Whispers of the Dead

“Male.”

Abbot Laisran spoke for the first time.

“That must be our murderer then,” he said with a sigh.

“A highway robber, after all. Now we shall never know who the culprit was.”

“Highway robbers do not drive donkey carts,” Fidelma pointed out.

“It was no highway robber,” confirmed Echen.

They swung ’round on the little man in surprise.

“Then tell them who it was, you stupid man!” yelled Corbnait at her unfortunate spouse.

“It was young Finn,” explained Echen, hurt by the rebuke he had received. “He herds sheep on Slieve Nuada, just a mile from here.”

“Ah, a strange one that!” Corbnait said, as if all was explained to her satisfaction. “Both his parents died three years ago. He’s been a recluse ever since. Unnatural, I call it.”

Fidelma looked from Corbnait to Echen and then said, “I want one of you to ride to the abbey and look at the corpse so we can be absolutely sure that this was the girl who visited here. It is important that we are sure of her identity.”

“Echen can do it. I am busy,” grumbled Corbnait.

“Then I want directions to where this shepherd Finn dwells.”

“Slieve Nuada is that large hill you can see from here,” Abbot Laisran intervened. “I know the place, and I know the boy.”

It was not long before they arrived at the shepherd’s dwelling next to a traditional lias cairach or sheep’s hut. The sheep milled about over the hill indifferent to the arrival of strangers. Fidelma noticed that their white fleeces were marked with the blue dyed circle that identified the flock and prevented them from mixing into neighboring flocks during common grazing.

Finn was weathered and bronzed-a handsome youth with a shock of red hair. He was kneeling on the grass astride a sheep whose stomach seemed vastly extended, almost as if it were pregnant but unnaturally so. As they rode up they saw the youth jab a long, thin, needle-like biorracha into the sheep’s belly. There was a curious hiss of air and the swelling seemed to go down without harm to the sheep which, when released, staggered away, bleating in irritation.

The youth look up and recognized Abbot Laisran. He put the biorracha aside and came forward with a smile of welcome.

“Abbot Laisran. I have not seen you since my father’s funeral.”

They dismounted and tethered their horses.

“You seem to have a problem on your hands,” Abbot Laisran said, indicating the now transformed sheep.

“Some of them get to eating plants that they should not. It causes gas and makes the belly swell like a bag filled with air. You prick them with the needle and the gas escapes. It is simple and does not hurt the creature. Have you come to buy sheep for the abbey?”

“I am afraid we are here on sad business,” Laisran said. “This is Sister Fidelma. She is a dálaigh.”

The youth frowned.

“I do not understand.”

“Two days ago you met a girl on the road from the inn at Ballacolla.”

Finn nodded immediately.

“That is true.”

“What made you accost her?”

“Accost? I do not understand.”

“You were driving in a donkey cart?”

“I was.”

“She was on horseback?”

“She was. A black mare.”

“So what made you speak to her?”

“It was Segnat from Tir Bui. I used to go to her father’s fortress with my father, peace on his soul. I knew her.”

Fidelma concealed her surprise.

“You knew her?”

“Her father was chieftain of Tir Bui.”

“What was your father’s business in Tir Bui? It is a long journey from here.”

“My father used to raise the old horned variety of sheep which is now a dying breed. He was a treudaighe and proud of it. He kept a fine stock.”

The treudaighe was a shepherd of rank.

“I see. So you knew Segnat?”

“I was surprised to see her on the road. She told me she was on her way to join her husband, Conri, the new lord of Ballyconra.”

Finn’s voice betrayed a curious emotion which Fidelma picked up on.

“You do not like Conri?”

“I do not have the right to like or dislike such as he,” admitted Finn.

“I was merely surprised to hear that Segnat had married him when he is living with a woman already.”

“That is a choice for the individual,” Fidelma reproved. “The New Faith has not entirely driven the old forms of polygyny from our people. A man can have more than one wife just as a woman can have more than one husband.”

Abbot Laisran shook his head in annoyance.

“The Church opposes polygyny.”

“True,” agreed Fidelma. “But the judge who wrote the law tract of the Bretha Croilge said there is justification for the practice even in the ancient books of the faith for it is argued that even the chosen people of God lived in a plurality of unions so that it is no easier to condemn it than to praise it.”

She paused for a moment.

“That you disapproved of this meant you must have liked Segnat. Did you?”

“Why these questions?” countered the shepherd.

“Segnat has been murdered.”

Finn stared at her for some time, then his face hardened.

“Conri did it! Segnat’s husband. He only wanted her for the dowry she could bring into the marriage. Segnat could also bring more than that.”

“How so?”

“She was a banchomarba, a female heir, for her father died without male issue and she became chieftainess of Tir Bui. She was rich. She told me so. Another reason Conri sought the union was because he had squandered much of his wealth on raising war bands to follow the High King in his wars against the northern Uí Néill. That is common gossip.”

“Gossip is not necessarily fact,” admonished Fidelma.

“But it usually has a basis of fact.”

“You do not appear shocked at the news of Segnat’s death,” observed Laisran slyly.

“I have seen too many deaths recently, Abbot Laisran. Too many.”

“I don’t think we need detain you any longer, Finn,” Fidelma said after a moment. Laisran glanced at her in astonishment.

“Mark my words, you’ll find that Conri is the killer,” called Finn as Fidelma moved away.

Abbot Laisran appeared to want to say something, but he meekly followed Fidelma to her horse and together they rode away from the shepherd’s house. Almost as soon as they were out of earshot, Abbot Laisran leaned forward in excitement.

“There! We have found the killer. It was Finn. It all adds up.”

Sister Fidelma turned and smiled at him.