Chapter 41: The Bloodied Shirt

Flora stood motionless for a few seconds as she tried to process what she was seeing in her hand. She pulled out the white sleeve from under the pile of colored clothes but did not expect to see a man’s white shirt with the whole front part covered in dried blood. She tried hard to explain to herself what she saw. Perhaps the man had cut himself, but to have that much blood could mean that the man could have died. Perhaps the man had helped someone else who got heavily injured and knowing that they were on an island, the poor victim could have bled to death. But that would still mean that someone had died. Why was it that each explanation she thought of seemed to point to someone dying, Flora asked herself.

Flora realized that her hand was shaking as she held out the shirt in front of her. She tried to control herself as she thought of what to do with the thing that she held.

“Told you it was red!” said Nadi, pointing at the bloodied shirt that her mother was holding.

“Oh, Nadi!” said