The Fateful Day (22 page)

I shook my head again. ‘I don’t think that these killers will strike round here again. I believe they have accomplished what they meant to do.’ I turned to Cerberus. ‘I didn’t kill these people, officer, but I think I know who did – though I don’t see how to prove it, even if I’m quick enough to find the murderers. So I daren’t make accusations – I’ll find myself in court, facing serious charges of
injuria
. But for the sake of my dead servant, I shall do my best – if you will permit me to be on my way. You can put that into your report as well. And earn yourself a commendation, too. Assure the commandant that no Celtic rebels are involved.’

F
or a fleeting moment Cerberus looked nonplussed. Then he gave a snorting laugh. ‘You really expect that I will simply let you go, when by your own admission you know something of these deaths? You must be moon-struck, citizen. What do you think my superiors would say?’

Villosus cleared his throat. ‘I don’t think you should hold him, sir. My orders were quite clear. I was to assist him in any way I could, and I was to tell the other soldiers just the same. My understanding was that it applied to all of us, including – if you’ll pardon me for saying so, sir – officers like yourself. I should not like to think that because I didn’t speak, you’d accidently dis-obeyed the commandant.’

‘I don’t recall that I gave you leave to speak, Auxiliary!’ Cerberus snapped, clearly furious, but unable to contest the truth of this. ‘I’ll have you on a charge as soon as you get back – insubordination to a senior officer. That should be a flogging at the least. And you …’ he turned to face me ‘… you have leave to go, this time. But next time that I find you meddling …!’ He left the threat unfinished ‘Now, stand aside. You’re blocking the road. Don’t you know that it’s illegal to impede the army on the march?’

It was totally unjust. The soldiers were not moving and if anyone was blocking the roadway, it was the centurion himself. But his little outburst had improved his self-esteem. He tucked his baton underneath his arm and swaggered off to organise his men.

I waited dutifully until they shuffled into line and marched with ringing hobnails through the gate and disappeared into the garrison. When they had gone, Villosus turned to me.

‘Did I hear you say your slave was dead?’ He was staring at Minimus as though the boy might somehow be a ghost. Indeed, I realised with a smile, that’s what he was half ready to believe.

‘Not that slave. There’s a dead one, on the mule,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure how and why he died, but I suspect it is connected to these other deaths and he thought he was protecting me. So my first duty has to be to him. Much as I would like to go into the town and try and find the truth about these murderers, I must see he’s taken home with dignity. If I had a faster carriage …’

‘Do you wish me to hire a cart for you and speed the trip?’ Alfredus was still standing at my side. ‘Or Vesperion could take the mule for you, perhaps.’

I shook my head. ‘It’s getting far too late. By the time he reached the roundhouse it would be getting dark, and he’s far too old to be benighted in the wood. And there’s nowhere we could offer him hospitality. Maximus will lie in the slave hut overnight, and the other slaves will have to sleep in the main roundhouse with us, as it is. Besides, I wouldn’t like a stranger to turn up at my door and have to tell my poor wife what had happened to the slave. I couldn’t ask Minimus, he is far too young – I’ll simply have to take the body back myself.’

‘You could leave it in my warehouse,’ the councillor suggested.

It was a kind offer – and I did not turn it down at once. It would call for additional and expensive cleansing rituals, no doubt, given his current superstitious attitudes. Maximus would lie alone in a strange warehouse overnight, and the whole transport problem would arise again next day, but it would allow me to travel on the mule and have time for enquiries in town. So it offered a solution, of a kind.

I was still debating what to do when I heard a distant
tuba
sound. ‘Great Mars,’ I said. ‘They’ll be reading the proclamation in the forum very soon. I’ll have to do some—’

‘Father?’ I was interrupted by a cheerful cry and looked up to see my son hurrying towards me down the main street of the town. ‘What are you doing here?’ he said, as he came up to us. He sounded out of breath. ‘I thought you’d be halfway to the roundhouse by this time. I know the cleansing rituals did not take very long – especially after you two citizens had left – but I didn’t expect to catch you up so easily.’

‘I had a brush with that centurion again,’ I said. ‘He wouldn’t let me through. But there have been developments. The army’s found a dozen severed heads. They supposed it was rebels, but I’m certain that it’s not.’

