David Wishart: Germanicus

'How did the Wart handle all of this?'

'Quite dispassionately, Aunt Marcia said.' Perilla took another sip of my wine. 'But he obviously wanted a conviction.'

'The Piso trial again, right?'

She nodded. 'That was what I thought. The circumstances of Libo's suicide were curious, too. He may have stabbed himself, but there is' — she paused — 'a certain doubt and confusion about the matter.'

'You mean the guy could've been helped on his way?'

'Yes. Very easily.'

There were too many parallels for coincidence, and that made the forgery angle even more worth chasing up. It was a pity I'd been warned off. More than a pity, because I was just itching to dig further into this.

'So what did Trio get out of it?'

'Libo's estate was divided up among his accusers. As the chief prosecutor he had the major share.'

Uh-huh. That explained where the money had come from to pay for the fancy house on the Pincian. If I needed any more proof that Trio was crooked as a Suburan landlord I'd got it.

'There's one more thing, Marcus. The most important.' Perilla hesitated. 'Aunt Marcia didn't exactly give it as a fact, and you know how snobbish she can be at times, but I think it's worth passing on. The rumour was that Trio had a silent partner in the Libo prosecution. One very close to the emperor.'

My skin prickled. 'Yeah? And who was that?'

She paused again. Her eyes held mine.

'Aelius Sejanus,' she said.

Everything suddenly went very quiet. I reached over for the jug and filled the wine cup Cotta had left on the table. This time Perilla didn't stop me. Her eyes were still on mine, and they looked scared. As well they might.

Aelius Sejanus. Commander of Praetorians and well on his way to becoming the Wart's principal sunbeam. Lamia's relative, the relative of Junius Blaesus whom Dad was so keen to keep in with these days and of half a dozen other prominent men in the Wart's government system. And, incidentally, a lethal bastard to cross: messing with Sejanus was about as safe as putting your head in an arena cat's mouth to check out its tonsils. As I’d almost found out for myself.

'You're sure he was involved with Trio?' I said. 'I mean, Marcia's sure?'

'She wasn't specific.' I could see that Perilla was trying to keep up her dispassionate front, and she wasn't doing too well. 'But you know her hints.'

Perilla's Aunt Marcia was Fabius Maximus's widow, and a long-standing friend of the imperials. She had more pride and sense than to gossip, especially after the way her husband had died, but when she felt confident enough to drop a hint about something you could have the thing cast in bronze and hang it up with the law tables. I nodded. 'Yeah. That's good enough for me. She's sure, okay. Sejanus explains the poison as well.'

'How so?'

'Tiberius would balk at poison, but not Sejanus. One gets you ten that when the Wart found out Germanicus was crooked he threw the whole thing into Sejanus's lap and left him to it; which was the best thing he could do, because it had to be handled careful, and cloak and dagger stuff's right up that bastard's alley.'

'Sejanus arranged the murder on Tiberius's instructions.'

'Yeah.' I sipped the Falernian. 'If Germanicus had to be got rid of it had to be done secretly. So the Wart gives Sejanus carte blanche to put the guy away. Then the pair of them get together to cover the affair up, with Sejanus masterminding operations and the Wart providing the clout.'

'That would explain Aelius Lamia's appointment to Syria, too.'

'Right. On top of his official orders being related to Sejanus Lamia would have a personal stake in making sure the shit at the Antioch end stayed buried. It kept things in the family, so to speak.'

'So how was it done?' Perilla rested her chin on her hand. 'The actual murder, I mean. Did Sejanus use Piso and Plancina after all?'

I shook my head. 'No. Maybe, but I don't think so. He wouldn't've had to, because being the emperor's accredited deputy he'd be able to use official channels of his own. Or semi-official. And he had his own agent on Germanicus's staff.'

Perilla frowned. 'Namely?'

'Your mate Acutia's husband. Publius Vitellius.'

She sat up. 'Marcus, Vitellius is impossible. He was one of Germanicus's closest friends, he drafted the case against Piso for the murder, and by implication he was one of the principals in Germanicus's own plot.'

'Yeah, I know. I haven't worked out the whys and wherefores myself yet, but I'd still bet my last copper penny Vitellius was the guy directly responsible.

'Prove it,' Perilla said simply.

'Okay.' I took another swallow of wine before she woke up to the fact it wasn't medicinally correct. 'Remember Mancus?'

'Martina's mysterious contact. Yes, of course. But if you think — ’

'Wait, lady. We knew Mancus was a pseudonym, right? And you suggested he chose the name after the old Etruscan death god.'

'Of course. And you said it tied in with-'

'With the guy who murdered Regulus. Right. Only I was wrong because we were being too clever. Vitellius didn't choose the pseudonym at all, Martina did. Even if she knew his real name she wouldn't've used it even to her sister, for obvious reasons. So she gave him a name herself. Because he was a Roman and she spoke Latin she chose a good Roman descriptive name, like Acutia means "sharp"; only being genuinely descriptive it fitted the guy perfectly.' I paused. 'So what does “mancus” mean in straight Latin?'

'"Maimed", of course. Is this supposed to prove something?'

'"Maimed" in particular respect of what?'

'The hand.' Her startled eyes met mine. 'I'm a fool. Vitellius had a finger missing, or the top joint of one, rather. You're right, it fits.'

'Of course it does.' I took a smug mouthful of Falernian. 'Vitellius is our boy, sure as eggs is eggs, whether he claimed to be Germanicus's friend or not. And another thing. He was the only guy on the Syrian staff to be left over from the other team. The rest were either new like Lamia or they were Piso's appointees who the Wart would know were loyal.'

'Then you think Lamia knew that it was Vitellius who arranged Germanicus's death?'

'It explains the way Lamia held back from him at the party, for a start. He may've been Sejanus's cousin and involved in the cover-up, but he was basically a decent guy having to do a dirty job. He had to put personalities aside in the cause of duty but he still couldn't take Vitellius's smell. It explains why your pal Acutia wasn't flavour of the month with the wives, too. I'd bet a barrel of oysters to a button they all knew as well.'

'But that's dreadful!'

'It's politics, lady.' I emptied the last of the Falernian into my cup. Perilla didn't seem to notice. 'As games go they don't come any dirtier. There's not a lot we can do with the information now, except maybe pass it on to Martina's sister like we promised. I doubt if she'll be able to do anything but we'll have done our best.'

'But wasn't Vitellius taking a terrible risk? After all, if he was prosecuting Piso in Rome and Martina knew him then…' She stopped. 'Oh, yes. Yes, of course. That was why Martina had to die at Brindisi, wasn't it?'

'It was one of the reasons, sure. But she knew too much else anyway. And then Tiberius made sure the guy went straight back to Syria after Piso was safely dead. No wonder the trial went the way the Wart planned it, or Sejanus, rather. He had two of his own men on the prosecuting panel. It's a pity he couldn't've made absolutely certain by having…' I stopped. 'Shit. He did. Of course he did.'

'What's wrong?' Perilla was staring at me.

'Sejanus didn't just have two lawyers in his pocket. He had three.'

'Who was the third? Another of Germanicus's friends?'