Cadfael said Columbanus did not need the poppy syrup on this trip and Cadfael thought the events of that day cast doubt on Jerome as the murderer not Columbanus until his realization that Jerome did not sleep on purpose Now Cadfael cast his doubts on Columbanus Cast doubts not provided alibis The brothers have no private property so he can search the scrip any time Peredur s mother is a minor plot device so he does search the main point is the discovery and Cadfael s new view of that day Perhaps you could provide the text quotes for your changes next time Quotes from the text of A Morbid Taste for Bones Jerome lacks an alibi rather than providing one for Columbanus in Chapter Six Father you sent me with Brother Jerome yesterday to keep vigil in the chapel and pray earnestly for a good outcome in amity and peace Father we came there in good time before eleven as I judge and having eaten our meal we went in and took our places for there are prayer desks within and the altar is kept clean and well tended Oh Father my will to keep vigil was good but the flesh was weak I had not been half an hour kneeling in prayer when I fell asleep on my arms on the desk to my endless shame It is no excuse that I have slept badly and thought much since we came here Prayer should fix and purify the mind I slept and our cause was weakened I must have slept all the afternoon for the next thing I remember is Brother Jerome shaking me by the shoulder and telling me there was a messenger calling us to go with him He caught his breath and a frantic tear rolled down his cheek circling the bold rounded Norman bone Oh do not look askance at Brother Jerome for he surely never knew I had been sleeping and there is no blame at all to him for not observing and reporting my sin I awoke as he touched me and arose and went with him He thought me as earnest in prayer as he and knew no wrong Nobody probably had thought of looking askance at Brother Jerome until then but Cadfael was probably the quickest and most alert and the only one who caught the curious expression of apprehension fading rapidly into complacency that passed over Brother Jerome s normally controlled countenance Jerome had not been pursuing the same studies as Cadfael or he would have been far from complacent For Brother Columbanus in his self absorbed innocence had just removed all certainty that Jerome had spent the previous noon and afternoon motionless in Saint Winifred s chapel praying for a happy solution His only guarantor had been fast asleep throughout He could have sauntered out and gone anywhere he chose Cadfael speaking to Peredur in Chapter Nine Never mind you can show me where they lodge Columbanus brought some of my poppy syrup with him in case of need the phial should be there with his scrip he d hardly have it on him And as far as I know he s had no occasion to use it his cantrips here in Wales have been of a quieter kind We can find a use for it now