A Mortal Bane(41)

“Because Sabina recognized him. I told you.”

“That seems clear enough. If she recognized him, why should you have any doubts? Because it was night and dark?”

‘The darkness would not matter. I must have forgot to say: Sabina is blind. But she was frightened out of her wits—”

“Sabina is blind? If she is blind, how could she recognize anyone?”

“By feel, of course.”

“You mean she opened the corpse’s braies and felt his—

“Do not be disgusting!” Magdalene snapped. “She recognized the feel of his clothes. She found the knife in his neck when she was trying to touch his face to be sure. She was terrified. That was why I wondered if it might have worked the other way; that is, Sabina found a dead man and was so frightened that she became sure it was a man with whom she had lain and so she would be blamed.”

[page]“I suppose that is possible, but why should she think she would be blamed?”

“Is there anything for which a whore is not blamed? And there she was, kneeling by the body, her hands covered in blood. Who would believe she had not struck the blow?” Remembered terror and bitterness made her voice shrill, and she took a breath and brought it back to its even tenor. “What would it matter that there was no reason for us to harm him? For want of a better reason, Brother Paulinus is convinced we murdered poor Messer Baldassare just to prevent him from ridding himself of sin by confession, and he did not even know that Sabina had been anywhere near the body.”

Had she once been accused of murder, Bell wondered, having felt her bitterness. Had William of Ypres saved her? If so, it would be no wonder that she was grateful to him. And then a small frisson ran down his back. Had she committed the murder of which she was accused?

“Be that as it may,” Bell said quickly, “I think we had better first make sure the dead man is Baldassare.”

Since Magdalene could not reveal that they had found Baldassare’s pouch, and in it, letters of introduction and credit bearing his name, she simply agreed. She reminded Bell, however, that if she admitted that Baldassare had been in her house, Brother Paulinus would immediately have fuel for his fires of accusation, which would make trouble for the bishop. Thus, the monks probably would not let her into the chapel to look at the body. But Bell had the answer for that; when Brother Godwine, the porter, did object to Magdalene’s entering the priory grounds, Bell said he had been instructed by the bishop to bring her to view the dead man so she could say whether or not the man had been one of her clients.

Since Henry of Winchester was serving as administrator of the London diocese until a new bishop could be elected, Brother Godwine could do no more than make a sour face, but he said to Bell while he led them to the chapel in which the body was laid out, “That man did not come through the gate into the priory, nor did his horse. Only three men on horseback came through the front gate. I know them all, and all three horses were in the stable when this man’s beast was found in the graveyard. I am not mistaken or derelict in my duty, and I shall so tell the prior when he returns.”

Bell glanced at Magdalene, but she said nothing and her face was invisible behind the veil. Her mind had been working frantically, however, since he had insisted she accompany him, trying to find a compromise between her need to admit she knew Baldassare and her need to protect herself from Brother Paulinus. Necessity lends agility to the mind; as soon as the face of the dead man became visible, the right words came to her lips.

“Oh, my God!” Magdalene exclaimed. “No, he was not a regular client, but he has indeed been in my house. He came to my gate yesterday not long before Vespers and asked for the church of St. Mary Overy. I told him he must go around, but he protested that the church looked very near. I had come out without a cloak and I was cold, so I bade him step into the house, which he did while I explained that we were not part of the priory. But I did mention the back gate went to the church. I did not see where he went when he left the house.”