Daily case of October 10, 2026
Sterling Performance Tower, Manhattan, October 1959. A crystal chandelier drips light over a gala of sharks in sharkskin suits, where the air is thick with ambition and the chalky ghost of protein powder. The death of a titan peels back the gold leaf to reveal a world of stolen formulas, hostile passions, and a hunger that no supplement can satisfy.
Open this fileHarrison Sterling — Founder and CEO of Sterling Performance, the emperor of high-end sports nutrition, found dead in his own executive washroom during a gala celebrating the company's tenth anniversary.
Ambitious Protégé — Sterling's right-hand man, hand-picked heir apparent, and the public face of the company's next generation.
Chief Chemist — A fifteen-year veteran of Sterling Performance and the genius behind its most profitable formulas.
Patrician Investor — The majority shareholder and a blue-blooded Wall Street lion whose family money had bankrolled Sterling's first factory.
Rival Founder — The glamorous and ruthless CEO of Fontaine Formulations, Sterling's arch-rival for a decade.
The culprit, the alibis and the clue logic are locked before your first chapter. The narrator does not know the solution: it can neither leak it nor rewrite it when you close in.