“But if she wasn’t forced, and freely coupled with him?”
“That’s different,” Nine Killer said slowly. “In Flat Willow’s case, she might have ordered him beaten to within an inch of his life. Maybe his legs would have been broken and he’d have had to live on the mercy of his clan. Catch her on the wrong day, and she might still have ordered me to brain him and toss his body into the Fish River at high tide.”
Sun Conch bit her lip.
Nine Killer gave her a questioning look. Panther noticed, and explained, “It seems as if young High Fox lied to me. In the process, he placed Sun Conch at a disadvantage.” He turned to the chastened girl. “How much of this did you know?”
Sun Conch dropped her head to stare at her slim brown hands. “I didn’t know, Elder. I swear. I…”
“You suspected?”
“Well, they—they used to disappear. You know, just up and slip away. Sometimes a person doesn’t ask… doesn’t wish to know.” She spread her hands wide. “Besides, they thought they would marry. No one anticipated this match with Copper Thunder.”
Nine Killer considered the implications. To think, the Weroansqua’s immature granddaughter dallying with a man—and right under his nose!
Nine Killer growled to himself, realized his pipe had gone cold, and snagged up the twig to relight it. Very well, it had happened—and Red Knot was dead. So, how were these things related?
The Panther gave the fire a baleful look, his fingers gripping his pipe stem until the nails had gone pale. “I told him I would skin him alive.”
“Pardon? Skin who?” Nine Killer asked.
“High Fox! I told him what would happen if I discovered that he’d lied to me.” Nine Killer exhaled through his nose, watching two threads of blue smoke wind upward from his nostrils. “Perhaps we have yet another reason for murder. Was this something Red Knot was using to control him? To manipulate him to her ends? After all, her word against his would be a powerful incentive. Perhaps he thought the only way to keep Red Knot quiet. was the most permanent way?” Panther stared into the distance, eyes vacant. “That makes a great deal of sense, War Chief. More now than at any time before. If she married Copper Thunder, she would hold that club over High Fox’s head for years. Oh, gradually the seriousness of it would fade, but at eighteen summers and blinded by the impetuousness of youth, did High Fox understand that?”
Sun Conch shook her head, answer enough.
“It appears, Elder, that rather than champion High Fox, you may have just killed him.”
“Oh … but…” Sun Conch’s eyes blurred. “Elder?”
The Panther raised a cautionary finger. “Not yet, War Chief. Flat Willow claims that Red Knot’s body was cold when he found it. He said her urine was even drying out. Now, let us consider. Flat Willow sees High Fox charging down the trail. They talk. Not the best of friends anymore, they have a quick conversation, and High Fox wants to escape as quickly as he can. Flat Willow’s curiosity is stirred, so he backtracks High Fox to the ridge top to find the body. How long would that take, War Chief?”
Nine Killer pictured the trail above Oyster Shell Landing. “Say that Flat Willow was halfway down the slope, I’d say it would take about as long to scale the ridge as it would take to smoke the tobacco in your pipe bowl. I saw High Fox’s tracks where he ran down the trail. His was not exactly a difficult trail to work out, and Flat Willow, I hear, is an excellent tracker. Once on top, not knowing what he was looking for, Flat Willow finds Red Knot’s tracks coming up the other side. Now, he knows those tracks were not High Fox’s, so he would scout around, trying to identify the person High Fox met. All in all, I’d say it took less than half a hand of time for Flat Willow to find the body.”
Panther nodded. “You think as I do, War Chief. It’s much too soon for the body to cool.”
“If you take Flat Willow’s word that it…” Nine Killer shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Why would he lie about how long the body had lain there?”
“Why indeed,” Panther agreed. “It’s a flaw in his otherwise perfect story. If he wants us to believe that High Fox killed the girl—and I think he does—he slipped up when he told me she was cold to the touch.”
“He’s hiding something!” Sun Conch blurted. “You saw him, Elder. You called it a serpent around his heart.” She glanced at Nine Killer. “Flat Willow even threatened the Elder! Said he’d like to use his war club on him.”