by Laura Greene
“Wine cellar?” Melody is surprised Will hadn’t mentioned turning the basement into a cellar before.
“Yes. He is renovating the floors underneath, so please be careful not to stumble in there this time. It isnae safe doon there.”
“At least it will be safe now. It was in a dangerous state last time I saw it.” Melody says. She can tell Tam is in a hurry to continue working. She thanks him for his time.
“Aye.” Tam says. He promptly excuses himself to get more tools.
Then she casually walks up the stairs as she recalls the last time she visited the cellar. What began as a small exploration ended with her saving Will’s life. Will had been working late on his own when some of the rubble gave in and trapped him. It wasn’t until the next day that Melody found him there accidentally. The rubble breaking and crushing on the ground from each direction threatened to trap both of them. She battled to release him from the rubble and pull him onto the limp stairwell. When they ran from the basement stairs to stand on safer ground, Will was so grateful that she saved him. Yet, how clueless Melody was to not see that he was the danger she had gone down there to uncover in the first place.
For a brief moment, Melody wonders what might have happened had she not seen Will with her father’s pocket watch. Might we have become an item? The thought that once romantically detained her, now repulses her.
Melody is furious to think, Will not only endangered her father and possibly killed him, but he also toyed with her heart. She doesn’t want to see him, but she knows she can’t avoid him anymore.
He has asked to see her several times and she has made excuse after excuse each time. She has hidden behind her heavy teaching workload and writing her book about Deacon Island, but she is running out of excuses.
Once she reaches the top of the stairs, the sounds of a little girl giggling are the joy that draw Melody out of her thoughts. Melody hears Rebecca playing with Sarah in the study and her worries fleetingly leave as they begin their lesson.
*
Finally, Melody meets with Will. One day after her lesson with Rebecca, she walks her to the door and finds Will standing at the door, waiting. He is dressed in old jeans and a fitted t-shirt. He greets Rebecca as she runs past with her doll to go play. She is much too excited to acknowledge his presence with more than a wave of her hand
When Melody turns to go back in the room and quickly packs her bag to leave, he follows her inside and says, “Please, Melody. Can I just talk to you for a minute?”
Melody pulls the snaps on her bag and jams her papers inside. “I have to go. Maybe another time.” She snaps the bag shut and shoots towards the door, but Will is in her way.
He rests one hand on her shoulder as she turns and another on the bag. “Please. Look, I can tell you’re avoiding me, but we’re going to have to talk sometime. Why not now?”
Melody stops in her steps. “Fine, talk. You have two minutes.” She sits at one of the desks and Will takes the other.
Will ruffles his hair and sighs. As he raises his arm, his biceps bulge out of his sweaty t-shirt. Melody assumes he just came out of the cellar and dashed up to catch her. His eyes are darting around in search for words and he finally says,“I don’t even know where to begin. I… I am so sorry. Melody. Maybe I moved too fast the other day. I just thought that you were ready to take our relationship to the next step. If I made you feel uncomfortable, I am so sorry.”
He reaches in to take her hand, but she moves it away quickly.
“I guess I just wanted to clear the air between us. The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable working here. I promise, I will keep how I feel about you to myself. You won’t have to worry about me making a move. Can we at least be on talking terms?”
Melody is silent for a time.
“I see.” Will stands up to leave. He looks deflated. He rushed in hoping Melody would reciprocate how he feels. “My two minutes must be up.”
“It wasn’t just you. I also kissed you back.” Melody blurts out, then shuts her eyes wondering if she is getting herself in more trouble by taking this route. She needs to be careful what she says next. “This… this is new for me, Will.”
“For me too.” Will sits back down and leans his desk in closer to her. “But you. Melody, I have not met anyone as striking as you before. When I’m around you, I stutter. I feel clammy and I’m unsure of myself. That’s not me! The Will I know is calm, collected, but you somehow bring out this other side of me. And no one else can do that. I know it was reckless of me, but I thought at least that I owed it to myself to find out where this might go. You’re the one who said I needed to look out for myself for a change. And I thought by taking this chance at love, I would be.” This is the most expressive she has seen Will. Though she wants to believe him, she knows that it is all a hoax. He has been playing her for a fool. She must now think with her head, not with her heart.
“I did say that.” Melody leans back, “But Will, this is all too confusing. I don’t make it a habit to get involved with my employer.”
“Neither do I.” He admits. “I make it a point to keep things professional. Max is the one who usually crosses the line, not me. I’m usually telling him to back off. With the previous teacher, I didn’t have to worry because well... he was a man.”
“Who, Mr. Sanders?” Melody finds her opening to find out more.
“Yes.” Will answers more cautiously this time. He is a little taken aback by her question. Melody can tell this is a touchy subject for him to discuss, but she can’t skirt around it any longer.
