The first thing Team One learned about Bellgrave was that the village did not like talking about the coffin.
Not openly, at least.
The moment Cassian and the others began asking about the church, the conversations around them changed.
People lowered their voices.
Some avoided looking at them.
Others simply walked away after giving a short answer.
By late morning, the team had already spoken to several villagers.
And they had learned almost nothing.
Cassian stood outside a small general store, looking at the notes in his hand.
"We have been here for nearly three hours."
Owen stood beside him, holding a notebook.
"And in those three hours, we have learned that the church exists, people are afraid of it, and nobody wants to explain why."
Damon gave him a sideways look.
"That is still something."
Owen sighed.
"It doesn't feel like it."
Mira closed the notebook she had been writing in.
"Maybe we're asking the wrong people."
Cassian looked at her.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because every person we've spoken to has given us almost the same answer."
She opened her notebook again.
"They say the coffin appears. They say nobody knows how. They say the body disappears. Then they stop talking."
Cassian nodded.
"Which means either everyone has been told to keep quiet, or everyone genuinely doesn't know anything."
Lyra folded her arms.
"Which one do you believe?"
"I don't know yet."
Cassian put the notes away.
"That's the problem."
Damon looked toward the church visible in the distance.
"Then let's stop asking random villagers."
Cassian followed his gaze.
"You have somewhere else in mind?"
"The church."
Cassian nodded.
"That's where we're going."
---
The church stood slightly away from the busiest part of Bellgrave.
It was old, but not abandoned.
The stone walls had darkened with age, and several sections had been repaired over the years. A narrow path led from the village toward the entrance, with a small open area in front.
It was quiet.
Too quiet for a place that had become the center of a story repeated for four years.
Cassian stopped a short distance away.
Everyone looked around.
Damon studied the road.
Mira looked toward the church entrance.
Owen checked the map they had brought from the inn.
"This is where the coffin was found?"
"According to the reports."
Owen compared the map with the actual surroundings.
"The area is more open than I expected."
"Which means it should be difficult to bring something large here without being noticed."
Lyra looked toward the surrounding buildings.
"Unless it happened after everyone went home."
Cassian looked at her.
"The reports say the coffin was usually discovered around sunset."
"That's when people would still be outside."
"Exactly."
Mira walked a little closer to the church.
"Then whoever placed it either wasn't noticed..."
She looked around.
"...or nobody realized what they were looking at."
Owen frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Mira pointed toward the road.
"If someone saw a group of people carrying a coffin, they would remember it. But if the people carrying it looked like they belonged here, most people might not pay attention."
Damon considered that.
"That's possible."
Cassian didn't immediately agree.
"It is."
Mira looked at him.
"But?"
"But we're still assuming someone carried it here."
She paused.
Cassian continued.
"We don't know that."
The others went quiet.
He looked toward the church.
"The case file doesn't say anyone saw the coffin being brought here."
"No," Owen said.
"It only says someone discovered it."
"Exactly."
Cassian walked toward the open area.
"That difference matters."
---
They spent the next hour examining the area around the church.
There were no obvious footprints.
No broken branches.
No damaged ground.
Nothing that suggested a coffin had recently been dragged across the soil.
Owen crouched near the edge of the path and examined the ground.
"Nothing."
Damon looked at him.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing that helps us."
Owen stood.
"If someone carried a coffin through here, there should at least be some sign."
"Unless they used the road."
"Then someone should have seen them."
Cassian looked between them.
"That's the problem."
Damon nodded.
"Exactly."
Mira walked around the side of the church.
"There's another path here."
Everyone turned.
Cassian followed her.
The path was narrower and partially covered by overgrown plants.
"It leads toward the back," Mira said.
Owen checked the map.
"Does the map show this?"
Cassian looked over his shoulder.
"No."
Damon crouched and moved a few leaves aside.
"Maybe it isn't an official path."
"Where does it go?"
They followed it for a short distance.
It eventually disappeared near a line of old trees.
