by Laura Greene
LAURA GREENE
A DISAPPEARANCE
Mystery Thriller
GOING TO FIND FATHER
Copyright © 2021 Laura Greene – All rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Also by Laura Greene
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About the Author
Chapter 1
Melody leaves her conversation with Brad now feeling more like an investigator. She grabs her bag and dashes down the wooden stairs.
On her way out she runs into Morrison, serving downstairs behind the bar. He quips, “Good as new I see. Be careful out there. We wouldnae want ye to bring back another broken ankle now would we?” Then he pauses to think before saying, “Ye ken there are easier ways to extend yer stay that don’t require a doctor’s bill.”
And right on cue, the pub roars with laughter. Melody is now used to the endless jokes between Morrison and the barflies. She would normally stay and exchange what they call “a wee bit of banter” while the barflies knock back glass after glass of whiskey, but it’ll have to wait.
She walks down the cobblestone streets of Talon’s Point in the cool of the night, as she has done lately.
It is a still night and the sea winds are calm for a change. There is barely a soul in sight and she knows this because much of the town has already checked in to the Howling Dog for a drink.
One of the things she loves about Talon’s Point is that she can actually see stars in the dark blue skies – they are clear and easily identifiable in the night. Boston, on the other hand, is such a busy city, full of lights and the streets don’t die down until well into the night. Here, the locals are home in time for a family dinner and they know each other’s names. People greet her in the street with an, “Are ye o’rite hen?” and she responds, “o’rite” just like the townspeople.
These are values that she has learned to enjoy and wouldn’t mind taking back with her.
She has even grown to love the townspeople. Take Emma for example, she runs the local Chippy shop up ahead and she is standing outside the Chippy as Melody walks towards her. If anyone knows the town better than Morrison, it’s Emma. Melody normally sees her in the morning when she is opening up her shop and they’ve become more like friends than acquaintances.
In one of their conversations, Emma told her that most of the townsfolk work at the whiskey factory in Glen Talon, just a town over. After work, they stop by her shop and buy fish and chips for their families, then tip her some fresh gossip about the factory. On more than one occasion, Emma has spilled the beans about factory employees, but she is yet to tell Melody anything about the Deacons though Melody has asked her; on this point, Emma is deliberately mute. Melody cannot help but think the fear of the Deacons is upon her.
“Locking up for the night?” Melody makes small talk when she sees Emma fumbling with a key.
“Aye, hen. Ye wouldnae be going tae the corner shop by any chance?”
“I am.”
“Giz a hand will ye and give this tae my husband?” Emma hands Melody a plastic container like what you use for potting plants in. “He kens what tae do with it. I have tae get haem tae the wee bairns.” She takes off in the opposite direction to go home to her kids whom Melody has yet to meet.
Melody takes the pot with her and proceeds with her journey. She passes the hill where she saw the red barn on her side; then, she wanders past the dock with boats parked side by side. It is also silent for the night.
She makes a quick stopover at the local corner shop, which is similar to a convenience store in America. The shopkeeper, Sean recognizes her and reaches for a baggie with penny sweets in it. He is a quiet, orderly man who exchanges conversation only when necessary, which is more than can be said for Emma. How the two ended up married still baffles Melody, but she concludes with the old adage that opposites attract.
“Just the sweets for ye, hen? That will be 10p please?” Sean requests as he purses his lips shut again, then hands her a white bag of assorted candy. Melody blushes, realizing just how often she makes this trip and orders the same bag of candy. She hands over a silver coin the size of an American quarter and it is enough.
Tomorrow is her student, Rebecca’s Math quiz. While Rebecca is well-versed in History, no doubt, thanks to Melody’s predecessor and father, Mr. Sanders, Math is not her strongest suit. It terrifies her. So, to encourage Rebecca to take studying seriously, Melody brings her candy and rewards her for each correct answer. This has helped Rebecca ease into quiz days.
When she hands him the pot, she requests directions to the police officer then continues her journey. When she reaches the four-way intersection, she remembers to turn at the post office. She’s close. A two-minute stroll up the street delivers her at the brown door of a small apartment.
“Be there in a jiffy!” Melody hears a man’s voice inside respond to her knock. She wonders if she is in the right place. The police officer’s “station” looks more like a home. “Right then, I was just finishing plating my dinner,” he says, standing at the door with a sheepish look. “How can I help you?”
“Um...well, this may take a while. Maybe I can come back another time Officer Higgins?”
