Murder in the Monastery (Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery series) Read Free Page B

her anniversary this year. But,’ Peter grinned wickedly, ‘that isn’t the best bit.’
    Libby sighed. ‘Go on. What is it?’
    ‘There really was a Murder In The Monastery.’

Chapter Three
    ‘ T here was? Who? St Eldreda?’
    ‘No, no, much more recent. At the time of re-establishing the monastery, the reliquary turned up.’
    ‘What!’
    ‘This is one of the main reasons they want to find out who’s selling it now.’
    ‘But why didn’t Patti tell me all this in the first place?’ said Libby.
    ‘She didn’t know all of it. Apparently, Sister Catherine simply told her about the reliquary turning up on the website. Patti looked up the story of the original relic herself.’
    ‘So did Sister Catherine know Patti had asked me to look into it?’
    ‘Oh, yes. It was then she told me the story.’ Peter finished his tea and peered into the mug hopefully. ‘Any more?’
    Libby sighed. ‘Lucky I keep the kettle on the simmer!’ She took the mug and returned in a few moments with a fresh one. ‘Now, go on, tell me the story.’
    ‘Well.’ Peter settled back into the corner of the sofa and Sidney jumped on his lap. ‘It was at the time the order bought the Abbey and the farmhouse, back in the seventies.’
    ‘It was that recent?’
    ‘Yes. I was surprised, too. There are a couple of nuns still there from that time, but most have joined more recently. After the order had been offered the Abbey, they had to raise enough money to buy it. They sold their previous home quite easily, but had to find the shortfall quickly. It was then that they were offered the Tredega Relic.’
    ‘Really?’ Libby frowned. ‘Who by?’
    ‘An anonymous donor, who suggested they sell it to raise funds.’
    ‘How extraordinary! What happened?’
    ‘Their solicitor began to look into it, and eventually the potential donor suggested he bring it to show them to prove its existence. He had already sent photographs.’
    ‘He?’
    Peter nodded. ‘The day before the meeting had been set up with the solicitor and the Mother Abbess, the body of a man was discovered in the ruins of the Monastery. He had on him the correspondence between himself and the community, but no relic or reliquary.’
    ‘Blimey.’ Libby was wide-eyed. ‘So was he identified as the man who’d written the letters?’
    ‘Yes, by his wife, who knew nothing about it.’
    ‘But why,’ said Libby, still frowning, ‘had he offered them the relic? And how had he come by it?’
    Peter shrugged. ‘No one knows. The police investigated at the time, but didn’t find anything. The sisters weren’t informed of any progress, and of course, things were very different back then.’
    Libby was silent for a moment. ‘How did they raise the money in the end?’
    ‘A couple of gifts and, finally, a legacy from a nun who died. Of course, they tried to find out from the police why the man had been in the ruins of the Monastery when he died.’
    ‘And did they? Or how he died?’
    ‘Sister Catherine doesn’t know.’ Peter grinned. ‘And she’s just as curious as you are!’
    ‘So that’s why she let Patti mention it to me?’
    ‘Yes. I don’t think they want the relic – after all, it belongs to a different order and a different era, but it’s connected to their building and their name.’
    ‘Right.’ Libby leant back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. ‘So we need to know all the details of the offer of the relic in the seventies. How would we do that?’
    ‘Sister Catherine says she’s already tried to find out on the internet and found a list of unsolved murders from the seventies to see if she could find the name of the man, but it wasn’t very conclusive. She also said she didn’t have unlimited access to the internet, either.’
    ‘I don’t suppose she has. So did she find a name?’
    ‘As far as she could make out, it was Bernard Evans. She hasn’t gone any further.’
    ‘So now it’s up to me, eh?’ Libby sat up straight and grinned.