The morning passed quietly in Bellgrave.
Team One left the inn after breakfast and continued visiting the families connected to the previous victims.
They had already spoken to several families, but there were still a few more people they needed to meet.
Their first stop was the home of a young woman who had died several months earlier.
Her older sister welcomed them inside and offered them seats.
Cassian opened his notebook.
"We would like to ask a few more questions about her final days. We are trying to understand what happened before her death."
The woman nodded.
"She was healthy. She rarely complained about anything."
"Was she close with the family?"
The woman gave a small smile.
"She was close to us, but she was never very talkative. She preferred staying by herself most of the time."
Mira looked at the photograph placed on the table.
"She seems quiet even in the picture."
"She was. She liked reading and spending time alone. Most people in the village hardly knew her."
Cassian looked at the photograph.
Then he looked at her eyes.
Brown.
A faint blue shade around the iris.
His fingers stopped against the page.
The same detail again.
He lowered his eyes before anyone noticed.
"Did she seem different before she died?"
"No. She was the same as always."
"What happened that day?"
"She complained that she felt unusually hot. We thought she needed rest, but later she suddenly became weak and collapsed."
Cassian wrote it down.
"Did she visit the church?"
The woman's expression became thoughtful.
"She did sometimes."
"Do you remember her last visit?"
"It was several days before she died."
Cassian nodded.
"Did she receive anything from Father Alistair?"
The woman hesitated briefly.
"Yes. He gave her a small silver chain."
"Do you still have it?"
"No."
Cassian looked up.
"What happened to it?"
"She was wearing it when she died. We searched for it afterward, but we never found it."
"Did she usually wear it?"
"She almost never took it off."
Cassian lowered his gaze again.
Another piece.
He didn't say anything.
---
The second family lived closer to the village square.
Their victim had been a young man who had spent most of his time working.
His mother described him as serious and stubborn.
"He wasn't someone who smiled easily. But he was responsible. If he promised something, he always finished it."
Damon looked at the photograph.
"He looks like someone who doesn't enjoy wasting time."
The mother smiled faintly.
"That was exactly how he was."
Cassian asked about his health.
"He was perfectly healthy."
"What happened before his death?"
"He suddenly complained that he couldn't breathe properly. We thought it might be some kind of asthma attack, but he had never been diagnosed with asthma."
Cassian wrote it down.
"Did he visit the church?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Several days before his death."
"Did Father Alistair give him anything?"
"A silver bracelet."
"Do you still have it?"
The woman shook her head.
"He was wearing it when he died."
"Did he wear it regularly?"
"He wore it every day after receiving it."
Cassian looked at her.
"Was it recovered after his death?"
"No. We never found it."
Cassian wrote another line.
His expression remained calm.
But inside, the pieces were beginning to arrange themselves.
---
The third family was different again.
Their daughter had been known throughout the village.
She was cheerful, outspoken, and always involved in other people's business.
Her mother laughed quietly while remembering her.
"She could talk to anyone. Sometimes we wished she would stay quiet for five minutes."
Milo smiled.
"She sounds like someone who would be difficult to forget."
"She was."
The smile disappeared from the woman's face.
"That's why her death was so difficult for us."
Cassian looked at the photograph.
Again.
Brown eyes.
That faint blue shade.
He turned another page.
"What happened before she died?"
"She suddenly became sick."
"What kind of sickness?"
"She began vomiting blood. We took her to a healer, but she lost consciousness before we could understand what was happening."
Cassian nodded.
"Had she ever been seriously ill before?"
"No. She had always been healthy."
"Did she visit the church?"
"Yes."
"Did she receive anything from Father Alistair?"
The woman nodded.
"He gave her a pair of silver earrings."
"Do you still have them?"
"No. She was wearing them when she died."
"Did she always wear them?"
"She loved them. She wore them almost every day."
Cassian looked down.
"And after her death?"
"We never found them."
He quietly wrote the answer.
---
The fourth family gave them another story.
Their victim had been a quiet man who rarely involved himself in village matters.
He wasn't unhappy.
He simply kept to himself.
His younger brother explained it simply.
"He liked peace. He didn't have many friends, but he wasn't lonely. He just preferred a quiet life."
