Peter Tremayne - Absolution by Murder

Fidelma pursed her lips in controlled surprise.

‘How long had such bargaining been going on?’

‘Oh, since as soon as the Abbess Étain arrived here. Two or three days. I forget exactly.’ The young man stared down at his extended hands in distaste as if observing his fingernails for the first time and disapproving of their manicure.

Fidelma glanced at Eadulf.

‘I think a new dimension has been cast on this matter,’ she said quietly, resorting to Irish, knowing that Seaxwulf did not understand.

Eadulf pulled a long face.

‘How so?’

‘What would be the reaction of many of the brethren if they knew that such negotiations were going on behind the scenes without their knowledge or approval? That, in return for a concession on this point, a concession on another point would be given by one or other of the two factions? Wouldn’t that inflame the enmity already felt by the brethren? If so, would someone not feel so enraged that they might attempt to put a stop to such negotiations?’

‘True – though the knowledge doesn’t help us.’

‘Why so?’

‘Because it means that we still have hundreds of suspects, both of the Columban and Roman factions.’

‘Then we have to find a way to narrow them down.’

Eadulf nodded slightly, turning back to the young blond monk.

‘Who knew of your negotiations with the abbess?’

Seaxwulf pouted again like a little child keeping a mystery.

‘They were secret.’

‘So only you and Wilfrid of Ripon knew?’

‘And Abbess Étain.’

‘What of her secretary, Gwid?’ interposed Fidelma through Eadulf.

Seaxwulf chuckled scornfully.

‘Gwid? The abbess did not regard her as being in her confidence. In fact, she told me to have no dealings with her over these secret matters, least of all to mention her communications with Wilfrid of Ripon.’

Fidelma hid her surprise.

‘What makes you say that Étain did not regard Sister Gwid as being in her confidence?’

‘If she did, then she would have been a party to the negotiations. The only time I saw her with Gwid, they were shouting at each other. I had no idea of what they were saying for they spoke in your own language of Ireland.’

‘So?’ Eadulf said. ‘Did no one else know of the negotiations then?’

Seaxwulf grimaced awkwardly.

‘I don’t think so – except, Abbess Abbe came upon me when I was leaving the cubiculum of Abbess Étain. She had the chamber next to Étain. She stared suspiciously at me. I did not say anything but went about my business. I saw that she had gone to speak with the Abbess Étain in her chamber. I heard voices raised in argument. I do not know whether she had guessed the purpose of my visit or not. I suspect that Abbe realised that Étain and Wilfrid were making agreements.’

Fidelma decided to press the point.

‘You say Abbe argued with Étain as you were leaving?’

‘So far as I know. I heard their voices raised that is all.’

‘And did you see the Abbess Étain again?’

Seaxwulf shook his head.

‘I went to report to Wilfrid about the abbess’s willingness to concede the greater authority of Peter on the matter of the tonsure. Then the call came for the assembly in the sacrarium and I went in with Wilfrid. It was shortly after that we heard that the abbess had been murdered.’

Fidelma sighed, a long-drawn-out breath. Finally she looked at Seaxwulf and gestured.

‘Very well. You may go.’

When the door shut on Seaxwulf, Eadulf turned to Fidelma, his brown eyes shining in excitement.

‘The Abbess Abbe! The sister of Oswy himself! She is one visitor to Étain’s cubiculum that Sister Athelswith’s perceptive eye missed. A natural mistake because her chamber was next to Étain’s.’

Sister Fidelma did not look satisfied.

‘We will have to speak with her. Certainly there is a motive here. Abbe is a powerful supporter of the Columban order. If she felt that Étain was making concessions without the prior knowledge of those supporting the rule of Columba then that could be a cause for anger and anger can beget a motive for murder.’

Eadulf nodded eagerly.

‘Then perhaps our original thought that this was a murder motivated by the anger of the debate is right. Except that Étain of Kildare was killed by her fellow churchmen and not by the pro-Roman faction.’

Fidelma pulled a face.

‘We are not here to get the Roman faction absolved of blame but to discover the truth.’

‘The truth is what I am after,’ Eadulf felt stung to reply. ‘But Abbe seems a likely suspect—’

‘So far we have only Brother Seaxwulf’s word for her presence in Étain’s cell after he had left. And you may remember that Sister Athelswith named the priest Agatho as having visited Étain after Seaxwulf? If this is so, then Abbe left Étain alive. For if she visited Étain directly Seaxwulf left, then Agatho must have visited after Abbe left.’

The bell began tolling for the commencement of cena, the chief meal of the day.

Eadulf’s face had fallen.

‘I had forgotten about Agatho,’ he muttered contritely.

‘I had not,’ replied Fidelma firmly. ‘We will talk with Abbe after the evening meal.’

Fidelma had not been hungry. Her mind was too full of thoughts. She had merely eaten some fruit and a piece of paximatium, the heavy bread, and then gone immediately to her cubiculum to rest for a while. With the main body of the brethren in the refectory, it was quiet in the domus hospitale and therefore a place conducive to being alone with one’s thoughts. She tried to explore what information she had to work some order and sense into it. Yet the thoughts would not make sense. Her instructor, the Brehon Morann of Tara, had always used to impress on his pupils that one should wait until one had heard all the evidence before attempting a solution. Yet Fidelma felt an impatience that was hard to control.

Finally she rose from her cot, deciding to take a walk along the cliff tops in the hope that the fresh early-evening air would clear her mind.

She left the domus hospitale and crossed a quadrangle towards the monasteriolum, the abbey buildings in which the brethren laboured in their studies and teaching. Someone had scratched a piece of graffiti on the wall: ‘docendo discimus’. Fidelma smiled. It was apt. People did learn by teaching.

Within the monasteriolum was the librarium of the abbey to which Fidelma had already paid a visit when she had delivered the book that Abbot Cumméne of Iona had sent as a gift. It was an impressive collection, for Hilda had made it her task to develop the library and collect as many books as possible in her determination to spread literacy among her people.

The sun was very low behind the hills now and long shadows cast dark fingers among the buildings. The structure would soon be shrouded in gloom. Time enough, though, to take a walk and be back in Sister Athelswith’s officium to meet with the Abbess Abbe.

She turned through the outer cloisters which led to the side gate of the abbey wall from which a path led to the cliff tops.

She became aware of a monk walking before her, head enshrouded in his cucullus, or cowl.

Some instinct made Fidelma pause in her stride. It struck her as curious that a brother was wearing his cowl within the confines of the abbey. And now a second figure appeared by the gate ahead. Fidelma drew back into the shadows of the arched cloisters, her heart beating a little faster for no logical reason except that she recognised the second figure as the foxy-faced thane of Frihop, Wulfric.

A greeting was called in Saxon.