“Nonsense! Have you had dinner yet?” Melody hesitates to answer, fearing she might impose. “Right then, that settles it. I’ll get you a plate.” He opens the door all the way and ushers her in. “Come on in.” Then with a pleasant, bubbly accent that Melody can’t quite place yet, he says as he chuckles, “It’s bangers and mash I’m afraid – the Scottish mashed potatoes and sausage.”
Melody sits down at one of only two chairs in the room. It’s a studio apartment that has cleverly been organized into a part office, part kitchen and part bedroom. The space is small, but efficiently decorated. From where Melody sits, her chair faces a desk with a laptop and printer on it, it is also home to the second chair in the room. Next to the desk, near the window is a small, brown box TV that looks more like an antique collector’s item. She realizes she must be sitting in the living room. Almost hidden under a set of stairs to the loft is a single-size bed tucked away in a tight space that looks more like a designer’s after-thought. Then to the side of the bed is a thin partition separating the kitchen from the bedroom.
A delicious scent of freshly baked meat escapes the kitchen and reminds Melody that she is famished. She cautiously rubs her belly, careful to not extend any of her extremities into another “room”.
“I hope it’s to your fancy. I’m not confident with my Scottish dishes yet.” He hands her a sunset-themed, mosaic designed plate with mashed potatoes, sausage, green beans and gravy on the side.
“Y
ou’re English.” Melody says, now pinpointing his accent.
Officer Higgins, who has a satiny, smooth, dirty blond hair, thinning in some areas, brushes his fringe out of his face. “Born and bred in the South. I came here two years ago. It’s always been my dream to live somewhere among the Scottish highlands and isles. So, here I am!”
Now seeing the beautifully plated food, her stomach quietly rumbles. As she reacts, she almost knocks over a table on her side. “I’m sorry, I...”
“Don’t mention it. Space is something to be desired here. I’ve had several budget cuts.” Officer Higgins says as he sits at the desk chair.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, for one thing I’m the only police officer. Look around, this is the police station. There used to be an entire station, fully staffed and fully functional. Now, I’m a little more than a glorified town babysitter.” He explains between bites.
“But why would they cut your budget?”
“Crime is low on the island, I’ve been told. But that depends on who you ask.”
“Let me guess, the Deacons told you.” Melody says, understanding beginning to form on her face.
For the first time since Melody walked in, the officer flashes her a fearful look. Seriousness weighing on his voice, he leans in and warns, “Be careful who you talk about around here Miss.” Then he leans back and lightly says, “So, I had to downsize to working from home.” He chuckles, then continues eating.
But Melody is not prepared to leave the matter. She came looking for answers and she is confident she has a good lead from what Brad shared with her. She is no longer satisfied with people being afraid to talk about the Deacons, but she will have to tread carefully. “Can you tell me about them?” She brings out a piece of paper with notes from what Brad told her. “I know that you investigated them a year ago. Officer Higgins, I need to know what happened to their father.”
He lays his food on the desk, “Why do you want to know?”
“It’s part of my research on Deacon Island. Anything you can share with me will be very helpful.” Seeing that Officer Higgins is less tense about her inquiry, she adds, “Look. I found this article on the case. It says you were the officer investigating the family.”
“Ah, this. I know it well. Listen, Miss, you have nothing to worry about. They were not involved.”
“But there was a woman who came forward and said that the sons were involved in something shady. Are you sure you looked into it enough?”
“I did. She claimed she was seeing him. Apart from a picture standing next to him in a crowd, she had no clear evidence they were ever an item. The woman was a quack and so was the reporter who shared her story. She claimed the sons killed him, but the sons said he was on vacation. In the end, her intel didn’t match up with the timing of when the father was reported missing so I had to dismiss it. I tried to find her again, to verify a couple of loose ends for my reports, but she had done a runner. If you ask me, she was probably after their money. Men like the Deacons do not get where they are without making a few enemies or scathing a few bystanders.”
It’s odd to Melody that Officer Higgins thought the Deacons may have had enemies. Could one of them have come after their father? Worse yet, was her father considered an enemy? She wonders.
“I asked the Mainland P.D. to do a search on the dad’s phone and they told me it last pinged him in Hawaii. That story corroborated with what Will and Max said, so I didn’t go any further. Besides,” he shrugs, “I didn’t have the budget to dig any deeper.” Officer Higgins picks up his plate of food again and starts eating.
Something is still not making sense to Melody, “So, why would he just split?”
