truly recovered. Also, it was clearly no attack made in robbery for she still wears a valuable crucifix.'
'A good logic, but no; no, I do not think that she committed suicide.'
Fidelma examined the physician's assured features quickly and asked: 'What makes you say so?'
Brother Midach bent forward and turned the dead girl's head slightly, instructing Brother Martan to bring the lantern closer so that the area could be clearly seen.
Fidelma could see a gaping wound on the back of the skull. Even an immersion in the sea had not washed the blood from it.
'She was attacked from behind?'
'Someone hit her on the back of the head,' confirmed Midach. 'Only after that blow was her body dumped into the sea.'
'Murder then?'
Brother Midach sighed deeply.
'I can come to no other conclusion. There is not only the evidence of the blow on the back of the head. If you have a strong stomach, sister, look at her hands and arms.'
Fidelma did so. The wounds and burn marks spoke for themselves.
They were not self-inflicted.
'No. She was bound and tortured before she was killed. Look at those marks around her wrists. They are the marks of a rope. After she was killed, the killer must have untied the bonds and thrown her into the sea.'
Stunned, Fidelma stared at the body of the tragic young woman.
'With your permission, brother…' She bent forward and took the cold hands of the dead woman and examined them, looking carefully at the fingers and nails. Brother Midach regarded her with curiosity. Fidelma grimaced with disenchantment.
'I was hoping that she might have been able to fight her attacker and grasp something which might have given us some clue,' she explained.
'No. The final blow came probably without her even suspecting it,' Midach said. 'She would have been placed with her back to her attacker in order for him to deliver that blow.'
'Him?' queried Fidelma sharply.
Midach shrugged diffidently.
'Or her, if you like. Though I would not think it likely that a woman could do such a thing.'
Fidelma's lips thinned a moment but she made no comment.
Brother Midach stood up, dusting the sand from his robe. He motioned Martan and another brother forward from the shadows and instructed them to carry the body to the abbey.
'I'll have the body taken to the mortuarium and report this matter to the abbot.'
'Tell the abbot that I shall speak with him shortly,' Fidelma said, also rising and looking towards the small group of people who had been pushed a little further away by Cass.
'Do you think this has some connection with the death of the Venerable Dacan?' Midach paused and glanced back to her across his shoulder.
'That I hope to discover,' replied Fidelma.
Midach grimaced and, with Brother Martan hurrying behind him with the lantern, strode back towards the abbey gates.
Fidelma moved across to a group, some of whom now seemed reluctant to be involved for several of them began to sidle away. Cass had obtained a lantern to illuminate the proceedings.
'Who found the body?' Fidelma demanded, looking from one face to another.
She saw two elderly fishermen exchange glances of alarm by the light of their brand torches.
'There is no need to be fearful, my friends,' Fidelma reassured them. 'All I want to know is where and how you found the body.'
One of the fishermen, a ruddy-faced, middle-aged man, shuffled forward.
'My brother and I found it, sister.' He spoke in an uncertain, hesitant tone.
'Tell me how?' Fidelma invited in as gentle voice as she could.
'We were out in the bay, near the Laigin warship, and decided to give our nets one more cast before the dusk was upon us. As we trawled our nets we thought we had made a great catch but when we dragged the nets into the boat we saw…' he genuflected fearfully '… we saw the body of the sister there.'
'How close were you to the Laigin ship?' Fidelma asked.
'The Laigin ship sits at the entrance of the inlet but it's deep water there and one of the winter feeding grounds of haddock in these parts. Plenty of sea worms and shellfish there for them.' The fisherman suddenly spat in disgust. 'Then that warship comes along and sits right over the fishing ground.'
Fidelma looked sympathetic.
'I understand. So you and your brother moved as close as you could to the warship in order to fish?'
'We did that. We were a few yards off when we netted the poor sister. We brought the body straight back to the shore and raised the alarm.'
Cass, who was standing by her shoulder holding his lantern high, bent forward.
'Could it be that she was thrown from the Laigin ship?' he whispered.
Fidelma ignored him for the moment and turned back to the fishermen, who continued to watch her uneasily.
'What are the currents like in the bay?' she asked.
One of them rubbed his chin reflectively.
'At the moment we have an inshore tide. The currents are strong around the rocks though. They sweep all around that headland among the rocks.'
'What you are telling me is that the body could have been cast into the sea at any point along that headland.'
'Or even on the other side of the headland, sister, and swept around into this inlet.'
'And at this time a body would tend to get washed inshore here rather than seaward?' pressed Fidelma.
'That it would,' agreed the fisherman readily.
'Very well, you may go now,' Fidelma said. Then she raised her voice. 'You may all disperse to your homes now.'
The small group of morbid onlookers began to break up, almost unwillingly now, in obedience to her command.
Cass was standing peering suspiciously into the darkness across the bay. Fidelma followed his gaze. There were lights flickering on the warship.
'Can you row a boat, Cass?' Fidelma demanded abruptly.
The warrior swung round. She could not quite see his expression in the shadows.
'Of course,' he replied. 'But…'
'I think it is high time that we paid the Laigin warship a visit.'
'Is it wise? If Sister Eisten was murdered and thrown from the ship…?'
'We have no proof nor any reasonable suspicion to that effect,' Fidelma replied calmly. 'Come, let us find a boat.'
The tolling of the bell for vespers caused her to pause.
Cass shifted the lantern so that the light fell momentarily on his face. He looked woebegone.
'We shall miss the evening meal,' he protested.
Fidelma chuckled grimly.
'I am sure that we will find something later to keep the great starvation at bay. Now let's find that boat.'
Fidelma sat in the stern of the small boat holding the lantern aloft as Cass leant into the oars, propelling the small craft across the dark, hissing waters of the inlet towards the great shadow and twinkling lights of the Laigin
