“Liesel,” Gabi said as they drew near, “I’m so sorry, dear.”
Liesel went straight to the cart. “Can I see him?”
“Not much to see,” Ulrich said. He motioned to the cart, which held the ragged remains of a linen shirt, pants, and shoes. “When was the last time you saw Tomas? What was he doing?”
Liesel’s expression was unreadable. “Yesterday morning. He left before sunrise to come here.”
“He never arrived,” Ulrich said. “Gottfried, you’re usually out in the mornings. Did you see him?”
Gottfried, who had huddled into his coat like a turtle, his neat black hair bristling around his collar, said, “No. Normally I do see him come along the road on my way to the bakery, but Oswald and I were...”—he cleared his throat—“busy yesterday morning.”
Ulrich grunted.
“Why do you need to ask questions, Ulrich?” Jürgen shifted his huge body away from the barn. Hans glided along in his shadow, his blue eyes flicking to Heike. “You said yourself this is exactly what happened to Hilda and Katrina.”
Liesel made a small noise and put a hand over her mouth.
“Jürgen.” Gabi motioned toward Heike.
Jürgen scoffed. “She knows good and well what happened to her mother, and so do we. We all know who did this. That damned witch. We’ve left her alone in the forest all this time and now she’s come for us.”
They all looked at Heike then as if she might transform into the witch herself. Wenzel took her hand in his.
“You’re sure of how you found him?” Ulrich asked. “There was no body at all? Just the blood?”
“The blood and the smell. I didn’t think anything was left of the body at all after the wargs’ attack.”
“Nothing is. This was something else.”
Heike realized there was another meaning to Ulrich’s questions. Coldly she said, “I didn’t do this.”
“No, I didn’t mean that, of course, Heike.” Ulrich’s voice went soft. “Did you see anything else nearby? Anything moving in the trees? Did you hear any strange sounds?”
“Why were you that far down the road, anyway?” asked Hans, sounding more curious than accusatory.
“I didn’t hear or see anything,” Heike said. “I was there for the berries. There are ripe redberries in the forest, far out of season. I went to look for bushes close to the road so that I could gather some for dye.”
“Dye for what?” Hans asked.
“Does it matter?” Heike snapped. She squeezed Wenzel’s hand, holding back the urge to punch Hans, something she’d wanted to do often when they were children. Her anger had never been able to penetrate Hans’s blank expressions, his absolute lack of concern for anyone but himself. Wenzel rubbed her knuckles to bring some heat to her cold fingers.
“We’ll call the village to a meeting,” Ulrich said. “We need to decide what action to take, if any.”
“Where?” asked Gottfried. “Since Lord and Lady Greymist passed, the manor has been closed off.”
Wenzel stepped forward. “At the inn. There’s plenty of room.”
Ulrich nodded. “Let’s spread the word, then.” He glanced at Jürgen. “We are not sowing rumors or opinions. We’ll let the village decide how this should be handled.”
Gabi collected Liesel and turned her toward the cottage. Heike pulled Wenzel away from the others, back toward the village center, very aware of Hans’s gaze on her as they departed. On their way down the road, they called out to anyone they passed about the meeting, then continued south through the village until they reached the Klein farm. Someone ran down to the lake to tell the fisherman and his son. Clusters of villagers began moving toward the inn, and Heike and Wenzel hurried back to build up the fire in the great room and clear out a space where Ulrich could stand to speak.
Ulrich arrived with Gabi, Liesel, Jürgen, and Hans. Gottfried and Oswald arrived behind Johanna and Dagny, the baker wives. Falk the fisherman, his son, Fritz, and Elma and Norbert Klein came in with many of the workers from Elma’s farm. Wenzel pulled over a table for Ulrich to climb on so everyone could see him. When Heike was sure the entire village was there, a tall, dark figure appeared in the doorway, and the crowd in the back parted to allow him to enter.
Doctor Death, dressed all in black, took a place against the back wall. He would have blended with the shadows if not for his pale skin and golden hair. Heike didn’t know where he had been or who had told him about the meeting, but she wasn’t surprised to see him. He always seemed to know when something wasn’t right.
Ulrich shifted, making the table creak beneath him, and cleared his throat. Heike, hidden behind Ulrich, in the corner by the fireplace, was just glad no one was looking at her.
Ulrich cleared his throat again and quieted the room.
