Lindsey Davis - The Jupiter Myth

'I want to know -' Petro's voice was quiet. That made it worse. 'I want to know everything about your sordid empire – here, and back in Ostia, and Rome. Norbanus, you are going to tell me every fiddle, every threat backed up with violence, every wretched, dirty scam. I'll have the endless property portfolio, the seamy food shop takeovers, the obscene child brothels, the pitiless beating up of innocents, and the deaths.'

A draught caused the torches to flicker. I felt cold air momentarily. I did not look round.

'I have nothing to say,' smiled Norbanus, still the handsome, urbane man of affairs. 'Your accusations won't hold up in court once my lawyers get involved. You don't have any evidence against me -'

'I will,' said Petronius. I had seen him in action on plenty of occasions, but never so impressive as this. 'Tell me about Maia Favonia.'

'What for? You know her well enough.'

'Enough to care if she falls into the hands of men like you.' Petronius was utterly controlled. 'But let's hear about your interest, Norbanus. Or was it all a ploy to help Florius get at me? You were simpering at Maia's feet, regaling her with music and offering trips to your country bower – but did you really give a damn for her?'

The man shrugged and smiled. Then he stopped smiling.

'He's a bachelor, a loner who reveres his mother,' I jeered. 'No other woman interests him. The pressing seduction attempt was all false.'

I had heard someone come into the room behind me. Light increased, as Helena Justina rejoined us, holding high a tar-soaked brand. At her side, when I turned to see who it was, stood my sister Maia.

She looked fine. A little tired, but vibrant. With her spirits up, she was glorious. Her crimson gown was bedraggled, as if she had worn it for days, yet it glowed with a richness the red rag on the prostitute decoy had lacked. Her dark curls tumbled freely. Her eyes blazed.

Her eyes went straight to Petronius. 'What happened to you?'

'A small adventure. Where,' asked Petro, enunciating carefully, 'have you been, Maia?'

Maia glanced at Norbanus briefly. 'I took my children sailing on the river. We borrowed the procurator's boat. We went downstream and that terrible storm struck; lightning hit the mast. The children thought it was wonderful. We spent a day patching up the damage, then when we struggled back, we were not allowed to land here for ages because of some secret exercise. That's you and Marcus playing about, I gather?'

'Where are the children?'

'Gone home with the governor.' Maia, with unaccustomed delicacy, paused. 'I seem to have missed something.'

Some of us were dumbstruck.

Helena took charge. 'Listen, Maia! Norbanus is a leader of the criminals Petronius is pursuing. The other is called Florius and he lived at the villa to which they were trying to lure you. The point was to use you, Maia darling, as a hostage, to get to Petro. They claimed they had you – and Lucius thought it was true. So he surrendered himself in your place and was nearly killed horribly -'

Maia gasped. 'You gave yourself up?'

'It's an old army trick,' Petronius said defensively. 'The manoeuvre that is so stupid, you hope you'll get away with it.'

'You were nearly killed?'

'Ah, Maia, you think me a hero!'

'You are an idiot,' said Maia.

'She means that fondly,' Helena mediated, wincing.

'No, she means it,' returned Petronius. He sounded cheerful. It was as if my fractious sister's presence had lifted his spirits.

Norbanus made the mistake of laughing to himself.

'You!' Maia stabbed her finger in his direction furiously. 'You can answer to me!' She pushed past Helena to get to him. 'Is it true then? What I heard my brother say? You lied to them? You threatened them? You tried to kill Petronius? All the time you were hanging around, you were just using me?

I tried to hold her back: no use. Petro just stood aside with his admiring look.

'I am sick of men like you!' Maia beat Norbanus on his chest with her fists. They were real blows, swinging from the shoulder with both fists locked together, as if she was chopping at a dusty carpet hung on a line. She was a sturdy woman, used to physical toil around the house. If she had had a stick, she would have broken his ribs.

Norbanus was taken completely by surprise. Well, nice men who put their old mothers on mental pedestals don't know about real women. The closest they get are dolled up glamour-hungry floozies who pretend such men are wonderful. 'I am sick of being used -' A beat from left to right. 'Sick of being played with -' A beat from right to left. 'Sick of evil, manipulating swine ruining my life -'

'Leave it, Maia,' I protested uselessly.

Norbanus was taking the punishment now for all the men in her previous life – for her husband even, and certainly for Anacrites whose harassment had driven her here to Britain. As he staggered under the rain of blows, I stepped in, pulling my sister backwards away from him. Petronius made no attempt to calm her down. I think he was laughing.

'He's getting away!' shrieked Helena, as Norbanus seized his moment.

Petro and I let go of Maia. Norbanus made a lunge at Helena. She brandished the torch at him. He sent the fiery brand flying. In trying to save it, Helena cursed uncharacteristically, then wailed again, 'He'll get away!'

'Not from me!' Maia had found and raised the ready-primed crossbow. Then she lifted the safety claw, snapped up the trigger pin, and shot Norbanus in the back.

The recoil sent her spinning, but somehow she stayed upright. Open-mouthed, she gasped with horror. She was still holding the weapon, keeping it away from her, as if terrified it would fire another bolt. For a moment no one else could move.

Norbanus was on the floor. Hundreds of defeated tribesmen in this province could testify that it only takes one direct hit from a Roman artillery bolt. We didn't even check for signs of life.

'Oh!' whispered Maia.

'Put it down,' Helena murmured. 'It won't go off again.'

Maia hesitantly lowered the weapon. Petronius walked to her side. He looked more shocked than anyone. Well, if we were right about his feelings, the light of his life had just demonstrated a frightening personality. He took the weapon from her limp grasp, passing on the deadly thing to me.

'It's all right,' he said gently. He knew she was in shock. 'Everything is all right.'

Maia was trembling. For once her voice was barely audible. 'Is it?'

Petronius smiled a little, gazing down at her ruefully. 'I'm here, aren't I?'

That was when Maia let out a choking sob and collapsed into his arms. I think it was the first time, at least since she reached womanhood, that I had ever seen my sister allow someone else to comfort her. He wrapped her in her own cloak with tender hands, then held her.

Helena met my eyes and wiped away a tear. Then she pointed at the corpse and mouthed, 'What are we going to do?'

'Tell the governor a gangster's body needs to be cleared away.'

She took a deep breath Helena always tackled a crisis with logistical thought. 'We must tell nobody, ever, who killed him.'

'Wey-hey, why not? I'm proud of her!'

'No, no.' Petronius joined in. 'The children already have to cope with their father's death. They don't want to know their darling mama makes stiffs of professional mobsters on her evenings out.'

The darling mama struggled to free herself from his enfolding grasp. 'Give up,' he said. 'I'm not letting go.' Maia stilled. Their eyes locked on to each other. Petro's voice dropped. 'I thought I had lost you, Maia.'

'Would it have mattered?' she asked him.

'Hardly at all,' remarked Petronius Longus, who was not normally given to poetic conceits. 'Well – maybe just enough to break my heart.'