Who Do You Trust Now? (A Disappearance Mystery Thriller Book 5), Laura Greene [notion reading list txt] 📗

That is when she opens the longest letter so far. Just a couple of paintings over, is another letter in her father’s handwriting. Either his penmanship got worse or he wrote this in a hurry, she thinks.

She opens the letter and it reads:

If you’re reading this, I’m sorry.

I tried, but this time I was in way over my head. I came to the islands in search for the truth and to right a very unfortunate wrong. (I know, coming from me, that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s true.) I have stopped my dealings in the black market and I’m clean. But most people don’t know that. They think once a crook, always a crook. I hope you will believe me though. I want my family to be proud of me again.

I missed seeing my child grow up and I’m hoping once I get back to the States, she’ll give me a second chance. I’m ready to own my wrongs and ask her to forgive me for not being there for her.

Hopefully, I’ll make it back. But after what I found out, I expect I’ll be killed.

Please, don’t bother trying to find out what happened. I’m not sharing it here either. I will not condemn whoever is reading this letter to my fate by divulging why I am to die.

The letter ends with him quickly scribbling, “They are coming for me, now.”

Melody sits, hushed outwardly and inwardly. She has nothing to say, she just feels. Part of her wants to be angry at those who came after her father and possibly took his life. The rest of her is saddened that she was robbed of her opportunity to know her transformed father.

“Why didn’t you come home sooner, Father?” Melody voices her frustration. What if my father is really gone? She wonders. A thought back to the blood she saw on Tam’s barn door does not ease her pain. What if the same fate that was my father’s is now mine and I’m not going to see my family, Brad, Rebecca again? Maybe I should have listened and left the country when I had the chance.

There is a wound in Melody’s heart, a vacancy now exists inside her that she is not sure can be filled again.

Chapter 3

Each night Melody is in the cottage, she sees a strange light on the island. It’s a hollow, static glow that faintly shimmers from among the trees in the distance. With much of her time spent on trying to find any more clues her father may have left her, she has not ventured out to look for the light until now.

On the third night, she tries to follow it. It’s the only sign of life that she has seen on the island, so she is determined to learn who it belongs to.

You could call it the hunter’s instinct; Melody is convinced after reading her father’s letter that if she doesn’t hunt down whoever’s on the island with her, they’ll hunt her instead.

Her backpack is packed full of supplies; she has enough food, water and clothes to last a few days. She strapped it tightly on her back before leaving and even added a few essential tools for the hike.

The woods are especially quiet tonight. There is a serenity about them that is inviting yet troubling, like they know what haunting lies ahead. It’s an insight Melody would kill to have right now. Her hope is that the few campouts she had as a girl scout will pay off now.

The night is silent, waiting to see what will become of Melody. She is relieved the rain clouds she saw earlier, seem to have reverted from a certain downpour.

Now she sees the stars radiating in the night with bright glimmers of hope. They span the midnight skies for miles and they are beautiful. She wonders if her father was taken during the day or by night. Wanting to know if the stars were witnesses to his departure, she asks, Did you see what happened to my father? But they do not respond.

Since reading her father’s notes, her mind has been filled with dread, wondering what might have happened to him? What were his last words? She asks again, but the stars keep their opaque lips sealed.

She continues to walk, shuffling her feet like a lost puppy in search of its parent. It’s amazing how you never know what you are missing until it is gone, she recognizes.

Two months ago, she wouldn’t have cared to learn something happened to her father, but now, walking in his footsteps, meeting those he saw last and seeing the last clues he left for her, she feels connected to him. She can’t quite explain it, she just knows it’s a bond that tugs at her heart.

A tree sways, she shines her light on it, but it’s just the wind. She breathes a sigh of relief. Next, she pushes past some trees, moving branches from her way. Up ahead, she can see the light is still on, she doesn’t take her eyes off it. Now, she ducks under another tree, which she can’t identify in the dark. Her bag gets caught at the top, she wiggles around, making the branches shake with her until she is loose.

In the distance, the sound of a few birds and small animals shuffling in the trees catch Melody’s attention, but they do not alarm her. She is determined to keep that light in sight. With stubborn resolve, she continues forward.

Then she hears them – they are the sound of light footsteps tapping near her. They are getting closer, she thinks. Darting her light towards the sound, she exposes an animal. A fox is standing, staring directly at her with beady eyes. It does not move