Junio thought about it. ‘Marcus’s slaves? Of course!’ He frowned. ‘But why on earth …?’

‘It took me a moment to work that out myself,’ I said. ‘Tomorrow we’ll get Georgicus to collect the heads, and see. But I’m certain that we’ll find that one of them’s the missing gatekeeper.’

He stared at me. ‘I’d forgotten about him. But …?’

‘He was among the bodies all the time – though I didn’t realise it,’ I said. ‘Funnily enough, it was the wise woman who gave me the idea. “It is whatever you expect to see” – that was the talisman.’

‘I didn’t see either gatekeeper.’ Minimus had been listening to all this with interest.

Junio exchanged a glance with me. ‘That’s because we didn’t let you look,’ he said, and then to me, ‘the front gatekeeper was hanging in his cell. Why was he killed by such a different method, do you think?’

‘I have a theory about that,’ I said. ‘But there are other things I need to check on first. And fairly urgently – supposing that it’s not too late by now. Would you be willing to take Arlina home, and tell your mother about Maximus for me? I would be happy leaving that with you and I’ll try to be home myself as soon as possible, though if it gets too dark, I’ll have to stay in Glevum.’

Junio pressed my arm. ‘Of course I will – if you’re sure there’s nothing else that I can do in town.’

‘Did you manage to get round to the gates and ask if they’d seen Cacus and his master leaving?’ I enquired.

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t need to ask. I saw him for myself when I was on my way to ask them at the Isca gate. It was difficult to hurry – everyone was pushing to the forum by that time – so I tried to take the shortcut by the docks. And there was Cacus, with his back to me, going into that taverna – you know the one I mean? One of the girls who works there sidled up to me, wanting to know if I was thirsty – though that wasn’t what she meant. I said I wouldn’t enter the premises tonight for all the world, because I’d just seen a giant walking in and she laughed and said, “His master’s in there, too,” so I gave her a quadrans and came to tell you. So there’s your answer, Father. Commemoratus hasn’t gone to Isca after all.’

‘The docks, you say? So they intend to leave by water after all – in that empty little boat, no doubt. The captain said he’d lost a fare that he expected yesterday. I’m sure that was Commemoratus and his party only – because I happened to pass him on the road and thereby forced him to produce his alibi – they didn’t leave as quickly as they’d intended to. Did Cacus see you?’

Junio shook his head. ‘I don’t think so, Father – and certainly Commemoratus can’t have done.’

Alfredus Allius touched my tunic sleeve. ‘Who’s this Commemoratus, citizen? I’ve not heard of him. And what is this about? Is this connected with those murders we’ve been hearing of? If something’s happening at the docks, perhaps I ought to know.’

‘But surely you know Commemoratus, councillor?’ Junio was surprised. ‘He was at your warehouse just this afternoon, arranging to buy wine from you, I understand. Or perhaps you didn’t meet him – Vesperion spoke to him.’ He looked at the steward, who was standing at a respectful distance by the arch, still helping Minimus to hold the mule. ‘Or so my father says.’

Vesperion saw that he was needed and shuffled up to us.

‘I hear we had an enquiry for wine this afternoon,’ his master said, severely. ‘You didn’t mention it.’

The steward looked contrite. ‘I didn’t want to bother you with time-wasters, master, when you were so concerned about this citizen’s dead slave,’ he said. ‘But it’s true there was a visitor – though nothing came of it. Wealthy fellow with a fancy cloak. I thought we’d get a handsome contract out of him, but he wasn’t really interested in buying wine at all. He was very rude, saying one minute that he wouldn’t do business with an underling, and then complaining when I wasn’t at his beck and call. Then his servant came to get him and he went away without a word except to say he didn’t like our wine, though we’d given him some of the best Rhenish we had in. I don’t imagine he will call again – though I suppose he may come back and talk to you.’

‘Then that must be the man you’re looking for,’ Alfredus said to me. ‘And he’s called Commemoratus, did you say? Funny sort of cognomen – I wonder where he’s from.’

Vesperion frowned. ‘That’s not the name he gave me!’ he exclaimed. ‘I can’t recall exactly. I didn’t really bother in the end, when he obviously wasn’t a proper customer, but I’m sure it wasn’t that. It’s some name I think I’ve vaguely heard before … Honorius Flavius … something?’