Cassian looked at the photograph.
The same eyes.
Again.
Brown with a faint blue shade.
"What happened to him?"
"He complained that his chest felt strange. Then he became weak."
"Did he lose consciousness?"
"Yes."
"And he never woke up?"
The brother shook his head.
"No."
Cassian closed his notebook for a moment.
"Was he healthy before that?"
"Yes. Completely."
"Did he visit the church?"
"Yes."
"Did Father Alistair give him anything?"
"A silver locket."
"Do you still have it?"
"No. He was wearing it when he died."
"Did he normally wear it?"
"He wore it constantly after receiving it."
Cassian nodded.
"Thank you."
---
By the time Team One left the fourth house, Cassian had become unusually quiet.
The others noticed.
Milo looked at him.
"You have been thinking about something since the first house."
Cassian continued walking.
"I have been thinking about several things."
"That usually means you found something."
Cassian stopped.
He turned toward them.
"Let's visit the previous families again."
Owen frowned.
"Again? We already spoke to them yesterday."
"I know."
"Then what are we going back for?"
"I need to confirm something."
Mira studied his expression.
"Is it important?"
Cassian nodded.
"Very."
The confidence in his voice was enough.
Nobody argued.
They turned around.
---
The first family looked surprised when Team One returned.
Cassian apologized before asking another question.
"There is one detail we forgot to ask about yesterday."
The family agreed.
Cassian looked at the victim's mother.
"Did she ever receive an ornament from the church?"
The woman thought for a moment.
"Yes. She received a silver chain from Father Alistair."
"Was she wearing it when she died?"
"Yes."
"Did she wear it regularly?"
"She almost never took it off."
"Was it recovered afterward?"
The woman shook her head.
"No. We searched for it, but it was gone."
Cassian nodded.
The next family gave the same answer.
A bracelet.
Always worn.
Never recovered.
The next family.
Silver earrings.
Always worn.
Never recovered.
Another family.
A silver locket.
The same story.
Every victim had received something from the church.
Every victim had continued wearing it.
And after their deaths, none of those ornaments had been found.
Cassian stopped walking after leaving the final house.
Milo looked at him.
"You found something."
Cassian looked at all of them.
A small smile appeared.
"That is it."
Owen frowned.
"What is it?"
Cassian's smile became slightly sharper.
"I finally found one of the most important connections in this case."
Damon folded his arms.
"You are going to explain that, aren't you?"
Cassian turned toward the church.
"Follow me."
Milo sighed.
"Of course you are making us walk again."
---
They returned to the church.
Cassian stopped near the entrance.
The others gathered around him.
He looked at them seriously.
"I want to ask all of you something."
Owen nodded.
"What did you notice yesterday after the prayer?"
The team exchanged confused looks.
Caelan thought for a moment.
"Father Alistair gave a blessing to a couple."
Cassian nodded.
"Correct. Did anyone notice what happened afterward?"
Milo raised his hand slightly.
"He gave something to the groom."
Cassian pointed toward him.
"Exactly."
Milo smiled proudly.
"I finally remembered something useful."
Damon laughed.
"You deserve some credit for that."
Cassian ignored them.
"Do you remember what he gave him?"
Milo frowned.
"It was some kind of silver object."
"Yes."
Damon suddenly spoke.
"Maybe it was meant for the groom because the design suited him better."
Cassian stared at him.
He said nothing for several seconds.
Mira covered her mouth.
Owen looked away.
Caelan started laughing.
Damon looked around.
"What did I say?"
Cassian finally sighed.
"Are you seriously using that as your explanation?"
The others laughed.
Damon folded his arms.
"I was only trying to make sense of it."
Milo laughed.
"You made absolutely no sense."
Cassian shook his head.
Then Owen became serious.
"There is something else."
Cassian looked at him.
"The groom looked around twenty-eight or twenty-nine."
Cassian's expression changed.
"Exactly."
He nodded once.
"At least one of you was paying attention."
Milo immediately pointed at himself.
"I noticed the silver object."
"You noticed because it was shiny."
"It still counts."
Cassian almost smiled.
Then he looked at everyone.
