Peter Tremayne - Absolution by Murder

She turned and guided them out of the section of the abbey grounds which had been given over to the stalls and booths of the market, where the fair had been pitched, and turned eastward along the top of the dark cliffs overlooking the harbour of Witebia. The sun was already low in the western sky and their shadows stretched before them as they walked.

‘Now, Sister Athelswith—’ began Fidelma. But the domina of the guests’ hostel interrupted breathlessly.

‘I have seen Brother Edgar, our physician. He will perform the autopsy within the hour.’

‘Good,’ Brother Eadulf said approvingly. ‘I doubt whether there will be anything new to add to our knowledge but it is best if the body is so examined.’

‘As mistress of the hostel,’ went on Fidelma, ‘how do you assign cubicula to the visitors?’

‘Many of the guests have pitched their tents around our house. And there are so many attending the debate that our dormitories have become filled to capacity. The cubicula are assigned to special guests.’

‘The Abbess Etain was allotted her chamber by you?’

‘Indeed.’

‘On what basis?’

Sister Athelswith frowned.

‘I do not understand.’

‘Was there any special reason for Étain of Kildare being allotted that particular cubiculum?’

‘No. The guest chambers are allotted on the order of rank. Bishop Colmán, for example, requested that you be allocated a cubiculum because of your rank.’

‘I see. So who had the chambers on either side of the abbess?’

Sister Athelswith had no difficulty in replying.

‘Why, on one side the Abbess Abbe of Coldingham and on the other Bishop Agilbert, the Frank.’

‘One a firm adherent of the church of Columba,’ interrupted Brother Eadulf, ‘the other equally firmly for Rome.’

Fidelma raised an eyebrow and gazed quizzically at him. Eadulf replied to her obvious question with an indifferent shrug.

‘I point this out, Sister Fidelma, in case you search for pro-Roman culprits in this matter.’

Fidelma bit her lip in irritation.

‘I search only for the truth, brother.’ Turning to the puzzled Sister Athelswith, she continued: ‘Is a check kept on who visits the cubicula of your guests? Or is everyone free to wander in and out of the guests’ hostel?’

Sister Athelswith raised her shoulders and let them fall expressively.

‘Why should such a check be made, sister? People are free to come and go as they please in the house of God.’

‘Male and female?’

‘We are a mixed house at Streoneshalh. Male and female are free to visit each other’s cubicula whenever they like.’

‘So you would have no way of knowing who visited the Abbess Étain?’

‘I know of only seven visitors today,’ the elderly religieuse replied complacently.

Sister Fidelma tried to control her exasperation.

‘And these were?’ she prompted.

‘Brother Taran, the Pict, and Sister Gwid, who is secretary to the abbess, visited in the morning. Then Abbess Hilda herself and Bishop Colman came together towards midday. There came a beggar, one of your countrymen, sister, who demanded to see her. He created such an uproar that he had to be removed. Indeed, this same beggar was whipped yesterday morning by order of the Abbess Hilda for disturbing the quiet of our house.’

She paused.

‘You mentioned seven persons,’ prompted Sister Fidelma gently.

‘Brothers Seaxwulf and Agatho. Seaxwulf is the secretary to Wilfrid of Ripon.’

‘And who is this Agatho?’

It was Eadulf who replied.

‘Agatho is a priest in the service of the Abbot of Icanho. He was pointed out to me this morning as being of an eccentric character.’

‘One of the Roman faction then?’ she asked ingenuously.

Eadulf gave a curt nod.

‘So? Can you estimate the time when these visitors saw the abbess? For example, who was the last to see her?’

Sister Athelswith stroked her nose as if the action helped in recalling.

‘Sister Gwid visited early this morning. I remember that well, for they stood at the door of the cubiculum arguing quite heatedly. Then Sister Gwid burst into tears and ran past me along the corridor towards her dormitorium. She is a rather emotional young woman. I gather the abbess had cause to rebuke her. Then Brother Taran came to see her. Abbess Hilda and Bishop Colmán came together, as I have said, and they all went in to the refectory together when the bell for the prandium sounded. The beggar arrived after lunch. Brother Seaxwulf visited but now I am not sure whether that was after the midday meal or before. The last visitor I remember was the priest Agatho, who came in the early afternoon.’

Fidelma had followed Athelswith’s recitation with some amusement. The old woman was clearly something of a busybody, keeping track of every visitor to her guest house as well as their business.

‘So? This Agatho, so far as you know, was the last to see the Abbess Étain alive?’

‘If he was her last visitor of the day,’ interrupted Eadulf hurriedly. There was a defensive tone in his voice.

Sister Fidelma smiled softly.

‘Just so.’

Sister Athelswith glanced unhappily from one to the other.

‘I saw no other visitors after Brother Agatho,’ she replied firmly.

‘And are you in a position to see all visitors?’ demanded Eadulf.

‘Only when I am in my officium,’ she replied, colouring a little. ‘I have much to do. Being the domina of the guests’ quarters is a great responsibility. In normal times we provide for the hospitality of forty pilgrims at one time. I have one brother and three sisters to help me in the discharge of my duties. There is a need to clean the dormitoria and the cubicula, to prepare beds and assure ourselves that the needs of prominent visitors have been met. So I am often in the hostel area ensuring that our tasks are carried out. But when I am in my officium I cannot help but observe who passes to and fro to the guests’ quarters.’

Fidelma smiled in mollification. ‘And it is good luck for us that you do so.’

‘Would you take oath, sister,’ pressed Eadulf a little aggressively, ‘that no one else visited Abbess Étain before her body was discovered?’

Sister Athelswith brought her chin up stubbornly.

‘Of course not. As I said at the beginning, we are free to enter when and how we please. I am only sure that the people that I have named entered the Abbess of Kildare’s cubiculum.’

‘And when was the body discovered and who by?’

‘I, myself, discovered the body at half past the hour of five o’clock this afternoon.’

Fidelma was astonished and showed it.

‘How can you be so certain of the hour?’

Sister Athelswith swelled with visible pride.

‘Among the duties of the domina of the domus hospitale of Streoneshalh is that of time-keeper. It is my task to ensure that our clepsydra functions accurately.’

Brother Eadulf was bewildered.

‘Your … what?’

‘Clepsydra is a Greek word,’ Fidelma explained, allowing a slight patronising tone to enter her voice.

‘One of our brethren brought it back from the east,’ Sister Athelswith said proudly. ‘It is a mechanism by which time is measured by the discharge of water.’

‘And exactly how did you note the time of discovery?’ pressed Eadulf.

‘I had just made my check on the clepsydra when a messenger from the sacrarium came to inform me that the assembly had opened but there was no sign of the Abbess of Kildare. I went to her cubiculum to summon her. That is when I found her and sent the messenger straight away to Abbess Hilda. By our clepsydra, the time was lacking a half hour to the sounding of the evening Angelus bell, which task I also have to oversee as time-keeper of Streoneshalh.’