Peter Tremayne - The Council of the Cursed

Fidelma nodded. ‘As you see, Abbot Ségdae. Eadulf was nearly caught by the falling statue and is mildly injured by fragments but certainly not killed.’

‘But one of the brethren has just assured me that he has seen a body…’

At that moment, Brother Chilperic re-entered slightly out of breath. Brother Gebicca frowned with annoyance.

‘Everyone seems to be making free of my apothecary. Is this to be the new meeting hall?’ he complained.

Brother Chilperic was trying to recover his breath. ‘I came to get you, Brother Gebicca,’ he gasped. ‘Brother Andica has been killed. Please come at once.’

‘Brother Andica-the stonemason?’ Brother Gebicca looked amazed. ‘How did that happen?’ he asked, as he turned to find his physician’s bag.

‘It seems that he fell from the very alcove where the statue fell,’ said Brother Chilperic. He was regarding Fidelma and Eadulf somewhat suspiciously. ‘Did either of you see a member of the brethren in the alcove before you left?’

Fidelma decided that in the circumstances mendacity was a better path to follow. ‘Apart from Brother Benevolentia who helped Eadulf here, there was no one. Perhaps this Brother…?’

‘Brother Andica. He was one of our stonemasons,’ replied the steward. ‘Brother Eadulf was asking about him only yesterday.’

‘That is true,’ admitted Eadulf. ‘I had just met him coming from the women’s community and wondered who he was.’

‘He must have gone up to the gallery to investigate why the statue fell, lost his footing and gone over the edge to his death,’ suggested Fidelma.

‘This is a great tragedy.’ Brother Chilperic was clearly upset.

‘Some of the brethren heard a cry and when they rushed into the corridor, he was lying in the debris with his neck broken by the fall.’

Brother Gebicca sniffed. It seemed a habit with him.

‘ I will say what is broken and what is not. I am the physician and no one has consulted me yet. I am finished with the Saxon Brother so I will go to have a look at Brother Andica. Rest as much as you can, Brother Eadulf. And you, Sister Fidelma, should also be resting with that leg of yours. Come, Brother Chilperic.’

Brother Chilperic gave a deep sigh. ‘I thought Brother Andica was too experienced to make a mistake like that,’ he said as he was leaving. ‘He has been working on the roof and towers of this abbey for many years.’

‘It is just sad when a young man falls to his death before he has had time to live,’ Fidelma reflected.

Brother Gebicca called impatiently and the steward turned again with an apology and left.

‘Another death in the abbey,’ Abbot Ségdae said, ‘but at least this one is clearly an accident.’

Eadulf, who had been sitting patiently, now stirred.

‘Forgive me, I feel quite fatigued,’ he said. ‘I must go to our room and rest a while.’

At once, Abbot Ségdae was apologetic and helped Eadulf negotiate the stairs of the hospitia to their chamber.

After they had been left alone, Fidelma turned with some eagerness to him and told him exactly what had happened. Eadulf was horrified.

‘He actually attempted to kill you?’ he gasped. ‘But why? What reason could there be? And why push the statue down on us in the first place?’

She looked at him sorrowfully. ‘Aren’t we investigating a murder?’ she asked. ‘If this Andica was involved, then that is reason enough. It means, also, that we are close to our quarry.’

‘But why would the local stonemason be mixed up in Dabhóc’s death?’

‘To be honest, I cannot see the connection between Dabhóc’s death and the disappearance of the women from the Domus Femini . All right, Sister Valretrade was on her way to meet Brother Sigeric, or Sigeric was on his way to meet her, when the body of Dabhóc was discovered. She disappeared after that. But it seems she was not the only one to do so.’

‘Often, in an investigation, one gets a feeling that something is not right. One has to follow that feeling until it is explained or dismissed,’ Eadulf said, and then contradicted himself. ‘Of course, intuition can also be wrong,’ he added.

‘Often the feeling is not intuition but the accumulation of facts in the dim recesses of the mind,’ Fidelma said. ‘They remain there in shadows until another fact or event causes them to fit into place. For instance, the disappearances, the behaviour of the abbess and her steward, the connection with Lady Beretrude and our friend Verbas of Peqini, Brother Andica’s attempt to kill us and the missing reliquary box…I see the strands, but they need something to connect them all together.’

‘Maybe there is no connection,’ pointed out Eadulf.

‘Then we must establish that and move on,’ Fidelma replied. ‘But how?’ She suddenly groaned. ‘ Ron baithaigeis hí! ’

‘And why do you consider yourself a great fool?’ Eadulf asked, surprised.

‘Lord Guntram.’

Eadulf was none the wiser and said so.

‘I had forgotten about him,’ Fidelma said. ‘Remember, he was in the next chamber to where the murder was committed? He is also the son of Lady Beretrude. We haven’t even bothered to question him.’

‘From what Brother Chilperic said, he was drunk. So drunk he could not even return to his fortress that night. We were told that he had not seen or heard anything because he was in no condition to do so.’

‘That’s assumption, Eadulf,’ Fidelma rebuked. ‘You know that it is my philosophy that one must never assume facts. And I nearly fell into that error. That is why I am a fool.’

‘We will have to find out where Guntram can be found.’

‘Easily done.’ She stood up quickly. ‘Rest here and recover a while. I will be back shortly.’

Before he had time to protest, she was gone.

Eadulf limped to the adjacent wash room, removed his dusty and torn clothing and washed the dirt of the statue from his body before putting on a clean robe and stretching out on the bed.

Fidelma, meanwhile, had made her way to the anticum . Brother Chilperic was there. His expression was moody.

‘It seems that Brother Gebicca agrees that the death was an accident,’ he greeted her. ‘Brother Andica must have gone to examine how the statue fell, lost his footing and plunged to his death. It is very sad. He was a patriotic Burgund and he was a very good stonemason. The Lady Beretrude will be upset when I send her word.’

Fidelma tried not to show her sudden interest; an interest that made her almost forget the point of her coming to find the steward.

‘Why would Lady Beretrude be upset?’ she enquired.

‘Because she has employed Brother Andica to do some work on her villa. I do not think the work is finished. He has spent much time there during the last two weeks.’

Fidelma absorbed the information and then murmured some appropriate condolence about the stonemason’s death before asking: ‘Do you know where I might find the Gaul, Brother Budnouen?’

Brother Chilperic peered round distractedly, as if searching for the man in question.

‘You have just missed him, I think. He was in the square with his wagon a moment ago. What do you…?’

But Fidelma was already gone through the great doors and into the main square.

In fact, Brother Budnouen was still outside the abbey doors, tightening the straps on the harness of his mules. He face wore his usual affable grin as he saw her racing towards him.

‘You look in a hurry, Sister Fidelma.’

Fidelma halted breathlessly. ‘Have you made your trip to Lord Guntram’s fortress yet?’ she gasped. ‘You said the other day that you were due to go there to do some trade.’

‘Lord Guntam, is it? I thought you would want me to take you back to Nebirnum. I wouldn’t blame you if you did, not after what I hear about the happenings in this dark place.’