‘Egidius?’ I prompted.

The steward stared at me – and so did Junio. Then Vesperion spoke. ‘Of course it was,’ he murmured, sheepishly. ‘Same name as the villa that Scipio man has bought – perhaps this chap’s distantly related to the family. I should have noticed that. He rattled off his full three names, of course, and a couple of nicknames for good measure, too – though Commemoratus wasn’t one of them. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t make the connection at the time. I’m sorry, master, if I should have taken better note.’

Alfredus was fingering his amulets again, but it was Junio who spoke. ‘Commemoratus is Egidius?’ he said. ‘That isn’t possible. The man’s in lifetime exile, forbidden fire and water anywhere within the Roman Empire and liable to death if he is found within its bounds. He would not dare to come here and announce himself by name.’

‘Unless he has a pardon, as I believe he has. In fact I heard his servant saying so. He produced that scroll that I was talking of, and said “your pardon, master”. I thought it was an apology for interrupting us, but I now believe he meant exactly what he said. That was the pardon, under Imperial seal. The commandant told me that Pertinax had issued lots of them, even some that were not really justified.’

Junio was still looking unconvinced. ‘But why would Egidius tell you he was called something else? If he’d been pardoned, surely, he has nothing more to fear?’

‘He wanted to avoid me knowing who he was – though he’d already told Vesperion by that time, it seems. In fact, I think he came on purpose to identify himself. He wanted a witness who could prove that he was there. And then I came and spoiled all his plans. I noticed when I asked him for his name, he sent the steward out before he answered me. He gave me the nickname he’d adopted for himself: “the remembered one”. It was a message to Marcus, which he knew I would pass on. In fact, he made a specific point of asking me to do so.’

Junio shook his head despairingly. ‘But why? Even if everything you say is true, there can’t be a connection with the murders and the theft. You said yourself that he had alibis. Egidius was not in Glevum till sunset yesterday. He had no opportunity to arrange the carts and guards, and didn’t have the knowledge to make that inventory – and there are lots of witnesses to every part of that. And he was in the warehouse at the docks with you when Maximus was killed. He can’t have been responsible for any of the crimes.’

‘I know,’ I assented. ‘It’s clever, isn’t it? The ultimate vengeance on a magistrate. The man who hated Marcus for what he’d done to him – the ruin of his family and the loss of all he had, and years of miserable exile on an island in the sea – has witnesses to prove that he was somewhere else throughout. As of course, he genuinely was.’

‘So it was not Egidius who did it?’

‘Not that Egidius,’ I said. ‘He was an obvious suspect – that’s why he took such pains to make sure that his alibis were unshakeable. It was the other Egidius, of course. The younger brother that Marcus was employing as a scribe.’

‘But we saw the body of the scribe …’ Junio began, then tailed off in dismay. ‘You mean it wasn’t him at all?’

‘He changed clothes with the dead back-gatekeeper, and I think he simply got into his brother’s travelling coach and was driving off when I encountered them – leaving a headless body which seemed to be the scribe. It was clever, No one would look for the amanuensis after that, and once in town, he put a toga on. A simple but effective method of disguise, especially with lots of strangers in Glevum for the will.’

‘But wasn’t that a risk? Suppose that someone recognised his face?’ Alfredus Allius asked.

I shook my head. ‘That brother sold himself when he was very young – no one was likely to recognise him now. I was the only person likely to connect him with the house. I’d briefly glimpsed him there when he was copying the text. That’s why they wanted to be rid of me.’

‘What about Marcus’s land-slaves? They would have seen him while he was working there.’

‘They never leave the property, except Georgicus perhaps, and even he would not have known the amanuensis well. Besides, they thought that he was dead. If they were looking for anyone, it would be the gatekeeper! It isn’t easy to persuade a witness that someone isn’t dead when they are convinced they’ve seen the corpse. And I think that is why the other household slaves were massacred as well. One body without a head does not attract attention where there are a dozen others in the pile. But I’m sure we’ll find the brothers are together now. So, if we’ve finished talking, it is time for you to take Maximus back home and I’ll go and see if I can find our suspects before the gates are shut.’

But even as I spoke there was a clamour from the town.

