“Or pretending to do so,” Anne said in a low voice to Thomas.
Having overheard them, Adam glanced at the two and smiled with concurrence.
“Any of us might have made the same mistake,” Eleanor continued.
“That I doubt, my child, but I will be merciful for your sake. Indeed, he came to no harm.”
“At least he did not see the corpse,” Thomas whispered with more care into Sister Anne’s ear. “My first fear was that, but he told me he had just come to the chapel as I was leaving.”
Eleanor nodded in the direction of the monk. “Brother Thomas has, I believe, frightened him off from further adventures in the chapel, or anywhere else unattended.”
“I did my best, my lord. I told him that he had endangered Gringolet’s safety by taking such a young horse into unknown territory without proper training. I allowed him to ride forth only with proper attendance and within the living quarters until his steed has gained some experience in the skills of hunting dragons in dark places.”
“When will Gringolet have gained such prowess?” The baron’s smile had regained a hint of amusement.
“Your grandson asked the same question, and I told him he could ride unattended when I have done the proper training and confirmed that the horse was skilled enough in such pursuits.”
Adam nodded. “That may work. My grandson has heard tales of the warrior monks and thus has no difficulty accepting a cowled man with knowledge of horses and battle strategies. Were I Richard’s age, I would find the argument sufficient, albeit hard to accept.” Then his face lost all joy. “Setting that aside, you had something to tell me, daughter, something about this foul murder?”
“I do, father.” Eleanor proceeded to tell them what she had learned from Isabelle, omitting only the woman’s cruder insinuations and softening the more tactless remarks. The dream she mentioned not at all.
“If I may say so,” Thomas said at the conclusion of her story, “that would give Sir Geoffrey’s wife good reason to kill Lord Henry.”
Adam shook his head. “I have never approved of my friend’s choice for a second wife, if the whore may still be called that considering Henry’s prior knowledge of her. Now rage at what she has done to a decent man blinds my judgment even more.”
Eleanor bit her tongue. Her father’s easy equation of the violence of rape with the bland “prior knowledge” might strike her woman’s heart sharply, but now was not the time to argue the point. That he listen with a clear mind to what Thomas had found after examining Henry’s corpse was of greater importance. After all, he would not be pleased that she had maneuvered around his prohibition against Sister Anne doing the same, and she feared his displeasure over Thomas’ examination might take precedence over the importance of his findings. She forced her anger into firm retreat.
“How I handle this ugly truth of her deception,” the baron continued, “and what I say to Sir Geoffrey are issues I must decide after a cooler reason returns. Nonetheless, even now, when I would love to concur with the possibility of her guilt in this murder, I confess I hesitate to conclude that a woman could have done this deed.” Adam looked over at Thomas. “She might have wounded him, if she surprised him, but not with a deep or fatal blow. I cannot see her successfully stabbing him to death except by stealth. The body would tell some of the tale, of course.”
“Brother Thomas did examine Henry’s corpse, my lord,” Eleanor said. She could not tell if her father’s surprised look held anger or not, but she knew better than to think she had won any easy victory over the man.
“Indeed,” he said at last in a dangerously composed voice, “and what expertise does a contemplative man bring to the study of wounds gained from violence?”
“If I may speak on the good brother’s behalf, my lord?” Sister Anne said quickly.
The baron’s smile was grim. “Why not?”
“Brother Thomas regularly assists me at Tyndal’s hospital. We often have cause to treat knife wounds when men from the village drink too deeply or find they share the favors of the same woman.”
Adam leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable as he looked back and forth between the nun and his daughter. “Sister Anne, I respect both your skill and your plain speech,” Adam said at last. “When I denied my daughter’s demand to allow your examination of the corpse, I did so to honor the request of my grieving friend, not to insult you.”
“I took no offense at your words, my lord.”
“And respected them more than did my own child,” he said with a side-glance at the prioress. “Yet your strategy worked well, Eleanor. I give you due credit for that and for coming to a solution which may be the most useful and equitable. Despite having far greater knowledge in such matters from my days on the battlefield than either Sister Anne or Brother Thomas could possibly have, I cannot look on Henry’s corpse with any impartiality. It was, after all, my son who held the bloody dagger. Neither Sir Geoffrey nor any of his men has the requisite detachment either, for it was his son who was killed. He and I may not put the burden of impartiality on anyone under our respective commands since it is a man’s nature to look first to his master before he looks to the facts.”
Eleanor resumed breathing.
The baron turned to Thomas. “We must therefore trust you, as a man whose only true master is God, to give an objective and informed opinion while the body is still uncorrupted and until this snow storm ceases and the sheriff comes.”
“May God be merciful and this storm continue,” Eleanor said under her breath.
“So, brother, what did you discover?” The baron sipped at his wine and nervously rapped his knuckles against the underside of the table.
“Henry suffered several cuts and abrasions on his face and under his arm, although the deepest wound was in his back.” Thomas continued to describe the wounds in detail.
Adam shook his head in thought. “Not a clean killing then. Perhaps Henry was grabbed from behind but struggled free before his assassin had time to cut his throat? I also find the wound under his arm troubling. It would appear that one man attacked in front and one from behind Henry? Could there be two men? Robbery perhaps. Nor can I understand the scratches on his face. What is your conclusion, brother?”
Eleanor began to allow herself hope that her father shared her confidence in Robert’s innocence. Although she instinctively believed he must share her conviction, she did not know that as a fact. The circumstances were so very damning, but for the first time his words suggested that he might entertain the idea that another had done the deed. If convinced, he would work hard in his son’s defense.
“Sir Geoffrey would know best if anything had been stolen,” Thomas was saying, “yet I saw a gold brooch on Henry’s cloak while his body lay in the corridor. I could not check for his purse at the time, of course, but surely a thief would have taken the brooch. It would have been so easily removed even if the thief had been frightened away before he finished plundering the corpse.”
“You must be with me when I ask Sir Geoffrey what might have been taken from his son,” Adam said, his fingers now tapping impatiently on the top of the wooden table. “His wounds. What is your interpretation of them?”
“Some would certainly suggest a woman’s hand, my lord: the scratches on his face, perhaps even the wound in his side.” Or so Sister Anne had thought when he related his findings to her. However, he did know better than to reveal his consultation with Tyndal’s sub-infirmarian. “The latter was a small and a shallow one, I believe, although the knife may have punctured a lung. More I cannot say. A strong and angry woman could definitely stab a man deeply in the back. I saw such done once, but she was successful only because she surprised him. He had not seen her knife when he so unwisely turned his back on her.” Thomas glanced quickly at Sister Anne, who concurred with an almost imperceptible nod. “No man would turn his back on a woman with a knife in her hand,” he continued. “He would disarm her. I thought there might be two assailants as well, but the sum of the wounds does not point to a clear answer.”