Rosemary Rowe - The Chariots of Calyx

I smiled. ‘What did Superbus make of that?’

The grin broadened. ‘Not a great deal, master. He was reluctant to help, at first, and was blustering on about the law, but I reminded him that he was here on the governor’s orders, and was supposed to do whatever you told him to. Of course, you hadn’t actually asked us to look at the documents, but I didn’t mention that. I knew you would want to know what they were. In any case, from the way he was holding one of the tax-scrolls upside down, I don’t think he was making a great deal of sense of it. Though he would never admit he couldn’t read it — especially when he saw that I could.’

I had taught Junio to read, after a fashion, and it was something of which he was extremely proud. Poor Superbus must have suffered yet another blow to his precious self-esteem. I said, briskly, to hide my inward amusement, ‘So, nothing of any interest there?’

‘Just one thing, master,’ Junio said. ‘The lists talk of six grain warehouses on the river in and around the city, but I can find inventories for only five. There are records for the sixth up to last season, but this year there is nothing at all. Of course, I have not had the time to search thoroughly — but all the other records are up there on the shelf, on scrolls, all carefully stored in order. It occurred to me, if documents are missing, perhaps that’s what they were?’

‘Well done, Junio,’ I said.

My praise gave him confidence. He said, ‘If Monnius really did have some deal with that Celt, perhaps the document was related to it in some way? Why else would it be locked away with the money, instead of on the shelf with the others?’

He was right again, but I was careful not to encourage him too much. I nodded. ‘I will have a quick look and see if I can find those records anywhere — they might have been put away in the wrong place — but I’ll lay a sestertius to a quadrans you are right. And,’ I added, taking a quick decision, ‘speaking of gambling, see if you can go out and hire me a litter. If the governor agrees, we may take a little journey to Verulamium.’

‘But, master, the missing papers? The granary. .?’

‘We must look into it, of course, but that can wait. Something significant has just occurred to me. There is a five-day chariot-racing spectacular in Verulamium, I seem to recall, and then — if Filius is right — the team is moving on to Camulodunum. There is no time to lose. If we go at once we should just be there for the final day. Annia has an interesting theory about those missing documents. I think I should see this Fortunatus for myself.’

‘A day at the races, master?’ He couldn’t keep the excitement from his voice.

‘We are going there to investigate, not gamble,’ I said sternly. Junio is even more of a racing enthusiast than I am, although for different reasons. He was born and bred in a Roman household, and learned to gamble almost as soon as he could walk. Junio would wager on the faster of two dead horses, as they say of the Romans.

His face fell at my words. The prospect of a day’s racing without a single bet had clearly chastened him. ‘If you are quick about your business now, I may give you a few coins to stake for me,’ I said, relenting, and he set off with a grin.

It was not entirely indulgence on my part. As I had reason to know, Junio had also acquired at an early age an uncanny talent for winning his bets.

I looked through every document in the study, but Junio was right. Of the current contract and inventory for the missing corn-storage facility there was no sign whatever.

There was nothing more to be gleaned here, I thought, and I turned to leave, though my mind was full of a thousand questions. Why, for instance, had a man like Monnius — with all his expensive furniture, and the best tradesmen of Londinium at his bidding — chosen to lay such an appalling floor?

At first sight it was a simple mosaic design, very crudely fashioned, of interlocking shapes within a border: the sort of thing that Junio could have done within six months of joining the workshop. And even those shapes were not quite regular. There, under the carved Egyptian writing table, there was something very peculiar about the tiles. There was one segment of unusual regularity, with a wide gap between the tiles around the edge. Almost as though it had been done on purpose.

I stopped. Fulvia had spoken of hiding places. I moved aside the stool and knelt down to examine further. If I slipped my fingers into the crack, like this. .

‘Citizen!’ A ringing voice from the doorway arrested me. I let go of the section of floor which had, indeed, moved slightly under my fingers, and backed out from under the table. Annia Augusta was standing in the lobby, staring at me in affronted disbelief. Two attendants were lurking at her side.

I scrambled to my feet and attempted to look as though crawling under the writing desk in another man’s study was the kind of thing that I did every day. ‘Forgive me, madam citizen. I am a pavement-maker by trade,’ I said feebly. ‘I was admiring. .’

She looked at me stonily. ‘I thought you were here to solve the mystery of my son’s death, not to examine the pavements.’ However, there was only disdain in her face, not a trace of anxiety, and her eyes did not flicker towards the hiding place. If Annia Augusta knew of its existence, she was an excellent actress.

‘With regard to that,’ I went on, brightly, ignoring the rebuke, ‘those documents that were missing from the chest: I understand that you were the one who came in and found that they were gone. Can you give me any indication of what I’m looking for?’

Annia Augusta unfolded her ample arms, and said impatiently, ‘There were some scrolls here yesterday and now they’re not. That’s all I know. And a great deal of money, besides.’

‘Scrolls?’ I said, refusing to be deflected. Only the most important records merited the permanence of documentation — storehouse records, for instance. ‘Are you sure of that?’

‘I am not accustomed to talk nonsense, citizen. They were scrolls. Two or three small ones, with seals on the end.’

More interesting news. If a document was sealed, the loss of it was doubly significant. A man’s seal to a contract was binding under the law.

‘And you have no idea what they were about?’

She was dismissive. ‘Something to do with business, I imagine. You will have to ask the slaves. They were the ones who saw them locked away. Why are you so interested in these stupid scrolls? And how should I know what they were about? Do you suppose, citizen, that I opened them? Or that I could have read them if I did?’

In fact, I would not have been surprised on either count. Annia Augusta struck me as a woman of lively curiosity, and I could not imagine her as the product of an education concentrating exclusively on household skills. But I did not want her examining that piece of floor before I had a further chance to look at it myself. I murmured humbly, ‘Perhaps not, lady. And the money that is missing, you saw that too?’

If there had been the slightest constraint and uneasiness before, it had completely disappeared. This time her answer was less grudging. ‘Indeed I did, citizen. Thousands of sesterces there were — my son was counting them at the time. I saw him put them in that chest behind you. And lock it, as he always did. And this morning when I came in here, the chest was open — and it was empty, as you can see. No doubt when you find Fortunatus, you will find the money too.’ She folded her arms again. ‘Now, do you want to talk to the slaves? Try not to be too long with them — they are wanted for household duties, and there is a great deal to be done before the funeral.’