A
s Junio turned to leave us, Alfredus tugged my sleeve again. ‘Citizen,’ he said, ‘do you hear what I can hear? There’s disturbance in the town. If you wish to catch these people you must go at once – and your son must have a proper cart to take the servant in so you can have the mule to ride home afterwards. Don’t shake your head like that. I have an interest in solving this affair as well.’ His flat tone made the statement a more surprising one. ‘I’ve agreed today to underwrite a loan to Scipio for the purchase of the household items that I told you of. You know the law: “the buyer must beware”. If, for some reason, the purchase of the Egidius house was not what it appears, he stands to lose a lot of money – some of which is mine. If I had not helped you with the transport of your slave, I could only blame my ill-luck on myself for not obeying what the wise-woman advised. Accept my offer and let me do this to propitiate the Fates.’

Put like that, I could not well refuse. ‘In that case, thank you councillor,’ I said.

‘Vesperion!’ Alfredus Allius was decisive now. ‘Go to the hiring stables over there and arrange a cart. Have them bring it to the gateway here. The fastest one they’ve got. And a driver with it, as soon as possible. Tell them I will pay them twice the normal rate – double if they get it here before the tuba sounds again. Tell them to send help to load the bier onto the cart, and for good measure, they can take care of the mule until its owner comes to call for it.’

Vesperion looked startled, ‘But the stable-owner—’

‘Will do as he is asked for a curial magistrate,’ Alfredus told him, flatly. ‘And he will not try to cheat by asking an unreasonable sum. I can rely on my amulets for that.’ He touched them as he spoke.

I only wished I had his confidence, though, truth to tell, my own had sparked a useful train of thought. ‘Councillor, I can’t express my thanks for what you’ve done. I won’t forget it – but now I’ll have to go. You can still hear the noises from the town. If this goes on, they’ll put the soldiers in the street, and I won’t be able to find the men that I am looking for.’ I turned to Minimus. ‘You’d better come with me. I know you’d rather ride with Maximus, but I may have need of you.’

Minimus abandoned the mule to Junio and came trotting obediently to my side, then calling a farewell to Villosus – who was at his post again – I began to hurry back towards the city and the docks.

‘Don’t go without me, citizen!’ I turned to find Alfredus Allius hastening after me, rearranging his sombre toga into neater folds. ‘Vesperion will catch us – he knows where we’re going. He would be returning to the warehouse anyway.’ He fell into step beside me as he spoke.

‘You will accompany me?’

Alfredus looked surprised. ‘Naturally, I’ll come with you, citizen. You may need witnesses and as a councillor I can call out the town watch if they’re required. Anyway, as I say, I have an interest. And I am intrigued by what you say. I’d heard that you were clever, but I never dreamed of this. What made you so certain that the caller was Egidius?’

I made a rueful face. ‘I didn’t work it out until I’d heard about the heads – but looking back there were a lot of things which I should have noticed at the time. For one thing, there was the colour of his skin. I noticed it was reddened, but I did not think of sunshine as a cause for this. But if he was exiled on an island in the Inland Roman Sea, of course that would explain it perfectly. And he as good as told me that he had. He said he’d bought his servant as a boy “in one of the poorest islands of our sea”. I thought he meant the waters round Britannia, but I should have realised.
Mare Nostra
– our sea – is what the Romans call it, and that’s where Commodus always sent his exiles. No wonder Cacus has such golden skin.’

Alfredus nodded, not looking much impressed. ‘This is the best way to the docks from here.’ He led the way around the corner to the street which offered the most salubrious route down to the river quay. It was virtually deserted, the shops were closed and shuttered, entry doors were shut, and even the tavernas had no lamps alight inside. Our footsteps on the cobbles seemed unnaturally loud. It was positively eerie, the more so since – from the direction of the forum not very far away – there was now the muted but unmistakable roar of angry crowds. I glanced at Alfredus Allius but he seemed unconcerned.

‘So it was Egidius himself who sold the villa, after all? I suppose it would have been restored to him when he was pardoned, since it had not been sold before.’ I nodded ‘And he shrewdly turned it into gold and silver straight away. I saw the bracelets on his arm.’

‘I don’t suppose he cared to live in the old house himself. But it’s a legal sale.’ He sounded much relieved.

