He stuck his head in through the entrance of the tent. It was dimmer in there, much dimmer than outside, but could hear the sound of Theo breathing, unmistakably sound asleep. As his eyes adjusted to the light he spotted her, curled up on the bed mattress, the bedclothes rising and falling with her chest.

He stepped back out next to Colby. ‘Tell me, Colby,’ he said. ‘What’s going to happen to Marcus now?’

Colby looked at him. ‘Well, he’ll be tried, and then, if he’s found guilty, he’ll be punished.’

‘Punished? How?’

Colby shifted his head back slightly, looking at him. ‘You sound worried. About Marcus.’ He said it with a slight sense of wonder, as if encountering something he had never expected to.

Albert frowned at him. ‘Well, he did bring us here, you know, and I don’t want him after me or June or Father, or you for that matter, and I’m just not sure about the whole thing anyway.’

‘What do you mean, not sure?’

Albert looked uncertainly at Colby for a moment, with his walnut brown hair falling over his forehead, framing his earnest face, his strong jaw set determinedly, Something told him to go with his instinct, to trust the young captain. ‘Colby, don’t you think everyone was awfully quick to assume he was guilty? I mean, if he did drop the knife, as he says, then it could have been anyone, right?’

‘You don’t think he was guilty?’ asked Colby. There was something odd in his voice. Albert looked at him sharply.

‘What is it, Colby?’

‘I don’t think he did it,’ said Colby surprisingly.

Albert’s face must have betrayed his shock, because he went on.

‘The way I see it, it’s like this. I know Marcus from seeing him around, although I’ve never spoken to him before today, but from everything I’ve heard, and seen, I don’t think he’s dumb. Burying your knife outside after you get away, that’s just dumb. Why wouldn’t he just walk away with it? Or toss it somewhere in the tunnels? And then, he came back, which he didn’t have to, because nobody in their right mind would ever go into the tunnels after him. And if a man’s going to come back, he hides the bodies. He doesn’t pile them under cushions and leave them lying on floors and walk around, and then stash his knife outside for everyone to know it was him. Especially if everyone knows he threatened the man who was killed. It’s a little too pat for me, too easy.’

‘Then why didn’t you say anything?’ said Albert.

‘Because all I have to go on is gut feel, and gut feel doesn’t impress the commander, unless it’s his own.’

‘But if you think he’s innocent, then—’