Marilyn Todd - I, Claudia

‘Precisely what you’d expect them to, I’m afraid. Once I knew you were an imposter I was…curious. Since you were there the day Quintus Crassus was killed.’

The butterfly was long gone, but Claudia continued to stare at the poppy. ‘So you make up some feeble story about your house burning down and move in with us?’

‘I was on to something, and if that’s what it took to save lives I frankly couldn’t give a toss.’

‘I’d think before I boasted if I were you, Orbilio. Two men were butchered within five days of that clever little scheme.’

‘They were scheduled to die anyway, don’t you understand? Claudia, when I said I know about your past, I meant all of it.’

‘All of what? A mother who worked in a dyer’s, a father who was an orderly in the army? Big deal.’

‘I’m talking about Genoa, for pity’s sake. The poverty, the dancing, the-’

‘-the men.’ She might as well finish it for him. Claudia felt her knees turn to water. The colour must have drained down to them from her face. There was a long silence before she could bring herself to ask, ‘How did you find out?’

‘There was an anonymous letter on Gaius’s desk-’

‘You two-faced son of a bitch, you said you hadn’t searched the house!’

‘That was as far as I’d got. Going through Gaius’s papers like that, it made me feel…dirty.’

Funny, there are some things in life you just can’t legislate for. ‘There’s a certain irony in this situation, Orbilio. You see, my mother-in-law wrote that, and she’s a venomous old bitch who makes mischief for the sheer hell of it.’

‘I think you’re wrong. That letter was penned by an educated hand and I’ve checked this family out. Larentia is illiterate and even if she dictated it… The words, the grammar the careful phrasing? No, she didn’t send that.’

Come to think of it, Larentia sounded puzzled at the time. Why didn’t I pick up on that? If Orbilio could work it out, I bloody well should have. Serves you right, a little voice answered. You shouldn’t have assumed Gaius threw it away, even though he promised. You knew he was preoccupied over Lucius, you stupid cow, you should have checked.

‘And then there was Ligarius. Your steward mentioned he was hanging around in the street every night. It was only a question of following him to his tavern, throwing in your name, and that was it. The floodgates opened.’

Bastard. Her swore he’d never let her down. Men!

‘So the night he burst in, you clonked him over the head to spare my blushes. How frightfully gallant.’

‘Chivalry’s always been my downfall.’ Slowly Orbilio crossed to the aviary, keeping his back turned towards her. ‘Same as I didn’t want to believe it was you in the tenement last month.’

‘I thought we’d established it was Melissa.’

‘Melissa, yes, Melissa. I was searching her room for money, remember? It occurred to me Crassus might not have been tied up by the man who killed him, suppose something kinky was going on? Could Melissa have been offering such a service? Why not? And suppose Gaius was her pimp, the man who tipped her the wink about which punters were willing and how much to charge? When I heard about her selling the brooch and found the green tunic, it all fell into place.’

He paused. A rock seemed to have lodged in his throat as he remembered seeing Callisunus with his twin.

‘But I was wrong. A man will see only what he wants to see, and I wanted to believe it was Melissa with those men, not you, but the evidence was piled against it. Rufus was so cocksure the woman he’d seen wore a stola, I couldn’t shake him on it. Now a slave might pull on a fine linen tunic and pass as freeborn, but she’d never dare don that distinguishing symbol of Roman motherhood the stola. Whichever way I tried, you see, there was only one solution. It was you. You were in the tenement, Claudia. You found Crassus’s body. Because you were working again.’

‘Rubbish. Why would I do a thing like that?’

‘To pay off Lucan. That debt stood at well over two thousand sesterces the night young Otho called to pay his respects. Correct me if I’m wrong, Claudia, those six men were tricks.’

Vulgar word. Claudia tossed her head in disdain. What the hell. No one can prove Gaius didn’t know my background, the will’s still valid. Nothing can take that away. It means moving on, of course, but I’ve done it before and no doubt I’ll do it again.

‘So now you know the risks I’m running by re-opening the case.’ She hoped from that distance he couldn’t hear the quiver in her voice.

Orbilio turned round. There was little trace of the boyish charm on his pinched features. ‘Tell me one thing, Claudia, and answer me honestly. Do you have a lover?’

‘A lover? With that list of punters? Do me a favour!’ His face relaxed, as though a weight had been lifted from his mind. The dancing light in his eyes was back as he squared his shoulders. ‘Then I categorically refuse to re-open the case. You see, if you don’t have a lover, who else would kill for you?’

‘No one’s killing for me, they’re just picking off my clients. I’ve told you, I don’t know who it is yet, but it has to be one of them. I’ve…eliminated all bar six.’

‘How many were there? All right, all right, you don’t have to answer that. All the same, I can’t buy it. Sorry, Claudia, I don’t believe Gaius was set up by one of your punters.’

Neither do I.

‘I want his name cleared, that’s all. If you re-open the case, that will happen automatically.’

‘Good grief, how many times do I have to tell you before it sinks in? Gaius killed them!’

‘Orbilio, are you being dense deliberately? Why should he do a thing like that?’

‘I’ve just proved it, for gods’ sakes. He loved you, isn’t that enough? You were sleeping with these men-’

‘I was not! They want to be spanked, beaten, whipped, you name it, but believe me, these guys don’t want sex.’

‘Really? You mean you didn’t…’ Orbilio cleared his throat. ‘Stop splitting hairs. The point is, Gaius and you had separate rooms, he thought they were getting what he wasn’t so-wallop! Exit the competition.’

Claudia put her hands on her hips, cocked her head on one side and smiled. ‘You know, Marcus, we seem to have come by a convoluted route, but I think we’re finally getting there. Haven’t I been telling you all along Gaius didn’t have a motive for killing these men?’

‘For crying out loud, woman, I’ve just given you one!’

‘Uh-uh. You’ve merely talked yourself out of one. Gaius didn’t love me, I was another of his trophies, that’s all. He married me for my looks and my character, another symbol of his success. Now why do you suppose I was so keen to get rid of the oik? Did you really think I couldn’t handle whatever he might let slip? No, Marcus, I wanted that boy out of the house before Gaius could lay his pudgy white paws on him.’

She paused and looked up at him. ‘Now are you beginning to understand?’

The light was fading by the time Claudia returned to the house. Orbilio had insisted she stay to eat, but instead of thrashing out the business in hand the conversation drifted on to all manner of subjects, weighty and light, and to her astonishment the afternoon just vanished. For several minutes she simply sat in the litter composing herself. It left you raw, a day like this. You felt as though you’d been peeled and turned inside out. Claudia leaned back on the cushions. They were grubby and the drapes far inferior to her own, but for once she didn’t grumble about using public conveyances. To be honest, she was glad Orbilio had sent for one of these, rather than her own litter, much longer and Claudia might have started to enjoy herself.