Page 68 of Claimed By the Alien Barbarian

Finally, the customers left. Melwarn looked my way and gestured for me to join him near the back of the room.

“I’m glad you came to me.” He peered around, but I’d already determined everyone had left his ship. “I never believed you killed her.”

“Thank you.”

“Which is why I’ve continued to carefully ask questions. It’s only recently that I learned something new, something I know you’ll be interested to hear.”

“What’s that?” Would we finally have a clue that would lead us to her murderer and clear my name?

“You may not know this, but she often left the village to walk the path that skirts the outer part of the island.”

“Many of us do.” The view was gorgeous, and berries grew near the path. My parents, older brother, and I had enjoyed picnic meals in various locations throughout the island. Mymother had loved sitting in the grass with the sun warming her cheeks.

“What you probably don’t know is that someone often followed her,” he said.

I’d suspected this. She hadn’t met with her lover inside the village. There was too great a chance someone would see.

“Who was it?” I asked.

He crooked his neck, looking around again. “Vair.”

Not her lover, then. I rubbed my neck. “Her brother?” Did this tie into her murder, and if so, how?

“He followed her that day as well.” Melwarn’s spine tightened. “He took off after her not long after she left. He wore a hood,” he scoffed, “as if that would disguise him? I know for a fact that he’d hurt his foot the day before, and the limp alone might’ve given him away. But I recognized the hooded tunic, one he’d selected here in my very shop.”

“Are you sure it was him? Almost anyone could’ve been limping or wearing one of your fine hooded tunics.” I’d worn one a lot myself when I lived on the island. The hood could be pulled up if it started to rain.

There were also other clothing providers who offered hooded tunics.

“I can tell you’re skeptical,” he said. “But that hooded shirt was different than others in the village.”

“In what way?”

“I would never speak poorly of the gods, but that one hadn’t been constructed well. The stitching in the back had started to unravel. I’d set it aside to dispose of when Vair came into my shop. He saw it and liked it. He insisted he didn’t care if threads hung down in the back. So this person not only limped, but he wore that exact hooded shirt. It was Vair. I know this for a fact.”

“Maybe him leaving not long after her was a coincidence.”

“Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t. If I was you, I’d ask Vair, and I’d do so in a way where your brother can overhear without Vair realizing he’s there.”

“Set up a trap?”

He nodded. “You don’t know what he might reveal. He’s impulsive. I wouldn’t put it past him to harm her if he was angry.”

I tilted my head, curious. “Why would he be angry?”

“They argued all the time.”

“That’s no reason to murder her.”

“It is if she threatens to tell their parents something he wishes to keep hidden.”

“What’s that?” I asked, very curious now. Had Vair murdered his sister?

“I don’t know what it was, but I heard him threaten her not to tell them. She blustered and shoved him away before stalking from the village. This was the day she was killed, and he followed her.”

If he didn’t kill her, he may have seen who did it. Why wouldn’t he tell? We hadn’t been great friends, but we’d been polite to each other. He had no reason to make me take the blame for this unless he’d done it himself.

“I’ll speak to Firion about this,” I said. It was well worth pursuing.

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