-01M5YH5CKN4QQJYQS5DX5Y61MR

The rain stopped at midnight, leaving Blackwood House shining beneath the moon, while its master lay dead inside the study. Detective Mara Venn arrived to find six guests silent in the hall, each avoiding her eyes and the grand staircase. Above them, a clock struck once, though every witness swore the mechanism had been broken for twenty years until now. The study door remained locked from within, and beside the body waited an empty glass smelling faintly of bitter almonds. No window stood open, no chimney offered passage, and the only key still rested deep inside the victim's waistcoat pocket. Mara photographed the room, then noticed fresh ink beneath one fingernail and a paper cut across his own left thumb. On the desk, an unfinished letter named one guest as a thief, a traitor, and the killer among them all. One line had been sliced from the page, leaving a date, three violet words, and no signature anywhere at all. Mara read those words twice, then turned toward the guests as the clock struck a second impossible time behind her. Before Mara could speak, every candle died, and a seventh set of footsteps began slowly descending the staircase above them.