His face flushing slightly, he stepped back. “In the turmoil of the moment, I did forget the reputation of your talented sub-infirmarian.”
“I take responsibility for the failure to summon another to provide proper attendance in my absence. I was also alone here when we first discovered the body, a fault for which I shall demand a hard penance. You were both kind and wise to remind us that we must practice modesty and remember the spirit of our vows, even when we are forced to deal with worldly matters.” She bowed her head, sensing the man was backing down from further outrage.
Eliduc cleared his throat. “Surely the corpse can be removed from these rude stares.” He gestured at the small number remaining after the choir had been ordered back to their quarters. “The man was in the service of the Lady Avelina and owned a soul that belongs to God.”
She gestured to Crowner Ralf and said in a loud voice “Have you further need to examine the corpse here? We would take the body to the chapel.” Then she tilted her head at the priest.
Quickly, he glanced at Sister Anne who nodded consent. “I am done for the moment,” he replied. “I do beg permission to consult later on the nature of this death. Perhaps with Brother John?” A grin teased the corner of his lips.
Father Eliduc walked back to the Lady Avelina.
“We must speak in private, my lady.” Ralf watched the priest and kept his voice low.
Eleanor discreetly nodded agreement.
“Although I understand the need to move the body, I beg that it be placed where it can be guarded.”
“We shall provide that protection,” she murmured. “Brother Beorn will arrange to have it taken to the hospital chapel and assign responsible lay brothers to watch over it.” Then the prioress added, raising her voice so it would be overheard by anyone standing nearby, “Brother John once owned an apothecary shop in Norwich. Although Sister Anne is also a talented healer, she is a woman. We shall honor your suggestion that he examine the body later this evening when he is finished with his duties as novice master.”
“I am grateful,” Ralf replied. “I have some other matters to attend to now…”
A commotion at the edge of the tiny circle of onlookers interrupted further discussion.
A woman pushed forward.
“Lady Avelina,” Eliduc shouted, rushing to prevent her from moving closer to the corpse. “Return to your chambers, I beg of you! This is no place for you to…”
Ignoring him, she halted at side of the body, stared down at her dead servant, and began to moan.
Eleanor approached and laid a gentle hand on the woman’s arm. “It is truly Kenard,” she whispered. “I promise we shall find out how this happened. If there is any question of a violent death, the guilty will be brought to justice.”
Continuing to stare at the body, Avelina nodded. When she finally wrenched her gaze away and looked at the prioress, her eyes were awash in tears, her face ashen.
“I will ask a lay sister to take you back to your chambers.” Eleanor looked up to see that Sister Anne was already by her side. “And our sub-infirmarian will attend you as well. You must rest. She will make sure you are comfortable and have anything you need.”
Avelina shuddered; her eyes rolled back; her knees buckled, and she slid to the ground in a faint.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Have you seen my brother?”
Awakening with a start, Thomas cried out, his dreams fleeing with all hope of remembrance.
“Forgive me!” Ralf stared down at the wide-eyed hermit whom he had assumed was only lost in thought.
“There is no reason to beg pardon, Crowner. Sinner that I am, I shut my eyes for a moment and fell asleep. I had meant to pray.” He put his arms around his knees and shook his head free of the last remnants of sleep. “If you seek Sir Fulke, he has gone back to the priory.”
“He was with you then?”
“Something has happened. Will you tell me the news?”
“Lady Avelina’s servant, Kenard, was found dead outside the side chapel. Your sub-infirmarian suspects poison.”
“And you think your brother had cause to murder.”
Ralf squatted beside him. “I pray he has not.”
“After you left him at the inn, Sir Fulke drank far too much and staggered to this hut, arriving not long after you yourself departed. Considering the profit from the number of pitchers he must have consumed, Signy could surely confirm his presence there.” Thomas stood and looked inside the hut. “As for Simon, he has never left here. Unlike me, he is praying.”
Saying nothing, the crowner jerked his head in the direction of the woods.
The monk bent to pick up the jug near the door and sniffed at the contents. “I fear the heat has turned this ale. If you are thirsty, we can go down to the stream.”
In silence, the two friends walked down the steep path. Halfway to the pond, Ralf stopped. “I did not want Simon to hear what he should not.”
“So I assumed,” Thomas said with a brief smile. “Ask what you will, and tell me all you can.” Leading the crowner off the path to a bit of shade, the monk eased himself into a sitting position on the ground.
“There is little enough known so far. Prioress Eleanor agreed to let Father Eliduc see the novice choir’s presentation of the Daniel story, which she hoped might entertain the queen. Kenard was given permission by Brother John to watch it from the chapel. The servant slipped out the door toward the end of the performance and died. One of the novices found the body.”
“Why does Sister Anne suspect poison?”
“He carried a wineskin, which he apparently drained quickly as if attacked by great thirst. She found suspicious leaf bits in his vomit and said she would examine them more carefully. There were no outward signs of injury.” He shrugged. “Although God may have struck him down, I trust Annie’s observations.”
Nodding, Thomas said nothing about the crowner’s failure to use the nun’s formal title. Indeed, he was always touched by Ralf’s deep affection for a woman he had known long before she had even married the man whom she later followed to Tyndal Priory.
“Why was Fulke here?”
The monk grinned. “You frightened him!” Then he grew more serious. “For all his faults, your brother longs to own a virtuous soul. When he pounded on the walls of my hut, I opened the door to a man so drunk he could barely stand, but I did not doubt that his supplication for wisdom was sincere.”
“And so he kept you from your rest. I’ll make sure he never bothers you again,” Ralf growled.
“You must never speak to him of this. Show mercy, Ralf. He is worth that.”
The crowner’s shoulders sagged. “We have no love for each other, or little enough, and yet I neither hate him nor do I want him to be a suspect in murder.”
“If there is any possibility that poison was slipped into Kenard’s wineskin last night or up to the time he died, your brother is innocent. You stayed with him at the inn, and surely Signy or others will confirm how long he remained there. While he was here, we talked, wept, and prayed. When Nute came with food and drink from the inn, the sheriff sent him to Prioress Eleanor, explaining he could not meet with her this day.”
“When I did not see him in the church, I assumed he had suffered too much from drink,” Ralf muttered. “And you also swear that Simon was with you the entire time?”
Thomas stiffened. “He is innocent as well.”
“I confess I had hoped he was guilty of one or the other murder.”
“It seems he is not.”
“You sound confident. What have you learned?”
Rising, Thomas stretched. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. “You and Signy succeeded in convincing Nute that I am no imp, eager to devour little boys.”
The crowner looked puzzled over the significance of this.
“The child approached with caution this morning, perhaps reassured by the sight of Sir Fulke. Once here, he relaxed when I did not fly at him, claws extended.” The monk grinned. “When your brother sent him to Prioress Eleanor, Nute whispered that Signy had told him he must confess something to me. I walked with him a short distance along the road.”