The Ballroom Hours

A shadow moved when the chandeliers did not. A laugh echoed without a mouth. A hand touched your coat, though no one stood behind you. The clocks ticked — not forward, not back, but inward.The gala was glamour, spectacle, a waltz of grace and secrets. But beneath the gowns and the string quartets, stories unfolded that never reached the investigation room.This is a collection of those missing slivers —moments between glances,between wine and whispers,between the dance and the downfall.A companion anthology to Murder in the East Wing. The Ballroom Hours is a collection that gathers the interludes, exchanges, and intimate fragments that occurred during the infamous Founders' Night Gala in Elmswood Estate — that sadly, didn't make it to the final cut of included interludes in the main story.The masks didn’t just hide faces.They hid truths.