“So, you have the war club that killed Red Knot,” Hunting Hawk said dryly. “Anyone could have entered the temple that night and stolen it.”
Panther cradled the skull gently in his arms; it might have been a precious egg. “That is correct, Weroansqua. When I began, I told you, it was the reason of Red Knot’s death that eluded me. Almost everyone in this room might want the girl dead, but to kill her took a special kind of desperation. Flat Willow was desperate enough, but he would have used his own war club, and besides, he was out plotting with Copper Thunder at the moment Red Knot was killed. High Fox might have wanted her dead, but White Otter and Quick Fawn have told me that Red Knot wished to leave with him. Thus, he had no reason to kill her.”
“Wait!” Nine Killer cried. “What about High Fox’s necklace? Red Knot had it clasped in her hand.”
Panther nodded to Green Serpent, who lifted the necklace from the basket. High Fox gasped at the sight of it, his face working. “High Fox?” Panther took the necklace and dangled it before the young warrior. “Would you care to explain how this came to be with Red Knot’s body?”
High Fox stammered, “I—I put it in her hand, Elder. That morning. When I found her dead … bloody. She was so cold. I just couldn’t…” He looked up, aching. “I loved her! Don’t you see? I’d have died for her! We were going away to be together—happy for the rest of our lives. And then to find her that way, dead, and covered with blood. I just… I took off my necklace, and placed it in her hand. Something … don’t you see? Something of me for her. So she’d know that I still loved her. That I’d always love her.” He dropped his miserable stare to the matting. “For all time … forever.”
Panther stepped over and used a finger to raise High Fox’s face. Tears left shining tracks down his cheeks. “She will know, High Fox. And your necklace will rest with her bones. I promise.”
High Fox smiled in relief as The Panther handed the necklace back to Green Serpent; then Panther hesitated, his gaze fixed on the boy’s mouth. He whispered, “It all comes clear.”
It took a moment for Panther to recover his thoughts. “So, let us go again to that last night of dancing. Place yourselves there. Red Knot and High Fox meet outside the palisade. after the dance is over. She tells him how much she detests Copper Thunder. He asks her to run off with him. She agrees. She is to meet him at Oyster Shell Landing at dawn—giving High Fox just enough time to paddle around the point. When she returns and meets Quick Fawn, Quick Fawn tries to talk Red Knot out of doing such a mad thing—and in the process, Red Knot tells Quick Fawn what she is doing. Isn’t that right?”
Quick Fawn nodded, head lowered to avoid the hostile glares of her aunt and mother.
“You can’t seriously mean one of the girls killed her!” Copper Thunder laughed and slapped his knees with his hands.
“No.” Panther took a deep breath. “Just around the corner of the House of the Dead, back in the shadows, a man and woman were coupling. They overheard every word. It upset them so much that they argued after the girls left. So heated was the disagreement that the man forgot his blanket. Old man Mockingbird found it the next morning.” Panther nodded to Green Serpent.
The priest lifted the folded blanket from the basket, and opened it to expose the distinctive pattern of peak shells. The deer seemed to dance in the firelight.
Black Spike sprang to his feet, face ashen. “You stole that!” He whirled, face livid, pointing at Hunting Hawk. “This is your doing, you filthy old bitch! Well, I won’t have it!”
“Enough!” Copper Thunder roared, leaping to his feet and grasping Black Spike’s arms from behind. For a moment, they wrestled, teetering for balance. Black Spike might have had a chance but for his healing arm. Then Copper Thunder’s thick muscles corded and literally bent Black Spike back to the bench. High Fox leaped out of the way as the Great Tayac pinned Black Spike in place.
Spittle wetted Black Spike’s chin as he struggled against the iron grip.
Panther said softly, “Shell Comb told me that everything was done for the clan. And so it was. All done for the clan.” He paused, and added, “Mistakes had to be paid for.”
Shell Comb had trouble focusing her eyes, as if seeing beyond a great distance. Her expression was slack, lips parted, as if in disbelief.
Panther lifted Red Knot’s skull, tapping her peg like incisor with a thumb nail. “Anyone who looks will see that Red Knot’s tooth is malformed. Exactly like yours, Black Spike. And, I regret to say, exactly like High Fox’s. Both of your children have the same malformed tooth, Weroance. They got it from you.”