Chambers of Death (17 page)

All logic still demanded that she let this matter go, but her heart clenched in outrage at the very thought. Hilda had been chosen to hang, yet her guilt might rest only in the witnessing of something that could reveal the true killer—that and a woman’s weakness for a handsome man.

But the latter was God’s business alone. Tobye had had no wife and thus Hilda’s only sin was a passing but secret lust. Sin enough, for cert, but a minor one and easily purged with confession and penance. Neither king nor bishop would have demanded death for that.

Eleanor stilled her rushing thoughts, but silently staring into the graying darkness did not enlighten her. Everything she had considered was far too complicated and must be hiding the simpler answer, but her mind baulked from further pursuit. She would give up the attempt until dawn broke.

Eleanor slipped back to her bed, lay down, and shut her aching eyes against the growing light. Perhaps sleep would come now, although it was surely time for the Morning Office.

And thus it might have been, had God wanted his prioress to rest.

Instead, loud shouting from the courtyard sent Eleanor out of her bed and back to her feet.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The naked body of Mistress Luce twisted with each gust of wind that surged through the stable. Her face was a dusky red, her legs stained brown with foul-smelling excrement.

The steward turned away. “Cut her down,” he ordered.

Sir Reimund gestured at one of his men to climb into the loft to the beam where the hanging rope was tied.

Near the open door, Thomas stood next to his prioress and looked up at the body. He was often drawn to a corpse’s unblinking eyes. Sometimes he could read fear in a dead man’s stare, while others left the world with wonder frozen in their gaze, but Mistress Luce seemed to have greeted Death with incredulity. Was there meaning in this difference, he asked himself, or did no one quite comprehend the nature of eternity until the soul first looked into it? He shook the thought away and concentrated on details more pertinent to the dangling corpse. And indeed he found an interesting one.

“My lady, I do not think she…” he began.

She put a finger to her closed lips. “I concur.”

Mistress Constance, who stood near the ladder to the loft, began to sob, the sound akin to a wailing hiccup. The physician’s widow walked to her side and put an arm around the woman’s shoulders, but Constance shook off her attempt at comfort and moaned yet louder.

The steward glared at his daughter-in-law and muttered something incomprehensible, but whatever he said failed to moderate the woman’s cries.

Again, Eleanor cursed herself for ignorance of common practice in this place. She had learned that it was Constance who had discovered the body, rather than a groom. What reason had she to come to the stable at such an early hour? Surely her duties did not extend to the care of horses.

The man sent up to the loft had reached the beam where the rope was knotted. He pointed to it and shouted a question down to Sir Reimund.

“Just cut through it,” the sheriff replied, then put his hand sympathetically on Master Stevyn’s shoulder. “Might she have killed herself?” the sheriff asked in a hopeful voice.

“She had no cause,” the steward replied, facing the man with an angry look.

“Nor was she likely to have done so,” Thomas added, then looked down at his prioress with silent apology for speaking against her command.

“Continue,” she murmured. “As Eve’s daughter, I am bereft of logic. While you and the sheriff engage in disputation, I shall seek to give Mistress Constance a woman’s comfort.” With a conspiratorial smile, she walked off toward the two women by the ladder.

“Shouldn’t you be on your knees in the chapel, praying for Mistress Luce’s soul?” Reimund snarled at the monk. “Leave this matter to me. You have a most unfortunate tendency to interfere in secular matters, Brother.”

“If she committed self-murder, she cannot be buried in sanctified ground,” Thomas replied, his voice tense with defiance. “Surely Master Stevyn would find some comfort in knowing that his wife was both innocent of this particular sin and might find rest in a proper grave. Would you deny him that?”

“On what do you base your belief, Brother?” The steward gestured for the sheriff to remain silent.

“If we look at the position of the body in relation to the loft, we can see that she could not have jumped from there and killed herself.”

“Stop!” Master Stevyn shouted up to the man who had begun sawing at the rope from which the dead wife was suspended.

The man hesitated.

Sir Reimund quickly nodded concurrence although his expression suggested reluctance.

“Go on, Brother,” Master Stevyn said.

“If she was determined to kill herself, she would have made sure the rope stretched down far enough to break her neck as she jumped from the loft. Instead, the noose was only a few inches below the planks of the loft. Had she wanted, she could have pulled herself back to safety when she began to choke. In any case, she would have dropped only far enough to bruise her neck and perhaps frighten herself but not to die.”

