“Stam Tailor was rot drunk that night, Raddock,” Selia said, looking to Rusco, who nodded in agreement.
“He sloshed up on my floor, and I threw him out and closed early after that,” Rusco said.
“Blame the one who put the drink in his hand, I say,” Jeorje said. Rusco’s brow furrowed, but he was wise enough to bite his tongue.
“Either he saw the girl or he didn’t, Selia,” Coran Marsh said. Others nodded.
“He saw her in the vicinity, yes,” Selia said, “but not where she went or what she did.”
“You’re suggesting she’s not involved?” Jeorje asked, incredulous.
“Course she’s involved,” Selia snapped. “Any fool can see that. But ent none of us can swear by the sun at how. Maybe the men took to fighting and killed each other. Maybe she killed in her own defense. Coline and Trena both attest she was beat bad.”
“How don’t matter none, Selia,” Raddock said. “Two men can’t kill each other with the same knife. Does knowing which man she killed, if not both, make a difference?”
Jeorje nodded. “And let us not forget it was most likely by feminine wile that the men were taken to wrath. The girl’s promiscuity led them to this path, and she should be held to account.”
“Two men fight over who owns a girl, and we blame the girl?” Meada broke in. “Nonsense!”
“It ent nonsense, Meada Boggin, you’re just too shaded to see it, seeing how the accused’s your kin,” Raddock said.
“There’s the night calling it dark,” Meada said. “I can say the same of you.”
Selia banged her gavel. “If everyone related to a problem in the Brook had to be disqualified in moot, Raddock Fisher, there would be none to argue at all. Everyone has a right to speak. That’s our law.”
“Law,” Raddock mused. “Been reading the law,” he produced a book bound in worn leather, “ ’specially the law for killers.” He turned to a marked page, and began to read:
“And should the foul deed of murder be committed in the confines of Tibbet’s Brook or its purview, you shall erect a stake in Town Square, and shackle those responsible for all to see for a day of repentance, and a night, without ward or succor, that all may witness the Creator’s wrath upon those who violate this covenant.”
“You can’t be serious!” Selia cried.
“That’s barbaric!” Meada agreed.
“That’s the law,” Raddock sneered.
“See here, Raddock,” Tender Harral said. “That law must be three hundred years old.”
“The Canon is older still, Tender,” Jeorje said. “Will you discount that next? Justice is not meant to be kind.”
“We ent here to rewrite the law,” Raddock said. “The law is the law, ent that what you said, Selia?”
Selia’s nostrils flared, but she nodded.
“All we ’re here to debate is whether she’s responsible,” Raddock said, placing Harl’s bloody knife on the table, “and I say it’s clear as day she is.”
“She could’ve picked that up after, Raddock, and you know it,” Tender Harral said. “Cobie wanted Renna’s hand, and Harl threatened twice to cut the stones from him if he tried.”
Raddock barked a laugh. “You might convince some folk that two men could kill each other with the same knife, but they wasn’t just killed. They was mutilated. My great-nephew didn’t hack Harl near to pieces with his manhood gone and a knife in his heart.”
“Man has a point,” Hog said.
Raddock grunted. “So let’s vote and have done.”
“Second,” Hog said. “Town Square has never seen such crowds, and I need to get back to the store.”
“A girl’s life is at stake, and all you care is how many credits you can make off the folk come to gape?” Selia asked.
“Don’t preach to me, Selia,” Hog said. “I was the one had to mop up the blood out of my back room.”
“All in favor of moving to vote?” Jeorje said.
“I am Speaker, Jeorje Watch!” Selia snapped, pointing the gavel at him. But already there was a show of hands in favor of a vote, checking her. Jeorje accepted the rebuke with a mild nod.
“Fine,” Selia said. “I say the girl is innocent until we can prove otherwise, and there is no proof of anything.” She looked to her right for Tender Harral to continue the vote.
