Summary

At the beginning of Chapter 20, while Twilly is looking for signs of the panther, he stumbles upon Red Diamond's illegal activities. He tries to decide what he is going to do about it. The narrative then returns to Nick and Marta who talk to Mrs. Starch. Marta calls Mrs. Starch brave, and the kids find out that Mrs.Starch knows that Marta calls her a witch because she has a hearing aid and sometimes eavesdrops on their whispers. Mrs. Starch tells Nick and Marta what happened on the day of the field trip and how Twilly had saved her and brought her there to act as the baby panther's surrogate mother. Nick realizes that this was the family issue Mrs. Starch had referenced. She also explains all of the rumors that surrounded her identity and that she has found out that she and...