An Ensuing Evil and Others (44 page)

After Brother Cruinn was taken away by attendants summoned by the Abbot Laisran, Fidelma returned to the abbots chamber to finish her interrupted mulled wine and to stretch herself before the fire.

“I’m not sure how you resolved this matter,” Abbot Laisran finally said as he stacked another log on the fire.

“It was the matter of the key that made me realize that Brother Cruinn had done this. Exactly how and, more important, why, I did not know at first. I realized as soon as Sister Scathach told me how she was awoken by the whispering voice at night that it must have come from one of three sources. The voice must have come from one of the three neighboring cells. When she showed me where she slept, I realized from where the voice had come. Brother Cruinn was the whispering in the night. No one else could physically have done it. He also had easy access to Brother Sioda’s locked cell because only he held the master keys. The problem was what had he to gain from Brother Sioda’s death? Well, now we know the answer—it was an act of jealousy, hoping to eliminate Brother Sioda so that he could pursue his desire for Sister Slaine. That he was able to convince you that the cell door was locked and that he was actually opening it was child’s play. An illusion in which you thought that Sister Scathach had locked herself in her cell. Brother Cruinn had placed the key on the floor when he planted the incriminating evidence of the bloodstained weapon and robe.

“In fact, the door was not locked at all. Brother Cruinn had taken the robe to protect his clothing from the blood when he killed Sioda. He therefore allowed no blood to fall when he came along the corridor with robe and knife to where Sister Scathach lay in her exhausted sleep. Remember that she was exhausted by the continuous times he had woken her with his whispering voice. He left the incriminating evidence, left the key on the floor, and closed the door. In the morning, he could go through the pantomime of opening the door, claiming it had been locked from the inside. Wickedness coupled with cleverness, but our friend Brother Cruinn was a little too clever.”

“But to fathom this mystery, you first had to come to the conclusion that Sister Scathach was innocent,” pointed out the abbot.

“Poor Scathach! It is her parents who should be on trial for filling her susceptible mind with this myth about Otherworld voices when she is suffering from a physical disability. The fact was Scathach could not have known about Gormflaith. She was told. If one discounts voices from the Otherworld, then it was by a human agency. The question was who was that agency and what was the motive for this evil charade.”

Abbot Laisran gazed at her in amazement. “I never cease to be astonished at your astute mind, Fidelma. Without you, poor Sister Scathach might have stood condemned.”

Fidelma smiled and shook her head at her old mentor. “On the contrary, Abbot Laisran, without you and your suspicion that things were a little too cut and dried, we should never even have questioned the guilt or innocence of the poor girl at all.”