"Did any of you carefully examine the victims' photographs?"
Everyone nodded.
"Did you notice anything?"
Mira hesitated.
"I noticed something about their eyes."
Cassian looked at her.
"Tell me."
"They all had brown eyes, but there was a faint blue shade around the iris."
Cassian nodded.
"That is correct."
He opened his notebook.
"Now I will explain everything."
The team moved closer.
"First, the victims are all within roughly the same age range. Most of them are between twenty-five and forty."
He turned the page.
"Second, they were healthy before their deaths. Their symptoms were different, and their personalities were different too. Some were cheerful. Some were quiet. Some were serious. Some preferred being alone."
Mira nodded.
"So their personalities aren't the connection."
"Exactly."
Cassian continued.
"Their deaths are different as well. One suffered breathing trouble. Another experienced sudden bleeding. Another vomited blood. Another complained about unusual heat before losing consciousness."
Damon looked thoughtful.
"So the symptoms aren't identical either."
"No. But they were all sudden enough to look like natural or unexplained deaths."
Cassian turned another page.
"Third, they all have the same unusual eyes. Brown with a faint blue shade."
He paused.
"Fourth, before the New Moon, usually several days before it and sometimes earlier in the month, they visited this church."
Damon's expression changed.
"And they received something from Father Alistair."
Cassian nodded.
"Silver ornaments."
"Chains, bracelets, earrings, lockets, rings."
"Different objects, but the same symbol."
Cassian looked toward the church.
"A silver plus-shaped symbol."
Silence settled over the group.
Mira looked toward the entrance.
"So the ornaments are connected to the victims."
"More than that."
Cassian's voice became quieter.
"They were wearing them when they died."
Everyone looked at him.
"And none of the families ever recovered them."
Owen's expression changed.
"So if the body appears again..."
Cassian looked at him.
"The ornament should be with it."
Nobody spoke.
The realization settled over them.
The ornament was no longer simply a strange gift.
It could become physical evidence.
Cassian closed his notebook.
"And that is why we need to understand what Father Alistair is doing."
Damon looked toward the church.
"Do you think he is responsible for the deaths?"
Cassian shook his head.
"I don't know."
His answer was firm.
"We cannot accuse someone simply because several pieces of information connect."
Mira nodded.
"If we confront him now, he could deny everything."
"And if we are wrong, we create a serious problem."
Cassian looked toward the church.
"He is respected here. He has served this church for nine years. The villagers trust him."
He paused.
"Even if the academy noticed something strange about him, why didn't they tell us?"
Owen thought for a moment.
"Maybe because we were supposed to discover it ourselves."
"Maybe."
Cassian looked at all of them.
"But there is another possibility."
"What is it?"
"They may have suspected something, but suspicion is not enough to act."
He closed his notebook.
"And now that we have found this connection, our task becomes clearer."
Mira looked at him.
"We have to find out what happens after people receive these ornaments."
Cassian nodded.
"And why they are chosen."
"And why their bodies disappear."
"And why the coffin appears."
Cassian looked toward the church.
"All of those questions may lead back to the same place."
Damon's expression became serious.
"The church."
Cassian nodded.
"But we are not going to accuse Father Alistair."
He looked at every member of the team.
"We watch him."
Nobody interrupted.
"We observe the people who receive these ornaments. We learn when they receive them. We learn what happens afterward."
He paused.
"And we find out what happens before the next coffin appears."
Mira looked toward the sky.
"Only two days remain."
Cassian nodded.
"Exactly."
He closed his notebook.
No one spoke for a moment.
They had come to Bellgrave looking for an answer to an impossible coffin.
Instead, they had found a silver mark appearing in the lives of people who had nothing else in common.
Different personalities.
Different lives.
Different deaths.
Yet somehow, they had all passed through the same church.
And they had all carried something away from it.
Something that vanished with them.
Cassian looked toward the church doors again.
Two days.
That was all the time left before the next coffin was expected to appear.
This time, however, they would not be waiting for it blindly.
They finally had something to follow.
And that trail began with a silver mark.
—by Aurea;"Some mysteries do not hide the truth. They hide the path that leads to it."