The pocket watch was a ruin, its silver case tarnished and crystal shattered. For Dr. Aris Thorne, a historian specializing in horology, it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He’d found it tucked inside a forgotten ledger from 1923, purchased from the dusty estate of the late Amos Byrd, a reclusive clockmaker from the village of Oakhaven.The watch had stopped at 3:15.Aris’s fascination turned to obsession when he cross-referenced the date of the ledger with local archives. On October 26th, 1923, a prominent landowner, Elias Blackwood, was found murdered in his study. The case was never solved. The