Melody

2:26

The next morning it was confirmed by Guillermo that Frank and Robert had almost certainly had something to do with Beverly's murder. Randy was only innocent of this particular crime because he was already in prison for a statutory rape charge. A combination of wire transfers from offshore accounts, messages on burner phones, and finally a time line established when Guillermo searched recent security and surveillance cameras around the small town where Melody and Alexander had met. Trying to figure out what had happened and when.

Beverly was a woman who liked routine he learned, and even though she couldn't find a job after she had been laid off, had tried to keep busy. She volunteered, working at the animal shelter some days, food bank on others. Spent an hour or so in the town library applying for jobs before hitting the grocery store before heading home to cook for her family. She didn't seem to interact much with anyone in the town. She hadn't carried a cell phone in over a year because only Frank and Telemarketers called her.

Appearing like a fine, upstanding citizen to anyone who didn't know she had cheated on her first husband or turned on her only child in favor of her second husband. To some people, appearances were all that mattered. Guillermo did wonder how Beverly had managed to explain away the daughter that she had arrived with who was no longer there in the small town. But really, she hadn't had to try that hard. They had already set the stage to send her away to detention center. Guillermo didn't understand how bad things had been for Melody not just at home, but also at the highschool, that the entire town had turned on her within the first week. Guillermo wasn't good with people, he didn't understand how others thought, or why they felt what they did. Melody was different, her aura was different, Alexander hadn't ever seemed to notice, and now with the necklace on, he found Melody didn't stand out any longer.

Other people were heavy, she was light. He reconsidered how his own biases might have hidden something in plain sight as he worked through the stories he had heard from Melody's past. What if it wasn't just chance that brought Melody to Maine. Guillermo started looking through older bank records from Frank. Finding several different offshore accounts making several large deposits the same year Alexander and Melody met. The plane ticket and conference pass Frank had met Beverly on were also purchased by yet another account, from another country. There was so much money flowing, once the pattern was clear to him, he swam through it like a river. Money and numbers were concrete. Could not be disputed or argued with. He liked that. Everything started to make sense. Right back to Beverly's adoption, which was certainly closer to a fae foundling adoption than a human one.

Pouring back over the now walking dead man's accounts a new narrative became clear. Frank had gone to seduce Beverly, break up her family and his own in the process to get Melody across the country legally. Then years of nothing. Until right after Randy was arrested. His lawyer was paid for by one of the accounts he had now memorized. Considering the amount of money paid for his defense, and was still found guilty was a testament to how awful he was.

Meanwhile, seemingly still oblivious to everything around her, for most of the past three years, Beverly was as predictable as a clock. Until three months ago her library searches started to include more medical searches. Then two months ago Cancer searches. Followed by stage four endometrial cancer the past month. Which lead Guillermo to check her medical records.

Beverly had been dying long before she was killed. She had cancer in almost every part of her body. From her brain to her bones, nowhere was safe. Then exactly one week and one day ago Guillermo traced a six figure transfer to Frank's accounts. The day after Frank had brought Beverly to a restaurant outside of town, outside their normal circles. Nothing fancy considering his bank balance. Guillermo watched their table as Beverly ate her meal, smiling at her husband. Reaching over to touch his hand.