Fidelma was surprised.
‘Why wait until near dawn to go to the library to read?’
Berrach laughed. There was no mirth in it.
‘They think I am a simpleton who can’t even think let alone read. I have taught myself to read my own tongue and I can also read Latin, Greek and even some Hebrew.’
Fidelma gazed thoughtfully at her but the girl did not seem to be boasting, simply stating fact. An extraneous thought abruptly crossed Fidelma’s mind.
‘Did you know that this abbey has a copy of the annals of Clonmacnoise?’
Sister Berrach nodded immediately.
‘It is a copy made by our librarian,’ she volunteered.
‘Have you read it?’
‘No. But I have read many other books there.’
‘Go on,’ Fidelma sighed in disappointment. ‘You were saying that you rise and go to the library before dawn. Are you not frightened to be alone in such a place?’
‘There was always a sister on watch in the tower above. Recently,’ she shivered, ‘it has been Sister Síomha who took most of the night watches. Before these events there was no physical danger to fear in this place.’
Fidelma grimaced.
‘I was not concerned with physical danger. What of the knocking sound under the duirthech which frightened the sisters the other day? I am told that it has been heard before.’
Sister Berrach thought for a moment.
‘The sounds have been heard before but infrequently. Abbess Draigen says it is some underground cave which fills with water but sometimes the sisters are scared by it. It does not scare me nor should it scare anyone who cleaves to the Faith.’
‘That is laudable, sister. Do you accept the abbess’s explanation that it is caused by an underground cave filling with water from the inlet?’
‘It is a possibility. More of a possibility than those who talkof the restless spirits of victims of pagan sacrifices which they believe were once enacted here.’
‘But you are not sure? Not sure that it is only water in an underground cave?’
‘Sometimes, like the other day in the duirthech, the abbess makes her explanation sound plausible. At other times, especially when I am in the library at night, the sound is fainter, but more like the tapping of someone hacking at rock or digging. But whatever it is, it is a sound produced by earthly agents, so why should I be afraid of it?’
‘Just so. And you went, as usual, to the library this morning?’
‘Yes, in the hours before dawn. I tried to be as quiet as possible for I did not wish to alarm the sister on duty at the water-clock. Especially when it was Sister Síomha who dislikes me more than most.’
‘When did you enter the library this morning? Can you be fairly exact?’
‘As near as I recall, I had heard the second hour strike, and perhaps the first quarter of the hour after that. I am not sure. It was not later than the third hour, of that I know, for I do not recall it being struck.’
‘Go on.’
‘I went into the library and found the book I wanted …’
‘Which was?’
‘Do you want the name of the book?’ frowned Sister Berrach.
‘Yes.’
‘The Itinerary of Aethicus of Istria. I took the book to a small table in a corner. I usually choose this spot in case someone enters unexpectedly and then this can give me time to conceal myself. I was reading the passage of how Aethicus came to Ireland to observe and study our libraries when it occurred to me that time was passing. I had heard no gong sounded by the keeper of the clepsydra. I went to the foot of the stairs and listened. Everything was quiet. Too quiet.’
Berrach paused and rubbed her cheek absently for a moment.
‘I felt that something was wrong. You know how one can suddenly get a feeling? I decided to go up to investigate …’
‘Even though you did not want anyone to know you were there, least of all Sister Síomha?’
‘If something was wrong, it was better not to ignore it.’
‘And what did you do with the book?’
‘I left it on the table where I was reading it.’
‘So it will still be there? Very well. Go on.’
‘I climbed the stairs as carefully as I could into the room where the clepsydra was kept. I thought I saw Sister Síomha lying on the floor.’
‘You thought?’ stressed Fidelma.
‘The body had no head. But I did not see that at once. I saw only a body in the dress of a sister. I knelt down by it to feel her pulse, thinking that she must have passed out — perhaps fainted for lack of food or some other cause. My hands touched her neck, cold, not quite icy cold but a clammy coldness. Then I felt something sticky. I was feeling for her head …’
Sister Berrach’s voice caught and she shuddered at the memory.
‘Holy Mother of Jesus, protect me! I realised at that moment that Síomha had been slain in the same manner as the corpse found in the well. I think that I cried aloud in my horror.’
‘And then you ran down the stairs?’ Fidelma prompted.
‘Not immediately. As I cried out, I heard a sound behind me in the room. I turned, my heart beating rapidly. I saw a shadow, a cowled head and shoulders, slipping quickly below the level of the floor down the stairway.’
Fidelma leant forward quickly.
‘Was this head and shoulders male or female?’
Berrach shook her head.
‘Alas, I do not know. It was so gloomy and the movementwas hurried. I was not in the mood to investigate further. I was frozen with fear. That I was alone in the dark with the monster who did this deed put the very fear of eternal damnation into me. I do not know how long I knelt there in the dark by the body. Some time must have passed, no doubt.’
‘You just knelt there in the dark? You did not move or cry out?’
‘Fear is a strange controller of your body, sister. Fear can make the lame run, the physically active freeze like a cripple.’
Fidelma acknowledged this with an impatient gesture.
‘Then what, Berrach?’
‘Finally, I rose to my feet, feeling the blood in my veins course like ice. I do not know how long this was, as I have said. I wanted to sound an alarm and was going to strike the gong. I lit the lanterns. Then I heard another noise.’
‘A noise? What sort of noise?’
‘I heard the thud of a door. I heard footsteps beginning to ascend the stairs. I heard them coming closer. My thought, my true thought, sister, was that the murderer was returning — returning to ensure that I would say nothing.’
She paused and seemed to have difficulty in breathing for a moment or two but then she recovered herself.
‘Then my fear, instead of rooting me to the spot, as it had before, lent me strength. I turned and clambered down the stairs as fast as I could. I remember seeing a figure ascending. I thought it was the cowled figure returning. That is the truth! I used all my strength to collide violently with it, so knocking it off balance, and allowing me time to effect my escape …’
‘Do you recall if this figure was carrying a light?’
Berrach frowned.
‘A light?’
‘A lamp or a candle?’
The girl gave it some thought.
‘I can’t remember. I think there might have been a candle.Is it important? I heard it cry out. It was not until I was already across the courtyard that I realised that it had been the abbess.’
‘Why did you not return once you realised that fact?’
‘I was confused. After all, I had seen the cowled figure in the water-clock room. Perhaps it had been the abbess herself who was the killer. How was I to know?’
Fidelma did not answer.
‘I came here as fast as I could. I had just reached my cell when Brónach came in and asked me why I was upset. I told her and she said that she would go and discover what had happened. I was frightened in case the murderer had followed me.’
‘But the murderer did not. And surely you would have feared for Brónach’s safety going alone to the tower?’