It's evening before Athena pulls Juniper and me aside. There haven't been any cannons today, and the Gamemakers might be getting ready to push some buttons, so I'd really rather keep a lookout. But Athena's here, so Simon's keeping a sharp eye on us. If anything comes, he's sure to save her, and hopefully that won't require using me as bait.

"It's probably better if he hears it straight from you." Athena nods at Juniper.

"All right." The 11 girl looks to me, frowning. "It's about what happened at the bloodbath."

"Okay." It has to be about Constance. But what Robin told me is supposed to be a secret, so I'll see if I can figure it out from Juniper's perspective. I'm sure I'll have more to work with, at least.

"The female tribute from District 6, Constance, was stabbed to death almost immediately. So I'm sure that it must have been someone that started out close to her, but..." She clasps her hands together in front of her chest. "The only ones very close were my allies and I, and her own district partner."

I fold my arms. "I take it you're sure it wasn't either of your allies?"

"O-of course!" She places an open palm on her collarbone as I feel some tension in my wrist. "But it couldn't have been Aristotle, either. I... I actually asked Constance to be one of my allies, but she rejected the offer because she was already allied with him." She frowns, dropping her hands. "Apparently they had already known each other, so I can understand why."

"I see..." But if it wasn't him—and I did sense a reaction when she said she was sure her friends hadn't done it. "So, what exactly is your account of what happened? It could help me figure out who the culprit was."

She nods. "Well, I was in the middle of a coughing fit when the gong sounded, so I missed a few things. I could still tell that Robin was to my left, and Constance, Hugh, and Aristotle were right of me. All of us started for the supplies. There was an awl some distance ahead of me, but I tried to pick up some closer supplies—a few clear canteens of water—instead. Robin was headed for a bag ahead of me, past the awl, and Hugh was going straight toward the Cornucopia. I don't remember seeing where Aristotle was going, and I only saw Constance going forward, not what supplies she was trying to get. I... I was slipping around on the mud, so I'm afraid I paid more attention to myself at that point, a-and..." She grips her wrist. "The next time I looked, Constance was dead."

I squeeze my eyes shut in thought. "Where were the others at that time?"

After a pause, she says, "Robin had gotten the bag and was hurrying toward me. Hugh was near the Cornucopia, and I don't think he had picked anything up yet. Aristotle was struggling to pick up a crate of supplies not far behind Hugh. I don't think he had realized that his ally was gone yet."

"Huh." I try to picture it in my mind's eye—Juniper in the foreground, a dead Constance some feet in front of her, Robin maybe a bit farther ahead and to the left, Aristotle opposite her, and Hugh a bit behind him. If we're going to go with proximity alone, I guess Hugh wouldn't be a suspect, although it is odd that he hadn't quite gotten to the Cornucopia or even picked anything else up. Was he slowed down by something else entirely...?

"She's already gone over this with me." Athena crosses her ankles. "But I thought it would help if both of us were on the case, you know? I'm sure we can crack it together."

"All right. Then, what's your theory so far?" I respond.

Athena folds her arms loosely, frowning and staring at the grey clouds. "Well, if no one else was even in the area, it does sound like it has to be one of them. Of course, I would suspect Aristotle first, but with him being her ally, I can't imagine him going after her so early in. Especially if they knew each other beforehand. He kept saying in his interview that he would win by any means necessary, but I don't see how it would be beneficial to him to murder someone who could help him gather supplies and fight off enemies. And, if he was busy trying to lift that crate, he couldn't have stabbed her in the middle of that."

"I guess you're right. But do we know he was struggling to lift those supplies before the murder?"

Juniper glances from side to side. "I'm not certain, no. But Thena's right—he had no reason to kill her."

"None of you three had a great reason to kill her, either. You weren't allies with Constance, but that still doesn't mean you would go out of your way to stab her when she was just trying to get supplies." I sift through my memories of other bloodbaths. "Are you sure she was stabbed?"

