“I was just wondering. You don’t have to tell me if it’s too uncomfortable for you.”
She keeps looking away distantly, “Mum doesnae like tae speak of him. She just tells me that he loved me.”
“I see. You said your mom sent you here, Nell. Why are you here?”
“It’s my mother. She fears for her life. She saw something really terrible happen at the mansion.”
“What was she doing at the mansion?”
“She used to work in Deacon house. She was a maid there.”
Melody often wondered why the Deacons had a groundskeeper, but no maid. She assumed it was because Max was attracted to every woman that walked in the mansion.
“So what did she see?”
Nell nervously stands up. Her hair floats back into the air on the tail of a breeze passing by. As the wind brushes her hair past her shoulders, Melody gets a better look at Nell’s profile. Her neck is long and her jawline forms a sharp right angle as she speaks. She has a raw beauty that if attended to, could be striking. “Mum won’t tell me. She fears it will endanger me.”
Yet again, Melody is hearing of someone fearing for their life at the hand of the Deacons, only this time she was banished to a whole other island. I wonder how many more people were banished like Nell’s mother, she ponders. It’s strange to her that one family can have so much power and be left unchecked by their community. For entire towns to fear them, they must be capable of great evil.
“I can understand your mother trying to protect you, Nell. But what does it have to do with me?”
She sits down, excitedly. “That’s exactly why I’m here. When I told my mum that an American woman had come tae teach Rebecca at the mansion, she grew interested in hearing more. Every trip when I would return, she would ask me about ye. Her questions were becoming more and more frequent and I got a wee bit suspicious and started asking questions of my own.”
“What did she want?” Melody is curious to know if her questioning was to expose her or help her.
“It got tae a point where she was asking me to basically spy on ye. Now don’t get me wrong, I did spy on you, but I am not daft. I wanted to ken why she kept sending me to ye. So I asked her.”
Just listening to Nell’s story, Melody is drawn in by where it might go next, that she lets her guard down and stops looking out for any accomplices.
Nell whispers like she is telling a secret and perhaps it is one she should have kept to herself, “My mum is convinced that ye are here tae find out what happened tae the previous teacher.”
My father? How could she know? As far as Melody is concerned, they have not met before. It’s strange that she would guess something so bizarre – even though she is right.
It has been weeks since Melody arrived at Talon’s Point, a small town on Deacon Island. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of keeping her purpose of being here undercover. Now, her whole investigation is under threat of exposure. She really can’t afford to go back to Uncle Tobias and tell him that she failed her mission of finding her father.
Her archeology team is counting on her returning successfully so they can finally go on their dig. If she had to wait an extra month to go on her dig, knowing that funding was already acquired, she would not be very pleased.
Grasping onto the thought of how much pressure is on her dials up her anxiety. She reminds herself that she is so much closer now. Will revealing her father’s watch exposed him to her and if he makes just one mistake, she will nail him. He is not going to escape this time.
Despite her certainty that she is close to uncovering the truth about her father’s disappearance, she can’t help but think her secret is now naked for the townspeople to see. Involuntarily, she tightens her maroon sweater again.
“What would make her think that?”Melody almost fakes being surprised at the accusation. She is more eager to know how Nell’s mother could know her secret. “It sounds about as insane as thinking that all Americans know each other.” She has come too far to give herself up now.
They hear two sets of footsteps shuffling towards the convenience store. Melody yanks Nell by her windbreaker sleeve and signals her to hide behind her.
Nell picks up the signal and narrowly slips behind Melody where she cannot be seen from the main walkway. “Who is it?” she asks.
“Shh.” After Nell pointed out that there are two men following Melody, she is not taking any chances. People may come after her, but she is going to make sure they find her ready for them. She crouches down and places one hand on the rim of the planting pot, if it’s Tam and Rob, I’m going to let them have it. Melody peeks around the corner to see who is coming, and she hears their voices first.
“Hurry,” a frustrated man’s voice calls out, “we’re going to be late.”
“Whit are you in a huff fae? If you’d just picked out what I asked for, we wouldn’t have had to go back again.” A woman’s voice responds with matched frustration.
“Ye can either blame me or ye can walk faster. They gon’ blow out the candles any second. Cud ye step on it?”
“It’s just yer mother, I cannae say I ever took a liking tae her.”
“Aye, and she’s gonnae murder the both of us taenight if we don’t move it.”
“You try it in these heels.”
“Like I asked yer tae wear them.”
“It isnae like yer asked me not tae.”
The