“Like I said, men like that don’t get rich off of nothing you know. It looked to me like he evaded a tax battle with HMRC.”
“Who?”
“Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Your Uncle Sam in America is what we call HMRC.”
“So tax evasion? That’s why he disappeared?” Now, Melody has completely stopped eating.
“Yes, taxes are taken very seriously here as well. I can’t legally go into more detail, but he was being audited and once he disappeared, the investigation was prematurely ended. Normally, the children would have been included in the audit as his business partners, but all his assets were in his name at the time. His children were only listed as beneficiaries.”
“So, you’re sure that he left to absolve himself of an upcoming tax battle?”
“Yes, and my guess is he is probably relaxing in some country somewhere where he has immunity from British jurisdiction.” He picks up his plate again, “So Miss Winter, you have nothing to worry about. While I’m thankful you joined me for dinner, it was probably a wasted trip for your research project.”
“But isn’t it strange to you that both the woman and the reporter just disappeared after making those claims?” Melody is hoping to press for more information.
“Not really, it tells me that they were probably in on it together. And like most con artists, they skip out when a deal goes bad. Why, do you think something happened to them?”
“That’s what I was hoping to find out.”
“If something had, I would know it by now. I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary with the case, just a rich man trying to run from taxes. I’m sure you know how common that is.”
They finish their meal, then Melody excuses herself. As she walks towards the door, she turns to Officer Higgins and says, “You may want to check out the red barn on the hill for trouble. I’m hearing there’s some strange activity going on there.”
“What, you mean Tam’s barn?” He looks surprised at the suggestion. “So far, it’s been a glorified clubhouse for grown men. But sure, I’ll check it out. Goodnight Miss Winter.”
In the cool of the night, Melody walks back to the Howling Dog inn. The wind chill has increased and she walks faster clinging onto her sweater. She is beginning to see why the locals often tell her to dress for all four seasons in a day. Some of the locals are now walking back to their homes from the Howling Dog and they greet her as they pass her.
She thinks about the officer’s claim that the Deacons have many enemies. The way the townspeople talk about them, she’s not surprised. It wouldn’t even shock her if the officer is one of the many enemies going after Mr. Deacon. She wouldn’t blame him for feeling animosity towards him after Mr. Deacon shut down his entire police station. But that is not what’s bothering Melody.
From the way Rebecca described her grandfather to her, she is convinced that Mr. Deacon is not the type to just run from responsibility, whether people like his business decisions or not. Even Morrison spoke to the same effect when she first arrived. He talked about landowners hating Mr. Deacon for buying up the island then charging them to grow food on what was once free land. All those years he made enemies yet, he never ran, why now?
Melody may not have all the answers yet, but she is determined to find them.
Chapter 2
“Morrison said he’s running behind a wee bit, Miss.” Tam, who moments ago walked in from tending to the courtyard and picked up the phone to take a message from Morrison, announces in his signature tweed suit and Wellington boots. “It’s a wee bit chilly outside the noo. Maybe ye can wait in the sitting area and stay warm by the fireplace. I’ll get it going fae ye.”
“Thank you, Tam.” It’s already been a long day for Melody. After her meeting with the police officer yesterday, she barely slept. Her mind was spinning, wondering what really happened to Mr. Deacon and if it had anything to do with her father.
Then, today, Rebecca had a rough day. She struggled to concentrate and stay calm during her lessons. Melody thought she may have been fed a bucket of sugar for breakfast, but Tam assured her she had a balanced breakfast as per usual.
They managed to make it through the school day, but not without a few casualties – two timeouts, a quiet time session and her doll, Sarah, had to be taken away for Hi
story class.
Now, waiting for Morrison, Melody figures it’s just the natural ending to an already eventful day. So, she walks into the living room to take a seat and wait.
“I’ll keep you company.” It is Maxmillian Deacon who greets her in the living room. He sits on the couch comfortably in his black slacks and lavender dress shirt slightly buttoned down like someone who is ready to relax after a long day of work. He is holding a glistening glass of some golden brown drink and soon Melody sees that Max already has a fire going. The glistening is coming from hot ember glows reflecting on his glass and adding to the serene ambience of the room.
“Wonderful.” Tam exclaims then leaves the room to finish his work before the sun sets.
Melody takes a seat across the room from Max. It’s uncharacteristic of him to be here. She is used to hearing that Max is out of town on business. Still, a little company never hurt anyone.
