Eye of the Law Read online

  The Burren Mysteries by Cora Harrison

  MY LADY JUDGE

  A SECRET AND UNLAWFUL KILLING

  THE STING OF JUSTICE

  WRIT IN STONE *

  EYE OF THE LAW *

  *available from Severn House

  EYE OF THE LAW

  Cora Harrison

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  First world edition published 2010

  in Great Britain and in the USA by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of

  9–15 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM1 1DF.

  Copyright © 2010 by Cora Harrison.

  All rights reserved.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Harrison, Cora.

  Eye of the Law.

  1. Mara, Brehon of the Burren (Fictitious character) –

  Fiction. 2. Women judges – Ireland – Burren – Fiction.

  3. Burren (Ireland) – History – 16th century – Fiction.

  4. Detective and mystery stories.

  I. Title

  823.9‘14-dc22

  ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-098-2 (ePub)

  ISBN-13: 978-0-72786-873-2 (cased)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-232-1 (trade paper)

  Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

  This ebook produced by

  Palimpsest Book Production Limited,

  Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Epilogue

  One

  Guthbretha Caratniad

  (The False Judgements of Caratniad)

  The oath of all persons on their deathbed must be believed, for who would lie when faced with eternity?

  Most sacred of all deathbed oaths is the sworn testimony of a woman as to the father of her child.

  St Patrick’s Day, on the 17th of March in the year 1510, was fine and dry, but an icy wind from the north-east funnelled through the gaps between the small mountains surrounding the kingdom of the Burren and then swept across the stone pavements.

  The few trees in the rock-strewn land bent and cracked under its force. Under the ground their roots had braced themselves, year upon year, against the continual winds from the west and the south-west, but now the trees were exposed and vulnerable to this unaccustomed onslaught from the opposite direction. Here and there, in the valleys, they lay on their sides, their crab-like roots still with pieces of broken limestone attached, now clutching nothing but air. The wind had stripped the last blackened seeds of the stately oak and ash from the branches, casting them down on to the fertile earth below, and small green buds, destined to die before maturity, pointed skywards from the uprooted gnarled willows outside the caves at Kilcorney. The dry, bleached grass was flattened by the force of the gale, but in the sheltered valleys and under hedgerows, emerald-green blades showed that the sun’s strength was enough for new growth.

  Within the shelter of the high walls around Lemeanah Castle’s courtyard, where the O’Brien clan and their neighbours were celebrating the marriage of Maeve MacNamara and Donal O’Brien, eldest son and heir to the taoiseach, Teige O’Brien, there was enough warmth for the young people to stay outdoors even as sunset approached. Not just the O’Brien clan, but also many of the O’Lochlainns, the O’Connors and the MacNamaras were present. Even King Turlough Donn, ruler of Thomond, Corcomroe and Burren, attended the wedding celebrations of his cousin’s eldest son and so did Mara, his new wife.

  Mara was not just the king’s wife, but also the Brehon of the Burren, responsible for law and order within its one hundred square miles, so she knew every family in the kingdom; their history and secrets had been part of her life since she had become Brehon of the Burren fifteen years ago when only twenty-one years old.

  She stood at the gate and looked around at the frolicking crowd with affection and amusement. It was almost like a fair. In a sheltered corner by the kitchen house, one of the Lemeanah servants was rapidly baking griddlecakes over a fire, and as fast as the cakes were taken off the flat piece of iron and spread with a lump of yellow butter and a spoonful of golden honey, they were swallowed down. In another corner, a juggler performed his tricks, watched by an appreciative audience of small children, and a wandering bard told a story in a sibilant whisper to a wide-eyed crowd outside the gatehouse.

  Mara stopped to listen to him for a minute. He had only been in the Burren for a week but already he seemed to know the place well. Mentions of Balor’s Cave at Kilcorney, less than a mile away from Lemeanah, were interwoven with the story of the malevolent one-eyed god who could kill those he looked at. She hoped the bard would stay. They had many good musicians and singers in the Burren, but a man who could tell a story like that would be an asset to any community.

