Fortune Like the Moon by Alys Clare Read Free Book Online

the word together. ‘There must have been,’ the Abbess went on, ‘the thighs and the groin were drenched in blood.’
    ‘You must be mistaken,’ Josse said gently. ‘It’s quite understandable, Sister Euphemia, after all, it must have been an appalling job.’
    ‘I’m not mistaken.’ Euphemia spoke with dignity. ‘Sir, I may not know much, but I do know the female genitalia. I was a midwife, afore I entered the cloister, and I’ve seen more vaginas than you’ve had hot suppers. Oh!’ Belatedly remembering where she was, she blushed again, a hand to her mouth. ‘Forgive me, Abbess Helewise,’ she muttered from behind it, ‘I didn’t mean to sound coarse.’
    ‘I am sure you didn’t,’ Abbess Helewise said graciously. ‘Continue. You were explaining to us your familiarity with the private parts of the female anatomy.’
    ‘Yes, that I was. Well, see, the hymen was still there. In full, like.’ Euphemia paused, but nobody spoke. ‘She was virgo intacta when she died, Abbess. Nobody’d raped her, not then, not ever.’
    ‘But the blood?’ Josse said. ‘What about the blood?’
    ‘It came from her throat, I reckon,’ Euphemia said quietly. ‘Whoever did for her, he scooped up the blood from her cut neck and smeared it on her – smeared it down there. Left her there, skirts up over her belly, legs all open, covered in blood.’
    There was silence in the room as they all thought about that.
    Then the Abbess said, ‘Someone killed her, and made it seem as though he had also raped her.’
    ‘Because,’ Josse added, ‘murder and murder plus rape are two different crimes.’
    The Abbess looked up and met his eye. Nodding slowly, she said, ‘Two very different crimes.’

Chapter Four
    ‘And now, if you please, Abbess Helewise,’ Josse said when, Sister Euphemia having gone back to her infirmary, they were once more alone, ‘I should be grateful if you would tell me everything you can recall of Gunnora’s last hours.’
    Helewise wondered if he had intended to sound so pompous. Studying him, observing the slight tension evident in the way he leaned forward in his seat, she decided in his favour. The man was nervous – perhaps uneasy at being inside a convent, it did affect some people that way, especially men – and his anxiety had given rise to an overformal tone of voice.
    He was also, she had noticed, considerably too large for the delicate little chair he was sitting on. Well, it was hardly more than a stool, really, all right for a lightly built woman but not equal to the task of supporting a tall and broad-shouldered man. One, moreover, who appeared to have an innate restlessness, so that, trying to keep still on his inadequate seat, the effort was readily apparent.
    It was up to her, Helewise decided, to put him at his ease. With that in mind, she arranged her face in what her late husband had been wont to refer to as her despot-after-a-good-dinner expression. Smiling benevolently at her visitor, she noticed brief alarm, quickly replaced by a tentative answering smile.
    Oh, dear. Perhaps dear old Ivo had been right about the despot.
    ‘How much do you know about the daily routine of a convent, my lord d’Acquin?’ she began. ‘I ask because, without a working knowledge of our life, it will be more difficult for you to remark on any oddities in Gunnora’s final days.’
    ‘I understand. Madam, I know little other than that your hours are determined by the saying of the offices, and that your prayers intercede with Almighty God on behalf of all mankind.’
    It was nicely said, and she inclined her head in recognititon. ‘Indeed, we follow the discipline of the Divine Offices, throughout the twenty-four hours of the day. Our rule, like that of the great foundation at Fontevraud, is modelled on the Benedictine Rule, although there are certain significant modifications. However, we are not like a strictly enclosed order, in that prayer within our own house is not our sole occupation.