by Laura Greene
Chapter 6
A dangerous thought awakens in Melody’s mind. What if Nell is right? What if her mother is waiting to meet Melody? It is unsettling at first, then it simmers with time. With her father’s side of the family pretty much being made up of pathological liars, Melody is confident she can spot a lie – especially in a teenager. At the moment, her conclusion about Nell is that she is telling the truth.
Nell made a compelling argument tonight. As Melody walks back to the inn, she considers how Nell made a lot of sense and if the story she told behind the corner shop is true, then her mother is the only one who can actually give Melody the answers she needs. But it’s risky.
It’s only risky if you don’t plan for it, she reminds herself. Melody already has a plan to catch Will that if all else fails, she can always turn back to. It seems simple enough, except Melody’s instincts are telling her this is a bad idea.
Melody struggled with Uncle Tobias changing plans for her dig when she first arrived at Talon’s Point. She knows that she does not adjust well to changes in her plans so, she brushes off the warning.
Once back at the inn, Melody finds Rob waiting by her guest room door. Her blood runs cold.
Last time she saw him, she was alone and he threatened her. Again she is alone. Morrison is serving the last of the barflies downstairs. Melody has seen them on most nights. They are regulars who stay and keep him company until it’s time to close down the bar.
She halts at the top of the stairs. Even the hairs on her arms brake. “What do you want, Rob?” After the day she has had, Melody is not in the mood for a drunken brawl.
“Melody,” Rob takes a step towards her and she puts her hand out to stop him from coming closer. He stops. “That’s fine. I just wanted to come and apologize to you for the other day. I was drunk and I acted like such a fool.”
She is onto Rob. He is working with Tam and the Deacons, but she is not going to let on. Not yet. She needs him to think she is on his side and she is none the wiser to his scheming. Instead, she pretends everything is fine between them, at least for now. She nods her head, “Just don’t let it happen again,” she says.
“Thanks, Melody. You’re a star. I knew ye would understand.” As Rob walks away from Melody’s door towards his own guest room, he turns around again. This time he looks puzzled. “I saw you this evening walking near the corner shop by the port. What were you doing there?” He asks.
Calmly and as though she had rehearsed her answer, Melody says, “Just out for my evening stroll.” She wonders if he was following her. Did he see me go to Officer Higgins and...meet Nell?
“Is that so?” He looks at her suspiciously. His eyes are piercing through her like they are digging for answers.
“What were you there for?” Melody’s rattled and her palms sweat a little.
“Doing the same.” He says with a smirk. “You should be careful, rats are known to come out of hiding at night around here.”
Melody wonders what he means by that. She hasn’t seen any rats, but she knows that in her home country “rats” can also mean snitches.”
Whether he meant to or not, Rob has just confirmed that he is watching her.
*
Melody is being more cautious with her plan. Now that she knows Rob and Tam are watching her, keeping her plan a secret will not be easy.
On her regular stroll one Saturday morning, she sees Tam walking down from the hill. He is holding a couple of tools and a dark brown beret in his hands like he just finished working.
He is almost at the bottom of the hill. Pausing near the bottom of the hill, he slaps the hat against the pant leg of his tweed suit and light dust particles sprinkle into the air. It looks like he has just picked it up from inside the barn. Hunching into his side, he coughs from the dust.
Melody sees her chance. She speeds up and hurries towards him. Then she acts like she has just bumped into him, “Oh, Tam. What are you doing here?”
“I was just out fae a wee stroll meself and found this hat and tools on the groond.” Tam lies, but he holds up the hat as his proof. “People really should be more careful.”
“Yes, they should.”
“That’s me then. I’m off to run a few errands then to the inn fae a wee dram o’ whiskey.” Tam takes the items with him and walks towards the inn. If he is going to the inn, then his errands probably include meeting with Rob.
Melody is antsy to find out what he was doing there. With both Rob and Tam occupied, she might not get another chance like this.
She waits until he is down the road. Then she runs up the hill and stands in front of the barn door. It’s unlocked. She opens the door and a pungent smell of fresh paint invades her nose. Her eyes water as she adjusts to the scent. She wipes her eyes with one hand and with the free hand she searches along the wall for a light, then she decides to use just the natural light shining in through the window. The last thing she wants is to draw unwanted attention to herself.
The natural light reflects off glossy white walls. When did they paint? More importantly, she asks, Why did they paint?
Waking around the room, she does not find much. The table where she saw Tam and Rob deliberating before is now cleared. She comes near the window and sees that the paint was basically plastered on. There are streaks of old brown paint in between brush strokes. She sees blobs of paint clumped together on the floor right next to the wall. They didn’t even wait for the paint to dry. And she asks, why were they in a hurry?