“You’re wrong, Selia,” Harral said. “There is proof of one thing: young love. I spoke to Cobie and looked in Renna’s eyes. They were both grown and wanted to decide the match for themselves, as is their right. Harl had no call to refuse, and I’ll stand in the sun’s light and state my belief that any bloodshed started with him, and ended with him, too. Innocent.”
Brine Cutter was next, the giant man’s voice uncharacteristically soft. “Seems to me that anything the girl done, she done in self-defense. I know what it’s like to see things so horrible that it makes your mind run for succor. I was much the same, after the corelings took my family. Selia saw me through that, and the girl deserves the same. Innocent.”
“Ent no innocent,” Coran Marsh said. “Whole town knows Renna Tanner’s a sinner, offerin’ herself to Cobie Fisher in fornication. Apt to make any man mad with lust! If she’s gonna behave like a coreling, we should put ’er out among them with easy hearts. Swamp demons have cored better’n her, and the sun still comes in the morning. Guilty.”
Jeorje Watch was next. “Harl’s daughters were ever a trial to him. It’s but by the grace of the Creator that this scene didn’t occur nigh fifteen years ago with her sister. Guilty.”
Raddock Lawry nodded. “We all know she’s guilty.” He turned to Rusco.
“Tying a girl out for the corelings, no matter what she’s done, is savage,” Hog said. “But if that’s how you do things here…” He shrugged. “Can’t just let people go around killing folk. I say put her out and have done. Guilty.”
“See if I let you speak for the Square next year,” Selia muttered.
“Sorry, ma’am, but I am speaking for the Square,” Hog said. “Folk need to feel safe when they come to shop in town. Ent no one going to feel safe with a killer about.”
“Harl was a sour old crow who never cared a whit for anyone but himself,” Meada Boggin said. “I tried to broker a match for Renna myself once, but Harl wouldn’t hear of it. Ent no doubt in my mind he killed young Cobie, and Renna did what she needed to keep him from killing her, too. Innocent.”
“Then why was Cobie stabbed in the stones?” Coline asked. “I think he raped her, and she came to town to get him back. Stabbed him between the legs, and then they fought until she could finish the job. Harl must’ve gone after her, and she caught him from behind. The girl’s got blood on her hands, Selia. She could have gone to one of us, or called for help, but she chose to solve her problems with a knife. I say she ’s guilty.”
All eyes turned to Mack Pasture. With four votes of innocent and five of guilty, it was in his power to deadlock the council, or pronounce her guilty. He sat quietly for a long time, his brow furrowed as he rested his face on his steepled fingers.
“All keep saying ‘innocent’ or ‘guilty,’ ” Mack said finally, “but the law don’t say that. We all just heard it. It said ‘responsible.’ Now, I knew Harl Tanner. Knew him long years, and never liked the coreling’s son one bit.” He spit on the floor. “But that don’t mean he deserved a knife in his back. Way I see it, that girl didn’t mind her da, and now two men are dead. Whether she swung a knife or not, she’s sure as the sun rises ‘responsible ’ for what happened.”
Shock stayed Selia’s hand, and the gavel lay on the table untouched, though the vote was done. Jeorje thumped his walking stick on the floor. “Guilty, six to four.”
“Then I’ll see her cored tonight,” Raddock growled.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Selia said, finding her voice at last. “The law says she’s to have a full day to make her peace, and today’s nearly over.”
Jeorje thumped his stick. “Selia is correct. Renna Tanner must be staked in Town Square tomorrow dawn, for all to see and bear witness until the Creator’s justice is done.”
“You expect people to watch?!” Hog was aghast.
“Folk can’t learn their lessons if they skip school,” Jeorje said.
“I’m not going to just stand there and watch the corelings tear someone apart!” Coline shouted. Others, even Coran Marsh, voiced protest as well.
“Oh, yes you are,” Selia snapped. She looked around the room, her eyes hard stones. “If we ’re going to…to