Melody leans in with a confident assertion, “Can you tell me more about him?”
“What? I don’t understand what you mean.” Will’s voice is nervous now.
“I mean. No one seems to talk about this mystery teacher. As his successor, don’t you think I need to know something about him? I just want to know, Will. What happened?”
“Well, it’s like I told you. He left in a hurry and we haven’t heard from him since.” Will clears his throat in an attempt to compose himself. It does not work. He has sweat forming on his brow now.
“But Will,” Now Melody is leaning in and feeling more like the cat. “Isn’t it strange to you that he left no trace of himself? If everything was fine and he was happy working here, why would he just disappear?”
Will’s hands fly in the air as his shoulders rise anxiously, “I don’t know. Melody, people vanish all the time. I just don’t have the time to research every disappearance story.” As though his seat just became hot all of a sudden, he gets up and starts walking back towards the door.
She is still not satisfied with his response. Melody also stands up and inches closer to him, “Did he leave a note, a gift, a keepsake, anything to say thank maybe? People don’t just leave without a trace, Will.” Melody’s firmness rattles him, but she is just getting warmed up.
In a moment of nervousness, he pulls out a handkerchief to wipe his brow with one hand and her father’s pocket watch with the other to check the time, “I think I need to...” He is still stepping back. He backs into something, which abruptly stops him. It’s the door frame.
Will is standing at the door and Melody is right in front of him. “Like that watch, where did you get that from?” Melody points directly at the pocket watch. Then she glares at him with a cold stare and she does not take her eyes off him.
“This? It… it was a gift.” Will gulps. More sweat drips down his face and he is breaking.
“A gift?” Melody knows her father would not part from his pocket watch. It is one of his prized possessions, much like a family heirloom. “From who? Tell me about him.”
Looking around for a way to exit, Will finally blunders, “I know nothing about that man.” He escapes hastily through the door and leaps down the stairs, skipping steps. Melody stands there rather stunned at his sudden undertaking. When she looks outside the door, she catches a brief glimpse of him as his head disappears under the stairwell, through the back
hallway and outside the door.
An echo of the door slamming shut ricochets through the hollow walls of the house.
And Melody is left standing at the doorway of the study. A fearful thought enters her mind, Something has gone terribly wrong with her father and Will knows it.
Chapter 4
One night, after work, Melody goes to see Officer Higgins. He left a note at the inn for her to come see him.
He must have news about the barn. Melody has been anxious to know what exactly is going on in that barn and she is hoping whatever he reveals will give her something useful for her investigation.
She knows she could use a new lead after Will ran off without divulging what he knew about her father. Now, ironically, he is the one avoiding her. What he doesn’t know and just like Morrison said, she is not one to give up easily. One way or another, Melody will get her answers.
When she arrives at the “Police Station,” Officer Higgins is waiting for her. “Miss Winter. Please, come on in.”
Melody walks into the studio apartment, “Officer Higgins, I got your message. You wanted to see me?”
“I did. It’s regarding the barn.” Officer Higgins has a much more serious tone to his voice than last time. He brushes his satiny smooth dirty blond fringe out of his face and sits at the desk. He still has his dark blue uniform on. Melody cannot tell if he is coming or going. Either way, she imagines that this visit will be much shorter than the first.
“Okay, go ahead. I’m ready to hear. What is it?”
“That’s the thing. Nothing. The barn is completely clear except for a few bottles of whiskey, otherwise it’s clean. The barn is deserted, so either there was nothing going on there or it was abandoned.”
Melody ponders the scenario, then she says, “Do you think Tam cleaned it out before you got there?”
“Miss Winter, my job is not to speculate but verify information. There’s nothing out of the ordinary going on over there. Which brings me to my next point. Are you aware that sending the police on a wild goose chase is a chargeable offense?”
“Wait, you think I made it up?”
“Again, I’m not speculating, Miss Winter. I understand stress can lead you to see something that’s not there, but please, keep your paranoia under control. My budget is low as is.”
“Officer Higgins, I can’t believe you are accusing me of paranoia. I know what I saw and I am not...” Melody’s pleas are of no use. He has already made up his mind.
“That is all Miss Winter. I’m sure it goes without saying, but I will expect that you are going to leave Tam and Rob’s property to the officials from now on.
“Wait, did you say Tam and Rob?”
“Uh, isn’t that what you told me? Let’s see my notes here.” He starts fumbling through a notepad to verify his intel.
“No, Officer. I did not. But thank you. I believe you have been most helpful.” Melody smiles. “I’ll go ahead and show myself out of the door now.”
Melody gets up from her chair and walks over to the door. This time, he does not escort her to the door, he is too busy searching his files for proof that she is sure he won’t find.