Melody is trying to retrace Tam and Rob’s steps to understand what spooked them? It’s no surprise to Melody that they cleared the barn soon after she found them there.
There is something they did not want me to see, she thinks. Bending and looking under the table, she sees that it is also barren. They stripped the barn completely of tools, supplies and any sign of life.
Like Officer Higgins said, the barn is basically vacant, except for an empty soda can dumped next to a Walkers Crisps packet.
She wanted to see what was happening in the barn, but what Melody has found is not as eventful as she had hoped.
Before Tam or Rob can catch wind of her barn invasion or decide to return to it soon, Melody walks back to the door and as she walks out, she sees something. It is so small and almost unrecognizable that she could have missed it.
She stops and leans in for a closer look. It’s… it’s blood! Against the white paint, it is now much more visible. Whose blood is it? Was it here before or did it get here after I saw them? Many questions flood into her mind.
Searching for answers, she stares at the splattered remnants of blood along the edge of the door sill. Next to the tiny droplets and close to the door’s strike plate is a stroke of blood pulling away from the door into the barn. There was a struggle.
In horror and anguish, she steps back and pounds on the table behind her.
A daunting realization that this could be her father’s blood makes Melody’s heart sink. She didn’t know what to expect when she walked into the barn, but to be pounced on with this evidence, is more than she can handle. Quietly, she utters the prayer of her heart, “Please, let my father be okay.”
It looks grim. She knows it. But she must still hope until she knows for sure.
Feeling sick to her stomach, Melody clutches the door knob and yanks it open. In a moment, she is freed from what she is sure was a more horrendous sight before the barn was painted. While she managed to escape, she wonders if whoever’s blood that is made it out alive.
Something is definitely not right. She races down the hill, panicking, Tam. Rob. What have you done?
*
Melody is struggling to undo what she saw yesterday, but she can’t. The bloody sight keeps replaying in her mind.
It dawns on her that this is no theoretical archeological site. This is real and what she saw really happened. How that poor person must have suffered, she thinks. She has now gone way past academic whiplash and entered a darkness that she never hoped to see.
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That evening as she readies herself to make the journey from the mansion to the village, Melody is relieved to get a small reprieve.
Working at the mansion today, she could barely make eye contact with Tam. She is finding it difficult to make small talk with a violent man who may very well be a murderer.
While she hopes that it’s not her father, whoever it is needs to have justice. It’s not right for evil men to get away with their crimes, she determines. But with Officer Higgins, the only police officer on the island, basically in Will’s pockets, who does she turn to?
Melody packs up her grading. Then she erases the board where she wrote examples of conjunctions during their English class. Melody thought it would be a good idea to use the time conjunctions to help Rebecca sort through some of her grief.
Last week, Rebecca said she was worried that she is beginning to forget her parents and she was scared because she thought it meant she doesn’t love them any more. Melody was heartbroken for her and wanted to do something nice to help Rebecca.
Today, they wrote a letter addressed to Rebecca’s parents together describing how she misses them and her favorite moments with them. They were not going to mail it because her parents are deceased. Melody thought it would be good if she just learned to express herself, but Rebecca loved the letter so much that she put it in her memory box so she can read it whenever she feels sad or like she is forgetting her parents again.
These moments are so rewarding for Melody. She is really enjoying getting closer to Rebecca and watching her come out of her shell more.
Melody checks her watch. She has at least ten more minutes before Morrison arrives. She walks down the stairs and waits by the front door for him. Tam is working outside and she saw Will leave the house earlier, so she feels comfortable waiting by the door.
“Uh-oh, already rubbing your forehead. I hope our little Rebecca wasn’t too hard on you today.” Max walks around the hallway, towards Melody, then stands in front of her.
“No, she was fine.” Max has apologized since hitting on her inappropriately. He admitted he was in the wrong and that was not the right way to express how he felt. When Melody told him that after pulling a stunt like that, he stood no chance with her, Max took it well. Ironically, now, with all that’s going on with Tam and Will, Max is the one she is getting along best with. “I have a lot on my plate that’s all.”
Max looks around him to make sure no one is there. His expression changes from relaxed to somber to almost fearful, “Look, don’t take this the wrong way. I know that you and my brother are not getting along.” He looks around and Melody also looks with him. “I’m not what happened exactly, I’ve tried to talk to him and even keep him busy, but I can’t protect you much longer.”
Melody is feeling uneasy again; she does not like what she is hearing. A pit is forming in her stomach. “You are scaring me Max. What are you saying?” She steps back from him. Not knowing what Will is about to do worries her.
