The Bevel Blade

The cold open

Rain streaks across the fourteenth-floor glass of the Montague-Prosper Atelier, blurring the neon geometry of the city grid below. Amid balsa wood towers, basswood elevations, and acrylic district models, Gervais Montague lies sprawled over a green self-healing cutting mat. A single heavy plunge of an industrial brass-handled modeling scalpel to his chest has ended the master architect's career in a pool of drying crimson.

The victim

Gervais Montague, 58, principal architectural designer

The lineup

• Alden Prosper
• Kerstin Hauge
• Tabor Renfrew
• Celeste Bruno