Requiem for a Slave (30 page)

But Quintus shook his head. ‘If he maintains I paid him to try to strangle you, he’s lying!’ he declared. ‘Trying to protect the man he’s really working for, I expect, and earn a lenient sentence by accusing me. He’ll be claiming I have dealings with the rebel bandits next, and that I am plotting to deliver certain people to their hands. Well, I deny it, do you hear! If Virilis planned that, he did it on his own. And as for this presumptuous mosaic-maker here . . .’ – he was addressing Scowler, but he waved a hand at me – ‘he may not have been responsible for the murders at his house, but he attacked me earlier. Hyperius here was witness to the fact. Is that not so, Hyperius?’

The audacity of it took my breath away, but Quintus had already turned towards his slave. Hyperius was looking flabbergasted too, but after a long moment he inclined his head. ‘Certainly, master. Exactly as you say.’

I was about to protest my innocence, but Scowler already had his sword-point at my throat. ‘And when exactly did this incident occur?’ He did not look at Quintus, but kept on watching me as though I might somehow be tempted to make a dash for it.

Quintus leaned back in his litter, clearly satisfied, and made a vague gesture with his seal-ring hand. ‘Oh, just a little while before the ordo vote was held. I had just heard the bugle-call to tell us to convene. This fellow approached me at the door of my own home and threatened me with violence. Pushed me against a doorpost and banged my head on it. Hyperius saw it all. And even then he followed me to the basilica, shouting that I had his slave in custody, which I certainly did not! Crowds of people were witnesses to that.’ He favoured Scowler’s colleague with a winning smile. ‘And, of course, at that time I thought he’d committed the murders at his house. I didn’t know that Virilis had confessed to them. I simply knew that this man was violent, and guilty, at the very least, of
iniuria atrox
against a magistrate. I was planning to drag him before the justices. I was trying to arrest him when you came along.’

I had to acknowledge his ingenuity. The way he told the story, it did sound plausible, and no one was going to take my word against that of the chief official in the town curia. I would find it difficult to prove my innocence, especially if Hyperius was prepared to testify. Moreover, given that he’d made a proper charge, I was likely to be taken into custody for this, probably by the decurion himself – in which case some unpleasant accident was almost certain to befall me before I came to trial. And Virilis was getting ever closer to Marcus all this time. I could feel the cold sweat running down my back.

But Scowler had lowered his sword-point and stepped back suddenly. ‘I think you’ve misremembered, decurion,’ he said, putting his weapon carefully in its sheath again. ‘This couldn’t have happened at the time you claim. A moment after the ordo bugle blew, I was talking to this citizen myself. He was here at the gatehouse and there are witnesses. Your apartment, as I understand, is on the further side of town. He could never have got there in the interval.’

Quintus was glowering, but still irascible. ‘Then it was earlier in the day. Hyperius would know. I was so shaken that I can’t recall.’

‘But,’ Scowler said slowly, ‘he’d just come into town. I watched him through the gate. And – before you say anything else you might regret – I happen to know there was a bulla ceremony at his home today that didn’t end till almost noon. I heard that from the high priest who conducted it. It would not be difficult to prove it, I presume.’

There was a silence. Quintus had turned pink. ‘I still say he assaulted me. It doesn’t matter when. Perhaps I got the day wrong. I want him brought to trial . . . if only for appearing in the forum in improper dress. There are certainly dozens of witnesses to that.’

I saw an opportunity and seized it instantly. ‘Then, soldier, you had better take me under escort to the garrison yourself. Put me under charge. I’ll appeal to the commander. I believe I have that right, and I would like to speak to him as soon as possible. I have some information he’ll be interested to hear.’

Quintus seemed ready to leap out of the litter and lay hands on me, but the presence of Scowler and his fellow soldier prevented this, of course.

‘I’ll make you pay for this,’ he muttered, as he pulled the curtains to. ‘I’ll find a way to prove you guilty, don’t imagine otherwise. And don’t suppose you’ll ever see your little slave again – I’ll make quite sure you don’t. Slaves, pick up the litter and take me quickly home. At the double or I will have you flogged.’

