David Wishart - Old Bones

That's what I like about Perilla: she's got a lovely way with words. 'Yeah, that's what I thought,' I said. 'Cut it how you like, it smells. Sure, they didn't exactly give the impression they'd been swapping sisterly confidences before I arrived over the home-made must cake, but there was something screwy going on somewhere. And one thing I can't get out of my head.'

'What's that?'

'We're running round in circles trying to link Navius's murder with Clusinus's, right?' She nodded. 'Vipena's wine scam – or Tolumnius's, if you like – would give a motive for the first, but it doesn't explain the second. Or if it does the connection's not obvious. But put these two lovelies together and the problem disappears.'

'In what way?'

'Thupeltha had a motive for killing Navius, okay? The guy was threatening to make trouble, split the marriage, and that broke all her rules. Clusinus was different: she'd no quarrel with him because the only thing the guy was interested in was a casual affair. So as far as Thupeltha's concerned motive-wise, then, tick Navius and scratch Clusinus. Vesia, on the other hand, has no beef with Navius. Her problem is she's stuck with a bastard of a husband who spends his time out tomcatting. Okay, so the consensus of opinion is that she's ready to make the best of a bad job and bring up her kids in honest poverty, at least honest on her side.' I shifted on the bench. 'But what if she's not the mousey little housewife people think she is? Clusinus owns the property. If there's a divorce she's out in the cold with two kids on her hands. Now with the guy dead she inherits. It may not be much, but if she sold up it'd give her enough for a fresh start someplace else. And on Thupeltha's side getting rid of a woman who's already planted a hook in her husband would be a definite plus.'

Perilla was staring at me in shock. 'Marcus, let me get this straight,' she said. 'You're saying they might have planned the murders together?'

'Why not? They'd both benefit in different ways, and like I say, it fits the facts like nothing else does.'

'But that's horrible!'

'It's a tenable theory. All there is against it is Thupeltha's claim that she wasn't involved and the impression Vesia gives of being the goody-goody housewife. Personally I wouldn't risk any bets now on either being true.'

'You're forgetting Papatius. If Vesia were as genuinely fond of him as she seems to be she wouldn't have put him in the position of prime suspect. Nor would Thupeltha, for that matter.'

I shook my head. 'No, I'm not,' I said. 'Papatius needn't've been a suspect at all. Not if you go back to the beginning. He brought that on himself, partly at least. The day Navius was murdered Thupeltha left him pitching wine jars. If he'd stayed back home instead of following Thupeltha the Gruesomes wouldn't've seen him heading for Clusinus's track. And even as things turned out Vesia could alibi him herself. He's only in jug now because I fingered him and Gaius Aternius is the kind of pig-headed bastard who ignores facts because they don't fit his theories. Besides, if I'm right the case should've been open and shut from the beginning because the obvious killer was already to hand.'

'And who was that?'

'Titus Clusinus.'

'But -' Perilla stopped. Then she said, more slowly: 'Oh. Oh, yes. I see.'

'Right. The killing was done on Clusinus's property. If Priscus hadn't happened along and screwed everything up the way Priscus does it would've been Clusinus who found the body, and six gets you ten Thupeltha would've been the first person the guy met. Put those facts together and once she'd told her story even if Clusinus had denied killing Navius until he was blue in the face the poor sucker'd've been in jug and legally strangled faster than you can spit. Two birds with one stone.'

'But what about motive? On Clusinus's part, I mean. And what possible reason could Thupeltha have given for being there in the first place?'

'There's always jealousy, one boyfriend killing the other, but that would've been a last resort. In the event I doubt if motive would've been an issue. Clusinus was Vetuliscum's bad boy. No one had a good word for the guy, there would've been enough circumstantial evidence stacked against him to convict him twice over with the locals, and the authorities wouldn't've cared a plugged copper coin so long as someone was chopped. As for Thupeltha, she could either say she was on her way to visit Vesia – which Vesia, being an accomplice, would've confirmed – or if the fact of the rendezvous with Navius did come out she could stick to the story she told that he'd run off and left her back at the grove. Whereas really they'd met further up the track and she'd knifed him herself.'

'But what about her claim that he'd threatened suicide?'

'That only came later, after Priscus had found the body and the whole plan was shot to hell. She had to say that. If Clusinus weren't to be the prime suspect after all then Thupeltha had to cover herself somehow. And it left her free to arrange another clandestine meeting with Clusinus and finish the job another way. Which she had to do to keep Vesia's mouth shut.'

Perilla stared at the opposite wall for a long time. Then she said softly:

'Corvinus, you have a really nasty mind. You know that?'

I grinned. 'It's only a theory. But it works. And it explains something else, too.'

'What might that be?'

'Vesia's attitude to Thupeltha. The way things've turned out, the deal's gone sour. Instead of Clusinus being set up for Navius's murder, he's one of the victims and the guy the authorities have fingered is Larth Papatius. Thupeltha's a cold-minded bitch. If it's a question of her husband being nailed instead of her she's happy to go along with that. Vesia's different. Like you say, she's genuinely fond of the guy, only she's caught in a cleft stick: she can't save him without reopening the whole can of worms, and if she does that she risks everything. Sure, she's got what she wants-- her husband's dead, she's home and dry – but in return she has to play along with her partner. And if Aternius won't accept Papatius's alibi for Navius's murder and insists that Papatius being in jug is no hindrance to his having killed Clusinus then she's got no way out. All she can do is send me off down another track and hope the mare's-nest at the end of it'll get him off somehow. But she's going to absolutely hate Thupeltha.'

'What about Hilarion? You still haven't explained his death.'

'Perilla, I don't know about Hilarion, okay? Obviously the guy saw something, or found something out, or otherwise stuck his nose in where he shouldn't have, but where he fits in is a complete mystery.' I closed my eyes. 'I'm tired and my brain hurts.'

'I'm not surprised.' She kissed me. 'Leave it for now. Let's go and eat.'

That was fine with me. Yeah, well. Maybe Thupeltha was our killer after all. But if so, how did I prove it?

Maybe the bath wasn't such a good idea after all: after we'd eaten I crashed out on the dining room couch, and when I woke up it was too late to do anything else.

Not that I had anything else to do. We'd reached a dead end here. There were plenty of theories, sure, but they pointed in half a dozen different directions at once. What I needed were hard facts, and at that precise moment I had about as much idea how to go about getting them as a rhino has of crochet.

The hell with it; Papatius could take his chances, for another day, at least. I had family commitments, and anyway the case needed time to settle.

I broke the glad news to the Princess over breakfast next morning.

'You still want some company on your trip to Pyrgi, Bright-eyes?' I said.

Her face lit up; at least, what I could see of it behind the half omelette she was stuffing it with. It was her third, and Meton doesn't skimp these things. I reckoned our stepdaughter had put away most of the villa's egg production single-handed since we'd been here; certainly the chickens were looking seriously harassed. Eggs the girl can eat.