‘He wouldn’t have the money to repair it anyway,’ I said. ‘He only gets the part of his fortune which remains, and there was not much of that. It was all forfeited to the Emperor. That’s why one brother sold himself to slavery. And, of course, they blamed Marcus, who found against them in the courts.’ I shook my head. ‘I can’t imagine why I didn’t wonder more about the gatekeeper who wasn’t there. But now I understand. They dressed him in the distinctive tunic the amanuensis wore – and you see what you expect to see, as your wise-woman said.’

The mention of the wise-woman caught his interest. ‘And the fact that the amanuensis had access to the house …?’

‘Of course, it made it easy for him to make the list. And he had constant access to Marcus’s writing desk. No doubt he stole the seal-ring – or had a copy made – and he, of all people, could construct the messages purporting to instruct the staff to load the goods. And I’m sure we’ll find he took the message to the land-slaves too – telling them to construct that useless woodpile and keeping them busy a long way from the house. Another forged letter which he could produce. Of course, they would believe that it was genuine.’

‘And you think he killed the slaves?’

‘Not personally, perhaps. He’d hired the thugs and carters – they may have done the job. It would not even be a very serious crime, if they thought they were working for the owner of the place. No doubt the carters thought the house was his – they don’t ask questions, provided they get paid, and some of Marcus’s treasure would have seen to that. He had a space under the pavement in his office-room, where he kept a money-box, and there was nothing in it when I was there today.’

We had reached the corner of the docks by now, and were about to turn onto the quay when the clatter of following footsteps stopped me in my tracks. In the unnatural silence of the empty streets the sound was ominous. I had not forgotten that my quarry was a murderer, and I pulled Minimus into the shadows of a portico with me.

Alfredus had more courage – or less imagination. He simply turned to face the follower. ‘Vesperion!’ I heard him cry. ‘You almost frightened us. Did you manage the business with the cart?’

The poor old steward was completely out of breath, but he managed to convey that the arrangements had been made, the mule was in a stall, and Maximus was safely on his way. He mentioned a sum which took my breath away.

Alfredus merely nodded. ‘I will see that it is done.’ He turned to me. ‘One more thing, citizen. What happened to the treasure and the furniture the brothers stole?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that. There’s no sign of it in Glevum, so it didn’t come this way. I fear that you may discover you’ve paid for it,’ I said. ‘I think you’ll find it is the furniture that Scipio thinks he’s bought – the things that were alleged to have been stored elsewhere – which I suppose, in a peculiar way, is true. I’m almost sure you’ll find an elaborate travelling carriage in the stables too. They must have put it somewhere, and that’s the likely place. And of course Egidius senior wanted me to think that he was going to drive away in it, though he didn’t actually mention carriages. I think he takes a strange delight in saying things which are nothing but the truth – but which give the wrong impression to the listener. Look, here’s the tavern – you can judge that for yourself.’ And without waiting for an answer I led the way inside.

I don’t care much for wine shops, and this one less than most. The floor was filthy and the wine vats, set into the counter, were rimed with sediment. One or two customers perched on wooden seats looked up blearily as we came in, but to my dismay there was no sign of anyone I recognised. But it was too late to escape. The owner, a toothless ancient with an aimless grim, came lurching over to accost us instantly.

‘Can I assist you, gentlemen?’

‘I was looking for a customer,’ Alfredus rescued me. ‘I missed him earlier. I believe he came in here. This citizen has seen him, and can describe him properly.’

‘Fellow in a patrician toga, with an enormous slave,’ I supplied, without much hope.

The owner drooped one rheumy eye into a wink. ‘Busy at the moment upstairs, citizen. Which one were you after? The young one or the older gentleman?’

‘They’re both here?’ I exclaimed. ‘I was not expecting that.’

‘Been here all the afternoon – young one first and then the other one. Hope they’re going to pay the poor girls properly!’

I turned to Alfredus and Vesperion. ‘You realise what this means? I knew that Cacus had been looking out of your warehouse window-space, but I didn’t realise what he was looking for. Of course, they were waiting for the young one to get back – and no doubt he’s the one that Junio saw with Cacus on the dock. That explains one mystery. I was sure that Commemoratus was the one who called at our workshop when Junio was there, but he insisted that he didn’t recognise the man. Of course he didn’t – it was the younger brother he glimpsed the second time.’