Nothing unusual.
No hidden entrance.
No strange structure.
Nothing that answered their questions.
Owen looked disappointed.
"We came all this way for a path that goes nowhere."
Cassian looked back toward the church.
"Not nowhere."
He pointed toward the ground.
"There are footprints."
Everyone looked down.
There were several faint footprints in the soil.
Mira immediately crouched.
"These are recent."
Damon shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
Mira looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because they could belong to anyone."
She looked at the prints again.
"True."
Cassian nodded.
"Don't turn every strange thing into evidence."
Mira smiled faintly.
"I know."
"Good."
He looked toward the trees.
"But we should still remember where this path leads."
Owen wrote it down.
"Back of the church. Narrow path. Leads toward the trees."
Cassian nodded.
"Keep it."
---
By afternoon, they returned to the village.
This time they weren't looking for anyone.
They were looking for someone specific.
The church caretaker.
According to the records, the caretaker had been present during several previous incidents.
His name was Edwin Harrow.
They found him sitting behind the church, repairing an old wooden bench.
Cassian approached first.
"Mr. Harrow?"
The old man looked up.
"Yes?"
"We're students from the academy."
Edwin looked at the badges on their uniforms.
His expression changed immediately.
"So you're the new team."
Cassian nodded.
"We were hoping to ask you a few questions about the coffin."
Edwin's hands stopped moving.
For a moment, he simply stared at them.
Then he placed the hammer beside him.
"You've already spoken to the villagers."
"Yes."
"And they didn't tell you much."
"No."
Edwin gave a tired smile.
"Then why do you think I will?"
"Because you were here."
Edwin's smile disappeared.
Cassian continued calmly.
"Not just once. According to the records, you were present during several occurrences."
The old man looked away.
"Records remember things differently from people."
Cassian noticed the sentence.
"What do you mean?"
Edwin didn't answer immediately.
Mira stepped forward.
"We aren't here to accuse anyone."
Edwin looked at her.
"We only want to understand what you personally saw."
The old man looked at each of them.
Then finally nodded.
"Ask."
Cassian opened his notebook.
"During the last occurrence, where were you?"
"Inside the church."
"At what time?"
"Near sunset."
"Did you see anyone approaching the church?"
"No."
"Did you hear anything?"
Edwin hesitated.
"Yes."
Cassian's pen stopped.
"What did you hear?"
"A bell."
Owen looked toward the church.
"There was a bell?"
Edwin nodded.
"One ring."
"Only once?"
"Only once."
Cassian wrote it down.
"Then what happened?"
"I went outside."
"And the coffin was already there?"
"Yes."
"Did you see anyone standing near it?"
"No."
"Did you touch it?"
"No."
"Who opened it?"
"Two villagers."
"Was the body already inside?"
Edwin looked at him.
"Yes."
Cassian continued.
"Did you see the body clearly?"
"I saw enough."
"Was there anything unusual about it?"
Edwin's expression tightened.
"No."
Mira asked quietly,
"Did you know the person?"
Edwin looked at her.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Mira studied his face.
"Then how did you know the person was dead?"
Edwin became silent.
The question seemed to bother him.
Finally, he answered.
"Because they weren't moving."
Mira nodded.
"Did anyone check for a pulse?"
"I don't know."
"Did anyone call a healer?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Edwin looked toward the church.
"Because by then, everyone already believed the person was dead."
Cassian wrote that down.
Then he asked,
"And by morning?"
"The body was gone."
"Who was watching the coffin during the night?"
Edwin looked at him.
"People were."
"Who?"
"I don't remember everyone."
"Did you stay?"
"Until midnight."
"Why did you leave?"
Edwin looked uncomfortable.
"I became tired."
Cassian didn't react.
"And after you left?"
"Others stayed."
"Who?"
Edwin gave him several names.
Cassian wrote them down.
Then he closed his notebook.
"One last question."
Edwin waited.
"Did anyone see the body disappear?"
