“I was,” she says quickly. “I heard them, too. A man and a woman. Then I heard the bear. That’s why I went back to town.”
Across the room, Kendra rolls her eyes.
“Yet you didn’t report hearing people in the woods,” I say.
“I thought it was you and Eric. I heard about the bear attack, and I was certain that’s who I heard.”
“So it’s all a wild coincidence. We were all out there at once. You just happened to get back to town right after the voices stopped talking. There just happen to be a man’s boot prints in your clearing.”
“Coincidences happen.”
“Okay.” I nod slowly. “Okay. Well, I wish I had time to pursue this further with you, Muriel, but I’m afraid I don’t.”
“There’s nothing to pursue. Like you said, you have important things to do.”
“True, true.” I heave a sigh and get to my feet. “Okay, well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue this conversation today. Maybe tomorrow morning.”
“No rush,” she says, very obviously trying hard to look sincere.
“Kendra?” I say. “Could you please take Muriel to the solitaryapartment? If you can stand guard awhile, I’d appreciate that. I know you have work to do as well, so I’ll find someone to take over as soon as possible.”
Kendra nods and walks to Muriel. “We’ll swing by your apartment first, so you can pack an overnight bag.”
“I… I don’t understand.”
I answer. “As I said, I won’t be able to follow up on this until morning. Until then, you’ll need to be held in the solitary apartment.”
“The what?”
“It’s an apartment with a guardroom. It’s about the size of your usual quarters, and very comfortable. No windows, and obviously, you can’t leave but…” I shrug.
“Am I charged with something? You can’t just confine me for no reason.”
“I have reason. You’ve broken curfew. That’s cause for confinement if you check the papers you signed.” I take out my tablet and start thumbing through to find the contract. “Now, usually, we wouldn’t enforce that for a first offense. But you not only broke curfew—you were in the forest, which is a second offense. Still, even with all that, I’d rather not waste Kendra’s time guarding you, and I wouldn’t, if you’d just tell me who you were meeting.”
“No one. I was meeting no one.”
I hold her gaze long enough to see the lie clearly in her flush as she struggles to make eye contact.
“You’re lying,” I say.
She flinches, as if expecting something softer.
“We’re dealing with a security issue,” I say, “and you’re breaking curfew to meet a man in the forest. Can you see where that would be a problem?”
She looks away.
“So this is how it’s going to be?” I step into her line of sight. “I’m dealing with a security concern, a curfew, an injured dog… and now I have to deal with you, too. You’re making us give up a militia member who should be on patrol but now needs to guard you.”
“You don’t need to do that. You’rechoosingto do that.”
I lock gazes with her until she ducks out of it. Then I turn to Kendra. “Take her. I’m going to call a militia meeting. We have a man in the forest who may or may not be a resident. If he’s seen, exercise extreme caution bringing him in.”
“What?” Muriel says.
I’m already at the door. “Tell everyone to be armed and to consider him a threat.”
“Wait!” Muriel says, but I shut the door before she can continue.
