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.
The priestess stared down at the body. 'The evidence will still be there, but I can make it so no human will notice it. Deflect their attention away from anything that would lead back to us.'
I nodded; it was what I wanted to hear.
'It won't change what other people know, though. If anyone knew she was coming here, and they saw you yesterday, they can still report to the police.'
Bern stepped forward. 'Not if they already have the killer.'
Thea nodded. 'That would be for the best, and simple enough to set up.'
Shocked that Thea would agree with what Bern was suggesting, I twisted my head to look from one to the other. 'No. Bern didn't kill her; I won't pretend she did.'
'Not'-Thea glanced at Areto-'even to save the tribe?'
My grip on the flashlight grew slippery. My grip on reality too, but I shook my head. 'We've survived worse.' I snorted. 'It isn't like humans haven't noticed us before, been suspicious of us before. It isn't even like I haven't been arrested before.'
'All the more reason Bern should stand in for you. We can move the body, make it look like Bern robbed her.' She glanced around our tiny circle. 'Did she have a car? Do we know where it is parked? Bern could take it, get caught with the body in the trunk. They'll think it was robbery, clean and simple. Then you and the tribe are off the hook.' She held out one hand to Bern. 'Give me your totem. Besides your tattoos, it's the only thing tying you to us. And the humans won't understand their power, or. . ' She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. 'Sare might have time to change your
I grabbed her phone. She blinked at me, but didn't object.
'Lots of humans have tattoos on their breasts too. No one is messing with Bern's tattoos.' The very thought of stripping an Amazon of her tattoos, taking away her personal power or her tie to her clan. . it sent a chill through me like a frost-covered spear. 'And Bern isn't throwing herself on the sword-not for this. It isn't her place; it isn't her responsibility.'
Something flickered in Thea's eyes. She lifted her head. 'Then whose is it?'
Mine. Of course it was mine.
But because of my past arrest and what Mel had told the detective who had arrested me, turning myself over wasn't so simple. The police in Wisconsin already knew a closed group of women, all women, lived somewhere in northern Illinois, and also knew my friend Mel had left us. They hadn't wanted to let me go the last time, but with the true criminal, the murderous son, handed to them all but gift wrapped, they'd had no choice.
If I got arrested again, they wouldn't miss the opportunity to look a lot more deeply into exactly what kind of group I ran.
I looked at Areto. 'Wake the others and find the woman's car. Take Lao with you in case you can't find the keys.'
My attention back on Thea, I continued, 'Do whatever you can to cover up where she's been. Make it look like a robbery or, better yet, an accident.'
I smiled. 'An accident.'
'So where should we do this?' Areto asked.
I paused, then smiled. 'I have an address for you. A cabin just burned down. There's some old machinery lying around. See if Lao can figure out a way to make it look like the cord got caught on something, and leave the body there.'
With that, Areto ran off to wake Lao and the warriors, leaving me with Thea and Bern. The warrior made a move to leave too, but I stopped her.
'I'm heading to Madison in twenty minutes and you're coming with me. Tell Areto and do whatever else you need to do. I don't know how long we'll be gone.'
A slight shift of Bern's eyebrows told me she heard me before she too jogged into the house.
'You're leaving?' Thea asked.
I ignored the incredulity of her tone. 'The high council hasn't called with information?'
'No.'
'Then we still have a baby to find.' I dropped her phone on the grass, my heel grazing it as I went to make sure the warriors understood what they were to do.