Juniper's hands fly to her mouth. "Of course! The awl was buried in her abdomen, and blood had spattered all around."

I rest my arm on a rock to my left. "But are you sure she didn't just trip and fall onto it?"

She looks down. "It was in her side, though, almost towards the front. It would have been very difficult to fall like that... Not to mention she was facing upwards when I saw her body."

I cross my arms, frowning. "So, basically, no explanation makes much sense."

Athena sighs. "Seems that way. There's got to be a way to figure it out, though. Come on, Apollo! Did I drag you into this for nothing?"

I draw back. "U-uh..."

She's right. I must be able to contribute something. Considering Robin's testimony... Well, that was more or less just confirmation that the girl from 1 didn't do it. She wasn't on the scene here, anyway. There has to be something else.

"Have you told me everything, Juniper?" I look between her and Athena. "There has to be some reason you brought this up in the first place, right? Is this what you two were talking about this morning?"

Athena nods.

"Then you're the one that brought it up?" I frown. "Were you there—well, you don't remember. I'm sure Juniper would have seen you... Was there something you heard?"

The redhead puts her hands on her hips, looking no happier. "Yeah, that's why I approached Juniper about it. I didn't know it concerned Constance's death at the time, but..." She looks down. "There was some discord in her voice talking about certain things, and I wanted to know the source."

"Certain things being?" I say.

Juniper looks far enough down her eyes seem closed as she partly covers her mouth. "My friendship with my allies. Just because it's so hard to be sure that neither of them was responsible for what happened..." She leans forward a little, making eye contact again. "But I know it couldn't have been Hugh or Robin!"

My bracelet tightens. "You... know, huh? For a fact?"

"Y-yes! Neither of them would do such a thing to someone we wanted as an ally! Th-they wouldn't even—" she clamps her hand around her wrist—"do that to another human being otherwise! I-if it was an accident, they would have told me... We trust each other—we have to! We're allies and best friends, and... I don't doubt either Robin or H·U·G·H—"

Gotcha! Her shoulders hunch a little when she says Hugh's name. Is she trying not to cough?

"Juniper." I fold my arms. "You trust us, too, right?"

She looks up at me. "Yes..."

"Then you shouldn't hold anything important back from us, either, right? I think you left out something. Something about Hugh."

She responds with a pained gasp. "I... I..."

Making a choking sound, she dissolves into tears. "I..." She presses one arm against her stomach and tries to push in the tears from the side with her other hand. "I su-suspected Hugh from the start..."

"Why is that?" Athena's voice is quiet but steady as she puts a hand on Juniper's quaking shoulder.

"R-right after I saw Constance's body... his hands... were dripping with blood...!"

"Blood?!" I grimace. "Are you sure?"

She nods, shoulders continuing to jerk as she cries. "I had h-hoped it was just and accident, o-or maybe that he had been attacked by Aristotle... But Hugh w-won't tell us what happened. Why would he want to keep it a secret if he... if he hadn't..." She gasps for breath. "But he couldn't have...! Wh-why won't he tell me? Why won't he tell either of us? We're s-supposed to be best friends... We're supposed to t-trust each other...! But how can I say that wh-when I'm suspicious of him and haven't told him? Oh... What am I supposed to do?"

Athena pulls her into a hug, and the two of them sniffle for a while before I get up. "Athena? Come on. I might need your help."

The 3 looks to me, eyebrows lowered. "What are you doing?"

"I'll talk to Hugh myself." I rub my wrist beneath the bracelet. "Between the two of us, I'm sure we can figure out the truth."

Juniper sucks in a breath. "I-I... I don't know if I'm ready to hear it..."

"It's okay, Junie." Athena puts her hands on her friend's shoulders. "I know you can handle whatever we find out. You're stronger than you think, all right?"

"A..." She sniffs. "A-all right."

Athena smiles at her. "So, come on. You can hang out with the others for a while, while we take care of this."

Juniper still needs a little help getting to her feet, so Athena and I both take a hand and lead her back.