Ruth Downie - Ruso and the Root of All Evils

He sniffed and opened his eyes. ‘What the hell are you putting on your head now?’

‘Something I picked up in Arelate.’ Lucius was massaging a thin brown dribble into his scalp. ‘It’s the latest thing. I’m surprised you didn’t know about it. Burned hooves of she-goats in vinegar.’

Ruso, who could think of nothing to say, sank back on to the bench and closed his eyes again.

‘Now that we’ve got a minute,’ said Lucius, ‘I suppose I should mention something. It’s a bit embarrassing, but Cass says if I don’t tell you, she will. We tidied up the study and had another run through the accounts last night. When we came to balance them — oh, what now?’ He waited until the thumping on the outside door had stopped, then shouted, ‘We’re busy, come back later!’

‘But Papa,’ came a small voice, ‘there’s a cross old man come to talk to Uncle Gaius.’

The brothers exchanged a glance.

‘Name, Polla!’ shouted Lucius. ‘Go and ask the cross old man what his name is.’

Before she could reply, a familiar voice demanded, ‘Are you in there, Ruso? This is Probus. Doesn’t anyone in this family have any manners?’

Ruso considered asking Lucius to pretend he was out, but then thought better of it. He would have to face Claudia’s father sooner or later. No doubt the man had come to complain about the previous night’s events.

Leaving Lucius to stew under his hair tonic, Ruso offered his former father-in-law a bench in the warm room next door. ‘There’s towels if you want to bathe,’ he offered, feeling at something of a disadvantage since Probus was fully dressed while he was wearing nothing but a hastily grabbed towel around his waist and a bandage around his foot.

To his surprise, business was not the very first thing on Probus’ mind. Neither was Claudia.

‘The sister’s dead. I thought you’d want to know. Found at first light, about five miles out on the Arelate road. Earrings ripped out, most of her clothes stolen. They took the horse, of course.’

Ruso shook his head. ‘So she never got to Rome.’

‘It’s some sort of justice, I suppose.’

Ruso wondered if Ennia had really had the misfortune to run into robbers, or if some of the estate staff had slipped away and taken matters into their own hands. Even so, it was a kinder fate than she might have suffered had she been convicted of murdering her brother. ‘Claudia was right,’ he said. ‘She said it was Ennia. I didn’t believe her.’

While Probus was speculating on the gruesome end that awaited Calvus, Stilo and Zosimus, Ruso was wondering whether Severus really had done away with Ennia’s fiance down in Rome, or whether that had just been a boast to keep Zosimus in line. And whether there really was a hoard of cash in Rome that nobody now knew how to find, or whether that had been another lie. He said, ‘How’s Claudia?’

‘She’s over at my house, confined to bed. I’ve been across to the Senator’s place. The winery looks as though there’s been an earthquake. I’ve never seen such a mess.’

‘And the gatekeeper?’

‘I don’t know, Ruso. I’m not here to give health reports on all the staff.’

For once, Probus had a good excuse for being bad-tempered. ‘Now that I can speak freely,’ he said, ‘I’d say Severus got what he deserved. He was implicit in the murder of my steward, he was unfaithful to my daughter and he tried to swindle me out of a very considerable sum of money.’

‘And your investors.’

Probus cleared his throat. ‘Naturally, now that the truth about the sinking of the Pride of the South has been brought to my attention and a proportion of the stolen money has been recovered, my investors will all be fully reimbursed and compensated. In the circumstances, it’s the honourable thing to do.’

It was the only thing to do if Probus were to salvage his business. For a moment Ruso almost felt sorry for him.

‘Of course, I still don’t condone you allowing your sister-in-law and that woman — ’

‘Tilla,’ prompted Ruso.

‘I don’t condone your allowing them to go to Arelate when I had specifically asked for the whole business to be kept quiet.’

‘Cass was making inquiries about the loss of her brother,’ said Ruso, not pointing out that they had not sought his permission anyway. ‘You gave her reason to believe he might still be alive and then told her nothing more. What was she supposed to do?’

‘I was doing everything I could to trace him!’ snapped Probus. ‘I’m not inhuman, Ruso. Justinus was a good man.’

‘You did give the appearance of only being interested in your cash flow.’

Probus’ eyes met his own, and for a moment Ruso almost thought he caught a hint of contrition.

‘Now, about this business last night.’

‘There wasn’t time to get reinforcements,’ Ruso explained. ‘I did my best, but — ’

‘No need to be modest. I’ve come here to thank you. You’ve been loyal to Claudia all along. Last night she tells me you saved her life.’

‘It was Zosimus who finally got the staff to cooperate. By the time I got to her she wasn’t in any danger. The horse had stopped.’

Probus’ brief moment of vulnerability vanished. His face hardened. ‘Are you suggesting that my daughter is not telling the truth?’

‘I think she’s a bit confused. I think everybody was.’

‘Hm.’ For the first time Ruso could recall, Probus seemed unsure what to say next. Finally he offered, ‘I have been giving Claudia’s situation a great deal of thought.’

Ruso, not sure where this was leading, tried, ‘Of course.’

‘I’ve come to the conclusion that I may not always be the best judge of what is good for her.’

Not knowing whether he was supposed to agree or disagree with this, Ruso cleared his throat.

‘Frankly, Severus was a disaster.’

‘He certainly was,’ Ruso agreed with a fervour that he hoped made up for his prevarication.

‘You’ve proved a loyal friend to her, and although I have very grave doubts about the wisdom of this, I have agreed to bring a message saying that she would be prepared to consider a reconciliation.’

There were many things Ruso could have said in reply to this, but none of them occurred to him until several hours later. While he was waiting for a set of coherent words to assemble themselves in his brain and make their way to his mouth, he found himself scratching one ear until it hurt.

‘Is it the hair?’ demanded Probus. ‘Rather a shock, poor girl. But it will grow back, you know.’

‘It — it’s not the hair,’ stumbled Ruso, adding truthfully, ‘In fact I think it suits her short. Perhaps not green, though.’

‘Financially, we are still very secure,’ Probus assured him. ‘And I suppose you could master some sort of rudimentary business skills?’

‘I really don’t think — ’

Probus got to his feet. ‘Well, you don’t have to give her an answer straight away. But it would cheer her up.’

‘Not for long,’ said Ruso. ‘I’m flattered, but I’d be hopeless in business, and she’d only get exasperated again.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Probus, surprising Ruso with a smile. ‘That’s exactly what I told her. Well done, Ruso. It seems you do have some sense after all. I take it you’re still hugely in debt?’

‘Of course.’

‘Come and see me sometime next week and we’ll work on rearranging your loans. Oddly enough — ’

Whatever Probus found odd was lost in the sound of more hammering on the door. Ruso apologized and went to see what the latest crisis was.

To his surprise, the interruption was caused by Flora. Seconds later he was pulling on a clean tunic and apologizing again to Probus. With a strong sense of foreboding, he stepped out into the garden and braced himself to deal with ‘Gaius, Mother says you’ve got to smarten yourself up because Lollia from next door’s turned up with Marcia’s gladiator and his aunt, and Marcia’s hiding in the bedroom.’