Whispers of the Dead by Peter Tremayne Read Free Book Online Page A

was killed only minutes before.”
    Sister Corb’s mouth snapped shut. She seemed irritated at Fidelma’s logic.
    “Why would you accuse Brother Ross anyway?” asked Fidelma with interest.
    “I have had my say,” muttered the mistress of novitiates, her lips forming into a thin line of defiance.
    “I will tell you when you have answered my questions to my satisfaction,” replied Fidelma softly. The fact that there was no belligerence in her voice made it that much more imposing. Sister Corb was well aware of the powers of an advocate of the law courts.
    “It is well known that Brother Ross desired the girl,” she replied defensively.
    “Desired?”
    “Lusted for her.”
    Brother Echen snorted with derision.
    “That is, with all respect, only Sister Corb’s interpretation. Herjaundiced view of the intentions of men in any situation leads her to make leaps of imagination.”
    Fidelma swung ’round to him.
    “You do not share Sister Corb’s view?”
    “Ask Brother Ross himself.” the steward replied casually.
    “He liked the girl’s company. They were often together and he did not ridicule her, as some did. But he had no lecherous intentions.”
    “How do you know this?”
    “As steward of the community, it is my job to know things, especially to keep a watch for anything which might lead to a disturbance among the brethren.”
    “What, in this matter, might have led to a disturbance?”
    Brother Echen glanced at Sister Corb meaningfully.
    Fidelma turned and smiled at the abbot.
    “Father Abbot, if you and Sister Corb will wait with Brother Ross…?”
    She waited until they had moved out of earshot before turning back to Brother Echen.
    “Well?” she prompted.
    “Sister Corb was creating trouble for Brother Ross. She was jealous.”
    “Jealous?”
    Brother Echen shrugged eloquently.
    “You know…”
    “I don’t know. Tell me.”
    “Corb was jealous of Ross because she wanted Aróc for herself. Sister Corb is… well, that is why she has a peculiar attitude to men and ascribes lust as their only motive.”
    “Did Aróc respond to Corb’s advances, if that is what she made?”
    “No. Aróc was otherworldly, as I have said. She did not care for any physical contact. She was one of the aesthetes sworn to a life of celibacy. She rejected Corb even as she would have rejected Ross had he thrust his attentions on her.”
    “What makes you sure that he did not?”
    “He told me that he did not. He enjoyed her company and speaking to her of the saints and of the Faith. He respected her too much.”
    “How well did you know Sister Aróc?”
    Brother Echen shrugged.
    “Not well at all. She had been six months with the community. She was still technically under the instruction of the mistress of the novitiates—Sister Corb. Truth to say that I spoke only once to her and that was when her case had come up before the council.”
    “Her case?”
    “Corb had been asked to report on her novitiates by the abbot when we sat in council to discuss the affairs of the community. That was when Corb talked of Sister Aróc’s eccentric behavior. It was decided that I should question her about the voices she claimed to hear.”
    “And what did you decide?”
    Brother Echen shrugged.
    “She was not mad in any dangerous sense, if that is what you mean. However, her mind was not sound. She was ‘otherworldly,’ as have said. I have met one or two religious who claim to have spoken with Christ and his Holy Saints, and known many who have claimed as much, and more who have become saints themselves.”
    “Just one point more, where were you during the last hour?”
    Brother Echen grinned broadly.
    “With ten witnesses who will account for my presence, Sister. I was giving a class in calligraphy to our scribes for I am considered to have a good, firm hand.”
    “Ask Sister Corb to come to me,” Fidelma dismissed him.
    Sister Corb came but was still belligerent.
    “Why haven’t you spoken to Ross?” she