“So that’s enough. Don’t need more,” he said.
The tough guy said, “But—”
The leader waved him off. “Ella made her choice. You.” He pointed a callused finger at Enid. She met his gaze squarely. “You can go. We don’t want you here.”
She imagined he didn’t. Part of her thought she’d be better off walking away. Safer, certainly. But then she’d have made this difficult trip for nothing.
“El Juez, yes?” The judge. Name and title. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.” This was all part of the investigation.
He studied her, and she bore it quietly. “About what? Ella?”
“What her life was like here. It’s not enough to know what happened to her. I want to know why.”
Oddly, counterintuitively, the longer he studied her, the calmer she grew. He didn’t seem to have a bad temper. He didn’t seem likely to kill her out of hand. She could deal with him, she thought. And if she could get him on her side, the community would follow.
He waved a hand at the surroundings, the structures, campfires, the work going on.
“You ever seen a place like this?” he asked.
“Yeah, I have.”
“Then you know what you need. Best foot it back to your people.”
“Ella was going to leave here, wasn’t she? She was going to settle on the Coast Road. Live with Last House and get an implant. You all couldn’t stand that, could you? Losing one of your own, a strong young person at that. You need all the help you can get, in a place like this.”
“She was free to go if she wanted,” the man said.
“You sure about that? Did everyone feel that way?” And El Juez looked at Hawk, who flinched as if the look was a blow. Enid could see there were suspicions. She prodded them to say more. “Did you send Hawk to kill her, or did he do that on his own?”
“I didn’t!” the boy shouted, and lunged at her. It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to react. But El Juez stepped between them, and both he and the burly guy from his troop grabbed the young man and held on as he thrashed, hollering. “It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it, I didn’t do anything, she’s lying!”
El Juez looked back at Enid, and she stayed calm. Hoped her lack of reaction looked like some kind of supreme confidence and self-control. Their leader’s gaze was appraising.
“He says one of you did it,” El Juez said. Prodding her, just like she prodded him.
“A lot of folk running around with good sharp blades. Any of them could have cut her,” Enid said. “I’m looking for evidence. Ella was down in the Estuary for a reason, and I think that reason got her killed.”
“Why do you even care?” El Juez said, his voice tired and sad. There it was, her hook.
“Because it’s right to care.”
The man’s stare was dark, penetrating. He intimidated by staring, and she made the effort not to wilt before his gaze. This felt like some kind of test.
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
“Can you tell me how many days ago Ella left? When was the last time you saw her?”
El Juez turned his back on Enid. The rest of his folk did likewise. Even Hawk, moving off from the shelter with a determined gait.
Ignoring her. Driving her away by sheer indifference.
She looked around, searching for another way in.
Chapter Seventeen • the CAMP
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A Way In