“Women are deficient in logic, Brother. As distressed as it makes me to conclude this about Master Stevyn’s wife, I fear she may not have understood what she was doing and thus bungled the entire matter.” Reimund did manage to look suitably grieved.

The steward snorted in disgust. “Have you all noted what Brother Thomas has observed and heard his skillful argument?” Stevyn pointed to each man standing nearby. All nodded concurrence. Now satisfied that there would be no finding of self-murder in his wife’s death, he turned in triumph to Sir Reimund. “You may now cut her down.”

The sheriff allowed his man to finish cutting the rope. Mistress Luce’s body dropped to the stable floor with a dull thud, her legs spread and her sex exposed.

Her husband covered his eyes.

Several gaped.

“Have none of you a charitable heart?” Mistress Maud hurried out of the shadows and threw her cloak over the corpse. Then she spun around and glared at the sheriff. “As mortals, women may be both foolish and sinful creatures, Sir Reimund, but that does not mean the body of Master Stevyn’s wife should be left exposed and gazed upon as if she were no more than some common whore.”

“I want her prepared for honorable burial,” the steward said, his voice catching in a swallowed sob.

Maud gave instructions to those who came forward to take the body away.

The crowd began to disperse, their curiosity sated.

“This was no accident?” Maud suddenly cried out to Thomas. “You believe it to be murder?”

Heads quickly turned, and faces lit up at the prospect of more fodder for gossip.

“That is the most likely conclusion,” the monk replied. “Lacking in reason or not, most mortals of any gender are more likely to grab at the chance for life when they find themselves unable to breath. She would have saved herself.”

The sheriff still looked eager to argue the point.

“Let the monk finish,” Stevyn growled, his fist raised as if longing to find something to strike.

Sir Reimund wisely stepped away.

“Even assuming she wanted to die, she would not have chosen to choke slowly to death. She would have pulled herself up and reset the rope so she would drop farther and commit the act quickly. If we examine the body, I think we will find that she was dead before she was hanged and the killer bungled the deception.”

Reimund bent to pull the temporary shroud back.

“In the name of God’s mercy, let a woman do that!” Maud snapped. “She is the steward’s wife!”

Eleanor left Constance and walked toward the physician’s widow. “Mistress Maud could examine the body for any signs of foul play,” she said. “With her experience as apothecary under the guidance of her physician husband, she has learned good skills, and I will be happy to assist. Thus propriety will be maintained.”

Maud nodded. In the weak light, her face was a faded gray.

“We will share our observations with Brother Thomas, and he can resolve questions or doubts as well as correct our faults. His work at Tyndal’s hospital is well known,” the prioress carefully added.

“Then do so,” the steward said, looking at both women with pitiful gratitude. “After you finish, your monk should bring the findings to me. I must attend other matters until he has need of me, and Sir Reimund is free to return to his many other pressing duties until summoned.”

Looking into Stevyn’s narrowed eyes, the sheriff must have known he had little choice but to agree.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Eleanor rushed back to the manor, her faithful guard hurrying in silence behind her. The swiftness of her pace was born of impatience to view the body as well as her anger over this latest, and quite needless, cruel death. While the sheriff fussed over his tender ambitions, a killer stalked. Would this violence never end?

Nor could she ignore her own failings that contributed to Luce’s death. Had she but insisted on counseling the woman yesterday! But that was past, and penance would be done. In the meantime, she hoped that she was finally getting closer to a solution.

While her monk presented his arguments to the sheriff and steward in the stable, Eleanor had gone to soothe Stevyn’s daughter-in-law who had been left alone to cower in the shadows. For once, the woman’s rigid certitude had cracked, and she trembled like a doe sensing danger.

Eleanor’s conversation with Mistress Constance had been too short, and rather troubling, but the woman had begged leave to go to the chapel for prayer. Eager though the prioress was to question her and clarify details, this plea was not something she would refuse.

“Patience is a virtue,” the prioress now whispered aloud, knowing how often she needed the reminder. At least the woman had seemed willing to talk later.

Eleanor shuddered. Wasn’t that the same request made by Mistress Luce?

She stopped so quickly that her guard almost ran into her.

And now the steward’s wife was dead. But surely Mistress Constance would be safe enough in the brighter light of day, the prioress decided, then continued on her way as she pondered what she had heard in the stable.

