David Wishart - White Murder

I nodded. Yeah, that summed the guy up nicely. Like I’d noticed before, Cammius was no slouch when it came to reading character. And it was interesting that he’d expressed himself in terms of a kids’ game; there was definitely an immature side to Laomedon that might well make him more dangerous. ‘So he’s stuck where he is?’ I said.

‘Definitely.’ The Whites’ boss frowned. ‘He’s at the top of the tree, but with a team that’s rapidly becoming third-rate, and he wouldn’t take a demotion even if it was offered. His only other option would be to move to one of the big teams in the provinces – in Alexandria, say, or Antioch – but for a lead driver that’s a one-way ticket, and as far as a career in Rome was concerned it’d be a dead end.’

‘Right.’ I looked up at the sun. I hadn’t noticed, but it was getting late, almost half way through the afternoon. And I still had the Aventine baritone to check up on before I headed back to the Caelian. ‘Uh…pleasant as this is, gentlemen, if you’ll forgive me I should be moving. I’ve got one more thing to do before home and dinner.’

‘You have far to go?’ Cammius asked politely.

‘Not far. The Caelian. But we have a touchy chef.’

Cammius smiled. ‘Really? You’re lucky. They’re the best kind. I’m afraid I spend so little time at home myself that mine would be surprised to see me eight days out of ten. But then I am a widower, I have no ties, and there’s so much to do at the stables that it’s usually not worth the trip.’

‘Yeah, right.’ I got up. ‘Thanks for the wine.’

‘You’re welcome.’ He glanced at Cario. ‘We should be going too. It was nice to run into you, Corvinus. Good luck, and keep us informed.’

‘Yeah. I’ll do that. See you later.’

Cario raised his cup. I left.

All that needed thinking about, and I mulled it over as I headed up Public Incline onto the Aventine towards the Temple of Queen Juno and the tenement where Uranius practised his part-singing four times a month.

It was looking good for Laomedon, very good indeed: judging from what Cammius and Cario had told me the guy had another prime motive to fit in with the jealousy angle, although that, of course, might’ve been enough in itself; from what I’d seen and heard of him, the Red’s lead driver was pure, simple beefcake with a mind so one-track you could use it to draw lines, and if he had knifed Pegasus then I’d bet a sturgeon to a stuffed mussel that where reasons were concerned we didn’t need to go beyond good old-fashioned spite. All the same, the existence of a professional grudge shortened the odds pretty considerably. It would’ve gnawed at the egotistical bastard like the pain from a bad tooth, especially since after his spat with Natalis Pegasus had got the lead driver’s job; and when Pegasus made his shift to the Whites and Laomedon’s replacement slipped into the top slot with the Greens that would’ve made matters worse. It was like a series of movements the guy with the thimbles and the pea could’ve made. If Laomedon had stayed where he was he’d’ve been the Green’s lead driver; at least, that was what he’d believe. Instead, he was stuck with the deadbeat Reds and going nowhere fast. With the size of his ego that would make a go-getter like him pretty bitter. Add Felicula to the pot and you had the recipe for a murder just waiting to happen.

On the other hand, I doubted if the guy had the brains actually to mastermind a killing, and in that case there was another angle that might be worth thinking about. If Cammius was right, then career-wise Laomedon might be between a rock and a hard place and know it, but he was still with all his faults and shortcomings currently one of the best drivers in Rome. It wasn’t his fault the Reds were rubbish. Like it or not, and pace Cammius, no faction boss can afford to write someone like that off altogether. Which suggested an interesting scenario, and one that merited more than a little attention for its own sake.

Okay, where did it take us? Background: the Whites, with their Pegasus/Polydoxus combination, are looking like serious challengers for the new season. One of the other faction masters – let’s call him for the sake of argument Natalis, because that bastard is already out to wreck the Whites – approaches Laomedon with a deal. If Laomedon does the faction boss’s dirty business and zeroes Pegasus, he’ll take him on as lead…

I frowned. Uh-uh; it didn’t work. No way did it work. Sure, going by what Cammius and his son had said, Natalis had his knife into the Whites, and from my own experience of the guy I wouldn’t trust him further than I could spit, but there were too many points against. First, the Greens already had a perfectly good lead in their Antioch import, and by all accounts in the long term Laomedon would be a poor replacement. Second, Natalis and Laomedon had already had a major run-in and I couldn’t see the Green boss being prepared to kiss and make up, especially since he could be fairly sure the same problem would come up again. Third, like I say, chummy wasn’t exactly the greatest brain in the world and personally I’d think twice before I entered into any sort of clandestine agreement with him because as sure as eggs are eggs the bastard would blab.

So not Natalis. A bummer, sure, but the theory didn’t need him specifically. If we were talking faction bosses, how about Acceptus?

Despite first appearances, the Blues guy was more probable. Sure, I didn’t know how he weighed in on the moral side, but otherwise the thing had possibilities. First of all, he had no hatchet to bury: Laomedon had never driven for the Blues, he had a clean sheet. Second, more important, from what I’d gathered from that confab at the Whites’ stables when Cammius and Acceptus had had their little run-in the Blues team wasn’t precisely shining at present. Sure, Cammius had said that Acceptus would’ve hesitated to take Laomedon on because of his reputation, but the fact remained (we kept going back to this) the guy was one of the best drivers in the business. That, combined with the chance of scuppering what he obviously saw as the Whites’ pretentions, might’ve tipped Acceptus’s scales. And, I’d take my holy oath, traditional alliance or not Acceptus was out to do the Whites down just as much as Natalis was.

As a theory, it had its holes, but it was worth keeping in mind. And pure as the driven snow was something Laomedon most decidedly wasn’t.

I’d got to the top of the first Aventine slope, parallel with the Temple of the Moon. This is real tenement country: high-rise flats as far as the eye can see, with washing strung between the balconies either side of the road. Me, I’ve never been much of an Aventine fan. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that it’s a downmarket district; compared to the Subura, which has a lot worse slum areas than Rome’s southernmost hill, I just find it drab. Sure, there’re nice bits and the people are okay, but generally once you’ve seen one street you’ve seen them all. The Aventine is pease porridge to the Subura’s spice cake.

The Temple of Queen Juno would be off somewhere to the right. I took a convenient alleyway that looked like it wouldn’t peter out and headed towards the river side of the hill.

One guy I hadn’t thought much about was Cario. Typhon had singled him out with Uranius as a leader of the anti-Pegasus lobby, and what I’d seen of him confirmed it. Still, he’d made no bones about the fact, and he seemed straightforward enough. There were only two question marks over him as far as I could see: one, that reticence when I’d asked him what he had against the dead man apart from the effect he had on the team; two, that he’d been pretty quick off the mark supplying an unsolicited alibi for the afternoon Pegasus had been killed. Me, I tend to be suspicious when someone defends themselves before they’re attacked, and in essence that was what the guy had done. Added to which, his behaviour when he noticed that his father might’ve overheard suggested that he’d deliberately told me a porky and knew he’d been caught out. Mind you, at that point Cammius himself hadn’t exactly been beyond suspicion either: if you twisted my arm and forced me to give a straight opinion, I’d say that he had heard and decided to let the lie go. Whatever their various motives, there was something screwy there, that I’d bet on. What it was, and how serious it was, I didn’t know, but I hadn’t finished with Cario; not by a long chalk.