David Wishart - Parthian Shot

‘Fair enough. That’s fine with me.’ He was still scowling. ‘You watch yourself, though. Politics is the dirty end of the stick. I’d’ve thought you’d have more sense than get mixed up with that business again.’

‘No choice of mine, pal. So. Can you help?’

‘Maybe. That depends on what you want, doesn’t it?’

‘A lead on the guys who did it. Names, if possible. People to talk to, find out who was behind the attack.’

He whistled softly. ‘Sure that’s enough? You don’t make things easy, do you?’ I said nothing. ‘Okay. Let’s think this through. Like I said, the Third Region is Hostilius’s patch. He’s no ball of fire, that’s putting it mildly, but I can have a quiet word with him, see what he says, get the inside angle. Mind you, I’ll bet you now a month’s pay to a poke in the eye he won’t be able to help much.’

‘Yeah? Why’s that?’

‘You said it was a gang. How many would that be?’

‘I don’t know actual numbers, but I’d reckon ten or a dozen.’

‘Right. There aren’t any gangs that size operate on the Esquiline or anywhere near it. Sure, whoever set the thing up may’ve done his hiring piecemeal, but that’d be tricky to arrange. My guess would be they weren’t a local bunch, that chummie brought them in on contract. That’d make them harder to trace, too.’

‘Brought them in from where?’

‘Most of the city’s big gangs belong to the dockland area south of Cattlemarket Square, or across the Sublician in Transtiber. There’re a couple on the Aventine, too, but that’s not such a strong possibility; Aventine villains tend to be solo artists. Same goes for the Subura.’ Lippillus impaled a piece of sausage with his knife, popped it in and chewed. ‘So the docklanders and the Transtiberans’re your best bet. They don’t normally operate in big groups, sure, unless they’re fighting each other, but they’ve certainly got the organisation. You get a lot of protection racket activity over that way, so finding a set of professional heavies wouldn’t be too difficult.’

‘If you had the contacts.’

‘That wouldn’t be a problem. Not if chummie was persistent and had money. Serious money. All he’d have to do was put the word around in a few wineshops, make it clear he was willing to pay, and the lads’d find him soon enough. It’d be pricey, mind. The gangs don’t like operating off their own patch, for obvious reasons: you don’t know whose toes you’re treading on, and mixing it away from your home ground is always risky. In fact, that could be our best way in.’

‘Yeah? How do you mean?’

‘Maybe Hostilius can help after all. Crooks may be crooked, but they’ve got strong views on where belongs to who, and they get pretty pissed off if foreigners muscle in on their territory. I’d bet there’re quite a few Esquiline heavies who’d like to see your knifemen pals pegged out for the crows. And if they do know anything there’s a good chance they won’t be too reluctant to pass it on.’ He cut another piece of sausage. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll put out feelers and let you know if I come up with anything. Now. How’re things otherwise?’

We chatted for a bit and finished off the sausages; they weren’t bad, not bad at all; they might even have been pork like the cookshop owner claimed, although maybe that’s pushing things. Then I let Lippillus get back to his break-in and headed for home.

Well, that was conscience salved: I’d opened up the most likely avenue of investigation, and there wasn’t a lot I could do now but wait to see what came of it. Unless, of course, after talking to Vitellius — and maybe Phraates — Isidorus decided to scrub the whole thing, in which case like I’d said to Lippillus I wouldn’t exactly be crying. Nor would Perilla.

She was in the dining room when I got back, finishing off what even for her was so late a breakfast it was practically lunch. I leaned over and gave her the usual homecoming kiss.

‘Hello, dear,’ she said. ‘How was your dinner last night?’

I settled down on the opposite couch. ‘Okay.’ I wasn’t going to give her even the expurgated version before I had to. And if Vitellius had any clout whatsoever with Isidorus even that mightn’t be necessary now.

‘No problems?’ She sounded suspicious. Jupiter, the lady was psychic!

‘No. No problems. And the food was great.’ Which reminded me; the recipes. I hadn’t had time to see Meton before going out that morning, and the terms of our deal meant that a personal transfer was in order. I turned to the hovering Bathyllus. ‘Bathyllus, ask Meton to step in for a second, would you? Unless he’s otherwise occupied, of course.’ Best to be safe. Make it sound too like a summons and if the bastard was doing something important ie anything from breathing forward there’d be Consequences. ‘Oh, and bring me those sheets of paper I left on the study couch last night.’

‘Yes, sir.’ The little bald-head exited.

‘So what happened?’ Perilla said. ‘Marcus, you aren’t usually so reticent. You’re sure there was no trouble?’

Hell. Nose like a bloodhound. I took a sip from the wine-cup Bathyllus had handed me when I came in; just a sip, because with nothing else going on I might as well have another shot at tackling those bloody accounts this afternoon. ‘Sure I’m sure. It was just a dinner, nothing special. There was a good tumbling act, though. Really impressive. They had this guy who — ’

‘So where were you this morning?’

‘Down at Public Pond, talking to Lippillus.’

‘About the knife gang?’

‘Yeah. I told you.’ Shit; I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. ‘Perilla, just what is biting you?’

She didn’t answer at first, just ducked her head and fiddled with a crumb of bread on the table. Then she said in a small voice: ‘I don’t know. I just have a feeling that something’s wrong. Or something’s about to be wrong. Badly wrong.’

I tried a grin. ‘Maybe it’s because this time round there’s no body. If — ’

‘Don’t!’ Her eyes came up. ‘Marcus, don’t joke about it, please. No, I can’t explain why this business gives me the shivers, but it does. For some reason I keep thinking of Aelius Sejanus.’

I had to work to keep my expression neutral, but I felt the tingle up my spine all the same. Oh, gods; psychic was right! She didn’t even know about Mithradates! ‘Sejanus is dead.’

‘Yes, but — ’

‘You wanted to see me?’

I turned round.

‘Ah, yeah. Yeah, Meton. I’ve got the recipes for you, pal. Bathyllus is bringing them.’

The eyes beneath the matting gleamed. ‘Hey! That’s great!’

‘So we can, uh, have the lampreys tonight, can we? You decided how to do them? Pramnian and lovage, wasn’t it?’

Pause; long pause. Then he said:

‘The lampreys got nicked.’

I thought I’d misheard him. ‘What?’

‘The lampreys,’ he repeated slowly, ‘got nicked. There are no lampreys. Somebody nicked the lampreys.’

‘They what?’

‘Yeah. Walked into my bloody kitchen cool as you please through the back door while I was out at the market and liberated the whole fucking basketful.’

‘How the hell — ’

‘So you’re having meatballs tonight. Minced pork’s all I’ve got in. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got the sundries to see to.’

He left. Perilla and I stared at each other.

‘That,’ I said, ‘was one of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever had with Meton. Which is saying something.’

‘Hmm.’ She was looking thoughtful and twisting a lock of hair. Well, if nothing else that little slice of domestic drama had pulled her out of her mood, for which I was grateful. ‘Yes, it was strange, wasn’t it? He hasn’t even waited for his recipes.’