and the wall behind him were spattered with it. The left side of Lord Chester’s head had been crushed. He had no left eye. It was just blood and bone and tissue. The right eye bulged in a fixed expression of sad surprise.
On the floor, next to the bed, lay the reliquary of Dartford Priory, in pieces. The fragments were also drenched in blood. A clump of Lord Chester’s brown hair was tangled in the two outstretched fingers of the reliquary hand.
28
I was the only novice in the tapestry room the following afternoon. I sat in front of the loom and wove in the white and light blue threads. Sister Helen and I worked in silence, just the two of us. Sister Christina was comforting her devastated mother in the locutorium, and Sister Winifred was still in the infirmary. I had no idea of Sister Agatha’s whereabouts.
I had to carry on with my duties today, until the arrival of the men.
During those first few minutes, after the discovery of the body, there was a great deal of crying and shouting. Prioress Joan and Brother Richard had dashed in after me and then retreated, aghast. The prioress had ordered the room sealed and guarded.
“There is a murderer loose in the priory!” Sister Agatha screeched in the passageway, hysterical. “The servants must search the priory. The man could still be anywhere.”
Brother Richard said, “You fool, he was killed hours ago. Do you think a murderer would strike and then linger here? He’s long gone.”
He whirled to confront Gregory.
“Did you lock all the doors last night?” he asked.
“Of course I did,” said Gregory, insulted. “That is my chief duty, to ensure that the priory is enclosed. No one could get into these guest rooms from outside of the priory—or from the cloister area, either. That door was locked, both sides, right after we carried Lord Chester to his bed, just as the prioress ordered. No one could get in, and no one could get out. I would swear to it before the king himself.”
“The windows?” asked Sister Eleanor.
Gregory shook his head. “I’ve checked them all. They are closed and secured.”
Sister Agatha whispered, “You’re not suggesting Lady Chester . . . ?”
“Do you believe she begged us to let him sleep here so she could murder him?” Brother Richard demanded.
“Silence yourselves!” shouted the prioress. “There will be no more speculation, or gossip, in this priory. We will alert the Bishop of Rochester immediately; this is a matter for the church courts.”
“The church courts?” repeated Brother Richard, incredulous. “This is a murder of a peer of the realm! And we may face the Star Chamber for it, if not the Tower.”
I couldn’t help but flinch.
“You’re wrong, Brother Richard,” said the prioress. “This crime was committed on church property. It is not a matter for the king’s court.”
Brother Richard shook his fists in a rage of frustration. “Listen to me, you must, for once, listen to the president and steward of your priory. I pleaded with you not to invite Lord Chester to Dartford, and you disregarded me. Last night I asked you to have him removed from our grounds, and again you showed disdain for my advice. But now, Prioress, it is more than just your pride at stake. It is the future of the priory, our very lives. Will you hear me out?”
Her lips trembled with emotion. And then, the prioress nodded.
Brother Richard took a breath. “If we attempt to make this a church investigation, and repel all outsiders, we will be destroyed. This crime will give our enemies an excuse to say monasteries are riddled with vice and crime and lies. That we operate in secret. But neither should we make ourselves vulnerable to the Star Chamber. Heretics eager for our dissolution rule there. No, we must open the priory to the men who investigate such crimes as their living. We must raise a hue and cry for the coroner and abide by his judgment in how to investigate and proceed.”
“The coroner?” Prioress Joan was uncertain. “Where is such a person found? I don’t want to send to London. This can’t become a London matter.”
“You said that Dartford is under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rochester. That city is not a far distance, within a day’s ride, and quite large enough that it would have a coroner. Those are the men with experience in murder, in holding an inquiry, in examining a corpse. If we send out the hue and cry now,