They stood as if nailed to the floor, unable to take their eyes off the female figure in the chair. The dark red curtains were drawn, and the room was in deep darkness. A ray of light, unexpectedly bright, made its way from a narrow gap between the curtains and fell on the woman at the table. She sat with her head thrown back, her back straight and smiling at the uninvited guests. After a long minute they realized that the woman was not smiling. Dead eyes looked over their heads. A thick golden silk cord wrapped around her neck was tied in a knot around the high back of the chair and held her body in an unnaturally straight position, preventing it from falling... The ornate pendulum of a tall Gothic clock in the corner of the room moved from side to side with a metallic knock, and it seemed like something... that frighteningly strange thing in the motionless human figure in the chair and the living movement of the soulless mechanism...