Her brow quirked. "Alone?"
"Yes."
She pursed her lips and looked to the side.
I tightened my jaw. One son had got me into the cuffs. It was a truth I couldn't deny.
"I'm leaving in the morning for Madison, with the hearth-keepers," I announced.
"And me?" she asked.
"Knowing the son is around, we can't afford to both be away from camp."
A muscle in her neck twitched.
"My council contact hasn't called back. The sons in Madison are our best hope."
"The sons who are out of town? Who won't be back for some time?" She watched me from the corner of her eyes.
"They may not be. I don't know, but Mel is coming back early. We spoke last night." We hadn't and it wouldn't be that hard for Thea to find out I was lying, but I felt no need to be completely honest with her. Basic need to know facts. . I was going to Madison to get information on the sons or the baby. She was staying here to help Areto protect the camp.
I turned my attention back to the warrior. "You will be in charge until I get back."
Areto's eyes flicked to the side toward Thea, but if the high priestess was annoyed by my decision, she didn't show it.
"Your friend left the tribe. What makes you think she will help us?"
I smiled. "I don't. . or at least she won't do anything because it helps us, but if I can convince her a child is at risk. . " I shook my head. "Goddess bless the son who gets in her way."
I was asleep, or as asleep as I get, when two soft taps of someone's knuckles on my door awakened me. I was on my feet, my staff in my hand, before a third could sound.
Dressed only in an oversized T-shirt, I padded to the door and waited. Two more raps, silence, and then another. Code to let me know a warrior was waiting on the other side.
Keeping the staff ready, I opened the door.
Areto, her mouth grim, greeted me. "Bern. She found a body. One of the birders, we think."
I jerked on a pair of shorts and followed her.
It was maybe one in the morning. The full moon was past, but the night was still bright enough to make out the two people in the yard. Bern stood with her arms hanging stiffly at her side. Thea stood beside her looking authoritative and in control.
When I stepped onto the sidewalk, she strode toward me. "One of your bird-watchers?" She motioned to where a human-sized hump lay under the oak that dominated our yard.
I glanced at Bern, but even with the moon's light her expression was unreadable. As if sensing my thoughts, Thea flipped on a flashlight. "Bern says she found her next to the obelisk."
I cut my gaze to the silent warrior. "Dead?"
She inclined her head slightly.
I returned her nod and looked back at the body. "Were there others? Any sign more had been there?"
A shake this time.
Processing this, I walked to the body. I recognized her instantly-the woman who had challenged me, the leader of the group. She was dressed as I'd seen her earlier, same cheery yellow T-shirt with suns and daisies, same khaki shorts.
"Heart attack?" I asked, this time of Thea.
"No. It looks like she was strangled with these." In her hand was a pair of nunchakus. The pair I'd lost in the woods while fighting with the son.
"Are they. .?" She twisted them over. A crescent moon was carved on the end of one stick. I didn't need to answer; that told her they were mine.
"Of course, Bern. . Areto tells me she's an expert with these." Thea paused as if waiting for me to say something. . to jump on the story, to lay blame on Bern?
I looked at the warrior who still stood silently watching. "Did you kill her?"
"No." Her first word, and I believed her.
I looked back at Thea. "She didn't do it."
"But if she didn't, then who. . " She glanced at the crescent, then pressed her lips shut.
"The son?" I offered, although I didn't believe that either. The son had no gripe with the birders. Why would he kill one? Unless it was to make trouble for us.
I bent down to study the body. The skin on her neck was waxy, almost transparent in places, but her face was a dark angry red. I picked up her hand; her fingers were limp. I motioned for Thea to direct the flashlight beam closer. As she did, I pressed my fingers against the flesh of the bird-watcher's underarm. The white imprint where my fingers had touched shone white. I checked her eyes next. They were open and flat looking. I touched her skin there too, checking for stiffness. There was none; rigor mortis hadn't set in. She hadn't been dead long.
I glanced at Bern. "How was she when you found her?" It was a test; I did believe her, but it didn't hurt to run a check or two.
She motioned at the body with her hand. "Like that, mainly. I think she may have been dragged a bit."
She must have seen the question on my face.
"Look at her heels. When I picked her up, dirt fell onto me."
I checked the woman's shoes, Bern was right. Clumps of moist earth were caked on the heels of her practical white walking shoes.
"Someone bigger than her, then," I murmured. Which narrowed down the possibilities by about zero.
I checked her neck then. From what Areto had told me-and the state of the birder's face-I knew she had been strangled, but I wanted to see for myself. There was a line of bruises that ran from the front of her neck to the sides, where it angled up slightly. It was thinner in the front too, just like you'd expect from the nunchakus-the chain cutting into the front of her throat and the rods pressing against the sides.
"What should we do?" Thea asked.
I'd been asking myself the same question. A woman was dead. I knew she had friends, and chances were she had family too. Someone would notice at some point that she had gone missing. When they did, I couldn't have them coming here.
The question, however, was: should we destroy the body or leave it somewhere with hopes of directing the investigation away from us? I sure as hell wasn't calling the human police to my camp.
I flipped off the flashlight and stood. With Thea in my sight, I asked. "Can you clean her up? Make it look like she died somewhere else?" I didn't understand magic, couldn't work it myself, but I knew with wards almost anything was possible.