The chamber was not dark; there was the soft moonlight by which she could make out distinct forms. That she must be in the right chamber was evidenced by the fact that through the window directly opposite she could see, across the courtyard, a flame flickering in a window. Brother Sigeric’s candle, lit to guide her!
She briefly glanced around. There were two beds and, thankfully, only one was occupied. There was no other person in the room.
Leaning forward, she shook the sleeping form gently by the shoulder. The girl started awake and as her mouth opened, Fidelma reached forward and placed her hand over it to stop any cry of alarm. She hoped that Brother Sigeric was right, for he had told her that the girl spoke a good Latin.
‘Quiet! I mean you no harm,’ she hissed. ‘Are you Inginde?’
The frightened girl, eyes wide above Fidelma’s hand, nodded.
‘Then I need your help. My name is Fidelma-I am a friend of Sigeric. Do you know his name?’
The girl nodded briefly again.
‘Then I am about to release my hand. Do not cry out.’ She removed her hand and went on quietly: ‘I have come to help Sigeric find Valretrade. She used to share this chamber with you, but we are told that she has decided to leave this abbey and the city.’
‘That is what is said,’ replied Sister Inginde cautiously.
‘Sigeric does not believe it.’
‘May I sit up?’ asked the girl.
Fidelma moved back and sat on the wooden bed opposite to the girl. Sister Inginde swung out of her bed and reached for a robe, which she draped round her shoulders.
‘I cannot see you well,’ she said. ‘What did you say your name was? Fidelia?’
‘No, Fidelma.’
‘An unusual name.’
‘Not in my country. You would call it Hibernia, a land to the west.’
‘Then you are not of this community?’
‘I am attending the council.’
The girl shook her head. ‘No women are allowed to attend the council…’ she began and then paused. ‘Oh, so you are the person that the bishop mentioned during evening prayers the other day. You are investigating the death of the Hibernian abbot. How is that possible?’
‘In my land I am a lawyer. Bishop Leodegar has given authority to me to investigate.’
The girl, Inginde, still seemed suspicious. ‘But if you have the bishop’s approval, what are you doing creeping into the chambers of the Sisters in the middle of the night like a thief?’
Fidelma chuckled dryly. ‘Perhaps this is the only way I can seek the truth without being thwarted by your abbatissa-Audofleda.’ The girl suddenly shivered. ‘It is she who says that Valretrade has left the Domus Femini,’ Fidelma added. ‘Is it true?’
‘Valretrade has not been here for nearly a week,’ confirmed the girl.
‘And she left of her own free will?’
‘So Abbess Audofleda tells us.’
Fidelma leaned forward, hearing caution in her tone. ‘Do you believe it?’
The girl stirred uneasily. ‘Why would I not believe it?’ she replied guardedly.
‘Let us be honest with each other,’ Fidelma urged. ‘Tell me what you know about Sister Valretrade and her disappearance from this abbey.’
Sister Inginde hesitated and then said: ‘I knew she was having an affair with Brother Sigeric.’
‘Only an affair?’ pressed Fidelma.
‘A figure of speech. They were meeting regularly, but that was no business of mine. They were discreet, but because I am sharing this cell, I could not help but observe her signal to Sigeric and his signal to her. Valretrade confessed to me about her relationship.’
‘Did anyone else in the community know of it?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘So tell me how she came to disappear. Was it on the night Abbot Dabhóc was killed? Or did you see her afterwards?’
‘We were told at morning prayers about the abbot. And I was told that Valretrade had left while we were on our way to morning prayers.’
‘Tell me what happened.’
‘Well, there is not much to it, really. That night, Valretrade put a candle on the windowledge there,’ she indicated with her head, ‘which was what she did whenever she arranged to meet Brother Sigeric. When she saw the answering candle in his chamber window, across the courtyard…’ The girl paused and frowned as she glanced out of the window. ‘Why, there is a candle burning across there now-in Brother Sigeric’s cell. What does that mean?’
‘That is to guide me to the right room,’ explained Fidelma. ‘Go on.’
‘I saw his candle alight that night,’ continued the girl. ‘Valretrade put on her robe and left to meet him.’
‘She didn’t return?’
Sister Inginde shook her head.
‘She left her clothes and belongings here?’
‘That was a curious thing. They were here when I went down to the wash house first thing in that morning. I was wondering why she was so late back. When I returned-they were gone. I presumed that she had come back while I was at my ablutions and had taken them.’
‘And she departed from the Domus Femini without saying goodbye to you but finding time to write a note to the abbess?’ Fidelma spoke in a tone of disbelief.
Sister Inginde shrugged. ‘What else could I think?’
‘When were you told that she had left the community for good?’
‘At the midday meal. That was when Sister Radegund told me that Valretrade had left a note and gone.’
‘How long had you known Valretrade?’
‘Since I came here a year ago.’
‘And you had always shared this chamber with her?’
‘Since my arrival,’ confirmed the other.
‘Therefore, you must have thought it odd that she had left without a word to you. Also, didn’t you think it strange that it was at the same time as the abbot was killed?’
‘From what we were told, the abbot’s death had nothing to do with Valretrade.’
‘Did Sister Radegund show you this note that Valretrade had written?’
Again came the shake of the head.
‘Did you ask to see it?’
Sister Inginde chuckled softly. ‘You don’t ask questions of Sister Radegund and certainly not of Abbess Audofleda.’
Fidelma could agree with the girl’s statement.
‘Did she give any indication of why she wanted to see Sigeric that night?’
‘Surely that much is obvious, Sister? They were lovers.’
‘Nothing else? There was no other concern?’ She noticed the slight hesitation. ‘Go on,’ she urged. ‘There was something then?’
‘It was just her attitude,’ replied the other. ‘I think there was some air of excitement when she came to the chamber that evening, something on her mind. I am sure that she had heard or seen something that had…I suppose “upset” is the word I am looking for. Yes, that had upset her. I asked her what the matter was but she refused to say.’
‘Would you agree that if she was leaving the abbey of her own free will, she would have mentioned it to you or spoken to Sigeric?’
‘So far as I suspected, she had met up with Sigeric and they had run off together. I did not know that she hadn’t until Sigeric came to the community a few days later to enquire where she was.’
Fidelma frowned. ‘I thought Sister Radegund was the only one who knew that?’
‘I was near the doors and overheard him speaking to her.’
‘Didn’t it make you suspicious?’
The girl shrugged. ‘Valretrade was from Autun. She had a blood sister living here. I thought she might have gone there and waited for a time when she could have contacted Sigeric. I know nothing else.’
Fidelma sat silently for a while, turning the information over in her mind. She felt that there was nothing more to be gathered from Sister Inginde. It was disappointing. There seemed no obvious link between the death and disappearance that she could see.
‘Thank you, Sister Inginde,’ Fidelma said, rising. ‘There is no need to tell you that this matter must be kept strictly between ourselves.’