Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries And Impossible Crimes

His teeth showed white in the darkness and she could smell his sandalwood unguent, even through the pongs from the cowshed. Then the grin disengaged and his voice, when he spoke, was a rasp. “Claudia, you must leave, it’s dangerous here.”

She closed the shutter, and the flame straightened up. “It’s the Emperor’s fault,” she told the comatose bodyguard. “He will keep subsidising theatrical productions, some of the drama’s bound to rub off. Or could it be, Junius, that this aristocrat’s simply jealous of Max?”

“This has nothing to do with- Is that a betrothal ring on your finger? ”

“See what I mean?” she asked the welter of bloodstained bandages.

“It is! It’s a betrothal ring! Claudia, you can’t marry that man, he’s worn out five wives already.”

“Six has always been my lucky number.”

“Fine!” He threw his hands in the air. “Fine. Do what you like, only for gods’ sake, let’s discuss this back in Rome. I have horses outside, we-”

Claudia spun round to face him. “Who the bloody hell do you think you are? My guardian? My husband? I’m not one of your flunkies.”

“You’ve got me wrong-”

“I haven’t got you at all, and that’s the root of it. You’re jealous as hell that I’m here with Max, and moreover, I intend to stay here, Orbilio. I have Great Plans for my future-”

“As Soni had Great Plans for his!”

Claudia felt the ground shift underfoot. “Soni?”

“Dammit, he was one of our best undercover agents.” Orbilio slammed a fist into the palm of his hand. “When he failed to report back, I came looking – only I can’t find him anywhere.”

The floorboards became marsh, and Claudia slumped down on Junius’ narrow pallet bed. “Soni’s a policeman ?”

“Of sorts,” Marcus said. “Why?” She saw him stiffen. “Do you know anything about his disappearance?”

Claudia rubbed at her forehead. “Yes… No…” The room was spinning around her. Umbrian idylls crumbled to dust as she explained how Soni hadn’t come home from the hunt.

“Shit.” Orbilio sank on to the bed beside her, and buried his head in his hands. “That means someone rumbled his cover and took the opportunity of this morning’s excitement to kill him.”

But how? When? Obviously suspicious, Soni’s idea of life insurance was to keep himself in full view of the hunt. How could he possibly have been eliminated without witnesses? What was it the head bearer had said? Now you see him, now you don ’ t -

“What-” Claudia could not bring herself to say “who”. “What are you investigating?”

Orbilio spiked his hands through his hair, and when he spoke, his voice was weary. “Max,” he said slowly, “makes too much money for my liking. I mean, look at this place, Claudia. A man doesn’t make legitimate millions from stag hunts and bears! So I started making some enquiries and… ”

“And what?”

For a long time, the only sound in the room was the shallow breath of the unconscious bodyguard. Then: “I couldn’t be certain – after all, the top echelon of Rome are visitors here. I had to tread softly. So I set up that business at the slave auction-”

Soni was a plant?

“Goddammit, Orbilio, you set me up, too!”

That was no accidental meeting, that day in the Forum -Supersnoop had been waiting for her! He knew where she’d been, she knew where she was going, and on top of it all, he damn well knew Max would be there. Both of them, plums for the picking!

“I needed you to add authenticity,” Marcus said. “That way, Max would suspect nothing and I’d have an undercover agent to sound out my theory.” He scrubbed his eyeballs with his thumbs. “What the hell am I supposed to say to his mother?”

Several more minutes ticked past, and the candle guttered and spat.

“I think it’s fair to say that, having rumbled Soni,” Marcus said quietly, “they feared Junius was also a spy.”

Nausea clogged Claudia’s throat as she studied the comatose form on the bed. “His injuries aren’t accidental?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange he has only head wounds? For a chap who supposedly tumbled down a ravine, it seems odd no bones were broken.” He paused, before adding, “I’m sure they believed they were bringing his corpse home to you.”

Tears scalded Claudia’s eyes. Sweet Jupiter, that might yet be the case…

“What hunch were you working on?” Claudia asked, but her words were cut short as the door to the sickroom burst open, spilling bright orange light on to the floor.

“Seize him!”

Half a dozen men rushed into the room, grabbing a kicking, struggling, protesting Marcus and hauling him in to the corridor. Claudia shot after them, but there were too many and Orbilio was quickly bundled down the slave wing, watched by a blond huntsman with Aegean blue eyes.

“Where are you taking him?” Claudia demanded, but a strong arm shot out to restrain her.

“Stay out of this,” Max growled. He needed both hands to contain his struggling fireball. “This is between Orbilio and me.” To his men, he said, “Get a horse, tie him to it, then escort this gentleman to Rome.”

“This is outrageous,” Claudia hissed.

“I know,” Max admitted. By the gods, she could squirm! “But I can’t allow people to go around slandering me, particularly well-connected patrician policemen.”

“He says-”

“I know what he says, and perhaps he genuinely believes I’m up to my ears in extortion or blackmail, but Jupiter’s balls, I’m no gangster. I won’t have the slur bandied about. Now, Orbilio’s pride might be hurt, riding home hogtied, but it will only be pride.”

He released her at last, leaving them both panting and red from exertion.

“What of his claim that Junius’ injuries aren’t consistent with a fall?” she spat, and to her astonishment, Max burst out laughing.

“Have you seen the bruises on that poor bugger’s body? Junius hit his head on a rock, Claudia. Knocked himself out – and you know yourself what happens when drunks roll about. The body goes limp.”

Actually, that was true…

“Orbilio’s problem,” Max chuckled, “is not that I might be a gangster, not even that I make more money than Midas by ripping off rich bastards hand over fist. His problem is, I have you! ”

Claudia slipped off the armband, the one set with carnelians and pearls, and ran it round and round in her hand. “Like you have Soni, you mean?”

Aegean blue eyes flickered briefly. “Soni,” he said, “is a slave. Yes, I own slaves. Yes, unlike you, I don’t treat them as equals. And yes, I’ve been married five times, if that’s what you’re driving at, but I never think of women as chattels.” He drew a deep breath. “Whether you believe me or not is another matter,” he added.

“Whether I believe you,” she said slowly, “rests on my seeing Soni, face to face, right this minute.”

An astonished expression crossed Max’s face. “Are you serious?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. No, of course not,” he stuttered. “It’s just that… It’s just that I’m jealous, my love. I know I can’t compete with a stripling half my age and whose pecs are solid steel, but… well, I’m not in bad shape and, unlike a slave, I can give you wealth unimaginable-”

Not unimaginable, Max. I’ve imagined it many times.

“I want to buy Soni,” she snapped, “not sleep with the boy.” If everything was above board, then there would be no obstacle. Max had denied her nothing so far.

“Ah.” For a moment, he faltered, then the old seductive laugh returned as he led her back through the lofty atrium, rich with its cedarwood oils. “In that case, darling, you must accept him as a gift, with my compliments. May he serve you as well as he’s served me.”