Going To Find Father (A Disappearance Mystery Thriller Book 4)

by Laura Greene

  “I… I was just...” Trembling noises escape from the girl.

  “You better talk before I have half the mind to raise this weapon again?” Melody pretends to raise the container over her head a second time.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll talk o’rite. Just donnae kill me.” The girl cries, hunched over. She is wearing a dark green windbreaker on top of a hooded sweater, light blue jeans and brown boots.

  “You’d better.” Melody slowly lowers the container down, checking to see if the girl has an accomplice close by her. She is on edge and ready for any surprises should they arise. If there is anything she has learned here on the island, it’s you can’t trust anyone and always be ready for surprises. “Are you alone?”

  “Yes,” the girl lowers her arms from her head. “I am.” Now, Melody gets a good look at her. She is skinny and fair. Her brunette hair has streaks of oil in it like it could use some grooming, but her youthful beauty still shines through. Her eyes are bright and fiery. Melody wonders if she has had to face some hardships in her young life. Her light freckles add a slight gentility to her would-be otherwise ordinary features.

  Melody demands, “Let’s start with your name.”

  “My name is Nell.” Her voice is… sweet. This confuses Melody because she cannot understand why a sweet girl would be caught stalking her. She knows something is not right about this. Who is behind this? The way things have been on the island lately, Melody is now questioning every person’s intent – at times, even her own.

  “I’m Mel…” She begins to introduce herself.

  “Melody. I know.” Her voice trails off as she says Melody’s name.

  “Sure, I’m the only American on the island.” Melody is not as impressed as Nell might have expected. Though, she does wonder inwardly how Nell knows her name.” “So out with it. What do you want, Nell?”

  Nell looks around her to see if anyone can see them. She lowers her voice down to a whisper and says, “I’ve been following you for some time now.”

  “What do you mean?” Melody is unsettled by the news. How is she on the island to investigate and didn’t even notice a 15-year-old girl following her?

  “Last night, you went to the corner store after work.”

  “Yes. I do that all the time.”

  “Not exactly. Yesterday, ye bought two sweetie bags because Rebecca said that her doll Sarah needed some sweeties for her quiz days too. Ye plan to give em tae her the morrow.”

  How does she know this?

  “And today, ye went tae see Officer Higgins because ye asked him tae check on the barn up there. He didnae have the best news did he?”

  “Who sent you? Was it the Deacons?”

  “Even that container you’re carrying. Sean was supposed to have potted plants in there already, but he hasnae “quite gotten tae it.” Tsk tsk tsk.” Nell adds as she wags her finger. A confident smirk forms on the side of her mouth.

  “Alright, so you have been following me. Why? You obviously wanted to get caught tonight? Did the Deacons pay you to say all that?”

  Nell looks down and rubs her arm. “No. I couldn’t risk being seen talking to you. That’s why I came to you by night.” Melody notices that Nell is still looking around the corner.

  “Are you looking for someone?” Melody raises her voice. She is tired of the show. With her hand, she clasps the container beside her.

  “Shh.” Nell continues to speak in a whisper. “I tried to talk to you sooner. But it’s always been too dangerous for me to come to your room. I don’t know if you know this, but people have been watching you. They could be watching us right now.”

  “Who has?” Now Melody is also whispering.

  “Two men.”

  “It’s probably Tam and Rob,” Melody thinks out loud.

  “One of them works at the mansion and wears a tweed suit.”

  She was right.

  “You see, they have been on your tail for much of the time you have been here. That’s why I couldn’t risk getting caught. They are dangerous men, Melody. They can… they can hurt people.”

  She nods her head. Melody has wondered if someone was watching her on a few occasions. The odd rustling in the bushes nearby. The sound of footsteps or oddly coming across opened doors that she previously thought were shut. She couldn’t find the proof, so she just assumed that the investigation was getting to her and making her paranoid. But now, Nell is confirming it for her.

  One time, Melody found her school bag out of place. Her first thought was someone searched it while she was outside, but she didn’t see anyone who might have gotten close enough to her bag.

  Now, Melody knows that she was right after all.

  “Even if you’re telling the truth, how do I know you’re not working with them?” Melody doesn’t say it, but she is more concerned that if a girl of 15 years can easily follow her all this time undetected, how much more can two grown and cunning men do to her?

  “Because I wouldn’t tell you all this if I didn’t. I would be turning you over to them, but I’m not. Now, there is something very important I need to talk to you about.”

  Chapter 5

  “I must tell you what happened,” Nell presses.

  Melody sits on the container that moments ago she was using as her weapon. Meeting Nell today was the last thing she expected in her master plan to entrap Will. It’s not clear yet whether her plans will be thwarted, subsided or helped by this new encounter. Melody is intrigued, enough to want to hear what Nell has to say.

  “You’d better sit down then.” She slides over on the container and makes room for Nell to sit next to her.

