“Me neither.” Josh says, gasping for air between chuckles. “The last time I laughed that hard was when...”
“Shh. Hush now.”
“When what?” Melody inquires. “Tell me. It’s when Sanders was here wasn’t it?”
Josh purses his lips, he knows he has said too much already.
Neil sighs. “I guess it was just a matter of time before you found out.” He takes another sip of his cold brew. His hand is over the label, so Melody can’t read the name of it. “The real reason why ye are here, Miss Winter, is because we are keeping an eye on ye.”
“An eye on me? Why?”
“Tae make sure ye are safe.” Melody is still not understanding why that would be any of their business. “Max Deacon asked us to bring you here to keep you out of harm’s way.”
“Max? Who does he think he is?” Melody is furious that Max would just make that decision for her without consulting her. She remembers very well how he warned her at the mansion, to leave Talon’s Point at once. He told her to take the next flight out. She chose instead to get on the boat with Nell, not knowing that he was also behind that plan.
Was Max really helping me or just causing more trouble? She ponders.
“You don’t understand, Miss.” Neil gently pleads, “Max came to us, genuinely concerned for your well-being.”
Maybe Max was really looking out for her, but Melody still finds that hard to believe. She can’t get past the fact that he went behind her back to do it.
“Miss,” Neil continues, “there is something important ye need tae know.”
Melody braces herself. She has already received plenty of startling news for one night, but she came here for the truth and at the end of the day, that’s what she wants. “What is it, Neil?”
“Nell, the young lady who brought ye here? She is my daughter. The reason why she brought you here is because I’m her father and I asked her to.”
“Why would you do that? Endanger her?”
“Miss, business is tough this time of year. We needed the money and the only way tae really secure your trust was tae send in Nell. I mean, what business do grown men like us have with a young lady like yerself?” He says pointing at him and Earl.
Then, Melody recalls something Nell said. She told her that she grew up with her mother and she never met her father. “This can’t be right. I came here to talk tae Nell’s mother because she knows information about my fa...”
“Not that nonsense again.” Neil says taking out his wallet. “Look, this is a picture of me daugh’er and I. Her mum died when she was just a wee bairn, so she grew up at sea with me. All that mum stuff is in her mind, it’s just rubbish.” He shows Melody pictures of him and Nell when she was younger and she looks just like him.
There is often some truth in a lie. Nell didn’t say anything bad about her father, which is common if a child has a parent abandon them. Right now, Melody doesn’t trust what Neil is saying either, but she can’t afford to burn bridges because she needs their help to get off the island.
So, she listens and sympathizes.
“Nell following you then meeting you and bringing you to our island, it was all a ploy to get you out of the house and away from it.” Neil explains, as the other men listen also.
Was the danger within the house then? Melody is contemplating what Neil is saying.
“In fact, we did the same thing for Mr. Sanders. But he came to us. He asked us to take him somewhere safe where no one would look for him. He paid us double and asked us to leave at night. How could we refuse?”
“I thought it was a strange request, but the money was good so we took a chance.” Earl chimes in, now more comfortable around Melody.
She just lets the men talk as they go down memory lane and recall their time with her father. They describe his jokes, laughing with him and hearing his bizarre adventure stories.
“That Mr Sanders was something else. He knew everything about anything.” Josh says. “We loved that guy, his candor, and how he could keep any sailor up through the night with his stories.”
“But someone found out we were hiding him.” Neil says, distantly. “Yes, he was quite a guy, but he had enemies and they found out and took him.”
“Who took him?” Melody asks.
“We don’t know. He was staying at the cottage when we arrived on the island. They somehow got to him and left before we could find out.” Neil pauses for a moment, obvious pain visible on his face. “That’s why we had Nell take ye this time. When ye saw us at Talon’s Point, we were watching ye, tae make sure ye got off the island safely.”
Melody considers what the fishermen are saying about her father. it’s overwhelming, especially not knowing where her father went after he left the cottage. She comes to terms with him not being on the island anymore or Deacon island for that matter. Then there’s the blood that she saw on Tam’s barn.
She comes to one painful conclusion, that her father must be dead.
Chapter 6
Melody is reeling in agony. The news of what happened to her father, as shared by the sailors tears at her heart. She excuses
