Sister Buan looked as if she was about to smile, then she shook her head.
‘You have a wicked sense of humour, Brother. And I will confess this: Cinaed was not capable of rising to such an occasion.’
‘So Cinaed’s relationship with the abbess was purely to work with her, or she with him, on some of the scholastic projects?’ clarified Eadulf. ‘Do you know which works she co-operated on?’
Sister Buan raised a shoulder and let it fall.
‘I know there was a recent one that had just been completed before the abbess left for Breanainn’s mount. Cinaed had passed it to Brother Eolas the librarian who, having read it, came to see Cinaed in a state of great excitement.’
‘What did he say?’
‘I do not know. Cinaed took him into his study but I heard their voices raised.’
‘Do you know why? Didn’t Cinaed make any comment?’ asked Fidelma. Sister Buan simply made another negative gesture.
‘All I know is that, as he was leaving, I heard Brother Eolas say that the Venerable Mac Faosma would fall in such a rage when he read this work. Ah, yes, I recall… He said that “even with Eoganan two years dead, this will cause division and anger”. Even as he left, I think he was trying to persuade Cinaed not to insist on placing it in the library.’
‘Do you recognise the title Scripta quae ad rempublicum geredam pertinet?’ asked Fidelma.
The woman gestured helplessly. ‘I have told you that I have no knowledge of any other language saving my everyday speech.’
Fidelma sighed. ‘I will ask Brother Eolas about this. I suspect, however,
‘It may be so,’ agreed Sister Buan. ‘He was a great one for preaching how this or that ruler should behave towards their neighbours.’
‘Did Cinaed do all his own calligraphy?’
Sister Buan looked bewildered.
Sister Fidelma was patient. ‘When he wrote his work and made the final draft, did he write it all himself?’
The slight woman brightened. ‘Oh yes. He was proud of his hand. But he did use Brother Faolchair as a copyist. Faolchair made copies of most of Cinaed’s works.’
‘Of course,’ Eadulf said in an aside, ‘Brother Eolas told us that Faolchair was copying that book on precious stones, what was it — De ars sordida gemmae?’
‘A last question,’ Fidelma said, after a moment or two’s thought. ‘How did Cinaed and you get along with Abbot Erc?’
‘Abbot Erc?’ Sister Buan pursed her lips thoughtfully. ‘He left us alone. To me he was always remote.’
‘Remote?’
‘I came to this abbey because I had no family to support me. No status except that I was young, strong and ready to work. So I came here and joined the brethren.’ She sniffed. ‘And for the first years I found that life was just as hard. The abbot gave me the chance to trade for the abbey but he disapproved of my marriage to Cinaed.’
‘But when you married, when you became Cinaed’s cetmuintir, the abbot must have acknowledged you as such?’ Fidelma said, making it into a question.
Sister Buan made a sound that seemed to indicate derision.
‘Abbot Erc was so against our union that he refused to perform the ceremony. In fact, no one here would do it for fear of the abbot’s displeasure.’
Fidelma’s brows came together.
‘So Abbot Erc was not such a friend to Cinaed or you?’
‘No friend at all. Had it not been for the visit of an old acquaintance of Cinaed’s from the abbey of Colman, one who was ordained to confirm the marriage contract, we would have had no one to bless our union, for Cinaed was not able, in his frail years, to travel far.’
Fidelma rose slowly from her seat, followed by Eadulf.
‘Thank you, Sister Buan, you have been most helpful. What is your intention now? I presume that you will remain in the abbey?’
The woman looked almost helpless.
‘That I don’t know. No one has advised me on my position. I was cetmuintir to Cinaed. Am I allowed to stay in his chambers? Am I allowed to pursue compensation for his murder? Can I keep his possessions? I do not know my rights in this matter.’
‘No one has spoken to you?’
‘No one. There is no trained Brehon in the community. Only Brother Eolas has some knowledge of the law and he is hardly sympathetic to me.’
‘Then leave it to me, Sister Buan. I will see what the books of law have to say on this matter. But I am sure you have certain rights as his widow.’
Fidelma knew that all religious communities were still subject to the law of the Fenechus. Each abbey was part of the territory of the ruling clan and the clan assembly allotted the use of the lands on which the abbeys and churches stood to the clergy for their support on the condition that it was not regarded as private property. One of the assembly members, a lay person, acted as the liaison between the abbot and bishop and the local ruler who ensured the law was carried out. In this instance, Fidelma had already learnt that Conri was that person.
However, Sister Buan’s case lay in an area of law that Fidelma had not considered before and had little knowledge of. The relationship of individuals and their own property within the abbey needed to be checked. She would have to look up the exact position of Sister Buan within those laws. Was she considered to have the same rights as the wife of a layman? If so those rights were considerable. She was sure the abbey library, the tech-screptra, would have the necessary law books.
Sister Buan rose with a brightness in her eyes.
‘How can I thank you, Sister? You have been most kind to me…’
Fidelma felt a little uncomfortable as the woman grabbed her hands with enthusiasm.
‘No thanks are necessary for I have not yet done anything. But I will do so. I may be away from Ard Fheatra for a short time but have no fear. I shall return and resolve this matter of your status as well as that of the murder of your husband.’
Outside the chamber, Fidelma paused and looked at Eadulf who had grown fairly quiet towards the end of their interview.
‘You seem distracted.’
Eadulf, still deep in thought, raised his head.
‘Distracted? Oh, it’s just that I had a curious feeling of having met Sister Buan somewhere before. But I can’t recall where. It’s irritating, like an itch you want to scratch but can’t find the location of.’
Fidelma smiled indulgently.
‘Well, I find Sister Buan most interesting,’ she said.
Eadulf raised an eyebrow in query.
‘In what way “interesting”?’ he asked.
‘The amount of information that tripped from her lips compared to the stone wall that has been erected by everyone else, from the abbot to the physician, from the steward to the Venerable Mac Faosma. None of them have been as forthcoming as Sister Buan. And her reports of conversations, her interpretations of the burnt note… so exact. The question is “why?”. Why has everyone else sought to give us as little information as possible?’
‘Because they all have something to hide?’ hazarded Eadulf.
‘Or is it that Sister Buan is misdirecting us?’ suggested Fidelma pointedly.
‘I don’t think that she is intelligent enough to play such a deep game.’
‘Never underestimate a woman’s intelligence, Eadulf,’ Fidelma admonished.
Eadulf glanced slyly at her.
‘That is the last thing I would do. If I have learnt nothing else in my life these last few years, I have learnt that simple philosophy. On the other hand,’ Eadulf went on, ‘maybe there is some strange conspiracy here? What was it that Cinaed was fearful of?’
‘And if there was a conspiracy, why would the abbot, if he is part of it, allow Conr to ride to Cashel to bring us here to investigate the matter?’
‘You forget that he did not know who Conri would be bringing to the abbey,’ Eadulf pointed out. ‘But I’ll agree that Abbot Erc did not really want us to investigate Cinaed’s death.’
‘It is bewildering,’ agreed Fidelma. ‘One thing is certain, we will have to question everyone again in the light of what Sister Buan has told us.’