Simon was momentarily at a loss for words. It would have delighted him to reply by running d'Ucello through.
They stood bristling at each other like two hostile hounds when Simon heard a door open. A moment later, to his enormous relief, Friar Mathieu joined them by the marble railing overlooking the atrium.
"If you wish to examine young Sire de Pirenne's body, he lies in Count Simon's room waiting for you, Signore," said Friar Mathieu. "This is a very sad day for us."
With a black look at Simon, d'Ucello bowed to the old priest and left the galleria.
When they were alone, Friar Mathieu grunted. "A good thing I merely extended the wounds Sire Alain had already suffered. The podesta might well bring charges against me for desecrating a corpse if he saw I had made incisions in the body."
"Did you learn anything?" Simon asked.
"I am convinced that Sire Alain was not merely stabbed to death."
"What do you mean?" Simon was eager to get Friar Mathieu's advice on how to handle the podesta, but this was more important.
"When I looked closely at the wound in his stomach, I discovered that it was two wounds," said Friar Mathieu. "He was punctured there by a thin, round object, like a large needle. Then he was stabbed through the heart, and blood poured out of him. And then the killer stabbed him in the belly to try to mask the dart wound."
"How do you know that?"