He continues, “You need to leave here. It’s not safe. There is a plane that’s leaving the island in the morning.”
“What? Are you say...”
“Melody, get on the plane tomorrow.”
Chapter 7
The next morning, Melody wakes up early with her bag packed. She cannot stay on the island any longer. Her safety is in danger.
First she found Will in possession of her father’s watch; there is no way her father would part with his watch willingly. Then, there was the barn, Tam and Rob were meeting there. Now Melody thinks they may have badly hurt if not killed someone in there. Next, was Rob threatening her and Tam’s suspicions. All these people have broken her trust or proven they cannot be trusted. Melody feels it’s time she left Talon’s Point.
Even if she decided to stay for the people that she cares about, they will most likely be in danger if she confides in them.
Part of Melody feels like she will have failed if she leaves. This is one of the toughest decisions that she has had to make.
Usually when she is in a pickle, Melody picks up the phone and calls her best friend, Brad. Where is he when I need him? She is too nervous to call him because he warned her to leave at the first sign of trouble. It’s safe to say trouble has definitely brewed and if she is not careful, she will be the next one added to the pot.
Besides, she has no time to make a call. She must leave now.
Melody walks out of the inn without saying a word to anyone. She will miss being at the in and exchanging jokes with the barflies each night.
Her heart is racing. This is it Melody she says as she walks out. Everything is happening so fast and there is no turning back after this.
She does not get on the plane like Max advised her. She meets with Nell and they sail out to the small island in a little power boat.
“I really hope I’ve made the right decision.” Melody reflects while sitting in the boat. Nell waited for Melody on the furthest side of the shore, then powered into the sea when she had settled in.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there in no time. It’s just as you said, they left you no other choice but to go. At least this way you’ll get the answers you’re looking for.”
Melody desperately wants to believe that’s how the story will pan out. She looks back at the town that was home for her during the investigation. It is now sitting in the distance becoming smaller with each roar of the engine.
“This is a powerful boat.”
“It is!” Nell shouts back over the noise. “Just try to sit back and relax. I’ll get you there safely.” Her windbreaker is catching wind and blowing loudly behind her back. She has tied her hair up and she is sitting near the back of the dark blue sail boat with silver-gray lines along the edge. Barely does she look back, her focus is on the grand seas before them. She maneuvers the boat with great attention to detail, adding a little more power when the waters are calm and gently riding over the waves when the wind picks up. Nell not talking much while she steers the boat gives Melody more time to think about what she is leaving behind.
I didn’t say bye to Rebecca, I just hope she’ll understand. Melody thinks. She lowers her head recalling her promise to not leave Rebecca. Yet, she has just broken that promise. It pains her heart to picture little Rebecca trying to wrap her 8-year-old brain around why Melody left the same way as Mr Sanders – without a trace.
When Morison goes to her room to look for her, he will instead find payment for the last few night’s stay. She really did not want to leave this way, but she was left with no choice.
Melody looks around her. She was longing for some time out at sea, but she did not expect it to look like this. She loves the sea. It is her chance to feel like she has not a care in the world. Her chance to let her hair down and not care if it’s in place or not. Maybe when she gets to the new island, she will get to do some exploring too.
She looks back at the Deacon Islands, now a little more than a speck in the distance. The hilly plains and tall trees near Deacon house appear far less menacing. The sight is stunning. As the sun rises along the horizon, it shines bright rays of yellow on the island’s craggy cliffs. Any moment now, the small town will be awake and ready for business. Everything will run normally, except Melody will no longer be with them.
The shadows of the trees retreat their shade and stand erect. A small passenger plane takes off in the opposite direction from the island and Melody knows, That is the plane I was supposed to board this morning. But this time, Rob will be short one passenger.
She enjoyed her time on Deacon Island. Thinking of Rebecca’s sweet face and her friend Emma, Melody hopes she can return to the island. But on that day, she will have the answers she needs and when she has executed her plan, she will quickly escape the island for good.
“The seas have calmed down.” Melody shouts to Nell.
“They have. We’re deep in the Atlantic. The current will increase again as we get closer to my mum’s island. Can you see it? It’s just up ahead.”
Reaching the small island, Melody sees little arrows peeking over the water. “Yes, are those trees?”
Vast forestry ascends from the belly of the deep blues and anchors itself on the shore.
“Yes.” Nell sits up to get a better grip of the oar. She steers the boat towards one end of the island.
The small island is strangely deserted. It makes for a great hiding place for her mother.
“You’re going to like it here, Melody.” Nell reassures her.
“How often do you make the trip out here?”
Nell stands up to get a better look of the shore. She places her hand over her eyes to shade herself from the sun coming up.