  ‘You’re very welcome, Brehon!’ Teige O’Brien came bustling up. ‘The king has already arrived. He’s waiting for you upstairs. You’re looking very well.’

  ‘A new gown for the wedding,’ said Mara gaily. ‘Turlough chose it. I usually wear green so this red wool is something new for me.’ Her well-fitting gown was stitched at the neck and sleeve cuffs with gold thread and her léine was of bleached linen embroidered with delicate lace.

  I must wear red more often, she thought. She knew that it suited her dark hair and olive complexion, knew too that the bloom of early pregnancy lent her an extra beauty, so in high good humour she followed Teige as he escorted her up the steeply winding spiral staircase and into the Great Hall of Lemeanah Castle.

  ‘A great feast,’ said the king with satisfaction, greeting her with a kiss when she joined him at the window of the Great Hall.

  After the month’s honeymoon at Ballinalacken Castle they were both back to their busy working lives, meeting for a few days before parting again. He was due back in his own kingdom of Thomond tonight, she knew, but they would spend the weekend together. She squeezed his hand and he kissed her again. Then he smiled down at the animated scene below. Three men with fiddles were playing a sparkling tune and the young people were rapidly taking hands and lining up for a set dance.

  ‘It looks as though the whole of the Burren is here,’ he said with satisfaction. He was a man who loved a festival. ‘There’s the O’Lochlainn and his brother, Donogh. And the MacNamara! And the O’Connor! And there’s Malachy the physician with his daughter Nuala. Who’s that woman with Malachy?’

  Mara did not reply. She didn’t quite know what to say about Malachy. Her eyes were anxious as they looked at fourteen-year-old Nuala. The child looked depressed, she thought, noting the slumped shoulders and the hanging head. She turned to beckon to her six law-school scholars, who had just finished proffering small gifts to the wedding couple.

  ‘You can ta
ke the boys down to the courtyard now, Fachtnan,’ she said to her eldest scholar.

  This would cheer Nuala up; she idolized Fachtnan, and the other boys were like brothers to her. Mara watched from the window until she saw Fachtnan take Nuala by the hand and lead her into the dance. Sighing with relief, Mara had begun to turn back to Turlough when suddenly she noticed a pair of unfamiliar faces.

  ‘Who are those two men?’ she murmured, knitting her dark eyebrows.

  ‘Don’t know,’ said Turlough laconically. ‘Which men?’

  ‘The ones at the gate.’ Mara pushed the window ajar and leaned out with one hand on the stone mullion that divided the window space into two. The westerly sun shone brightly on the entrance gate and lit up the figures of two strongly made dark-haired men. ‘I’ve never seen those two in my life before.’

  ‘Teige will know. Teige, who are those two men down there talking to your porter?’

  ‘Blessed if I know.’ Teige, the king’s cousin, joined them. He was a man of about fifty, the same age as Turlough and a great friend of his. He leaned out of the window and then turned back.

  ‘Seem to be friends of the O’Lochlainn,’ he said. ‘The porter is bringing them over to him.’

  ‘Hardly friends, he obviously doesn’t know them.’ Mara watched with sharpened interest as the porter steered the two men through the groups and brought them up to the O’Lochlainn taoiseach. Ardal O’Lochlainn was looking puzzled, she noticed. He bent his handsome head of copper-coloured curls down towards the elder of the two men and listened to him courteously. His blue eyes had a startled look after the first few words and he made an abrupt signal to his steward, Liam, and then the four of them moved away from the crowds towards a deserted spot on the outer wall.

  ‘I wonder what all this is about.’ Her comment was directed at Teige; he should know whether those strangers had been invited to join the wedding party. After all, the king was present and there was at best an uneasy peace between the O’Briens of Thomond, Corcomroe and Burren, and the O’Kellys from nearby Galway. Teige took the hint and moved away instantly. Mara heard him calling down the stairs.

