Marilyn Todd - I, Claudia

‘So now the Verianus business is sorted out, will you or will you not re-open the murder case?’

Waves of scepticism were emanating from the man sitting opposite, but he remained silent, tugging on his earlobe. Outside, a column of soldiers clanked past, their hobnail boots marching to perfect time. The smell of fried chicken came wafting across the atrium, yet still the investigator’s eyes bored into hers.

Finally he said, ‘Give me one good reason.’

Claudia leaned forward, aware of the rapid beating of her heart, the brightness in her eyes. Her tongue darted over her lips.

‘Because, my clever investigator friend, Gaius was murdered.’

He didn’t scoff, he didn’t blink, he didn’t roll his eyes. He didn’t even ask her why, he simply stared up at the vaulted ceiling for several minutes, then said, ‘Why don’t we go into the garden? It’s cooler.’

It was spoken so casually that Claudia began to wonder whether he’d heard her correctly. Still, he was a dark horse, this one, it wouldn’t hurt to humour him.

Considering how small this place is, she thought, following her host through the house, it’s little short of perfect. Splendid statuary, elegant friezes, expensive aromatics in the braziers, and the garden was probably as close to heaven as you can get here in Rome. Cool colonnades, shaded bowers, flowers planted like an artist’s palate, toning blues and whites, lilacs and pinks to give an impression of space in a minuscule plot. At one end, a very large cage contained a lot of very small birds, yellow, red, brown, green, all singing their tiny hearts out, while in front fish nibbled serenely in a pond fringed by lilies.

Claudia thought that, in time, if she put her mind to it, she could eventually learn to hate this place.

Orbilio indicated a seat by the pool. ‘Now suppose you level with me,’ he said at last.

‘Why, Cousin Markie, I just have!’

A truer word was never spoken, for hadn’t she spent two whole days and nights agonizing over this decision? By rights, Claudia Seferius ought to keep her pretty head down and her mouth tight shut, because surely Gaius’s suicide solved all her problems? Only she and the real murderer knew Gaius hadn’t been responsible for those gruesome killings and, faced with a closed case (not to mention a culprit who couldn’t contradict), it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the murderer would be content to rest on his laurels. So! No more murders, barrels of money, what was the point in re-opening a case that was not only closed, it was locked, barred and bolted to boot? There was nothing to stop her from continuing her search, if she felt so inclined. A knife in the ribs, a poisonous mushroom, the method wasn’t important, only the outcome.

‘Well, that’s a good start, the Cousin Markie stuff. Explain that.’

Claudia twisted a curl round her little finger. ‘You started it, remember, pretending to Gaius we were related?’

‘Claudia, I was investigating a murder, for gods’ sakes. I had you placed at the scene of the crime and to continue those enquiries discreetly I needed to get as close as I could. That way at least I made contact with Gaius. Why didn’t you bite my head off and deny the relationship straight off?’

The curl unravelled. ‘Because that’s precisely what you were expecting,’ she said sweetly. ‘Now is this level enough for you?’

His mouth twitched at one side. ‘Tell me about yourself, Claudia. Before you married Gaius.’

‘Old, old history. What’s the point?’

‘Indulge me.’

‘Oh, don’t hold your breath for that, Orbilio, but as for my life story-I was born in Litemum twenty-four years ago. At fourteen I married Titus Posidonius, he was thirty at the time and a judge, posted up in Cremona. We had three bouncing babies before the plague swept through and killed my family and half the town.’ Claudia reached up and plucked a peach. ‘I do not, as everyone knows, care to be reminded of such painful memories.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ Orbilio draped one arm across the back of the bench. ‘Especially since you also died in that dreadful epidemic.’

The peach fell to the ground and splattered.

‘Then I’m the healthiest ghost you’re ever likely to meet.’ Although she had a feeling she was fast resembling one… ‘What are you driving at?’

Orbilio picked another peach, examined it carefully then tossed it across to her. ‘Nothing in particular. I’m simply making a point.’

Claudia’s finger traced a pattern on the fuzz. ‘I hate to be the one to break the news, Orbilio,’ she tossed the peach back, ‘but point-making is not one of your strengths.’

‘I asked you to level with me,’ he said slowly. ‘If you want me to take your claim seriously-’

‘Then you agree Gaius might have been murdered?’

‘I didn’t say that, I’m merely saying it’s about time you started telling the truth. Irrespective that this is my first murder case, I’ve solved every crime I’ve investigated so far be it theft, rape, arson or corruption. I do know what I’m doing, Claudia.’

She drew her knees up along the length of seat, tucking the small of her back against the arm. The carved horns of the satyr’s head dug in something wicked, but she twisted another curl languorously round her finger.

‘So I was born in Bucentum? Hell, I’m not the only woman who’s forged her past.’ The curl sprang free. ‘Gaius knew all about it.’

‘Fibber!’

Her eyes said prove it. His eyes said if needs be. Her eyes won.

‘What about the will?’

Ah yes, the will. ‘Finance isn’t really the issue at the moment.’

‘It’s a motive.’

‘Orbilio, I have not hiked all the way up here this morning simply for you to dredge up my past and come to the conclusion I murdered my husband.’

‘Oh, sit down, I’m only teasing. Of course you couldn’t have done him in, you were at the Circus Maximus.’ He’d been checking. Dammit, the bastard had actually checked up on her! She wondered whether steam was physically coming out of her ears.

‘Incidentally, I know why Gaius brooked convention, and left everything to you.’

He did? How? The letter was sealed, no one else could have seen its contents except the scribe who wrote it. Had Orbilio bribed or bullied his way into reading it? That meant this oily little ferret had suspected Gaius for some time…

‘Tell me why you think he was murdered.’

What? The change of subject, swift and clean, took her by surprise. Claudia dabbed her hand in the pool. ‘Several reasons. For one, his character.’

‘Oh, come on, when Lucius died he went right downhill, and once he realized he was on the brink of arrest it swung the balance.’

‘I’ll ignore, for the moment, the fact that this accusation happened to stem from you, but don’t think I’ve forgotten-because if Gaius had killed himself, you’d have had an innocent man’s blood on your conscience. I’m presuming here that you know what a conscience is?’

‘According to your rules, it’s the fear of being found out, rather than any noble principles. Am I wrong?’

The look she shot him would have made a lesser man wince. ‘Two,’ she said pointedly, ‘his eyes were closed, his face was at peace.’

A wasp began buzzing round the splattered peach, and an expensive black leather sandal came down hard to squash it.

‘Most people who top themselves are looking for the ultimate peace,’ he said. ‘Maybe he found it.’

‘Orbilio, you think yourself smart, why don’t you tell me what corpses look like when they’ve been run through with a sword? Do they look happy? Well do they?’