David Wishart: In at the Death

I moored Placida to one of the doorposts, knocked and waited. Finally, the door-slave opened up: a middle-aged guy in a mourning-tunic with his forelock shaved to the scalp. He looked down at Placida, his eyes widened and he stepped back.

‘It’s okay, pal,’ I said quickly. ‘No hassle, she’s friendly. And if she starts howling just throw her a goat.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Stiff as hell; but there again I didn’t blame him. Opening the door and finding something like Placida sitting grinning at you and breathing horse dung doesn’t exactly merit spreading out the welcome mat. ‘How can I help you?’

‘I was wondering if I could possibly have a word with the mistress.’

‘She’s in mourning for her son, sir,’ he said. ‘I don’t think — ’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I know. Look, I’m sorry, friend, but Minicius Natalis up at the Greens’ stables sent me round. The name’s Corvinus, Valerius Corvinus. If the lady can see me just for a few minutes I’d appreciate it.’

At least the mention of Natalis seemed to register, and it evidently made a difference. The guy stopped frowning and opened the door completely. ‘Would you care to come inside, sir? I’ll tell the mistress you’re here.’ He padded off.

‘Stay,’ I said to Placida. Yeah, well, it was worth a try. On the other hand, you never knew your luck. While I was talking to Rupilia the brute might decide to slip her collar and leg it for the Alps.

The lobby was plain, but it had a good floor mosaic in the old style and a mural that looked like it’d been freshened up recently. I wondered if the place had been in the Papinius family before the divorce, or whether Rupilia had bought it after the split. In any case, it was typical of a lot of top-five-hundred property: no modern flash, old stuff that’d been pricey when it was first bought and was kept up on an income that may’ve been pretty hefty a hundred years back but hadn’t changed much since. Natalis had said that Rupilia was reasonably well-off, and that was fair enough; but my guess was that she couldn’t afford to splash it around.

The slave came back. ‘The mistress will see you, sir. This way, please.’

The atrium matched the lobby: good quality furnishings and fittings, well cared for, but not much that looked like it belonged in the last twenty-odd years. The lady herself was sitting in a chair by the central pool. If Natalis was smitten it didn’t surprise me: she must’ve been a real looker in her time, and she wasn’t bad now, even with the mourning-mantle and the puffy eyes; I’d reckon late thirties, very early forties, which given her son’s age and the fact that her ex had just had his consulship was about right. And mourning or not, she’d evidently made sure her hair was carefully braided and her make-up well-applied.

‘Callon says you’ve come from Titus Natalis,’ she said. ‘It’ll be about Sextus, no doubt.’

Tact, Corvinus. I didn’t answer, just nodded.

She looked down at her hands, bunched in the lap of her mantle — she was holding something that I couldn’t see — then back up at me. ‘Oh, it’s all right.’ She smiled slightly. ‘I was expecting you. Titus said at the funeral that he wanted you to…look into the circumstances of my son’s death. We discussed the matter, of course, and I finally gave my permission. I don’t say that I was totally in favour of the idea, still less that I find the prospect pleasant, but he’s absolutely right. Nothing can bring Sextus back, but it would help if I could just understand why he — ’ She stopped, and her hands clenched on whatever was between them: not a handkerchief, something small and hard. ‘Yes. Well, then.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Now, no doubt you have questions. Please pull up a chair and I’ll do my best to answer them.’

I looked around. There was a chair by the wall under a mural of some battle or other; whoever had owned the house before, the Papinii or another family, seemed to have gone in for battles, judging by the rest of the artwork. I lifted it over — it was a real antique, with ivory inlay — set it down and sat.

‘I’ve only one that really matters,’ I said gently. ‘Do you have any idea — any idea — why your son should want to kill himself?’

She shook her head. ‘No. No, I don’t, none at all.’ Her eyes went back to whatever her fingers were clutching. ‘Don’t misunderstand me, Valerius Corvinus, I’m not pretending everything in Sextus’s life was sweetness and light. It wasn’t, by any means. We had our disagreements.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Quite acrimonious ones, especially over money. He was always complaining that I kept him short, that his friends’ allowances were much more generous than his was. But he understood that I was doing my best for him and he had all I could afford. Sextus was a good boy at heart. Good and sensible. Spoilt, yes, I admit it — I’ve no illusions on that score, and the fault is mine — but when all was said and done he accepted things as they were.’

Yeah. Sensible was right; certainly as sensible as you’re likely to get at that age. Most nineteen-year-old kids don’t think much past their street-cred, and for youngsters like Papinius good street-cred doesn’t come cheap.

‘Tell me about his friends,’ I said.

‘He didn’t have all that many. Oh, he was very outgoing, he did the things a young man of his station usually does — parties, drinking and so on — but luckily he never got in with any of the really fast sets. Or at least if he did I don’t know about it.’ She looked down at her hands again. ‘In fact I must admit that I don’t know much at all about Sextus’s private life. Or at least only what he chose to tell me, which wasn’t a great deal.’

Yeah, well, par for the course again; show me the parent who ever does. Me, I hadn’t told my own parents half of it. ‘Could you give me any names?’

‘Oh, yes. One, certainly. His best friend was a boy — a young man, rather — called Marcus Atratinus. Marcus Sempronius Atratinus. His father and my ex-husband were close colleagues from the first, and our two families have been on dinner-party terms for years. He and Sextus were the same age. They worked together on the Aventine fire damage commission.’

‘You know where I’d find him?’

‘At the commission itself, of course; it’s attached to the aediles’office. Or if you prefer, at his parents’ house on the Quirinal.’

‘Your son was a junior investigating officer, right?’

‘Yes. He was responsible — with others, naturally — for collecting and validating claims made by property owners who’d suffered losses in the fire.’

‘Had he been there long?’

‘Since the commission was set up three months ago.’

‘How did he get the job, just as a matter of interest? He applied directly?’

For the first time, Rupilia hesitated. Then she said: ‘No, actually, he didn’t. My ex-husband put his name forward to the senatorial committee responsible for staffing.’

Right. That, of course, was how things usually worked: one of a father’s chief responsibilities is to see his son’s political career duly launched, and as an ex-consul Papinius Allenius would have serious clout. Still, given what Natalis had said about the family relationships, or lack of them, it was odd. ‘Ah…I’m sorry, Rupilia, but Natalis told me your husband and Sextus were estranged.’

‘Yes. They were. Titus — that’s my ex-husband — and I have been divorced since…well, for a very long time. We’ve hardly seen each other in years, not even to talk to. But Titus was never one to shirk his duties. He suggested it himself, and both Sextus and I were very grateful.’

‘Your son enjoyed the job?’

She smiled. ‘Very much so. He was good at it, too, as far as I know, although again you’d have to ask Marcus Atratinus or Sextus’s immediate superior. Once again, I can’t provide you with much information. Sextus wasn’t very communicative on that subject either.’