It was a rough night for sleeping.

Even on the comfort of a bed, Jain’s mind kept running around in answerless circles of how they were going to solve this crisis. She was worried about her family and hoped Conrad had been put in his place. She’d tossed and turned for hours before sleep eventually claimed her, and Jain succumbed to unconsciousness.

Jain woke up in the morning and sat up on the bed, looking around blearily at her surroundings. Alan was already awake and keeping watch in the doorway. “Mmmm…good morrow,” she told him quietly.

Alan turned and gave her a crooked smile. “Good morrow.”

“How long have ye been sitting there?”

He turned back towards the door and said, “About an hour. It’s been quiet through the night and there’s still nae sign of anyone, so we might be safe.”

Jain tossed her legs over the side of the bed and let out a yawn. As she did, her stomach rumbled, and she blushed from the sound of it, embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“Dinnae worry about it,” Alan grinned. “We should be getting some breakfast soon. I’m starved as well.”

“Where do ye suggest we get some food?”

He pointed out the door towards the river. “We could catch some fish in the stream,” Alan told her hopefully. “Ye were right about the house.”

Jain looked up at him in surprise. “What do ye mean?”

“The bed is new,” he told her. “Look at the mattress. It’s the only useable piece of furniture in his house.”

Jain glanced around again, taking in the dirt floor covered with rushes and decrepit ceiling one more time. He was right. It didn’t make sense to have a useable bed when everything else was rotten. Unless…that was the sole purpose of coming to this place, to use the bed and leave.

“Ye think this could have been a secret lover’s hideaway?” she asked him, smiling.

Alan shook his head in unmasked horror. “No, I dinnae ken it was romantic as all that.”

Jain’s brow furrowed with confusion. “What do ye mean?”

Alan swallowed hard walking past her towards the bed and ran his fingers across the headboard. A series of faint scratches were clawed in deep to the wooden surface. Her eyes flickered to the wall beyond where a few spots of dark liquid had dried onto its surface, leading down into a puddle on the floor. Jain went pale at the sight of it and with a trembling hand pulled back the feather mattress to get a better picture. A smell became more prominent, filling the room with its signature aroma of rust and salt. Old rust and salt – the kind which had congealed and settled there for days until it stank of death.

Her eyes bulged in horror when she realized what it was: Blood.

Blood that had been spilt before they got there and hastily cleaned up. Whoever was responsible, missed where the dark stain had dripped down the wall and stained the rushes on the floor. 

Jain gasped, backing away from him slowly. Now that she was aware of it, there was little else that could rip her eyes away. On further inspection, she also realized there were rips in the mattress fabric. Whatever happened here was violent and caused Jain’s stomach to churn with bile.

A moment passed before she turned to him and sobbed. “Did ye ken?” Jain asked him forcefully. “Did ye ken about this place when ye brought me here?”

“Nae! Jain, I swear to ye. I dinnae ken. I saw the claw marks when ye were sleeping and I couldn’t bring myself to wake ye. Ye were so tired.”

She processed that for a moment and gave him a single nod. “I believe ye. It’s a horrible thing to find. That poor girl, whoever she was–”

“Deserves to find justice,” Alan stopped her. “We cannae do anything out here unless we find proof.”

Jain’s eyes were misting with tears as she caught sight of something sparkling in the bloody rushes. She knelt to inspect the area further and pulled a piece of chain out of the underbrush.

Jain went pale when she realized what it was and let out a tiny gasp.

“What is it?” he asked her curiously.

She started breathing heavily and pushed past him to get outside, clutching her stomach with pain. “Get me out of here!”

Alan followed her into the grass but didn’t approach her right away.

“I’ve seen that necklace before,” Jain told him. She brushed her fingers across the chain – treating it with reverence, like it was something sacred. “’Twas Heather’s.”

Her eyes were misting over with tears, so he wrapped his arms around her to try and comfort the pain of loss.

“We’ll keep it safe,” he told her. “I’ll make sure it returns to her parents when we go back.”

She nodded in agreement and pulled away from him, exhaling a gargled sob. “The blood in the house…it belonged to her as well, I’m sure of it. We’ve got to bring this necklace back to her parents, so they can ken what happened.”

“Nae, tis too soon,” Alan told her. “Ye may still be in danger.”

“How can ye speak of such things when we’ve stumbled upon such compelling evidence? Heather probably died in that house and it’s our duty to let her family ken.”

Alan sighed. “Jain, I ken ye dinnae want to hear this, but Heather is already lost. Tis yer life that I’m protecting at the moment. Her parents deserve to ken what we found, and they will, but not until ye’re safe. It won’t do Heather any good to rush back before we’re ready and it may put us both in danger. We have to wait.”

“Alright. Where are we going to sleep tonight though? I cannae bring myself to go back in the house. Not when…please dinnae make me.”

“Of course not. We’ll camp out here instead. There’s plenty of hay fer us to make some beds outside and I can make a fire to keep warm.”

She smiled at him weakly when he took her by the hand and kissed it. “Alan, thank ye…fer everything.”

“It’s my pleasure.”