Peter Tremayne - Act of Mercy

‘I loved Muirgel,’ the youth sobbed quietly.

‘And you knew that she was still alive?’

‘Yes, I knew,’ he confirmed between sobs.

‘Why did she go to such an elaborate charade, pretending that she had been swept overboard?’

‘She feared that she was going to be killed,’ he wept.

Fidelma examined him curiously.

‘Are you saying that she hid herself somewhere on board this ship because she felt in danger of her life?’

The young man nodded, trying to control his grief-stricken sobs.

‘Why did she come aboard ship in the first place if she believed that? Isn’t a ship the last place to find refuge in?’

‘She did not realise that she would be the next victim until after she came aboard. Then it was too late, for we had set sail. So she arranged to hide and I helped her.’

‘The next victim?’ Fidelma asked abruptly, picking up on the word.

‘Sister Canair had been killed before we came aboard.’

‘Canair?’ Fidelma’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you telling me that when Sister Muirgel and yourself came aboard this ship, you both knew that Sister Canair was dead?’

‘It is a long story, Sister,’ Brother Guss gulped, having managed to get his emotions under control.

‘Then let us begin it. What was the purpose of Sister Muirgel hiding in the ship and not remaining in her cabin?’

‘The idea was to hide from the murderer, and then I would smuggle her off at our first landing-place. That was to be the island of Ushant. We hoped to land there under the cover of darkness and remain in hiding there until after the ship sailed again, taking the murderer with it.’

‘A curious plan. Why not simply take your story to the captain? If you knew that a murderer was on board and attempting to kill …’

‘It was Muirgel’s idea. She felt that no one would believe her. They will have to now.’ The young Brother shuddered in deep distress.

‘So the murderer was on board. Did you know their identity?’

Guss shook his head sadly.

‘I did not know, not for sure. Muirgel knew but refused to tell me. She wanted to protect me. However, I can guess who it was.’

The youth was still suffering from deep emotional shock for he spoke as if he were a somnambulist, slowly and deliberately, his eyes unfocused.

In other circumstances Fidelma would have tended to him, given him a strong drink, but she needed information and she needed it quickly. Reaching into her habit, she pulled out the small silver crosswhich Sister Muirgel had been clutching in her hand and held it up before his eyes.

‘Do you recognise this?’ she demanded.

Guss gave an hysterical laugh.

‘It belonged to Sister Canair.’

‘How do you know that Canair is dead? Or is that something else that only Muirgel knew for certain?’

‘I saw her body. We saw it together.’

‘Are you sure that it was Canair?’

‘I am not likely to forget the sight of that corpse.’

‘When was this?’

‘It was the night before we came on board ship.’

‘At the Abbey of Ardmore?’

‘Not at the abbey. Muirgel and I did not stay there all that night.’

Fidelma was almost beyond being surprised by the contrary turns to the story.

‘I thought that your entire party stayed at the Abbey.’

‘Our company arrived at the Abbey during the late afternoon. Prior to our arrival, Sister Canair had told us that she was going to visit someone nearby and left us before we reached the Abbey. She said that she would join us later. If she arrived too late, she said that she would simply meet us on the quay at dawn. The Abbot had already booked our passage on The Barnacle Goose so there was nothing to be done but meet and go on board.’

‘I see. But Sister Canair did not turn up on the quay the next morning, did she?’

‘No. She was dead by then.’

‘So when did you know that she was dead?’

‘We had arrived at the Abbey, as I say. Most of our company was exhausted and retired to their beds. Muirgel whispered to me that she was going for a walk before retiring. She told me to meet her outside the Abbey gates and come without being seen. Crella was dogging her the whole time, getting on her nerves. She said she wanted to be alone with me. I told you — we were in love.’

‘Go on,’ prompted Fidelma when he paused. ‘Did you meet her outside?’

‘I did. She was in good humour and … and a very wicked humour, too. She told me that there was a tavern at the bottom of the hill and we could spend the night there without anyone finding us or interfering.’

‘Did you agree to that?’

‘Of course.’

‘And you spent the night at this inn?’

‘Some of it.’

‘And Sister Canair? Where does she come into this story?’

Brother Guss took in a deep breath and expelled it as a long sigh. ‘We … after we … sometime after we were in bed — in the tavern, that is — we heard the sound of scuffling in the next room. We did not think anything of it. Then there was a sort of cry and we heard someone hurrying down the corridor. We would not have taken any notice except we heard moaning coming from the next room.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Out of curiosity Muirgel went to the door and listened for a moment. Then she looked out into the corridor. The door of the next room was slightly ajar and a candle was flickering inside. She went in to see if she could help, for someone was obviously in pain.’

The young man came to a halt. His mouth appeared to have gone dry and Fidelma helped him to some water from a jug. After a pause he continued.

‘Muirgel came hurrying back to me. She was shocked and upset. She whispered: “It’s Sister Canair!” I went into the room and saw Canair lying on the bed; she had been stabbed several times in the chest, around the heart. Then it seemed her throat had been cut.’

Fidelma’s eyes narrowed.

‘That was surely indicative of a frenzied attack,’ she commented.

Brother Guss did not respond.

Fidelma prompted him again.

‘Yet you say that she was still alive? You said you heard her moaning?’

‘Her dying breaths, so it turned out,’ the young man replied. ‘She was dead by the time I went into the room. I covered her body with the blanket from the bed and blew out the candle. Then I went back to Muirgel.’

‘Was she dead when Muirgel entered the room? Did Canair say anything before she died?’

Brother Guss shook his head.

‘Muirgel saw the wounds and panicked. She did not check and even if she had, the woman was already beyond uttering any intelligible sound.’

‘Was there a sign of the weapon that inflicted the wounds?’

‘I did not see a weapon, but then I was too shaken to investigate. We sat a long time discussing what we should do. It was Muirgel’s idea that we simply leave the tavern and return to the Abbey, and pretend that we had been there all night.’

‘But the tavernkeeper would have given evidence that you had been there.’

‘We didn’t think of that.’

‘Why didn’t you raise the alarm? Perhaps the murderer could have been discovered.’

‘Because it would have meant revealing that we had been in the next room. Our presence would have been made known to the murderer, our journey would have had to be cancelled. There were all manner of complications.’

He looked shamefaced.

‘It seems silly and selfish now, I agree, but it did not seem so to us at the time; not when we sat in the room next to that awful corpse. You will no doubt judge us harshly, for it is easy to be logical in the day and far away from the event.’

‘Time to judge when the facts are clear. Go on.’

‘We were back at the Abbey before dawn.’