The cause of Constance’s distress most certainly was not the sight of her mother-in-law’s corpse. On that discovery, the woman firmly declared she was glad Mistress Luce must face God with all her sins intact. Eleanor was not surprised there had been no affection between the women, but the statement was indicative of a spiteful heart and most unworthy of one who claimed to be pious.

Other than that one statement, Constance had said little that made sense, but Eleanor did pluck one potentially helpful detail out of the woman’s babbling: she had apparently followed Luce to the stable. If she had pursued her mother-in-law, Eleanor suspected the woman hoped to catch the steward’s wife with a new lover. From what she knew of Ranulf’s wife, she could well imagine the woman’s expression of sanctimonious pleasure when she confronted Master Stevyn with irrefutable proof of his wife’s latest sins. But perhaps she was just being uncharitable toward Constance, and the woman had meant only to stop Mistress Luce before she once again committed adultery.

When the prioress tried to find out why Ranulf’s wife had followed Luce, and how she even found out what her mother-in-law was doing, Constance retreated into wide-eyed silence. Eleanor could not shatter it. Had Constance seen something that would help identify the killer? Prayer would surely calm the woman enough to let her speak of it.

Yet the possibility of a new lover might be important as well. If Luce had found a replacement for Tobye, was he another man of low rank? Or might he have been Huet, someone else Constance disdained? If so, the revelation of such great sin between two people she hated would certainly give her great satisfaction.

As much as Eleanor hoped such a relationship did not exist, she was forced to consider the possibility. Huet had not demonstrated any interest in Luce, while her attentions to him were of questionable nature. Was it all quite innocent or was he simply better at dissemblance than she? He had proven his talent at that when he entertained them by skillfully imitating the ways of several different people. She could not discount the relationship as completely as she wished, and, although many had gathered to see the excitement surrounding Luce’s hanging, Huet was notably missing. Was that absence meaningful? Unable to come to any conclusion in that matter, she went on to consider another problem.

How had Constance learned that her mother-in-law was going to the stable at that hour? Although it seemed unlikely, Eleanor did wonder if Ranulf’s wife had actually been told by Mistress Luce. Might she even have been the visitor for whom the second cup had been brought by that rude servant?

Eleanor doubted the two women were ever in each other’s company, unless some event or custom demanded it, and was thus inclined to dismiss the idea of such a meeting. There was little enough privacy in any dwelling, and much was overheard that ought not to have been. It was possible that Constance had listened in on some conversation meant to be private or had accidentally overheard it.

When the prioress tried to discover why she had gone to the stable, however, the woman had retreated into terrified moans. Even though Eleanor rephrased her questions to gently include promises of God’s forgiveness, Constance had cried out in tremulous voice that she must go to the chapel for prayer before she spoke any more to mortals. Without pausing for more than the conventional courtesy, she had then pushed past the prioress, mumbling that she might seek her later, and rushed away,

The entire encounter had been bewildering to say the least—and yet so promising.

***

As the prioress climbed the stone stairs to the chambers above the main hall, she set aside all thoughts of Mistress Constance and concentrated on her next problem. How might she handle the examination of Luce’s corpse with the physician’s widow, a situation fraught with its own difficulties?

Eleanor bade her guard remain without, then entered the room where the body had been taken. The steward’s dead wife lay on the top of a large storage chest, her body both naked and still filthy. Someone had put lit candles around the corpse, both for light and to mask the stench of body waste. Nearby, on a small table, there was a basin of water that sat in front of a crude wooden cross, resting against the wall.

Mistress Maud knelt beside the corpse.

Apprehensive in the presence of a woman she liked but could not disregard as a murderer, the prioress left the chamber door open and walked to the widow’s side.

“What is your opinion on the manner of her death?”

“Murder is a cruel act. We all should have the chance to cleanse our souls before dying, and her sins were no worse than those of many others. She did not deserve such lack of mercy.”

“Then you conclude she was murdered?”

“Your monk was most observant. Indeed, he is as clever as he is handsome.” Maud smiled.

The smile was infectious, and the prioress returned it despite the grim discussion and her chaste vocation. “Why do you agree with him?”