  ‘You’re just a gossip.’ Turlough’s voice was affectionate. ‘Anyway, you haven’t told me who that woman with Malachy is. Look, he’s partnering her in the dance now. Pretty woman. A bit on the plump side.’

  ‘Her name is Caireen and she is the widow of a physician from Galway.’

  ‘From Galway. How did he meet her?’

  ‘Her husband was some sort of distant relation of poor old Toin, the briuga from Rathborney. I think he came to see Malachy after Toin died and when it became known that Toin had left Nuala a legacy. The physician from Galway was ill himself then and he died soon afterwards. Malachy went to the funeral and apparently he and Caireen became friends.’ Mara’s tone was reserved, but Turlough immediately pounced.

  ‘And you don’t like her?’

  ‘Nuala doesn’t like her.’

  ‘Well,’ said Turlough tolerantly. ‘It must be nearly two years since Nuala’s mother died. The poor fellow can’t remain single forever. Nuala is well provided for. It seems ideal.’

  ‘It’s not too ideal,’ said Mara curtly. ‘This widow has a son of eighteen years who has almost finished his training to be a physician and another son, a year or two younger, who is well on his way to qualifying. And there is a third son about Nuala’s age who, also, had been his father’s apprentice.’

  ‘So she’s going to feel crowded out.’ Turlough sounded sympathetic.

  ‘The O’Lochlainn is leaving those men now and coming indoors. But Liam is staying with them.’ Mara didn’t want to discuss Nuala with so many listening ears around. Her sympathy was with the girl. She closed the window and turned back into the room to cross over to where the young couple sat. The bride, Maeve, had been under her care after the death of the girl’s father and Mara was touched by the bliss that she could see on the small kitten-like face.

  ‘I wish you all the happiness in the world,’ she said, kissing the girl and patting the young man on the shoulder. ‘You are having a lovely spring day for your wedding. Have you all the alterations finished to your house at Shessymore?’

  ‘We have, Brehon,’ said Donal, standing up respectfully. ‘We hope that you will be one of our first visitors.’

  ‘I certainly will,’ said Mara heartily.

  The door to the stairway opened and Ardal O’Lochlainn entered. Ardal was always the soul of courtesy, but it was obvious from the way that he stood there, with his eyes fixed on Mara, that he wanted a word. With a few more expressions of goodwill, Mara left the young couple and made her way across the room.

  Ardal didn’t look well, she noticed instantly. In fact, he looked like a man who had received a bad shock.

  ‘Brehon, I’m sorry to disturb you,’ he said quietly, ‘but I wonder whether you could spare me a few minutes.’

  ‘Of course, Ardal. Shall we go somewhere private?’

  She observed that quite a few of the guests were eyeing him with curiosity. Teige’s steward came in and murmured to his master; Mara noticed how the O’Brien taoiseach seemed to stiffen with alarm or perhaps it was astonishment.

  Ardal bowed. ‘You are very good.’ He turned to go back out of the room, holding the door open for her.

  Mara saw Turlough take a step forward, but she deliberately did not look at him, or beckon him to join them. This was a problem that she had to deal with on her own. Ever since their marriage, and especially as he knew that she was expecting a baby, Turlough seemed to want to share all of her burdens, to treat her like a piece of precious Venetian glass, but she was determined to carry on doing her job for as long as she could. The baby was due in July; her scholars would have departed for the summer holidays by then and Fergus, the Brehon of the neighbouring kingdom of Corcomroe, would look after Burren as well during July. By September she would be fit and well again and would be able to resume her duties as Brehon and as ollamh, professor, of the law school of Cahermacnaghten.