  The streets of Talon’s Point are strangely quiet tonight. Her nights are usually filled with cackles and laughter from local barflies, but tonight, they are amiss. An unknown vacuum seems to have sucked out the pleasant gab and replaced it with silence – a silence that Melody hopes what Nell has to tell her will fill.

  Sean, the corner store owner, closed down an hour ago. He is probably safely tucked away in his bed by now.

  Melody releases her sweater. Now that the imminent danger has surpassed, she no longer feels cold, just an emptiness she can’t shake. It’s neither weighty nor bothersome, just vacant.

  Once Nell sits down, she begins. “I need to tell you about my mother.” Nell looks directly at her and she can tell this is important. “My mother has been in hiding for several weeks.” There is a bitterness and sorrow in Nell’s voice, it’s enough to match the fire in her eyes. Melody wonders if this is where it stems from.

  “Where is she hiding?” Hearing Nell’s story, draws out a tenderness and longing in Melody much like she felt when she pined to see her father more as a teenager. She could not have been much younger than Nell.

  “She is living on an island nearby.” Her voice breaks a little as she explains.

  Melody calculates in her mind, “Did you say several weeks?”

  “Yes, maybe three months.”

  That’s how long my father has been missing. Melody does not let on, but she is all ears now. She has been wondering why so many people disappeared from the island in such a short space of time and with no explanation. If Nell knows something about it, she definitely wants to hear it.

  Nell continues, “She is the one who sent me.”

  “Sent you where?”

  “Tae you.” Nell is very sure of herself, but Melody cannot figure out how this mother could know her or have met her when she only arrived a month ago. Nell sees the confusion on Melody’s face, “I’ve been travelling back and forth from the island on a small boat that belonged tae my father. It’s how I bring food and water tae my mother. I arrive very early in the morning and park it on the other side of the shore so no one can see me. Then I walk along the shore line, hiding behind the boats until I make it close enough to the inn. From there it’s pretty easy to blend in.”

  “Are you not afraid of getting caught?”

  “If I can make it past McCorrie, I’m usually fine.�
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  Melody knows who McCorrie is. He is the one she saw talking with Tam when she followed Tam to the port one day. McCorrie’s boat is the only one that is big enough to carry passengers to the mainland. It is also strong enough to withstand storms along the way.

  “You’re quite brave for a girl your age. How does your boat fare?”

  Nell smiles shyly, “I’ve had a few close encounters, but it does fine. The conditions can be rough at sea, but I am very careful.” She sits up as if to prove herself responsible enough to sail her boat. Then proudly she says, “I’ve become quite good at sailing through the troubled waters and I can now pick up speed without being afraid.”

  Looking at Nell describe her sea adventures, Melody can tell it’s quite an exhilarating experience. “Why doesn’t your father come with you or take turns coming?”

  “Uh...” Nell hesitates and coils into herself. “I donnae ken. I never met him.” She looks out in the direction of the sea. There is a wall with a locked gate that sits adjacent to the back of the corner store. It separates them from the sea and the raised shore. Through the slits between the gate and the wall or when standing, they can see the water spreading into the horizon.

  “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 man and woman pick up their pace, almost running towards the Howling Dog. Melody sees them run past the store as they continue bickering. They are dressed up in a short black dress and heels for the lady and dark jeans and a collared shirt for the man. They look like they are in their early thirties. He is also holding a gift bag with a shiny red balloon that says, “Happy Birthday” on it.

  When the footsteps are far distant again, Melody turns around to Nell and says, “That was a close one.”

  But Nell is not crouched down behind her.

  She has already stood up and she is pacing. “They were just a couple of locals. You don’t need to worry.” Melody reassures her. Nell could have run off without a word while Melody was watching the couple, but she stayed. Maybe there is more to what she is saying after all, Melody thinks. She is starting to believe that Nell may really be there to help her. And she could really benefit from some local help if it’s someone she can trust.

  “It’s not them. I… I just cannae stay here much longer, so please listen carefully.”

  Melody sits down again and gives her attention to Nell, who is pacing and looking more and more rushed to say what she came to tell Melody.

  “My mother specifically instructed me to come find you and bring you back to the island for an important conversation. Trust me, ye have tae come. She is the only one who can help you.”

  In th
e least, Melody is intrigued. If Nell’s mother has answers, it’s worthwhile to see her. Something is holding her back though, “How can I know that I can trust you?”

  “Do ye want tae know whit happened tae the previous teacher?” Nell asks.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s the reason ye are here isn’t it? I could have gone to the Deacons about you, but I didn’t.”

  It’s true, Melody realizes. Her cover could have been blown a long time ago. For some reason, this girl knows why I am here and she is protecting me.

  “Do you know how much longer it will be before someone else figures out why you are here?” Nell urges Melody to believe her. There is desperation and urgency in her teenage voice. “You need answers and I can help you. Please, come with me to the island. My mother, she knows what happened to the man.”