"Welcome to Mystery Talk with Lark," the host's voice echoed through the car speakers. "I know you've all been waiting for me. For those who are new here, my name is Lark, and every week I invite guests to share mysterious and unsettling stories, stories that might just keep you awake at night."
She let out a soft laugh. "And today, I have a special guest with me. Simon, thank you for joining us."
"Thanks for having me, Lark," Simon replied. "I'm excited to share what I know."
"I hope you are," Lark said teasingly. "Because the story you're about to tell better haunt me after this episode ends."
There was a brief pause.
"So," Simon continued, lowering his voice, "have you heard about the girl who came back to life after being dead for hours?"
"The doctor had already pronounced her dead," Simon said. "Medically dead."
"That's not possible," Lark interrupted. "How can someone come back after dying for hours?"
"You won't believe it," Simon replied calmly. "But it happened."
The case occurred eight years ago. At the time, the entire town was obsessed with it for months.
"Her name was Jane," Simon said. "Everything began when her friend, Nora, returned home from work. She called out to Jane, but there was no response. Assuming she was asleep, Nora went to take a shower."
An hour passed.
"That's when it became strange," he continued. "Jane never slept at that time of day."
Nora went to Jane's room. She called her name again. No response. When she touched her shoulder, her body was cold. Stiff.
"She collapsed to her knees," Simon said quietly. "Jane was already dead."
"No way…" Lark whispered.
When authorities arrived, they were baffled. There were no signs of suicide. No signs of struggle. No evidence of murder. It was as if something had simply removed Jane's soul from her body.
"The police questioned Nora," Simon said. "She kept insisting they had been laughing together the night before. They even had plans for the weekend. Jane dying like this made no sense."
"What if Nora was lying?" Lark asked. "What if she did something?"
"Maybe," Simon said. "But what happened next was even stranger."
During the investigation, police discovered reports of a suspicious person roaming near Jane's apartment days before her death. Whoever it was, they carefully avoided every camera.
"And then Jane's body was sent to the morgue," Simon continued. "She lay there for hours."
Lark inhaled sharply. "Don't tell me…"
"She woke up."
Silence followed.
The morgue attendant later claimed he felt a presence behind him. When he turned around, Jane was standing there, staring at him. He ran out screaming, crashing straight into police officers and Nora.
"They all went inside," Simon said. "And there she was. Alive. Completely unharmed."
Doctors performed countless tests. Every result came back normal.
"So… she didn't remember anything?" Lark asked.
"No," Simon said. "All she remembered was falling asleep."
"That's insane."
"It didn't end there."
After being discharged, Jane changed. She stopped smiling. She barely spoke. Nora assumed it was trauma until strange things began to happen at home.
Groceries were scattered across the kitchen floor. Meat kept disappearing.
"One night," Simon continued, "Nora woke up to noises. She checked her phone. It was exactly three in the morning."
Slowly, she followed the sound to the kitchen.
"What did she see?" Lark whispered.
"Jane," Simon said. "Eating raw meat."
Blood covered her hands and her face. When Nora called her name, Jane didn't respond at first. Then she suddenly froze, terrified, apologizing over and over again.
Nora calmed her and told her to wash up.
But moments later, Jane was standing in the hallway.
"She turned her head slowly," Simon said, his voice dropping. "And asked, 'Are you scared of me?'"
A soft laugh followed.
"That was the last normal night Nora ever had."
The podcast cut off.
Silence filled the car, broken only by the low hum of the engine and the distant city noise outside. Cassian's fingers tightened around the steering wheel, his expression unreadable.
Jane Ross.
Eight years, and still no answers.
He rolled down the window, letting the cold night air wash over him, as if it could clear the thoughts from his mind, but it didn't. The story lingered, every word, every detail echoing too closely with memories he could never fully grasp.
His phone vibrated.
"He's here," Nolan said quietly from the phone. "We can go inside now."
Cassian didn't respond at first. His gaze remained fixed ahead, dark and focused.
Cassian opened the door and stepped out of the car.
The building loomed above them, its lights dim, its presence unwelcoming. Somewhere inside, answers waited, answers that had been buried for years.
"Welcome, my friend. How have you been?" said Chris as he welcomed Cassian.
He sat down on the sofa, ignoring Chris's warm welcome.
"Cut to the case, did you find out what I asked for?" he asked with a cold tone.
Chris was used to this kind of behaviour, so he sat next to Cassian with a serious smile on his face.
"Of course I did. You won't believe what I have discovered."
Both of their eyes became serious, whereas Nolan stood near the door.
"Now, I know why we couldn't get any leads for Jane Ross's death all these years. Someone powerful was covering up everything."
Cassian looked at Chris, all serious.
"Going after all the little clues that lead to nowhere, we forgot to look at something important to this case, the suspect Anna, who is in prison right now."
"What about her?"
"Don't you find it strange? No one can meet her, not even her family. So, I looked around, and I was right. There is one person who has visited her almost every month, and this is the person." Said Chris as he showed the photo to Cassian.
"And who is this person?"
