John Roberts - Oracle of the Dead

“Some of these are from before iron came to Italy,” I said.

“When would that be?” Hermes asked.

“A thousand years ago, at least. Bronze was used for everything before that, which is why Homer’s heroes fight with weapons of bronze. But this mundus, like the tunnel, couldn’t have been carved without bronze tools. These stone points must date from a time when bronze was still too valuable to use for arrowheads, which are often lost. People still made arrowheads out of stone.” I took a certain pride in that bit of deduction.

“Maybe Porcia was right,” Hermes said. “You remember she said that the arrows might have been left by some hunter asking for luck in the hunt. Maybe in the old days that was what offers of arrows meant.”

“Either that or there has been a huge amount of vengeance-seeking in these parts,” I said. Just then, one more little piece clicked into place. It still wasn’t enough, though.

“I wish we had a ladder,” Hermes said. “Then we could climb out and go back by way of the road. It would spare us another tunnel trip and the people we left back at the temple wouldn’t know what to think.”

“Unfortunately,” I said, “we didn’t think to bring a ladder. So let’s go back. We should be there well before nightfall.”

So back we went. We extinguished the burning lamps as we passed them. We passed the litter where someone had lain speaking lying prophecies to doomed men. We came to the hole carved in the floor and lowered ourselves through it. We found ourselves out in the open air again just as evening was coming on. Perna and the workmen were sitting on the ground patiently.

“I’m afraid you men can’t go home tonight,” I told them. “I can’t have anyone talking about what has been going on here today. There are good quarters here in the temple complex. Make yourselves comfortable. I will pay you handsomely for your time.”

“It’s all the same to me and these men, Praetor,” Perna said. “As long as we get paid.”

“It will be late by the time we get back to the villa,” Hermes said.

“I’m not going back,” I told him. “You are going back. Tell Julia to join me here tomorrow, and bring my curule chair. Tomorrow, I also want you to bring several people: the woman Floria, for one. You remember how I told you to find her home?”

“I’ll find her,” he said.

“Find her and bring her here, under heavy guard. I don’t want her killed like poor Hypatia. Take as many men as you think you’ll need, and send me the historian, Cordus.”

“Done. Anyone else?”

“Not just yet. I will have you round up quite a few people when I settle things here.”

He grinned. “We’re getting down to serious business now, aren’t we?”

I nodded. “Now it gets very serious indeed.”

Julia arrived late the next morning. With her was Antonia, who had been off visiting some friends in Capua. Circe, it seemed, had returned to Rome. I had scarcely noticed their absence, so preoccupied had I been. With them were most of the entourage who had accompanied me south. Apparently Julia had decided that I was a praetor again, so she would see that I was properly attended.

“What has caused this sudden new enthusiasm?” she wanted to know.

“Come and let’s take a walk beneath these trees,” I said. “This is not for everybody’s ears just yet.” Antonia glared at being left out, but of all the women in the world I wanted to confide in, the very last would have been Antonia. She could no more keep a secret or resist gossiping than she could have sprouted wings and flown to the moon.

As we walked in the grove, I told Julia of what I had found, and of my suspicions, and how I intended to wrap things up so we could pack up for Sicily.

“Infamous!” she said. “Defrauding people with a false oracle, then robbing and murdering them!” She paused. “But they wouldn’t be able to do it very often, would they? How often would merchants going abroad carrying a lot of money have stopped by here?”

“More often than you’d think,” I said. “People about to travel abroad often visit oracles and seek the help of the gods. We don’t know how many confederates they had overseas, or whether they had men follow the victims and then choose a safe place out of Italy to kill them and dispose of their bodies. I also suspect that this was only one aspect of their depredations.”

“What else do you think they’ve been up to?”

“Campania, with all its attractions, its Sibyl of Cumae and so forth, is always full of transients. The overseas killing must have been unwieldy and difficult to set up. I suspect that it was done only when local people were to be robbed. If they were killed here, they would be missed immediately and suspicion would naturally fall on people living in the district. It wouldn’t be long before someone noticed that the last place they were seen was here at Hecate’s Oracle. No, murder of locals could only be risked when they were away from Campania, preferably out of Italy altogether.

“But a great many people from other parts of Italy and from foreign lands come here to consult with the Oracle. They are far from home, they wouldn’t be missed for a long time; without friends or relatives here, who would notice that the last place they were seen alive was here?”

She thought about this for a while. “But how would the killers know that these people had no local connections who might show up asking embarrassing questions?”

“They had slaves walking among the people as they waited to consult with the Oracle. People would let crucial information slip without noticing it. I’m not saying they did it every day. For one thing, the conditions would have to be perfect. It would be impossible if many people were present, but we know that sometimes there might only be one or two people here on a given day. When conditions were perfect, they might be given a false prophecy like Floria’s master, or they might just be killed down there in the chamber of the Oracle. Knocked on the head or strangled, I would imagine. Blood is hard to scrub from coarse stone.”

“But how would they dispose of the bodies?” Julia wondered. “That was the great convenience of killing a victim overseas. Or at sea. No corpse to explain away.”

“Easily,” I said. “A few days ago I almost got disposed of down there by accident.”

“The river? What a hideous way to die, your body swept down beneath the earth without the proper rites.” She shuddered at the horror of it.

“They were sent down-clothes, possessions, the lot. In an instant, there was nothing to connect their disappearance with the priests and priestesses of Hecate. Only sometimes they were not thorough enough. In our search we found a stylus, a sandal, a bone hairpin, and a necklace of Egyptian beads. They were lost when the bodies of victims were thrust under the water to be swept away by the current.”

“How long has this been going on?” Julia asked. “The Oracle has been here for centuries.”

“Not for that long, I think. I suspect that the operation has been running only in recent years. There was scarcely any soot on the ceiling of the ventilation tunnel.”

“Very observant. But why, and how, were the priests of Apollo murdered?”

“That is the most difficult question, and I think that if we can put together just a few more facts, we’ll have the answer to that, too, and we’ll bag the lot of them. But I can’t let anyone outside know how close we are to doing it. That would mean fleeings and undoubtedly more murder attempts. I personally don’t want to be the recipient of a successful murder attempt. The bungled one was bad enough.”

“How many people do you think are involved?”