There was more she might say, but Marcie and Tragos clung to one another with a fierce, the girl's cheeks still shining with tears, and Athena decided to let them have the moment.
Another opportunity soon presented itself. Before Hecate had returned from the hospital cafeteria, a doctor arrived, looked from Marcie's healthy flush to the chart and back again, squinted at the readings on the monitors and then promptly called in a nurse to confirm what she was seeing. In short order, the visitors were bustled out of the room as a crush of doctors surrounded Marcie's bed, talking over one another in their rising confusion.
Within minutes, the door had closed firmly shut, leaving Athena and Tragos alone in the corridor. She turned to the boy, studying him frankly. Conversationally, she asked, "Does Ares know that you disposed of the body?"
It was an educated guess. Marcie had been unwilling to tell her who had dealt with Apollo's corpse, fearing that the information would endanger them. But she had revealed the names of those who knew about the killing, and it had been a short list. Aphrodite, Ares and Hecate, Athena had eliminated at once; all three matched or exceeded Apollo in power, and none of them needed Marcie's protection. That left Much the Miller's Son, and the boyfriend. Tragos.
Tragos, who, it turned out, was one of Ares' foot-soldiers. The men who ran with Ares were ruthless, hardened fighters, and no strangers to the underside of the law. Alone and covered in the blood of a god who had attacked her to strike at Ares – it was reasonable to imagine that Marcie would call Tragos first.
It was also a tactic. Athena was beginning to see the web of connections fanning out from Tragos – Ares' patronage, Melpomene's favour, Marcie's love, Hecate's suspicion – but of the boy himself, she knew nothing. She wanted to see how he'd react, when prodded a little.