Mary Reed - Eight for Eternity

“Remarkable! That will give Rusticus another story with which to entertain his patients. But when I said I was puzzled I wasn’t thinking about the seal, but about Julianna’s involvement. The escape took place not long after the hanging. How could she possibly have known she would find Hippolytus at Saint Laurentius?”

“After Rusticus examined Haik he told me he’d called on her uncle Pompeius immediately after serving in his official capacity at the executions. He mentioned Julianna was at the house, tending her uncle. Naturally Rusticus regaled them with an account of the executions. He had recognized Hippolytus as one of two men who were saved, having treated him as a patient not long before, meaning Julianna realized he was still alive.”

“She had a quick intelligence. When she got to Hippolytus only to discover he’d killed his fellow prisoner, it must have been a shock.”

John nodded. “And the two guards posted at the door to keep the prisoners safe were even more shocked, I’ll wager. It wouldn’t have taken a very large bribe to convince them to carry off the evidence of their utter failure and flee the city to find work elsewhere. I am sure Julianna came prepared to offer bribes if necessary.”

“Plenty of people decide to find work elsewhere whenever riots threaten to break out,” Felix observed.

“When panic broke out in the church, it wasn’t hard for them to get out without being seen,” John continued. “There was doubtless more than one exit from the vault. The blind beggar who heard something being carted past was perfectly willing to have heard as many men go by as I wished, and when I dragged the Blue with the marks of strangulation and rope tied round his wrist out of the cistern I leapt to the conclusion that whoever had killed one of the prisoners had killed both.”

“You were thinking in terms of them being disposed of by those involved in a plot so Justinian could not produce them.”

“Yes. But it’s no excuse. I erred badly.”

“Then after Julianna had to return home Hippolytus was free in the city although I don’t suppose he fully understood what was happening. Yet he did retain enough cunning to kill Haik. Obviously he could get onto the palace grounds, since he confronted Justinian. But as to remembering the significance of the document…and surely that is why Haik was murdered?”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Felix scowled in perplexity. The two men had walked out into the garden. John stopped beside the stone horse Julianna had found half hidden by brambles. On the day he had first seen the horse a cold breeze was rattling dead leaves. Today thin, bright sunlight illuminated the small statue, making the lichens partly covering it look more gray than blue. Then Julianna had been alive. Today she was dead.

“Most people would kill to be emperor,” John said. “Some might kill to avoid the throne. Hypatius was not ambitious.” He ran a hand lightly across the back of the horse. “Julianna told me her father didn’t want to be emperor. She was afraid the mob would crown him and both she and her father realized what the outcome was likely to be, even if Hippolytus did not.”

Felix pointed out that except for Fortuna intervening Hippolytus would have died before the population took to the streets.

“The Hippolytus Julianna knew did die before that happened. She was right, though, in thinking she could have saved him, had he not been so badly hurt by the failed hanging,” John replied. “Justinian had ordered the execution of several troublesome faction members as an example. He can be surprisingly forgiving, if Theodora does not interfere. If he had found out one of the condemned was, say, to marry into an aristocratic family-for Julianna surely hoped it would be so, despite her father’s opposition to her friendship with Hippolytus-a family which had remained loyal during the riots, he almost certainly would have pardoned the man.”

“That’s true, John. I strongly suspect Theodora must have persuaded Justinian to have Hypatius and Pompeius executed immediately, before he had a chance to change his mind.”

John was silent for a time, looking reflectively at Julianna’s horse. Should he remove it to his new house? No, perhaps not. It would remind him of Julianna, and she had reminded him of someone else.

“We mourn people and places time has stolen from us,” he said. “But sometimes it is better that past things remain lost. I wish I had never seen my old friend Haik again, for it was that cursed document that caused all the trouble, as I’ve said. It isn’t surprising that Julianna knew about the document. She was meeting Hippolytus all the time. He would surely have told her about overhearing Haik and Porphyrius. Or maybe he told her when she arrived at the church.

“He was deranged but not to the point of having lost all his senses. And when she heard about it, Julianna certainly would have known how dangerous the document was. It would have fueled the mob’s anger. And whether by enticing Porphyrius or some other prominent person to enter the fray or simply by providing another rallying point for the rioters, it increased the likelihood that her father would not be able to retain any appearance of loyalty, but would instead be dragged to his doom. Or even go to it willingly. What if Haik, who was staying in the same house, had decided to forget about Porphyrius and present the adoption document directly to Hypatius?”

Felix tugged his beard. “You just said you thought Hippolytus wanted Hypatius to become emperor.” He paused, then his face brightened. “Wait. Now I see. Hippolytus was unhinged. He didn’t know what he was doing. He intended to steal the document to ensure it was given to Hypatius, but in his terrible state he forgot what he was doing and murdered Haik instead. Why else should Haik have been killed? The document was the important thing.”

“But what if Haik had possessed other documents, or was prepared to reveal that something of value had been stolen and demand its return? The murderer waited for the chance, slipped into Haik’s room and stole the document. Why take more risk than necessary? Why not insure Haik couldn’t meddle any further by slipping poison into his wine?”

“So Hippolytus planned the murder.”

John offered Felix a thin smile. “Planned a murder using belladonna? A man who had, by all appearances, strangled another man with his bare hands at Saint Laurentius? And where would Hippolytus obtain such a poison? Was he a friend of Antonina, whose apartments are filled with all sorts of concoctions for magick and aids to beauty, including making eyes more attractive? No, it was Julianna who poisoned Haik to save both her father and her lover. But she saved no one. Not even herself.”

Again in memory John pulled a wisp of green silk over Julianna’s still face.

It was not the last time he would do so.