The litter jolted off. Scowler stood beside me as it vanished out of sight, with stout Hyperius panting after it. ‘I’ll have to arrest you, citizen,’ he said when it had gone. ‘I could have argued otherwise, but you agreed to it.’

I nodded. ‘Don’t worry about that,’ I said. ‘You may have saved my life. If I’d been forced into that litter, I doubt I would ever have got out of it alive. And I wanted to go to the garrison anyway. I meant what I said. I must talk to the commander as soon as possible. It’s vital that I do. We’ve lost too much time already, and there are lives at stake.’

Scowler pulled out his swagger-stick and scratched his head with it. ‘What’s all this about? Did that Virilis fellow really kill those men?’

‘I’m afraid so. He thought that they were me. That’s why he put them in my workshop afterwards. He took a lot of pains to put them there, too. That poor old turnip-seller you heard me talk about just now must have been carried halfway through the town, draped across his saddle in the growing dusk, wrapped in those hangings from the curia. The gatekeeper on duty when Radixrapum disappeared told me that there was nobody in sight, except an ox-cart – and a young man carrying a roll of something on his horse! That was Virilis, of course – that tallies with something that the market-trader said. I even saw the marks of the pommels on the corpse, though at the time I didn’t realize what they were.’

Scowler took his helmet and plonked it on his head. ‘I still don’t understand. Why has that decurion got it in for you?’

I shook my head. ‘There’s no time to explain. Take me to the garrison – and, Junio, you take a carrying litter and go, as fast as possible, to Pedronius’s country house. Get the youngest, strongest bearers you can find, and never mind the cost. I’ll see that they are paid.’

My son was boggling at me. ‘But I promised not to leave you!’

‘I’ll have an armed and armoured escort,’ I reminded him. ‘Being under guard has some advantages.’

Junio nodded. ‘So when I reach the villa, what am I to do? You don’t just want me to finish off the pavement, I presume.’

I shook my head and smiled. ‘You can tell the gatekeeper that it’s what you came for, if you like. That should ensure that he will let you in. Then find the steward and ask for Minimus. I think you’ll find he’s got him locked up somewhere in the place.’

‘What makes you think so? Something Quintus said?’ Junio was still havering. ‘And isn’t he intending to go out there himself? He said he was going to.’

‘Exactly so,’ I said. ‘Which is what makes me suppose that Minimus is there. That, and thinking through what happened yesterday. Though I can’t explain it now.’

‘Just a minute, citizen!’ That was Scowler now. ‘I have a vested interest in all this – you owe me a half-denarius if you find that slave today. So answer his question. Why do you think he’s there?’

I was impatient to be taken to the garrison, but one cannot argue with a sword. ‘Well,’ I said reluctantly, ‘I was called out to the villa on a false pretence: one of the garden slaves appeared and asked for someone to come out to the site. At the time I didn’t question it – I’d seen the boy before – so I hurried over, but Pedronius wasn’t there. I thought nothing of it – it happens all the time – but, on reflection, I don’t think it was chance. Normally, Junio, you would have been with me in the workshop too. So if there was a summons to do something to the site, and I was expecting an important customer, what would anyone suppose that I would do?’

‘Send me to do it,’ Junio replied. ‘But I was buying provisions for the bulla feast that day.’

‘Which Quintus – who would not dream of buying things himself – had not allowed for in his plans.’

‘That would have left you with Minimus all the same.’ Scowler observed, earning his name again.

I nodded. ‘They obviously had plans for diverting him as well, probably to carry something to the site, where he could be imprisoned and later charged with theft – I think they always meant to plant that purse on him. I believe that the garden-boy met up with Virilis, no doubt by appointment – he told me he had another errand to perform and he would have to let the cursor know the coast was clear. When Virilis heard I’d gone in person in answer to the call, and realized that only Minimus was left behind, he came up with a plan. It was so simple that it was spectacular. After a little while, he sent the garden-boy again, saying that there’d been an accident to me at Pedronius’s house and telling Minimus he was to come at once. But Minimus complicated things by trying to send a message home.’

‘So he did send the messenger after all?’ my son exclaimed.

‘A red-haired slave, exactly as described. And he gave the message to the garden slave, who seems, in fact, to have delivered it after he had spoken to Virilis again, though this time Glypto found them at the pile and heard him saying that “everyone was out” and, by implication, that the coast was clear.’