She leaves Officer Higgins’ office more resolute to find out what Tam and Rob didn’t want the officer to find out. They are hiding something, she thinks. She will have to inspect the barn herself. If they left in a hurry, they may have left something unchecked.
What Melody had feared when she spoke with Brad previously has been proven also. It seems the one officer on the island may be in the Deacon’s pockets.
Did Will hire Officer Higgins, Tam and Rob to do his dirty work? Melody wonders. She is almost sick to the stomach when she thinks of Will pretending to be interested in her when all along he knows what happened to her father. I am so close, I can feel it.
Melody makes a plan to stop by the barn on her way back to the inn. She would have preferred to go during the day, but for fear of getting caught, she plans an evening visit. Now, more than before, Melody feels there will be more eyes on her, so she needs to work fast and carefully.
It’s a cold night as she journeys back. Very few people were out when she was walking to Officer Higgins’ home and now the cobblestone streets are empty.
As she turns the corner where the post office is located, Melody hears footsteps. She looks behind her. There is no one there. That was strange.
She walks a little faster. Where she is currently, few people frequent by night, but closer to the shoreline and the inn, she usually sees more familiar faces.
Melody sees the shoreline up ahead. As she passes the first set of passenger boats and nears a couple of cargo ships, the street lamps automatically come on and light the area around. She sees what looks like a figure following behind her appear under the light, then disappear behind her again. Abruptly, Melody turns around to locate the figure, but it is gone.
Melody fights off the thought that Officer Higgins might be right and she is being paranoid. Seeing and hearing things that aren’t there, she thinks, that’s how most paranoia begins, isn’t it?
What she can’t shake off is her fear that someone really is coming after her. I did hear footsteps, she reminds herself. Now Melody is walking fast enough to keep up with a slow jogging pace.
She could hide behind the boats again, but she did that before and tonight is too cold to risk pneumonia. Besides, on a silent night like tonight, anyone following her will definitely hear the water splashing.
The footsteps creep up again and this time they sound like they are gaining ground on her. Melody’s chest beats faster and she breaths more heavily. Suddenly, she turns around and this time she does see a figure disappearing behind a dark opening among the boats. That was not paranoia, she realizes, I definitely saw something.
“Hello? Who are you?”
No answer returns.
Still, the streets appear vacant. If there was a time when Melody wished more townspeople were out and about, it is now. Her only apparent companions are the boats parked away for the night. The rustling trees which normally whistle shallowly, have also retreated for the night.
Melody did not think she went to see Officer Higgins very late tonight, but for some reason, the entire town seems to have retired to their homes or the inn as though they knew trouble was brewing on the shores of Talon’s Point. They just failed to notify Melody of impending danger, which is becoming more imminent with each step she takes.
She looks around for a friend or some sign of help, but the town has quietly left her at the mercy of a stalker. For the moment, Melody feels that she is yet again the lonely outsider. Only this time, it may cost her her life.
Her light sweater proves too timid against the Atlantic winds blowing tonight. Or is it the winds that are making me shiver? She tightly wraps her sweater around her waist. I need to get to better lighting, she thinks. She has a mind to fight off whatever danger is looming, though she is yet to know what lies in wait.
Now, Melody is almost running. The footsteps grower louder and closer as the stalker chases her. Who could it be? Melody searches her mind, and what do they want?
The opening to the hill leading up to the red barn appears up ahead. She has an idea. I am no mouse. I am the cat, she reminds herself.
As Melody approaches the turn off to the barn, she pretends to go towards the barn by faking a turn before she swings the opposite direction and slips behind the corner store. Melody runs fast in the fluorescent lighting of the store, before she is seen and hides behind a second corner. There, she waits for her stalker to appear.
And just as she had planned, the stalker follows her. She reaches behind her and picks up the large planting container Emma gave her husband. He has yet to fill it. It’s large enough to send a shock through the body, but not too heavy for her that she can pick it up. She holds it up above her head as the footsteps draw nearer to her. Just a couple more steps and her stalker will be within view. The footsteps slow down as they reach the corner, but not by much.
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Melody takes a deep breath. Any second now, she thinks. She is about to shut her eyes and whack him right on the head. That’s when she realizes that her stalker is no man at all, but a young girl of about 15 years old.
Melody’s mouth drops. She stops herself within inches of giving the young girl a concussion. The girl ducks when she sees that she is faced with a perilous moment. “Who are you? And why are you following me?” Melody is hasty and haughty. She doesn’t hold back her frustration. “I could have killed you!”
The little girl looks up at her in fear, peeking through her arms, propped up to guard her head. That is when Melody realizes her voice is startlingly raised and on edge. “Please,” the girl begs, “don’t hurt me.”
Melody lowers her voice a bit, but carries a stern, disapproving tone. “Don’t hurt you? Why were you following me in the first place? Do you know that in America, people die for a lot less than that? Are you crazy?”