The old man's face became blank.
"No."
Cassian stared at him.
"Nobody?"
"No."
"Then how do you know it disappeared?"
Edwin looked confused by the question.
"Because the next morning it wasn't there."
Cassian nodded slowly.
"Thank you."
He closed the notebook.
They walked away.
None of them spoke until they were far enough from the church.
Then Owen finally said,
"That was strange."
Damon looked at him.
"What part?"
"The bell."
Cassian glanced toward him.
"You noticed it too."
"One bell ring."
Mira nodded.
"And then the coffin was there."
Lyra looked thoughtful.
"Could the bell have been some kind of signal?"
Cassian shook his head.
"Maybe. But we don't know."
Damon looked back toward the church.
"There's something else."
Everyone turned toward him.
"Edwin said he left around midnight."
Cassian nodded.
"Yes."
"And other people were watching after him."
"Correct."
"But he couldn't tell us who stayed."
Cassian looked at him.
"That matters."
Damon nodded.
"Because if we want to understand what happened that night, we need to know exactly who was there during every hour."
Mira looked at her notes.
"Then we need the names of everyone who watched the coffin."
Cassian nodded.
"And we need their individual accounts."
Owen looked toward the church.
"Which means we're going to spend tonight interviewing people."
Cassian smiled faintly.
"Not tonight."
Owen looked surprised.
"Why not?"
"Because we already have enough questions for one day."
Cassian turned toward the inn.
"We'll organize everything first."
Lyra looked at him.
"And tomorrow?"
Cassian glanced back toward the church.
"Tomorrow, we start checking whether the stories match."
---
That evening, Team One gathered again in their room.
Their notes covered the table.
The church map was spread across the center.
The names of witnesses were written on one side.
The dates were written on another.
Cassian looked at everything in silence.
Three months.
Eighty-seven days.
Two or three days remaining.
The New Moon.
The church.
The coffin.
The body.
The missing night.
The witnesses.
And one bell ring.
None of it formed an answer.
Not yet.
But for the first time since arriving in Bellgrave, the case no longer felt like a story people were simply repeating.
It felt like something that had actually happened.
Something they could examine.
Something they could challenge.
Something they might eventually understand.
The others slowly began putting their notes away.
Cassian remained seated.
His eyes moved over the reports once more.
The dates.
The witnesses.
The church.
The coffin.
The missing body.
Then something caught his attention.
He reached for the report and turned back a few pages.
His finger stopped at one line.
The coffin was discovered near sunset.
Cassian stared at it.
He read the sentence again.
Then he looked at the witness statement they had received that morning.
Edwin Harrow had heard the church bell ring once before going outside.
Cassian slowly frowned.
The two details were sitting only a few lines apart.
Yet something about them felt wrong.
He looked toward the window.
The church was too far from the inn to see clearly at night, but its dark outline could still be made out beyond the village houses.
Cassian's thoughts began moving through the timeline.
The bell.
The coffin.
The witnesses.
The time.
He tried to connect them.
Nothing.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Cassian leaned back and rubbed his forehead.
"What am I missing?"
Damon looked up from his notes.
"Did you say something?"
Cassian shook his head.
"No. It's nothing."
He looked at the report again.
Maybe it really was nothing.
Maybe he was simply trying to force a connection where there wasn't one.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that one small detail was sitting right in front of him.
Something he had already seen.
Something he had already read.
Something he wasn't understanding yet.
Cassian closed the file.
He decided not to mention it.
Not until he understood what was bothering him.
For now, it remained only a thought he couldn't explain.
He looked toward the church one last time.
Tomorrow, they would continue.
Maybe then, the answer would finally show itself.
Or perhaps...
it would only give them another question.
Outside, the village slowly became quiet.
The church stood beneath the night sky.
Waiting.
Only a few days remained before the next expected coffin.
And Team One still had no idea what would be waiting inside it.
— by Aurea; "A mystery does not begin with an answer. It begins with the first question you refuse to ignore."