‘Dear Mars!’ said Junio, ‘So Minimus hurried to the villa, supposing you were hurt, but when he got there . . . what?’

‘I imagine that the steward took him in and sent to Quintus for orders what to do. I’m sure that Minimus was there. The gatekeeper told me that he’d seen no visitors, except a slave in a blue tunic. I thought he was talking about a different one –a boy that I myself saw scurrying out – but I realize now he must have meant Minimus all the time. The steward was no doubt perplexed in any case – first I turned up and then my slave-boy did, when he’d been told each time he was expecting you. He had orders to detain you in the garden, I expect.’

‘So he knew all about it? The attempt to murder you?’

‘I doubt that very much. It would be too dangerous. He was just obeying orders, as he always did – he used to work for Quintus after all, and no doubt his former master retains him as a spy. The man was saving for his slave price, and I’m sure he’d just received a small donation to the fund. When I went back later on, I saw him counting it.’

‘So he was the one who locked up your little slave?’ Scowler was incredulous. ‘I heard he’d been arrested by a private guard.’

‘Well, in a sense he was, though doubtless it was Quintus who began that rumour too – just as he lied to me when he denied that he knew who’d taken Minimus.’

‘But wouldn’t the whole villa staff have known of this? Someone would have told you when you visited the house,’ Junio objected.

I shook my head. ‘Not necessarily. Pedronius wasn’t there, and the steward, in his absence, has full authority and controls the keys. In fact, when I went there the first time in answer to the summons that never was, I did not even see a door-keeper. The steward came out to me himself to tell me that my errand was in vain – quick thinking, since he was expecting you! With no one at the gate, it would have been easy for him to let Minimus come in and march him to some storeroom and turn the key on him. Quintus had really put a warrant out, of course, and the steward probably believed what he had been told – that the slave-boy was a thief – especially when Quintus later sent the purse, claiming it was evidence against the boy.’

Scowler was still scowling. ‘This is all speculation. You have no proof of it.’

‘I think you’ll find that it is what happened all the same. As I am hoping that Junio will find out – if he gets there before Quintus Severus, that is.’ I turned to the soldier. ‘Then you can have your half-denarius.’

A crafty smile spread over Scowler’s face. ‘I think we can arrange that, citizen, don’t you? We heard the decurion tell his litter-men to take him home. If we can delay him for a little while . . .’ He turned to his companion. ‘Get over there at once. Say that the garrison needs a written charge from him regarding this assault. Make sure you slow him down. And don’t say who sent you or anything you’ve heard, or I’ll have you down the lead-mines as fast as you can blink.’

The soldier nodded and set off at a run.

But Junio was still trying to follow what I’d said. ‘So when Virilis knew the coast was clear he came back to the shop and lay in wait for you? He must have spent a long time hiding close nearby. He might have been discovered – that was dangerous.’

‘Not for Virilis. He hid himself by visiting the tannery next door, pretending to be interested in buying hides. The tanner told me he’d had a customer with a jewelled cloak-clasp, and, of course, the cursor had one with a ruby set in it. I only saw the implication when it was far too late.’

‘Speaking of lateness,’ Scowler’s voice broke in. ‘I’m due off duty soon. Besides, you are supposed to be under my arrest. Come along, citizen, or I’ll have to draw my sword.’

‘I’m coming,’ I told him and made to follow him.

‘But, Father,’ Junio bleated, ‘suppose that you are wrong? Or the steward just denies that Minimus is there? Or locks me up as well!’

‘The steward thinks our slave-boy is a criminal and that he is holding him until he can be tried. Tell him that armed soldiers are already on their way, to take Minimus into official custody,’ I answered. ‘I’ll talk to the commander and try to make it true.’

Scowler pushed his helmet back and scratched his head again. ‘If it’s worth another half-denarius, I will make it true myself. As I say, I am off duty soon. Give me a few minutes and I’ll follow this young citizen. I’ll bring the slaveboy back to the guardhouse, if we find him there. If we have a bargain, that is, citizen?’

‘We have a bargain, soldier,’ I told him thankfully. ‘You bring the lad back safe and I’ll pay twice as much.’