‘Why are you so keen to protect her?’ Rattlesnake asked. ‘I’m not. I’m just pointing out the obvious.’
‘We know she didn’t kill him this morning. She did it a few days ago, and now she’s come back to the scene of the crime. Wanted to dispose of the murder weapon.’
‘What murder weapon?’ Lily asked suddenly. ‘You mean that wooden spike? There’s no way that could have made that cut in his neck. That was done with a blade, obsidian or tortoiseshell or something like that.’
‘How do you know?’ Rattlesnake challenged her.
‘Ever try slicing meat with a piece of wood?’
‘So you did manage to throw the weapon away!’ he cried triumphantly.
‘What?’ Lily cried hoarsely, probably as shocked by the man’s twisted logic as she was by his accusation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve never set eyes on it! All I said was that it couldn’t be that spike!’
‘What about those, then?’ I asked. My eye had been drawn to the marks that ran from the doorway across the courtyard, ending at the point where the wall had broken down. ‘They look like footprints to me.’
‘You were told to mind your own business,’ Rattlesnake said sourly. Nonetheless he turned away from Lily for a moment to inspect the marks. ‘Well, it looks as if you’re right,’ he admitted grudgingly. ‘But so what?’ He stepped over to the wall and peered over it. For a moment he seemed lost in thought. Then he turned, and I was dismayed to see an unmistakable smirk on his lips. ‘That settles it,’ he told Lily coldly, ‘You’re under arrest!’
‘But…’ Nobody tried to stop me from going up to the wall and looking over it myself.
On the other side, the ground sloped away steeply towards a narrow stream. It was thickly strewn with plants, mostly weeds, although scattered among them were a few cultivated varieties, dead or dying maize and amaranth plants, frostbitten or choked by the growth around them. I guessed that some seeds had tumbled down the hillside from the middens next to the houses, along, presumably, with a fair amount of manure. Plenty of other things had ended up on the slope as well, and looking at them I began to understand what Rattlesnake had been getting at. His explanation sounded like a commentary on what I was seeing.
‘There’s any amount of rubbish on the hillside back there. I bet it’s covered in cast-off obsidian flakes, along with all the other stuff. Some of them probably have dried blood on them from skinning rabbits or whatever. That’s what you were doing, wasn’t it? You walked over to the wall and threw the weapon over it, knowing that even if we found it we’d never be able to prove it was the one you used!’
‘I haven’t been near that back wall,’ Lily snapped.
‘Oh, no? How are you going to prove that?’
I turned quickly. ‘Now wait a moment…’ I began, but to my amazement it was Lily who interrupted me.
‘Forget it,’ she said. ‘Look, I don’t know who you are, but you’re not helping!’
I stared at her in unfeigned shock. Then, for a moment, our eyes met, and I understood what she was about.
She had, after all, had the same thought as I had: it was better for both of us if I remained free. To do that, we had to convince Rattlesnake and Hunter that we had nothing to do with each other.
I held out my hands in a gesture of submission. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘If you say so, I’ll shut up.’
‘Come along,’ Rattlesnake said crisply. To Hunter, he said: ‘You’d better stay here with the body. And keep an eye on him.’ It seemed that Rattlesnake was not about to take my story at face value, after all.
As she was led away, Lily demanded to know where they were going.
‘The palace, of course.’
‘And what’s the charge?’
‘Murder. What else?’
She laughed harshly. ‘Don’t be absurd! You know you won’t be able to make that stick! Why don’t you tell me what this is really about?’
It was Rattlesnake’s turn to laugh, but as with Lily, there was I no mirth in it. ‘Tiger Lily, you’ll find out soon enough!’
Hunter and I were left alone with the body.
For a long time neither of us said anything. This was less out of hostility than a feeling of awkwardness. Rattlesnake had not arrested me or accused me of anything, and so his colleague had no idea what to do with me. On the other hand, there was no point in trying to run away: he stood between me and the doorway, and if I started to clamber over I the wall he would be behind me, pulling me back down, in an instant.
I found myself staring at the ground instead of meeting Hunter’s eyes, and I suspected he was doing the same.
The whole situation put me in mind of a custom at Aztec weddings. After the ceremony, which might well be their first I meeting, the bride and groom would be led to their room and expected to stay there for four days, during which time they were required not to touch each other. I very much doubted that any couple really obeyed this rule, but, if they did, I could imagine them experiencing the same sort of baffled indecision as Hunter and I had at that moment, having no idea what to say or do next. The thought made me chuckle.
‘What are you laughing at?’
‘Oh, just a thought I had. Sorry.’ Feeling able to speak at last, I looked up at the other man. ‘Look, I know you’re going to say it’s none of my business, but you do realize this is all nonsense, don’t you?’
His only answer was to stare silently towards the interior of the house.
‘I mean, look at these footprints, for example. Not ours, the ones that were here before.’
‘Rattlesnake said…’
‘Ratdesnake knew perfectly well what I’m talking about! Look for yourself, man — there’s only one
