‘But… but…’ Outrage reduced me to stammering incoherently for a few moments, until I got a grip of myself and began again. ‘If I’d wanted to steal Star’s body, then why would I have gone to the trouble of walking all the way to the lake and back? Why would I have come back this morning?’ I took a deep breath and looked imploringly at Handy one last time. He appeared as though he was about to be sick. ‘I’m not a thief or a sorcerer, and I’m certainly not a warrior. I liked Star, Handy, you know I did. I’ve no use for her hair or her arm. And what did I do with Flower Gatherer?’
The commoner seemed beyond speech. He seemed to sway as I spoke to him, the way he might if my words had been blows. He let out a groan and stretched out a hand towards Spotted Eagle, who seemed about to launch into another tirade. Quietly he said: ‘That’s enough, boy.’
The policeman was staring into the open grave. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ he confessed without turning around. ‘What happened to the woman is one thing. She’s already dead – I’m sorry, Handy – but there’s this monster or whatever it is in the marshes, and even if I don’t believe a word this stranger tells me, the fishermen are obviously afraid of something. And what about Flower Gatherer?’ He seemed to be thinking aloud. ‘Someone’s going to have to find out what happened.’ He looked at me. ‘I still don’t know about you. Handy tells me you’re a slave, and you’ve been in trouble before. So I wonder if I shouldn’t think about putting you in a cage until Star’s brother-in-law turns up. A cage…’
A cage: he let his tongue linger over the word, while my imagination conjured up the image of a tiny wooden box, barely big enough to crouch in, inside a damp, stinking, dark prison. Did he know how well I knew such places? The dread of being put in one, of never getting out or even being able to get a message to Lily, made me catch my breath.
‘I want them found,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m not arresting anyone just yet. But until the missing man turns up and someone tells me who the thief is, I may change my mind at any time.’ His eyes swept the faces surrounding him. ‘I don’t think there’s anyone here who doesn’t understand what I’m saying.’
The crowd had largely broken up, but those who remained understood him, and would pass the word to others, and if I knew my city’s parishes and their inhabitants, every man in Atlixco would comply – at least until their local official told them he had changed his mind.
I was to be left alone for the time being, but what the policeman had said was that I was still a suspect, and I had better take care, and not think about leaving Atlixco at any time soon.
Unless, of course, I could help him find the answers he wanted.
4
‘We have to take her home.’
‘I have to get another message to Lily.’ It was about midday. The crowd had dispersed, and now Handy and I were holding two separate conversations. He just wanted to attend to his wife’s body. I wanted to reassure my mistress. I wondered whether she had got any sleep during the previous night. And I wanted just as much to escape whatever was haunting the lake shore, but I knew that was not going to be easy, if the locals were watching my every move and reporting it to the police. I thought of what my mother had said, how I had to find the otomi. However, if he had somehow turned himself into the monster that had attacked me, there was less chance than ever of convincing him to see reason.
I knew I had been set up. I did not think the policeman really believed I had had anything to with killing Flower Gatherer or stealing anything from the grave. However, the idea had got into the crowd’s mind, and he had been happy enough to let it stay there, giving me a powerful incentive to help find the real thief. I wondered what had made the policeman think I would be of any use to him. Perhaps Handy had told him of previous occasions when I had found – or stumbled over – the solutions to mysteries.
The commoner spared me only the briefest of glances before turning to his son. ‘We need to go home. There are things to do. There’s still the baby…’ He swallowed once, before continuing: ‘There’s still the baby to be buried.’
‘You can’t have heard me,’ I replied. ‘I need to tell Lily where I am. She’ll be worried.’
Handy suddenly seemed to lose his temper. ‘Don’t you ever think about anyone or anything except yourself?’ he cried, taking a step towards me and stooping so that his face was close to mine and I could feel his breath on my cheek. ‘You want to run away, don’t you? You brought this thing with you, and now you want to go crawling back to your mistress and beg her to save your lousy skin. Never mind what might happen to the rest of us!’
‘That’s absurd! I didn’t know what was going to happen. How could I have done?’
‘Oh, I’m sure you didn’t know.’ His voice cracked and I could see that he was on the verge of tears. ‘You never do, do you? As long as I’ve known you, you’ve been surrounded by complete and utter mayhem, but of course it’s never been your fault. But see what’s happened here…’
‘This is where we started this morning,’ I started to protest. ‘It’s not as if I did it!’
‘Didn’t you?’ muttered Spotted Eagle sceptically.
His father continued: ‘What happens to
