‘The
Berrach paused and rubbed her cheek absently for a moment.
‘I felt that something was wrong. You know how one can suddenly get a feeling? I decided to go up to investigate …’
‘Even though you did not want anyone to know you were there, least of all Sister Síomha?’
‘If something was wrong, it was better not to ignore it.’
‘And what did you do with the book?’
‘I left it on the table where I was reading it.’
‘So it will still be there? Very well. Go on.’
‘I climbed the stairs as carefully as I could into the room where the clepsydra was kept. I thought I saw Sister Síomha lying on the floor.’
‘You
‘The body had no head. But I did not see that at once. I saw only a body in the dress of a sister. I knelt down by it to feel her pulse, thinking that she must have passed out — perhaps fainted for lack of food or some other cause. My hands touched her neck, cold, not quite icy cold but a clammy coldness. Then I felt something sticky. I was feeling for her head …’
Sister Berrach’s voice caught and she shuddered at the memory.
‘Holy Mother of Jesus, protect me! I realised at that moment that Síomha had been slain in the same manner as the corpse found in the well. I think that I cried aloud in my horror.’
‘And then you ran down the stairs?’ Fidelma prompted.
‘Not immediately. As I cried out, I heard a sound behind me in the room. I turned, my heart beating rapidly. I saw a shadow, a cowled head and shoulders, slipping quickly below the level of the floor down the stairway.’
Fidelma leant forward quickly.
‘Was this head and shoulders male or female?’
Berrach shook her head.
‘Alas, I do not know. It was so gloomy and the movementwas hurried. I was not in the mood to investigate further. I was frozen with fear. That I was alone in the dark with the monster who did this deed put the very fear of eternal damnation into me. I do not know how long I knelt there in the dark by the body. Some time must have passed, no doubt.’
‘You just knelt there in the dark? You did not move or cry out?’
‘Fear is a strange controller of your body, sister. Fear can make the lame run, the physically active freeze like a cripple.’
Fidelma acknowledged this with an impatient gesture.
‘Then what, Berrach?’
‘Finally, I rose to my feet, feeling the blood in my veins course like ice. I do not know how long this was, as I have said. I wanted to sound an alarm and was going to strike the gong. I lit the lanterns. Then I heard another noise.’
‘A noise? What sort of noise?’
‘I heard the thud of a door. I heard footsteps beginning to ascend the stairs. I heard them coming closer. My thought, my true thought, sister, was that the murderer was returning — returning to ensure that I would say nothing.’
She paused and seemed to have difficulty in breathing for a moment or two but then she recovered herself.
‘Then my fear, instead of rooting me to the spot, as it had before, lent me strength. I turned and clambered down the stairs as fast as I could. I remember seeing a figure ascending. I thought it was the cowled figure returning. That is the truth! I used all my strength to collide violently with it, so knocking it off balance, and allowing me time to effect my escape …’
‘Do you recall if this figure was carrying a light?’
Berrach frowned.
‘A light?’
‘A lamp or a candle?’
The girl gave it some thought.
‘I can’t remember. I think there might have been a candle.Is it important? I heard it cry out. It was not until I was already across the courtyard that I realised that it had been the abbess.’
‘Why did you not return once you realised that fact?’
‘I was confused. After all, I had seen the cowled figure in the water-clock room. Perhaps it had been the abbess herself who was the killer. How was I to know?’
Fidelma did not answer.
‘I came here as fast as I could. I had just reached my cell when Brónach came in and asked me why I was upset. I told her and she said that she would go and discover what had happened. I was frightened in case the murderer had followed me.’
‘But the murderer did not. And surely you would have feared for Brónach’s safety going alone to the tower?’
‘I was confused,’ repeated Berrach.
‘Why then did you barricade yourself in?’
‘I heard the noise of the community being awakened. There were lights in the tower and then in the dormitories. I was about to come out when I heard one of the sisters, I think it was Lerben, calling — “Sister Síomha has been killed by Berrach!” I knew then that I was doomed. What chance has someone like me to justice? I will be punished for something that I have not done.’
Fidelma regarded her thoughtfully.
‘One more question, Berrach. Did you see anything peculiar about Sister Síomha’s body? Apart from the decapitation, that is?’
Berrach wrenched her thoughts momentarily away from her fears and peered questioningly up at Fidelma.
‘Peculiar?’
‘Perhaps something similar to the way the nameless corpse in the well was left,’ prompted Fidelma.
Sister Berrach thought cautiously for a moment.
‘I do not think so.’
‘I mean, did you notice anything tied to her left arm?’
The girl’s bewilderment seemed genuine enough as she shook her head.
‘Do you know anything about the old pagan customs?’
‘Who does not?’ replied Berrach. ‘In these remote places, away from the great cathedrals and towns, you should know that people still dwell close to nature, keep to the old well-trodden paths. Scratch a Christian here and you will find the blood is pagan.’
Fidelma was about to say something further when she heard sounds which seemed to be growing in volume. It was the noise of chanting voices coming from outside the building. She stared in astonishment as she listened. The voices were chanting a name. ‘Berrach! Berrach! Berrach!’
The sister gave a pitiful moan.
‘You see?’ she whimpered. ‘You see? They have come to punish me?’
‘Sister Fidelma!’
Fidelma recognised the voice of Sister Lerben as it cut through the noise. Slowly the chanting voices fell silent.
Fidelma stood up and went to the door. She glanced back at Sister Berrach and tried to smile encouragement.
