Badger's Moon by Peter Tremayne Page A

little more I could tell you. I could summon Lesren the tanner and Seachlann the miller to the fortress tomorrow.’
    ‘They are the fathers of Beccnat and Escrach, the first and second victims,’ interposed Accobrán by way of explanation.
    ‘In the circumstances, I would rather visit them where they live or work,’ replied Fidelma. ‘However, I thought that perhaps you, tanist, might be able to give me some of the information I need.’
    Accobrán looked astonished. ‘I am not sure that I…’
    ‘Come, Accobrán. You are a young man and would surely know most of the young girls in the territory?’
    The tanist frowned for a moment before he shrugged and forced a soft smile to part his lips. ‘That depends on what information you need, lady.’
    ‘Well, let us begin with the first victim, Beccnat. This was the daughter of the tanner named Lesren?’
    ‘She was. Lesren works on the far side of the hill, in the valley by the river there.’
    ‘What do you know about her? Was she attractive?’
    Accobrán lifted a shoulder slightly and let it fall without expression.
    ‘She was young. She had just celebrated reaching her seventeenth year. She was due to wed the son of Goll the woodcutter.’
    ‘That’s right,’ Becc intervened. ‘Lesren didn’t like the boy – the son of Goll, that is – and, at first, it was thought that the boy might have been the murderer. Well, Lesren accused the boy, anyway.’
    ‘What did you say his name was?’
    ‘The name of the son of Goll? His name is Gabrán.’
    ‘And you say that he was suspected? Then what evidence cleared him?’
    ‘I doubt whether Lesren has stopped suspecting him,’ Accobrán intervened. ‘But the boy had a sound enough alibi. He was away from the territory on a journey to collect some supplies. At the time of the full moon he was twelve miles from here staying at the house of Molaga on the coast.’
    ‘I know the abbey of Molaga,’ nodded Fidelma. ‘So what were the circumstances of Beccnat’s murder?’
    ‘As I mentioned before, lady,’ intervened Becc, ‘her body was found in the woods less than a quarter of a mile from here. It looked as if it had been torn to pieces by a pack of wolves.’
    Fidelma leaned forward, her brows raised in interrogation. ‘What, then, made the community suspicious of murder and made Lesren suspicious of Gabrán, the son of Goll? Is it not conceivable that wolves or some other wild animals could have attacked the girl?’
    ‘Conceivable but unlikely,’ replied the tanist. ‘Wolves do not usually attack humans, and adult humans at that, unless they are driven to it by dire necessity. However, Liag, our apothecary, pointed out that the wounds could only have been inflicted by a knife. It was after he had examined the body that we were alerted to the facts.’
    ‘Did this apothecary, Liag…did he examine all three victims?’
    ‘He did,’ affirmed Becc.
    ‘Then we shall want to see him,’ Fidelma instructed. ‘Does he reside at the fortress?’
    Accobrán shook his head. ‘He dwells in the woods on a hillock by the River Tuath. He is something of a strange person who dislikes the company of others. He is almost a hermit. Yet he is a good apothecary and has cured many of various ailments.’
    ‘Very well. Did he arrive at any conclusions as to any commonality between the victims?’
    Becc again shook his head, a little puzzled. ‘I am not sure that I understand you.’
    ‘I refer to the manner of their deaths. Were they all killed in the same manner? Was there a similarity in the way in which all the victims died?’
    ‘Oh, Liag certainly felt that they had all died by human hand and not from attacks by beasts. He also told me that he felt it was by the same human hand because of the frenzied manner of the attacks.’
    ‘I think you said that the second victim was about the same age?’ Fidelma seemed to change her train of thought.
    Becc nodded sadly. ‘Escrach, the youngest daughter of Seachlann.