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.
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
