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I walk over to a pile of old tables to the left, where dust and vines have grown in the years that have passed. Something catches my eye and I reach down, picking up an old doll. It’s so old that it’s missing an arm, a leg, and its eyes are gone. But there is something about it, something so ... innocent. I picture a young girl sitting at these tables, holding her doll as she watched her parents dance and laugh.
Suddenly, my fear is no longer.
I only feel sadness in this barn.
I place the doll down and begin walking around, stepping over piles of fallen timber as I search for something that might indicate what happened in here. When I reach the place where Taj’s body laid, my heart feels as though it might split in two. I lean down and I can’t help the tears that burst forth and roll down my cheeks as I mourn my friend. The rock he fell on is gone, but the blanket lies on the floor, untouched, tossed aside. I pick it up, and when I do, I notice something.
I swipe the tears from my eyes and take a deep, shaky breath. The blood on the blanket is patchy. It lies all over it, from one end to the other, big patches of blood. Like someone has used it to try and stop bleeding. If Taj fell, and the blanket was wrapped around him, the blood may not have even touched him, let alone gone all over it. I narrow my eyes and look behind me. If he fell here, someone would have had to push him from there.
Keeping the blanket in my hands, I walk toward the area where whoever pushed him would have been standing. I use my flashlight, and on the ground, in the dirt, are numerous boot prints. Of course, it could have been the guys, but what would they be doing over here. If you were standing here, it would be because you didn’t want anyone to hear what you were talking about, it’s sort of under some timber rafters and you have to duck a little to get in here.
No, Taj was talking to someone in here, my question is ... who?
Who the hell was he talking to?
I SEARCH AROUND FOR a little longer, but I don’t find anything else in the barn. I make my way out, keeping the blanket. I want to study it further in the light. I walk around the outside of the barn, and when I do, I see an entrance near where I saw the boot prints. It seems like an old window that has broken apart and you can sort of just step through. On the ground by that window, shoe prints. Someone definitely came in here. I use my phone to take a photo of one of the prints, I wonder if I can match it to a shoe here?
I look around the rest of the barn, and when I don’t find anything more, I do a quick scour of the bushes. That’s when I find it. A phone. At first, it almost looks like a rock, it’s upside down and sort of fallen between some branches, but when I get closer, I see the apple logo clear as day. I reach down, picking it up and turning it over. The screen has smashed, not severely, but just like it was dropped. The location of it would make it really hard to find unless you were looking, even then, it wouldn’t be easy. I’ve come across it by pure chance.
I wasn’t even going to come this far down the track, I only did because I was curious.
I try to turn it on, but it’s dead. Recent rain probably destroyed it. Still, it would have a sim card and that might just tell us who it belongs to. I take it, too, heart racing as I suddenly feel like I’m getting a whole lot closer to whoever did this. I turn and leave the area, knowing if I’m busted here, Rhett will have a fit. I walk toward the cabins, and just as I’m about to reach them, I see movement in the trees. I pause, squinting, damn me for being so blind. I push my glasses closer to my face and study harder.
There are people in the tree line near the cabins.
When I see they’re holding cameras, my eyes widen.
“Hey!” I shout. “This is private property!”
They scurry backward into the trees, and I don’t pause. I drop the blanket and phone on my cabin porch, and then I run. I run toward the trees. We might be the reason Rhett has reporters following him, but I’m sure as hell not going to be the reason they sell fake news. I hit the tree line and I can hear them shouting at each other. I pick up the pace, having no idea what I’m going to do when I actually reach them.
