Redfork Menace

Evidence

Does it really matter at this point?" Shanda threw her hands up in defeat. "What's done is done and you all agreed to it in some fashion. So suck it up, we've got bigger issues."

She was standing in front of all of the newly married couples, sans ser Joth Piper obviously. She hadn't slept a wink, they'd all been up talking and debating what to do with the mess set before them. Shanda bad insisted they gathered the rest of the couples there a few hours ago. She might be annoyed by Bellena on most occasions but she did not wish harm upon her. She sat just as prim and proper as ever, seemingly unaffected by it all but Shanda worried about her.

"Martyn, tell us again exactly what you hear him say."

Martyn sighed before standing to relay the same words he'd been repeating all night. "After you and Alysanne left, I decided I would take a look around. No one saw fit to let me in on what was actually happening."

Shanda knew he was still pissed at her but she had tried to find him. She was frustrated that Alysanne hadn't just clued him in. She thought it had been obvious that Martyn was not a part of keeping the men in the dark.

"So, I started listening in on people's conversations. Everyone was already half drunk and too eager to boast about whatever exploit their house was up to. Most of it was boring regular stuff. Some of it was just straight up lies but Ser Joth. He was different."

Shanda turned away from her brother. She was so angry she almost could not bear it. Royce had lost it, he'd been removed from the room seconds after he found out and she knew he would not be fit to stand at the trial.

"He was bragging about an incident which was nothing out of the ordinary. It was when he mentioned Shanda that my ears perked up. As far as I knew, the two of them had never met before this trial. So how could he have one upped my sister? And why was he so smug about it?"

She met Martyns gaze then and felt her heart squeeze at the sight of him. The two were so very much alike and because of that, they'd finally exposed a killer.

"I waited, hiding behind them in the shadows. I was hoping he would just blurt it out, say how he had won. But it was worse." He could not keep the tremble out of his voice. "He pulled out a familiar dagger, Garron's. Wrapped around it, mothers topaz necklace. And then he said, 'The stupid bitch wanted to cut through us from the Gold road to the River road, well we cut through them easy enough.'"

To her it was indisputable evidence. Martyn would know their mothers necklace anywhere and there was no mistaking Garron's dagger. The handle was inlaid with iridescent pearls only found in Blazewater Bay where the man had spent his youth living and fighting in Saltspear. But Joth could've disposed of both by now and they would only have Martyn word against two Pipers.

"I believe you, Martyn. But if they've disposed of the dagger-" She left the sentence to hang there, unsure of how to continue.

Lady Smallwood spoke up in the ensuing silence. "It's probably nothing but I thought I should mention it anyway. About a moon or so ago, the Pipers asked to cross our lands. We didn't think anything of it, they said they wanted to access the Bluefork for some fishing variety. We have allowed this crossing before on occasion and saw no reason for worry at that time either. So we allowed them over. I hadn't thought of it since but now that I think about it, I'm worried."

"Worried how?" Martyn asked, looking at the tense set of her shoulders.

"Well, it's a rather serious accusation. But during the trial, there was mention of a fire at Stonehedge."

She let the statement hang in the air but they all knew what she was insinuating.

"Fucking hell." Benjicot said, pacing angrily.