Marilyn Todd - I, Claudia

She slipped out of her sandals and positioned herself on the bed, tucking her feet underneath her. ‘You’re a very handsome man, Tony Scaevola.’ Lean, grey, muscular. ‘Can’t imagine why Flavia didn’t snap you up right from the start.’

Who else would have her? If Claudia had told her once, she’d told her a thousand times. Don’t bite your nails, don’t suck your hair and don’t hunch over like that or you’ll be round-shouldered by the time you’re twenty. On the other hand, taking a bath occasionally might be to your advantage.

Antonius sat beside her and leaned over. ‘You won’t believe this, the little bitch actually wants to marry me now.’

‘Well, she would, wouldn’t she? Gaius cut her out of his will, Marcellus is broke and you, my old cobber, are not exactly destitute. Julia will have convinced her it’s a smart move, considering your elevated position in the Treasury. It’s goodbye tears, hello flattery.’

‘She tried that with our patrician friend.’

‘Orbilio? She never stood a chance with him. He was flirting with her to wind me up and, again, I think you’ll find Auntie Julia told Flavia the facts of life about patricians and equestrians. Particularly penniless equestrians. You’re the best bet that child’s got.’

‘Tough. An heiress I’d marry, but to take Old Grizzle-guts for free? No way.’ He refilled both glasses. ‘I haven’t told her yet. I thought I’d wait until after the burial tomorrow, because Gaius deserves a decent showing, and it’s better I attend as a son-in-law than merely an old friend.’ He gulped his wine. ‘That edict was a bloody disgrace.’

‘I didn’t see you at the funeral.’

‘Gaius is dead, life has to go on. What good would it do me at the Treasury once word gets round I defied the Emperor to attend the funeral of a mass murderer?’

‘You believe Gaius killed those men?’

‘Course not. But Callisunus thinks he did, so why stick my neck out? There’s no reason now why we can’t carry on as planned.’

Grieving widow comforted by stepdaughter’s jilted fiancé. They fall in love and marry, and in next to no time there’ll be children on the scene. Sons for whom the Senate is not out of the question. Sons for whom the admission price of one million sesterces is no obstacle. Claudia sipped silently for several minutes. With both door and windows shut, the heat was intolerable. She knew Scaevola well enough, of course, to take off her tunic-to sit in the nude if she so desired-but this was not the moment. Indeed, it never would be again.

‘I have something for you,’ she said finally, running her hand under her pillow and drawing out a small opaque flagon.

‘For me?’

When Antonius smiled, deep crevices appeared in his cheeks. Claudia had not flattered him, he was a very attractive man. She wouldn’t have slept with him otherwise, even at twenty sesterces a shot. Certainly wouldn’t have chosen him to be the father of her children.

‘What is it?’

Claudia held the tiny flagon up to the light. It was half full. ‘Poison,’ she said quietly.

Beside her she felt Scaevola stiffen. ‘I…I don’t understand.’

She could barely breathe, and it wasn’t only because of the heat. ‘There’s no other way, Tony.’

‘Hey, come on.’ He tried to inject amusement into his ragged voice. ‘What sort of stunt is this?’

In the depths of the house, Claudia heard a pot smash into smithereens. A heated argument broke out among the slaves.

‘You shouldn’t have killed him, Tony. Everything was going so well, it was practically within our grasp. There was no need to kill him.’

Sweat trickled down Scaevola’s forehead and into his eyes. ‘Claudia, you’re crazy. Kill who? Who am I supposed to have killed?’

‘You got him drunk, you sat him down, you picked up that little bronze statue of Apollo and you smashed it over his head. You positioned his sword-and then you pushed. Hard. Tell me, Tony, did it squelch? Did it-’

‘Shut up, shut up!’ He buried his head in his hands. ‘Oh, shit, Claudia, you really know how to make a point.’ Several long lonely minutes rolled past before he spoke again. ‘He didn’t suffer, he was out cold, I swear.’

‘I know that, Tony, but he didn’t deserve to die like a dog and he didn’t deserve to have his name sullied.’

‘For pity’s sake, how could I know he’d be labelled a murderer? He was depressed, for gods’ sakes, he’d lost two sons, a daughter and a grandchild. Any man could top himself under that burden.’

‘He was your friend.’

‘He was your husband, so don’t start moralizing! This whole thing was your idea, remember. I’ll never make it through the ranks, you said, but by heaven I’ll bear sons who will. This was shortly after you realized Gaius’s interests lay elsewhere and you approached me, Claudia, so don’t you forget that.’

Claudia leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. How could she forget? The betrayal had tormented her from the moment she first looked down on Gaius’s corpse.

‘You think that because Gaius left you a million, I’m trying to claw into that?’ The look on her face told him he guessed right. ‘Don’t be silly. The plan was we’d cobble together the requisite million by me marrying that whingeing cow downstairs, then divorcing her on trumped-up charges of adultery. I would then denounce the child I was so eager for as another man’s-hell, Claudia, we’d already earmarked the patsy-because that way I’d hang on to Flavia’s dowry and put in a hefty claim for compensation. By this time you’d have a not inconsiderable settlement of your own, since Gaius Seferius-overweight and unhealthy would have shuffled off his mortal coil.’

At least he’d have died from natural causes.

‘Now since I was prepared to do all the dirty work, it doesn’t stand to reason I’d change the rules simply because Gaius left you all his dough.’

‘Gaius changed his will in the firm conviction that Flavia killed her siblings out of bitter rivalry. He made the new will, he said, in case she tried to kill him, too. He left me a letter explaining it all.’

‘Flavia?’ Scaevola blew out his breath in a whistle. ‘Well, I’ll be damned.’

‘I daresay we both shall, but that’s not the point. The point, Tony, is that Flavia didn’t kill them, you did.’

His arm fell away. ‘You’re not serious…’

‘Never more so.’ She opened her eyes and looked at him. He looked terrible. ‘You were engaged to Calpurnia when she died of a fever, and it gave you an idea. Gaius’s fortune was divided three ways instead of four, so you asked to marry Flavia. I thought it was my idea, but it wasn’t, you already had your plans in motion. You were with Secundus the night he died. You took him on a tour of the taverns. You got him pissed. Then you pushed him under a wagon.’

‘He fell. When I realized he was dead, I panicked.’

‘You pushed him, Tony. You waited for a wagon piled with grain and you pushed him. You poisoned Lucius, and you paid the midwife to lie about Valeria’s perfectly healthy baby.’

And no doubt grizzly little Flavia would come to a sticky end along the way, poor cow. Claudia could feel, rather than see, that he was shaking. Perhaps he was crying, she didn’t particularly care. He’d murdered four people, she hoped he fried in hell. And for what? Greed, pure and simple.

‘It’s over, Tony. Go home and take that bottle with you.’

‘You don’t mean you’ve told the authorities?’

‘There’s a letter, yes, and should anything happen to me, it’ll be handed over.’ She was bluffing, of course, but he wouldn’t know that. ‘This way, they’ll be none the wiser.’