Chris smirked and said, "This person is our next clue. His name is Ryan, and he is the most trusted bodyguard of Brims family. So, all this time, Brims family were covering the truth of Jane's death."
"Isn't it weird? Why would the respected and wealthy family cover up the death of some random girl? Unless they have something dark to hide, maybe they were the very reason for her death. That's why the whole case was so weird: nobody knew what happened to Jane Ross, nobody knows what she looked like, and her close friends and family are hidden, and nobody knows where they are; it's like they wiped up the whole existence of Jane Ross from the earth." Said Chris while pouring a drink.
After hearing Chris, there was silence. Cassian didn't speak, just stared at the drink in his hand.
"So, what else did you find about Brims family being involved in this case?" Cassian asked, cold as always.
Chris was caught off guard. He smiled and said, "Ah…that's all."
Cassian slowly looked at Chris, "So, you found nothing about Brims family?"
Chris stood up, clearly looking upset, "Wow, this guy has no gratitude at all. I found the major clue for this case, and what else do you expect me to find?"
"You didn't find how Brims family is related to the case?" as he took a sip of his drink.
"I can't believe you. Do you think it is easy to find out anything about Brims? Everything that comes out of that family is carefully selected for what the rest of the world will know. It was already hard to get this information; thankfully, you have me, who could get you this clue, and the rest is up to you to find out." Said Chris as he sat down.
Cassian just stared at him, just a cold stare shooting from his eyes.
"And I'm not getting involved anymore in this, so count me out. It's you who is obsessed with this case, why am I struggling in the middle? I'm telling you as your only friend, they are really, really a scary family, and it's better if you also stop."
"Okay, so I want you to find me a way into the Brims household."
"Are you for real?"
"You know how long I have been to this, and now I cannot go back. I don't care, I just need to find the answer." Said, Cassian.
"I knew it, you're always like this, and you never listen."
"Brims family are looking for bodyguards, you can get inside as their bodyguard. But first, you need to know about the history of the Brims family at least."
Cassian let out a slight smile as he looked at Chris, who suddenly opened the curtain that was covering the wall. The wall was full of the investigations of the Brims family.
"I knew it, you have more info," Cassian muttered to himself.
Nolan, who was standing beside the door the whole time, was shocked at the wall full of Chris's investigation of the Brims family.
Whereas Chris stood there proudly showcasing his masterpiece. He took out his glasses, which have no power but just to show him looking good while explaining.
"You don't need to know the full family history, but just the important one that we need for now."
Both Cassian and Nolan were listening carefully, and Nolan was even taking notes as if they were in the classroom and Chris was their professor.
So, right now, the head of the Brims family is Theodore Brims, the elder son of Arthur Brims. People say Arthur Brims also had a daughter who is hidden from the world. That's why Theodore Brims is very careful and chooses every worker himself who will work in the main manor of the Brims.
"So, what are you trying to say?"
I'm trying to say why they are hiding their only daughter, doesn't that sound strange? The whole world doesn't know about her existence. Even with the shareholders of the Brims Foundation, only a few of them know about her. So, I went to check on something in the company that provides workers in Brims Manor. And guess what, I heard a rumor.
"What kind of rumors?"
At first, I wasn't sure about the hidden daughter of the Brims family. But there was a rumors going on with the workers that had worked there, that there was really someone in the manor who was really protected; few maids even saw her, Theodore's sister, and Arthur Brims hidden daughter. They were even saying that Theodore might be the head of the family, but the last call comes from her. Another important thing to note is that there is one more person hidden in the Brims manor that nobody has ever seen.
"So, they have 2 daughters?" Nolan asked, looking confused.
"No, she might be the person we are looking for." Said Cassian.
"Yes, she might be Jane Ross."
"But she died 8 years ago." Said Nolan.
Remember, the Brims covered the death of Jane Ross, so who knows, she might be dead to the world, but in reality, she never died but was locked up in the Brims manor.
"If this is all true. It makes sense, but what would the Brims get from Jane? She is just an ordinary girl." Said Nolan.
That's what we need to find out. This is my theory; it might be or might not be true, but we can try. All of these are pointing at one thing, the hidden daughter of Brims family. So, she might be the key to everything and also the weak point of the Brims family; that's why she is protected from everyone.
"So, what do we do? We need to get to this hidden daughter." Said Cassian.
"If we are going there as bodyguards, it might take a long time until we get to the manor." Said Nolan.
Both Nolan and Cassian looked at Chris, as he might have the solution for this.
Chris took a long sigh, "Yup, this might be a problem, but I have an idea."
"What kind of idea?"
"We will have to pull out the key from the hole, and to do that, we have to shake their wall so that our key can crawl outside the wall." Said Chris as he drew something on the paper while explaining his plan.
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"You know this is the best way to know someone's secret, you pretend you know everything, and they will be scared and tada everything is out that we need to know, so we will send a letter to the secret Heiress, so that she could come out from her hole."
Cassian folded the file slowly.
Somewhere behind the walls of the Brims manor, the truth was waiting.