“As Brother Thomas noted, someone attempting self-murder usually repents as soon as he begins to choke and tries to save himself by loosening the noose or trying to climb the rope to safety. There are no scratches around her neck from fingernails, nor are there rope burns on her palms. I think she was dead when hanged.” Maud brushed her hand over the corpse’s eyelids to shut them. “And the one who killed her was a poor dissembler.”

“How do you know such things?”

“A fair question. Have you seen men hanged for their crimes?”

“A common enough event,” Eleanor replied. “On my travels outside the priory, I have passed by gibbets where the condemned still danced in the air as well as those left as fodder for birds.” What she did not say was that the sight troubled her and she had never stopped to stare.

The widow fell silent and tears began to flow down her cheeks. “They claw at their necks…”

The prioress touched her arm in comfort.

“Forgive me, my lady,” Maud said, rubbing her cheeks dry. “I also accompanied my husband when he was summoned to examine those who died by their own hand as well as at the hand of others. Being a weak woman, I did not have his strength to look on their faces without emotion. Yet…” She straightened her shoulders and went on, pointing to Luce’s neck. “Now look here.”

Eleanor could not help thinking that the widow was showing courage enough now. Was it because she disliked the dead woman, or perhaps had even killed her? Or had she simply mustered the strength of will because a knowledgeable eye was required? The prioress bent to look at the two marks Mistress Maud was indicating.

“See this bruise? And the one here?” She shifted the body so Eleanor could see the back of Luce’s neck. “See how my hands might almost fit the marks? And the rope burn is minimal. It does not cut as deeply as it would if she had leapt from the loft and let the noose take the full weight of her falling body. I would say that Mistress Luce was strangled, then hanged to hide the finger marks.”

Eleanor knew she must consider whether or not this woman was the killer. As argument in favor of that conclusion, the prioress noted that Maud’s appearance in the stable had been swift, yet her entrance unseen. The widow might be Huet’s lover, however she had never exhibited any greater affection for Mistress Luce than had Constance. The steward’s wife had also ordered Maud from the land, a command that had been blatantly ignored.

Against such a supposition, the prioress knew that few murderers would be so willing to argue that a body, which might yet be deemed a suicide, was the victim of foul play. And were she to take heed of her own observations, Eleanor would conclude that the bruises were too far apart to fit the span of Maud’s fingers no matter how she stretched them.

Taking a deep breath, Eleanor decided to trust her instinct and believe this woman to be innocent. The elimination of even one suspect was progress. As for the value of Maud’s testimony in law, it might not be taken with the seriousness granted a man of like background, but Brother Thomas would listen to her and give weight to her conclusions by taking them on as his own.

“You know everyone at this manor, Mistress. Who do you think had cause to kill the groom, attack the cook, and now murder the steward’s wife? Proof is still required for any finding of guilt, but your considered opinion might help bring a swifter end to these horrors.”

Maud stepped back from the body and turned her face to the window as if seeking some guidance from the light outside.

Eleanor continued to press for an answer. “I know Sir Reimund would prefer to find the slayer amongst the servants, but I fear the culprit may be of higher birth than that.”

She studied Maud, longing to read some hint of an answer in her expression. But the widow would not meet her eyes and remained as motionless as Lot’s wife when she was turned into the pillar of salt.

“Forgive me if I impugn an innocent, but I must ask if Master Stevyn might have committed all or one of the killings.”

Maud spun around, her face pale as she stared at the prioress with obvious shock. “Never, my lady! Flaws he most certainly has, but he would not have killed his wife or the groom. As for Hilda, she has long been in his service and high in his esteem. He would never have harmed her.”

“Surely he knew that Mistress Luce had put the cuckold’s horns on his head. Many would say such a betrayal gives any man just cause for killing the lover, even the wife. Less reason, perhaps, for what was done to Hilda.”

“I swear to you that he could never have killed either her or Tobye. Aye, he knew of the adultery, but he is innocent of murder!”

“I do not doubt your word but must understand the basis for your belief. Once more facts are made clear, perhaps they will point to another suspect. How can you be certain that he did not commit either crime?’

Maud began to twist her hands together as if trying to scrub an offensive stain away.

Eleanor tilted her head and remained silent, patiently waiting for the widow’s evident distress to birth an explanation, one she believed would surely be of import.

Bursting into broken sobs, Maud fell to her knees and lifted her hands, her expression piteous and pleading. “My lady, my soul is most wicked. I beg for your prayers and pity for I have a confession to make!”