  After closing the door quietly behind them both, Ardal led the way downstairs. Next to the main doorway there was a small room with an iron brazier filled with glowing pieces of turf burning on the floor under the window. Usually it was occupied by a couple of men-at-arms, but today these were enjoying themselves outside in the courtyard. They would be quite private in here with the door closed against the noisy crowd.

  ‘What’s the trouble, Ardal?’ Mara looked anxiously at his troubled blue eyes. She had never seen him look like that. He always seemed to go through life with an air of serene unconcern.

  ‘I’ve had a bit of a shock, Brehon.’ He ran his hand rapidly through his red-gold curls and turned a bewildered face towards her.

  ‘Has it something to do with these two men I saw come up to you in the courtyard?’

  He nodded. ‘They come from the Aran, from Inisheer, the eastern island.’

  ‘A long and difficult journey in a wind like this.’ Mara eyed him carefully.

  ‘They set out yesterday and they had to turn back. The weather was a bit better today so they tried again. They’ve been rowing since dawn.’ Ardal seemed to be talking for the sake of talking. That was unlike him; he normally said little unless it was to the point.

  ‘So they must have had a strong reason for coming?’

  ‘They brought a letter . . .’ Ardal hesitated. ‘Would you like to see them, Brehon, and hear the story that they have to tell?’

  ‘Perhaps it would be better for you to tell me what it’s all about first, Ardal. Then I could talk with them if that’s what you would like me to do.’ Mara’s voice was firm. It was obvious that Ardal had been told the reason for the errand and it would be quicker to get the information from him than from two strange men.

  Ardal squared his shoulders. ‘Well, to make a long story short, Brehon, they came to tell me that the younger man, Iarla is his name – he’d be about twenty, I’d suppose. Well, they came to tell me that he is my son.’r />
  ‘What!’ Mara was startled out of her usual calm.

  Ardal nodded. ‘That’s right, my son.’

  ‘But how?’

  ‘Oh, they can give chapter and verse all right,’ said Ardal bitterly. ‘This boy was born in December 1489 and I visited Aran in the Easter of 1489. I went with King Turlough, God bless him. Of course, he wasn’t king then, not even tánaiste, but King Conor, his uncle, had sent him to collect the rents and I went with him and so did Teige. We were just three young men – I was under twenty myself – and, like all young men, we were out for a good time.’

  ‘And you found the island women accommodating.’ Mara’s grin was tolerant.

  Ardal nodded. ‘I remember his mother all right,’ he said uncomfortably. ‘She was the blacksmith’s wife. The blacksmith was drunk, completely drunk; he looked as if he wouldn’t wake up for an age.’

  ‘Was she pretty?’

  ‘Very. She had hair redder than my own and a pair of lovely grey eyes. I remember her well,’ admitted Ardal. ‘So will Teige, I’d say, but don’t mention it in front of his wife. He was already married at the time.’

  ‘So you had intercourse with her.’ Mara’s tone was brisk. She had to establish the facts, though she knew that he was taken aback at her directness.

  ‘That was the way of it.’

  ‘But you heard no more from her?’

  Ardal shook his head. ‘I forgot all about it a few days later,’ he confessed. ‘I was just a lad and I suppose I hoped that nothing would come of it.’

  ‘But why turn up now? Let me guess. The blacksmith has died.’

  ‘He died a few years ago. No, it’s the mother who has died. She made a deathbed confession.’

  ‘Naming you as father of this boy, Iarla?’

  ‘Naming me as father.’ Ardal bowed his head and repeated dully, ‘Naming me as father in her confession to the priest. The priest has sent me a letter. He writes down the date of the boy’s baptism – just about nine months after I lay with the mother.’

  ‘I see,’ said Mara. ‘Of course the law does say that if a woman names a man as father to her child on her deathbed, then her word should be believed. The idea is that no one will tell a lie to a priest on his or her deathbed. I must say that it is something that I have always had difficulty with. My experience is that a mother’s love for her first-born may be stronger than her fear of hell. She might even reason that God would forgive a mother for doing the best for her son.’