The

The He spent the afternoon in the living room, sipping barley tea and watching a comedy rerun, he didn't quite understand, but he laughed at

anyway. The cushions had just the right give, and the blanket draped over the armour

still held someone's warmth. A drawing, crayon rockets and a sky full of potential, was pinned

to the wall beside the television. He looked at it for a while, then turned back to the screen.

At one point, he stood to water a wilting plant on the windowsill,

then sat again, folding into the space like he'd done it a hundred times before.

Downstairs remained undisturbed.

He hadn't gone back down since the early morning.

There was no need.

The living room, at least, didn't smell of blood.

Yeah, that's a scary intro.

No Jeffrey Epstein this time.

Just a pretty solemn introduction to this week's episode of Red Thread.

Hello, welcome.

I'm Jackson.

I'm joined by head researcher of the

Red Thread department, Kira, as well as, what would I call you? Local gadabout, Jordan.

There we go. You're self-described, man.

Well, contributing. Welcome, welcome to this week's episode of Red Thread. We've done a few goofy episodes in the past. Now we're back to things that are going to make Jordan cry and, you know, regret that he ever came onto the show in the first place. We're talking about the Seda Gaya family murders, which, yes, they don't sound too good. That doesn't sound goofy at all, in fact, all fun. It's a

depressing mystery about a family slain. Jordan, assumedly, you have never heard of this one.

No, and this is just depressing episode after depressing episode, isn't it? Last time we were talking

...