Brother Cadfael 09: Dead Man's Ransom

infirmary were quite willing to talk; they had not often so meaty a subject on which to debate. Yet neither Cadfael nor Edmund got much information out of them. Whatever had happened had happened during the half, hour or more when the brothers were at dinner in the refectory, and at that time the infirmary, already fed, was habitually asleep. There was one however, who, being bedridden, slept a great deal at odd times, and was well able to remain wakeful if something more interesting than usual was going on.
    'As for seeing,' said Brother Rhys ruefully, 'I'm as little profit to you, brother, as I am to myself. I know if another inmate passes by me and I know which of them it is, and I know light from dark, but little more. But my ears, I dare swear, have grown sharper as my eyes have grown dimmer. I heard the door of the chamber opposite, where the sheriff lay, open twice, now you ask me to cudgel my memory. You know it creaks, opening. Closing, it's silent.'
    'So someone entered there or at least opened the door. What more did you hear? Did anyone speak?'
    'No, but I heard a stick tapping, very lightly, and then the door creaked. I reckoned it must be Brother Wilfred, who helps here when he's needed, for he's the only brother who walks with a stick, being lame from a young man.'
    'Did he go in?'
    'That you may better ask him, for I can't tell you. All was quiet a while, and then I heard him tap away along the passage to the outer door. He may only have pushed the door open to look and listen if all was well in there.'
    'He must have drawn the door to again after him,' said Cadfael, 'or you would not have heard it creak again the second time. When was it Brother Wilfred paid his visit?'
    But Rhys was vague about time. He shook his head and pondered. 'I did drowse for a while after my dinner. How should I know for how long? But they must have been still in the refectory some time after that, for it wasn't until later that Brother Edmund came back.'
    'And the second time?'
    'That must have been some while later, it might be as much as a quarter hour. The door creaked again. He had a light step, whoever came, I just caught the fall of his foot on the threshold, and then nothing. The door making no sound, drawn to, I don't know how long he was within there, but I fancy he did go in. Brother Wilfred might have a proper call to peer inside to see all was well, but this other one had none.'
    'How long was he within there? How long could he have been? Did you hear him leave?'
    'I was in a doze again,' admitted Rhys regretfully. 'I can't tell you. And he did tread very soft, a young man's tread.'
    So the second could have been Elis, for there had been no word spoken when Edmund followed him in and expelled him, and Edmund from long sojourning among the sick trod as silently as a cat. Or it might have been someone else, someone unknown, coming and going undisturbed and deadly, before ever Elis intruded with his avowedly harmless errand.
    Meantime, he could at least find out if Brother Wilfred had indeed been left here to keep watch, for Cadfael had not numbered the brothers in the refectory at dinner, or noticed who was present and who absent. He had another thought.
    'Did anyone from within here leave this room during all that time? Brother Maurice, for one, seldom sleeps much during the day, and when others are sleeping he may well be restless, wanting company.'
    'None of them passed by me to the door while I was waking,' said Rhys positively. 'And I was not so deep asleep but I think I should have awakened if they had.' Which might very well be true, yet could not be taken for granted. But of what he had heard he was quite certain. Twice the door had creaked open wide enough to let somebody in.
    Brother Maurice had spoken up for himself without even being asked, as soon as the sheriff's death was mentioned, as daily it would be now until the truth was known and the sensation allowed to fade away into oblivion. Brother Edmund reported it to Cadfael after Compline, in the half, hour of repose before bed.
    'I had prayers said for his soul, and told them tomorrow we should say a Mass for him, an honourable officer who died here among us and had been a good patron of our house. Up stands Maurice and says outright that he will faithfully put up prayers for the man's salvation, for now at last his debts are fully paid, and divine justice has been done. I asked him by whose hand, seeing he knew so much,' said Edmund with