‘How did you respond?’
‘I told her, as I told you that the matter had caused the prince grave concern. When she heard that, she seemed puzzled.’
‘What did she say?’
‘Nothing of consequence. She merely thanked me and passed back into Airmid’s house. Meanwhile I went on to the laochtech. I wanted to see if there was anything I could find out relating to the release of the guard.’
Airmid had calmed down somewhat but she was still reluctant to accept that nothing had been said to upset the girl. ‘Whatever made her hang herself must have happened soon after she saw Fidelma,’ she observed suspiciously.
‘Tell me the sequence of the events,’ pressed Fidelma. ‘When was she found? Who discovered her?’
Airmid gathered her thoughts before answering. ‘I was working in the apothecary when my dog started to bark from the house. I waited a while, thinking that Ciarnat would deal with it, but the noise went on. So I finally left my work and went to the house, intending to chide the girl for not attending to the dog. It was I who found her. She was hanging from a roof beam with the dog at her feet, gazing up and howling.’ She paused and sniffed loudly. ‘I was not strong enough to take down the body. I rushed out and spotted Conri and one of his men passing and called out to them. They came in and …’
Fidelma turned to Conri. ‘Better you should tell me what you saw.’
‘I was with Socht,’ he nodded to the warrior standing behind Brehon Faolchair. ‘We accompanied the lady Airmid into the house and saw the girl just as she described. While Socht supported the body I stood on a chair and cut the rope. The poor lass had choked to death. I sent Socht immediately for Brehon Faolchair but, knowing your involvement in this, I came straightway to find you.’
‘With your permission,’ Fidelma said to Brehon Faolchair, ‘I want to see where this happened.’
They moved to the house, Conri leading the way. Ciarnat still lay on the floor, a coverlet over her body. Socht was standing nearby.
‘Where was she hanging?’ Fidelma asked, ignoring the body for a moment.
‘From that roof beam,’ Conri replied, indicating one of the beams that crossed above them. Fidelma noticed a wooden chair, standing upright, below it. Seeing the meaning in her glance, Conri added: ‘The chair was on its side when we came in. I climbed on it in order to sever cord from which she had hanged herself.’
Fidelma looked at the height of the chair and then up at the beam. ‘You examined the body, of course, Airmid?’
The apothecary nodded. ‘Only inasmuch as I pronounced she was dead. That was after Conri cut down the body, although I could see she was dead when I first came in and saw her hanging from the beam.’
‘Just so.’
Fidelma now bent down by the body and, gently removing the covering, she stood back and gazed thoughtfully at the dead girl. Ciarnat lay on her back. Her eyes were closed and her features were not as badly disfigured from the effects of the hanging as Fidelma might have expected. When someone is throttled to death at the end of a rope, the face is usually discoloured and the lips blue, the tongue often protruding. But here, the girl’s features seemed almost to be in repose, as if she were asleep. Fidelma stood up straight and turned to Eadulf.
‘Have a look at the body, Eadulf. You also, Airmid.’
Eadulf moved forward and went down on one knee. After a moment, he was joined by Airmid, visibly put out at what she saw as having her judgement questioned by Fidelma.
‘Strange,’ Eadulf muttered as he peered at the girl’s face and then the neck.
Fidelma guessed that he had spotted the very same thing as she had.
Airmid stiffened in annoyance. ‘What is so strange?’ she demanded.
‘Help me turn the body over,’ Eadulf instructed, oblivious to Airmid’s angry tone.
The physician hesitated and then ungraciously helped him turn the body over, face down. Again, Eadulf paid particular attention to the girl’s neck, parting Ciarnat’s long hair so he could examine the nape and then moving up the back of the head.
Eventually, he gave a long sigh, and looking directly at Airmid, he said one word. ‘Well?’
Airmid moved closer and parted the hair exactly as he had done … then gave a quick gasp.
‘I did not examine her so closely before,’ she said as if justifying something.
Fidelma had known there was something out of place. ‘What is it?’ she asked.
Eadulf glanced up. ‘In my opinion, the girl was unconscious or dead before she was hoisted up on the beam. Judging by her relaxed features, I would say she was already dead. She had suffered a severe blow on the back of the head. There is an abrasion there, with some bleeding and evidence of bone fragments. Clots of blood are visible on the nape of the neck and blood has dripped on to the back of her dress.’
Fidelma turned to Airmid. ‘Do you agree?’
The physician glanced up distractedly. ‘I had not noticed it before,’ she confessed. ‘I just confirmed that she was dead. However, the injury could have been caused when Conri cut her down. The body could have fallen so that-’
‘Beg pardon, lady Airmid.’ It was Socht who interrupted. ‘You are forgetting one thing.’
They turned to focus their attention on him. He had stood silent all this time. For a moment he looked from one to another of them, slightly confused as to whom to address.
‘You may recall that my lord Conri and I came in to cut the body down. While he took the chair to climb up, I stood under the body of the girl to support it. When the body was cut loose, I took the weight and lowered it gently down on to the ground. I was careful, just in case there was still life left – but there was none.’
‘In other words, the injuries were not caused after she was cut down but before she was hoisted up to the beam?’ Fidelma summed up.
‘That is the logical deduction,’ Eadulf said, ‘that she was dead before being strangled by the rope.’
‘Do you agree with Brother Eadulf’s observation?’ Fidelma asked Airmid.
There was a silence and then: ‘I agree,’ she replied solemnly.
Brehon Faolchair moved forward to gaze down at the body, a look of horror on his face. ‘Then we are now saying that this was not suicide, but …?’
‘But murder,’ Fidelma affirmed grimly. ‘That is exactly what we are saying.’
She said to Conri, who was looking bemused at these new revelations, ‘You say that you stood on that chair to cut her down. Where was the chair exactly?’
‘I picked it up from the floor just there,’ Conri pointed to a spot under the beam. ‘She was hanging from there and the chair was lying on its side beneath her. I presumed that it must have been overturned by her when she kicked it free to hang herself.’
Fidelma nodded slightly. ‘Yes, our killer certainly dressed the scene to mislead us. If Ciarnat had climbed there with the intention of hanging herself, tied the rope and kicked the chair from under her, it would have been overturned in that position.’
She paused for a moment and looked at the chair thoughtfully.
‘Yet the killer made an important mistake.’
Eadulf had joined her now; he looked at the chair and then up at the beam. And then a brief smile of enlightenment crossed his features.
‘Shall I demonstrate?’ he offered. When Fidelma nodded, he said to Conri, ‘Would you oblige us by standing on the chair and showing us how you cut Ciarnat down?’
The warlord’s brows came together in bafflement. Nevertheless, he obediently climbed on to the chair and stretched towards the beam.
‘Your outstretched hand hardly reaches the beam,’ Eadulf pointed out.
‘As I said, I had to cut the cord that held her.’ He drew his sword and reached upwards. ‘See?’
‘I see exactly,’ nodded Eadulf.
Seeing everyone’s puzzlement, Fidelma explained. ‘You will note that Conri is a tall man, yet he could not reach the beam on which Ciarnat is said to have tied herself. Conri is, of course, taller than Ciarnat.’