Old Habits

9 - Altruism

“Well, we all know who it was”.

Tam was experiencing deja vu.

If the sound of the bell hadn't brought everyone running to the tower, the screams had. Not much happened at the monastery. The monks weren't about to miss the little that did.

Brother Hisaab had been pronounced dead almost immediately. Half an hour later, when Brother Ger had arrived, he was also pronounced mort.

Once again, Berith had blamed Ger. Once again, there were good reasons to do so; hadn't they just been talking about him spitting at Hisaab, after all? There was clearly a motive there.

Once again, Berith completely ignored those reasons, and made his case on a basis of stereotypes and racism.

"...besides, they're at home in the darkness, aren't they? That's his element..."

"I'm sorry," interrupted an annoyed and not at all sorry Kaida. "But do we have any reason, any at all, to believe that Brother Hisaab didn't simply fall to his death?"

"There's really no reason for him to." Abaye, sensing a health and safety enquiry, rushed to answer. "As long as he was slow and careful, it should have been a perfectly safe climb."

"I think we can all agree that the late Brother was a very slow and careful man." Berith eulogised. "Which is why it would have taken a..."

"I don't care about 'should have been'!" Kaida spat. "How do you know the ladder wasn't damaged? You don't, do you?"

"Well, not in so many words..."

"If I may interject?" Berith interjected. "Whilst the Abbot cannot be sure that it wasn't damaged, you equally cannot be sure that it was. Without any evidence to the contrary, we have to assume that everything was fine. Unless you'd like to climb up and check?"

They all looked up into the darkness. They all looked down at their feet.

"No," was Kaida's response. "But we should be doing something."

"I thought not. Why do you care so much, I wonder? You weren't the Brother's biggest fan: as I recall, you were on your way to see him a few hours before his death. Unhappy coincidence?"

"If I recall correctly, so were you. Besides, that doesn't make any sense. If I'd killed Hisaab, why would I care so much about finding the truth?"

"Your version of the truth, you mean? You could be trying to cover your tracks. Did you think that, if you pinned the blame on somebody else soon enough, it would never find its way to you?"

"Look who's talking." Kaida snorted. "You seem very, very keen to scapegoat poor Brother Ger. I wonder if you have any secrets of your own to hide?"

"That's not that unusual, actually," explained Tam. "Brother Berith hates Aldenians. Scapegoating them is a knee-jerk reaction to him, secrets or not."

Berith glared, but didn't say anything. In a way, the young monk was defending him.

"What I'd like to know," Tam continued, "is if this death has anything to do with the earlier crimes. If we're treating this fall as suspicious, that makes it a theft, a break in, and a murder. All within one day. More unhappy coincidences?"

"He has a point. Fortunately, that would provide -"

Tam gave his name.

"Brother Tam and I with an alibi. We're victims of the same criminal."

"Not so fast." Berith spoke carefully, working things through in his head. "As I said earlier, neither of you are actually victims. It wasn't your pig to be stolen, and it wasn't your window to be broken. The attacks were against the monastery, not you."