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Authors: Stephen Wheeler
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side.
The lad was instantly on his feet again. ‘Master please!’
‘It’s all right,’ I said gently returning the body to its original position and holding my hands well away from the body. ‘No harm done.’
To save the lad any further embarrassment I took a step back leaving space between me and the body. In any case I’d seen all I wanted to see - or all I was likely to be allowed to see. There were indeed two wounds one on either side of the body where the iron bar had gone right through as the lad said. I’d only had a moment to glimpse the body but it was impossible to tell which was the entry wound and which the exit. Death had been instantaneous so there had been no time for bruising to develop. However, my memory of the way Fidele had been lying on the cart was that more of the iron bar protruded from the back than from the chest. Was it important? I wasn’t sure.
There seemed no point in my staying any longer since I wasn’t going to be allowed to see any more. However, while I was there I thought I might as well do as I told Samson I would and offer up a prayer for Fidele’s soul. I knelt down in front of the altar and crossed myself, but I couldn’t concentrate on prayer. In my mind’s eye I was still trying to visualize that brief image I’d had glimpsed of the body being lifted onto the handcart before it was covered up and driven down the hill.
Chapter Six
THE MOTHER OF ALL CLUES
Brothers Bernard and Neville, splendid fellows though they are, work mostly in the abbey gardens and were seconded for the task of removing the iron bar from Fidele’s body more for their brawn than they brains. Neither could remember out of which side of his chest the bar stuck furthest. Still, it was worth asking.
Was I making too much of this iron bar business? I didn’t think so. I was trying to establish exactly how Fidele died in the hope of identifying who the murderer might be - or at least eliminating who it couldn’t be. My starting point was the rather obvious one that the blow that killed Fidele must have come from either in front or behind. Now, I’m not very good with a hammer and nails - I usually end up doing more damage to my own thumbnail than the iron ones. But I do know that when a nail is first struck most of it ends up sticking out of the top of the wood with only the point poking through the other side. Surely, I reasoned, the same must be true of an iron bar and a man’s body. If I was right it followed that whichever side of Fidele’s body the bar protruded from most must be the side at which it entered.
I thought back to the fight. It was a chaotic scene but as I remember it Fidele had just struck Hamo on the shin. At that moment they would have been facing each other. If Hamo then picked up the bar and attacked Fidele with it he would have done so facing him and therefore the bar would have been protruding mostly from the front of his chest. From my memory of seeing Fidele’s body lying on that cart I’m almost certain more of the bar was sticking out of his back suggesting the fatal blow came from behind which in turn meant Hamo could not have administered it. The trouble was I couldn’t be certain. No point asking Jocelin since he had his eyes closed most of the time and Jocellus was off summoning the reeve. What I needed was someone else who was there at the time, someone who regularly worked the market and might have seen what happened...
I made my way to the newly-rebuilt almonry up against the abbey wall. If I were vain I might point out that it was rebuilt mostly with money from my medical practice, but since I’m a modest sort of chap I won’t mention it. I’m really quite pleased with my new almonry. It’s a much more substantial structure than the flimsy lean-to it replaced. I’m no longer almoner but I still take an interest. A queue of hopefuls was lined up along the road waiting for alms and Brother Richard, the new almoner’s
The lad was instantly on his feet again. ‘Master please!’
‘It’s all right,’ I said gently returning the body to its original position and holding my hands well away from the body. ‘No harm done.’
To save the lad any further embarrassment I took a step back leaving space between me and the body. In any case I’d seen all I wanted to see - or all I was likely to be allowed to see. There were indeed two wounds one on either side of the body where the iron bar had gone right through as the lad said. I’d only had a moment to glimpse the body but it was impossible to tell which was the entry wound and which the exit. Death had been instantaneous so there had been no time for bruising to develop. However, my memory of the way Fidele had been lying on the cart was that more of the iron bar protruded from the back than from the chest. Was it important? I wasn’t sure.
There seemed no point in my staying any longer since I wasn’t going to be allowed to see any more. However, while I was there I thought I might as well do as I told Samson I would and offer up a prayer for Fidele’s soul. I knelt down in front of the altar and crossed myself, but I couldn’t concentrate on prayer. In my mind’s eye I was still trying to visualize that brief image I’d had glimpsed of the body being lifted onto the handcart before it was covered up and driven down the hill.
Chapter Six
THE MOTHER OF ALL CLUES
Brothers Bernard and Neville, splendid fellows though they are, work mostly in the abbey gardens and were seconded for the task of removing the iron bar from Fidele’s body more for their brawn than they brains. Neither could remember out of which side of his chest the bar stuck furthest. Still, it was worth asking.
Was I making too much of this iron bar business? I didn’t think so. I was trying to establish exactly how Fidele died in the hope of identifying who the murderer might be - or at least eliminating who it couldn’t be. My starting point was the rather obvious one that the blow that killed Fidele must have come from either in front or behind. Now, I’m not very good with a hammer and nails - I usually end up doing more damage to my own thumbnail than the iron ones. But I do know that when a nail is first struck most of it ends up sticking out of the top of the wood with only the point poking through the other side. Surely, I reasoned, the same must be true of an iron bar and a man’s body. If I was right it followed that whichever side of Fidele’s body the bar protruded from most must be the side at which it entered.
I thought back to the fight. It was a chaotic scene but as I remember it Fidele had just struck Hamo on the shin. At that moment they would have been facing each other. If Hamo then picked up the bar and attacked Fidele with it he would have done so facing him and therefore the bar would have been protruding mostly from the front of his chest. From my memory of seeing Fidele’s body lying on that cart I’m almost certain more of the bar was sticking out of his back suggesting the fatal blow came from behind which in turn meant Hamo could not have administered it. The trouble was I couldn’t be certain. No point asking Jocelin since he had his eyes closed most of the time and Jocellus was off summoning the reeve. What I needed was someone else who was there at the time, someone who regularly worked the market and might have seen what happened...
I made my way to the newly-rebuilt almonry up against the abbey wall. If I were vain I might point out that it was rebuilt mostly with money from my medical practice, but since I’m a modest sort of chap I won’t mention it. I’m really quite pleased with my new almonry. It’s a much more substantial structure than the flimsy lean-to it replaced. I’m no longer almoner but I still take an interest. A queue of hopefuls was lined up along the road waiting for alms and Brother Richard, the new almoner’s