The taverna owner paid no attention to my words. ‘Now, gentlemen, what can I offer you? It’s been quite a day for us. We don’t have a lot of patrician visitors, but suddenly today we’ve had a run of them. Watered wine, or ale, or our own special brew …?’ He waved a hand at his disgusting wares.

Alfredus turned to me. ‘I think that if the other men have gone upstairs, we ought to go ourselves. We don’t want them realising that we’re here, and dropping out of windows while we’re loitering downstairs.’

‘Upstairs, gentlemen?’ The owner gave us a delighted leer. ‘I’m not sure if there’s space. Most of the rooms and girls are occupied. There’s only Livia …’ He put his fingers to his lips and gave a piercing whistle. There was a flurry on the staircase and Livia appeared – the plump and aging prostitute I’d noticed earlier. She’d taken off the toga and was wearing a stained tunic which did not enhance her charms. ‘You’ve got a vacant cubicle?’ he barked.

She was chewing on a stringy chicken bone, but she removed it from her mouth sufficiently to say, ‘Only the small one this end left.’

‘That will do nicely. We two will go upstairs and we’ll leave the slaves down here to guard the door,’ I told the astonished owner of the shop.

‘Here!’ he said loudly. ‘Two of you at once? There’s extra charge for that.’

‘It’s the room we’re after, not your mangy girls,’ I said. ‘We’ll go up there now. If there’s any problem, call the watch at once.’

‘Don’ need the watch,’ Livia said indistinctly, through a lump of chicken skin. She looked animated suddenly. ‘I got my soldier up there, though he’s half asleep. What’s this all about?’

‘We’ve come to get those purple-stripers who are here – they’re thieves and murderers.’

She stuffed the nibbled chicken inside her tunic top. ‘Blinking incomers – they think they own the place. Keep the proper customers away and won’t give a girl a quadrans for her time. What’s it worth to help you, citizen?’

I glanced at Alfredus Allius, who was looking dazed. ‘A sestertius says you get me in the room with them, another sestertius if we get them under guard.’

‘Done!’ She spat on her two palms and offered them to me. I realised this was a kind of contract, so I did the same with mine. She squeezed my fingers briefly and then leaned forward as if we were the only people in the room, saying softly, ‘It won’t be difficult. They’re in the big rooms round the corner at the back. They’ve sent the girls away into a single cubicle, and they’re sitting together in the other one, whispering, while the big slave’s standing in the doorway keeping watch. They think they can’t be heard but … come with me.’ She placed a chubby finger to her lips and led the way upstairs.

I was glad I’d not brought Minimus up here. It was a frowsty place, a row of little cubicles with ill-fitting doors with graphic illustration of the ‘skills’ available, and – judging by the one that Livia showed us to – nothing but a scruffy mattress and a bench within. Alfredus Allius had followed dutifully, but he was looking very uncomfortable indeed.

‘The others are just like this – round the other side. But put your ear here …’ Livia leant over against the wooden inner wall, as if to demonstrate.

I did as I was told. I could hear a muffled mumbling, but that was all. Any hopes of trapping the Egidius brothers in this way disappeared as quickly as they’d come. Alfredus Allius came to take my place, and then disaster struck. The bench-bed buckled and he tumbled to the floor, taking the outer door with him. He landed in the narrow passageway with a crash and an oath that rang across the dock.

The result was instant. I rushed out to help him, but he’d disturbed the house. There were shrieks and cries, and frightened faces peered from every door. The owner was already charging up the stairs and round the far corner came an enormous form. Cacus was standing on the landing watching me.

‘Great Dis,’ I heard him murmur. ‘It’s that citizen again.’

‘What is it, Cacus?’ It was Commemoratus, in his fancy cloak – utterly incongruous in this shabby place.

‘It’s Libertus, master. He must have followed us.’

‘Nonsense, Cacus. We saw him leave the quay.’ Commemoratus pushed the slave aside. ‘Dear Mercury, you’re right! It
is
the citizen. What are you doing here?’

‘Looking for the Egidius brothers,’ I said, evenly. ‘To accuse them of theft and of murdering several slaves they did not own. I’ve brought a curial magistrate to witness it.’ I gestured to the shadows at my feet, where Alfredus Allius was picking himself slowly from the floor.