David Wishart - Old Bones

'What about Vipena? I sort of got the impression he was bowing out and taking the scam with him.'

'Gnaeus is a gutless wonder. I'll deal with him in my own way.' I must've looked as shocked as I felt because he chuckled. 'Oh, no; no killing. The windy bastard's family, and I don't hurt family, not unless I have to. But the other three of us have too much invested to give up that easy. We'll make him see sense. Only it'd help if he didn't have you nosing around making him nervous. You get me?'

I swallowed. 'Yeah. I get you.'

'Good. I was hoping you would. I really was.' He looked up. 'Ah. Here's Baro with your water.'

The big guy came in holding a cup and a jug. He handed them over like he was the jailer passing Socrates the hemlock and stood back while I drank. Neat Setinian would've been better, and he must've taken the stuff from the bucket they used to wash down the pots, but I wasn't in any position to complain.

Tolumnius waited until I'd finished. 'Now,' he said, 'I told you I was a businessman. I don't expect to get something for nothing. Give me your word you'll leave us alone in future and we'll trade.'

I set the cup down slowly. 'Trade what?'

'Your word first.'

What did I have to lose? I was just surprised I was being given the choice. 'Sure,' I said. 'You've got it, as far as the scam goes, at any rate. All I'm interested in's solving the murders; where whacky Falernian's concerned for all I care you can sell it by the bargeload and give the Wart a cash discount.'

Tolumnius glanced at Baro. The guy didn't look exactly cheerful, but he grunted and nodded. 'Fine,' he said. He stretched out his hand and we shook. 'We have a deal. Keep that well in mind and you won't be troubled further.'

'What about this trade?'

'I said I'd never heard of Titus Clusinus. That was true.' Tolumnius stood up. 'But since the murder I've made it my business to find out.'

'Yeah?'

'I'll give you a name. Just a name: seeing where it leads is your affair, and there're no guarantees, but it may help. Agreed?'

'Agreed.'

He gave me another of his marble-chip stares. Then he looked away.

'A man called Aulus Herminius Bubo. He has a business in Caere, in Lampmakers' Street, off the market square.'

Hey! ' Aulus Bubo, you say?'

Tolumnius's eyes came back to me, fast. 'You've heard of him already?'

'Only by his first name. At least, maybe I have.' I got up, too. The room spun a bit and I held onto the wall until it steadied. 'Thanks, pal, I'm much obliged. I assume I'm free to go now?'

Tolumnius shrugged. 'Sure,' he said. 'Free as air. Just don't forget we have an agreement; not now, not never. And leave Gnaeus alone.' He turned to Baro. 'See Valerius Corvinus gets back safely. He's still a bit delicate.'

Delicate was the word. Well, I supposed a clout on the head was a small price to pay for a fresh lead, but all the same I had the distinct impression the big guy enjoyed his work, and he was less than gruntled how things had panned out.

We didn't talk a lot on the way back to the wineshop

I'd just settled in with another jug of Privernatian and was taking things slow and easy when Perilla and the Princess showed up from their marathon temple bash, full of the joys of entablatures and acroteria. The lady took one look at what Baro had left of me and blew her wig.

'And just what the hell happened to you?' she said.

I winced. 'Don't shout so loud or everyone'll want to look like this. And don't swear, it isn't ladylike. Sit down and have a fruit juice.'

'Corvinus, you do not get out of this by cracking jokes!' She was prodding at the duck's egg lump all the best purple-stripers were wearing that year. This time I yelped in earnest: Perilla may be pretty hot-smart in several departments, but a second Hippocrates she's not. I've met less ham-fisted gladiator trainers. 'Merciful Juno, you need a doctor! This is a cut! It's bleeding!'

'Yeah, they do that. Just leave it alone and don't encourage it. And no doctors.' I looked at Marilla, who was staring at me with eyes like dinner plates. 'Hi, Princess. You have a nice time?'

Perilla sat down. She'd gone very quiet suddenly, and she looked pale. 'Marcus, please,' she said softly. 'No jokes, no irrelevancies and no subterfuge. Just tell me what happened.'

So I did. Dwelling on the fact that it was a once-off, not to be repeated, and Tolumnius and I had done a deal. 'And I know now who the phantom Aulus is,' I said. 'He runs a business of some kind in Caere. If we start back now you can drop me off and -'

'We are not going to Caere,' Perilla said firmly. 'We are going to find you a doctor and then we are going straight back home. Is that absolutely clear, or do I have to hit you again myself?'

Uh-oh. I knew that tone. When the lady was in this mood you might as well argue with a rock. Yeah, well, perhaps she was right: I did feel pretty woozy, and I was still having difficulty telling which of the two wine cups on the table in front of me was the real one.

'Okay,' I said. 'You've got it. Ask the guy inside. I think I'll just sit here and throb.'

We were lucky: doctors aren't too thick on the ground out in the sticks, but the wineshop owner pointed us towards an ex-army surgeon who'd settled in Pyrgi and had a freelance practice in the town square. While Perilla fussed over me the Princess ran to where they'd left Lysias with the carriage and had him pick us up. Then after a fairly unpleasant half hour of medical treatment we went bowling up the road back towards Vetuliscum.

Despite the heat outside the temperature in the carriage was close to freezing: once she'd got me safely salved and bandaged, I'd drunk the disgusting concoction the surgeon had made out of his old legionary boots, and the Princess was carefully out of earshot on Corydon, Perilla finally let rip.

'Corvinus, I despair, I really do. I indulge you by leaving you for five minutes soaking yourself in a wineshop while the child and I improve our minds and you contrive to get your head beaten in by a gang of criminals. Why on earth can't you have a normal day out like a proper civilised person?'

Gods! Where do you start? 'First of all it wasn't five minutes, lady, it was more like three hours,' I said. 'Second, all I did was go across the street for a leak. Third, my head's still the shape it was, give or take the extra temporary bulge. And fourth, on the plus side, we're one more step along the road to finding who the killer is.' I paused; be fair, Corvinus. 'I'll give you the criminals, though.'

She sniffed: one thing about Perilla, once she's settled down, even when she's being unreasonable she's open to argument. 'You're sure? About the killer?'

'No. But at least it shows that Vesia wasn't spinning me a yarn. And it proves Titus Tolumnius's bona fides. Whoever this Aulus Bubo is, he's a guy I have to talk to.'

She settled back against the cushions; crisis over. I breathed again. 'Actually,' she said, 'I've been thinking. Along quite different lines.'

'Yeah?'

'Your theory about Gaius Aternius being involved may not be so ludicrous after all.'

I blinked. In the stir of recent events I'd forgotten about Aternius. And for Perilla to backtrack or admit the barest possibility that she might be wrong or mistaken over something was as unusual as seeing the High Priest of Jupiter slide down the steps of the Capitol on a tin tray.

'Gee, thanks,' I said.

'Or at least not totally so.' Sarcasm just bounces off Perilla. 'You say he and his uncle have an interest in acquiring property, and that they're none too scrupulous.'

'Yeah, that's right. At least that's what the guy in the wineshop told me.'

'Mmm. Then if you look at this business from the financial and sociological angles it might well make sense.'