David Wishart: Last Rites

She strode over to the bed, bent down with her back to me and began pulling the blankets straight with short, sharp jerks. ‘I don’t know her name,’ she snapped. ‘I’d never seen her before, had I? Nor had the rest of us.’

‘She was a stranger?’ Oh, dear sweet Jupiter! ‘So where did she come from?’

‘Thalia sent her. Something had come up at the last minute, she couldn’t make it. It was too late to contact Celer, and this girl was a friend.’ The bed looked even worse than it had done. Aegle gave the top blanket a last vicious tug and turned to face me. ‘Don’t tell Celer, Corvinus. That little rat handles the bookings and unless someone asks for one of us by name he can pick who he likes to send out. Get a reputation for being unreliable and you don’t work too often.’

I hadn’t moved. ‘Is Thalia unreliable?’

‘No! I told you, she just couldn’t make it. It happens now and again to all of us; not often, but enough. The rest cover, and Celer’s none the wiser.’

‘But this time you didn’t cover. The girl was an outsider.’

‘She could play the flute. Well, too, good as me, and I’m good, Corvinus, very good. That was all that mattered. And Thalia was off the hook.’

‘Okay.’ I held up my hand. ‘Relax. I won’t tell Celer, I promise. Now why don’t you sit down?’

She did. We faced each other. She was glowering, the birthmark red and angry.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Okay. Now what did this girl look like?’

‘Tall, well-built. Muscular, even. Husky voice. Not old but older than me, maybe late twenties. Very dark hair. Wore a lot of make-up.’

‘That usual?’

There was that fleeting smile again, breaking through the scowl. I wondered how much of the attitude was just hard shell or if there was a soft centre somewhere. ‘Sometimes. Depends what’s underneath that you want covered. Me, for obvious reasons I lay it on with a trowel. Maybe she had the same problem.’

‘Maybe.’ And maybe not; my brain was buzzing. ‘She leave with the rest of you?’

Aegle was silent for a long time. Then she said, ‘I don’t know.’

The prickling was back with a vengeance. ‘You don’t know ?’

‘She could’ve done. I just didn’t notice. When the dead Vestal was found things got pretty confused. Then the Lady Junia bundled us all out together. I didn’t see her around, but then I wasn’t looking.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’

‘That’s easy. She was sitting on the floor next to me at the meal. She said she was going out into the garden for a crap and a breath of fresh air.’

The garden. My stomach went cold. ‘And she didn’t come back?’

Aegle shrugged. ‘Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, I don’t know. Maybe her business took longer than she thought it would and she was still out there. Anyway, then the Vestal’s maid found that the lady had killed herself in one of the back bedrooms and all hell broke loose. And that was that.’

That was that. Sweet merciful gods. I stood up. ‘One more thing. You happen to know where Thalia lives?’

‘Sure. In Public Ponds near the Capenan Gate. First tenement on the gate side of the wineshop, fourth floor. She probably won’t be there, though. She has a better social life than me.’ That came out naturally, without rancour.

I put a half gold piece on the stool as I left. She’d earned it.

It was a long hike over to Public Ponds, but at least once I was there I’d have a shorter walk home. I called in at Watch headquarters on the off-chance that my pal the local commander Flavonius Lippillus was around to split a jar of wine, but he was out on a society burglary and the guy on the desk didn’t know when he’d be back, so I just left my regards and headed for the Capenan Gate.

I found the tenement. It was slightly more upmarket than Aegle’s, but not much; meaning you could see what colour the shops fronting it had been painted a dozen years or so back and the graffiti on the entrance walls was better spelled. Same smell, though: public latrines aren’t too plentiful in the Ponds, and bladders are the same size everywhere. I walked up to the fourth floor and knocked on the first door I came to.

It was opened by an old woman in a tattered dressing-gown. Behind her a kid of indeterminate sex stood chewing on a bread-ring.

‘What d’you want?’ the old woman snapped. Ouch; as far as friendly greetings went this obviously wasn’t my day. Yeah, well; at least it told me a second career as an itinerant brush-seller wasn’t really a viable proposition.

‘Uh, I’m looking for a flutegirl,’ I said. ‘Name of Thalia.’

She nodded at the door opposite. ‘That’s hers.’

‘Right. Thanks, mother.’ I crossed to the door and knocked. No answer. I tried again, louder. Not a cheep.

The woman was still watching me. ‘She’s out,’ she said.

Gods; I’d pulled the sharpest analytical mind in the empire here. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘So it would seem. You know where she might be, by any chance?’

‘No idea, son. I hardly see her one month’s end to the next. You tried the guildhouse?’

‘Yeah.’ I hadn’t, not again, but saying so would’ve complicated matters. Maybe I should’ve called back there first when I left Aegle’s and left a message for Thalia to get in touch with me, but you can’t think of everything and I wasn’t traipsing all the way back over to the Subura now. ‘You sure you don’t know where she might’ve gone?’

She bridled. ‘I’ve got better things to do than watch out for sluts,’ she said. ‘Decimus, stop picking your nose.’ The kid behind her had inserted a grubby finger in his left nostril. He was staring at me like I had three heads. ‘Them musicians is all alike. If they aren’t bringing boyfriends back all hours they’re bed-hopping elsewhere. Now I’ve work to do, and so should you. You’re too old to be chasing flutegirls. Why don’t you go home to your wife? She pushed the nose-picking kid inside and slammed the door behind her.

I grinned; neighbours like that are a joy perennial. Well, there was nothing more to be done here for the moment, that was sure, although certainly Thalia was one person I had to talk to before much longer. It’d have to be the guildhouse, or maybe Aegle again, but it had been a long hard day already and that could wait until tomorrow.

I took the old woman’s advice and went home.

Perilla was in the atrium, curled up on the couch with a book. Surprise.

‘Hey, lady.’ I kissed her. ‘How are things?’

‘All right.’ She set the roll aside. I didn’t even look at the title: it would only have made my eyes water. ‘How was your afternoon?’

‘Not bad.’ I put the jug and cup Bathyllus had given me on the side table and lay down next to her. ‘The new clock behaving itself?’ I could hear the drip … drip … drip clearly all the way across the room. Well, as I say maybe you got used to it but if that was an example of cutting-edge technology then give me a marked candle any time.

‘Oh, it’s going perfectly. I’m quite looking forward to the first changeover. That should be in about an hour’s time, at sunset.’ As if on cue, a bell went ting! as the titan belted his anvil. ‘There we are, you see. The start of the twelfth hour. It’s quite exciting, really.’ She beamed.

Jupiter! I’d never seen Perilla like this; she was like a kid with a new toy. But then the lady always did have a scientific bent to match her literary talents. Me, I think some things are best left alone. Start monkeying around harnessing the power of complex, elemental forces like wind and water and the gods knew where it would end.

‘There’ve been developments,’ I said. I told her about the visit to Aegle and the phantom flutegirl. ‘And we’ve got a good description. Seemingly our spurious musician was youngish with very dark hair. She was also tall, well-built and muscular, and she had a husky voice and three inches of make-up.’ I paused. ‘All these things suggest anything to you, lady?’