David Wishart - Old Bones

He'd got me over a barrel, and I knew it.

No; the knife wasn't for me. Arruns had meant to stay down there in the tomb all along, even before the flooding. That thought made me feel a bit happier, but not all that much. Mostly I just felt empty.

The sun had almost set by the time I got to Flatworm's track, and Jupiter was growling away in the hills again, working himself up for another spat. A stiff breeze had picked up, too, and what with my still-sodden tunic I wasn't all that warm; in fact, my head felt muzzy and I was beginning to shiver. Hell, that was all I needed: the case was over, I was free to do what I liked, and all the signs were I was coming down with a bad cold or worse. Some holiday. Perilla would be thrilled to bits.

Ah, well; at least we were into wrapping-up time, with a whole three days before Rome's answer to Solon came oiling up from the big city. I'd go and talk to Gaius Aternius tomorrow and see what I could swing…

I sneezed. Bugger. Call it a day: hot bath, dry tunic, a pint or two of wine, a square meal and an early night. I was sorry that smoothie bastard hadn't turned out to be the murderer after all, but then that's how things go, you can't have everything.

Arruns was dead; fine, that part of the business was settled and the account was closed, as far as it ever could be. There was only the private side of things left. So. How did I go about paying the guy back for the fact that I was still breathing?

That I'd have to think about.

Maybe the hot bath did the trick because I felt a lot better the next day, although my arm muscles were stiff as hell. The weather had improved too: we'd had another blaster of a storm in the night but the god had obviously blown himself out for the time being and when I set out for Caere and Aternius's place there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The reception I got wasn't any more cordial than it'd been the first time. Aternius's door slave checked with the master, then led me through the atrium and into the study like he'd have been happier pushing me at the end of a pole. Aternius was on one of the two reading couches, in conversation with another man with silver-grey hair and the sort of stern, noble features you associate with portrait busts by sculptors angling for a follow-up commission. He looked up and frowned.

'Corvinus. This is a surprise. I thought you were -'

'In Rome. Yeah, everyone does.' I grinned at the guy on the other couch. 'Quintus Cominius, I presume?'

'Indeed.' The mayor's voice didn't fit his face; it was thin and high-pitched. I'd just bet that under that snazzy mantle he'd have spindly legs and knock knees.

'Nice to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you.'

'Indeed?' Shit, maybe I was wrong and he was some weird variety of giant parrot done up to look human.

'As you can see, we are rather busy.' Aternius indicated the pile of wax tablets on the table between them.

'Yeah, I can see that. I really can.' There was a chair near the table. I pulled it up and sat on it, then gave him my best smile and waited.

A pause. Aternius's frown deepened.

'I assume it's in connection with the Vetuliscum murders,' he said, 'although this close to the trial I'm surprised as the defendant's counsel you should be visiting the prosecutor.'

'There won't be any need for a trial, pal. I came to tell you you can let Larth Papatius go. The real murderer's dead.'

Both men were staring at me. 'What?' Aternius said.

'Larcius Arruns. He confessed to me before he killed himself.'

Cominius pursed his lips. 'Most irregular,' he said. 'Most irregular.'

'Why should Arruns kill Attus Navius and Titus Clusinus?' Aternius was looking blank. 'Not to mention your mother's friend Salvius Hilarion.'

I'd got this bit ready. 'He wanted his family vineyard back. With her husband and son both dead he thought Sicinia Rufina would sell up to an outsider and he could buy the terraces from the new owner.' I caught a quick glance between Aternius and his uncle. Uh-huh. 'Clusinus witnessed the murder and tried to blackmail him. Hilarion's more complicated, but basically the guy saw Arruns here in Caere with a mule he shouldn't've had.'

There it was: thin, sure, although I'd kept to the truth as far as possible, but what I couldn't mention – and this was part of the payment of my debt to Arruns – was the existence of the tomb. Physically, it had gone: Lysias and Alexis had sloped up there before dawn with a couple of shovels and filled in the shaft level with the ground. With any luck Navius's drain would be forgotten like it had never existed.

As far as Bubo was concerned, I'd no need to account for him: Aternius had never linked his death with the others in any case.

'It's a bit thin,' Cominius said.

So. There was a brain there, after all. I shrugged. 'Maybe. But it's the truth. Arruns is already dead, like I say, but I'm willing to take any oath you like on that.'

'Where is Larcius Arruns?' Cominius again. Bugger; the guy was a lot smarter than he sounded. That was the question I'd been dreading, because I couldn't answer it. Sure, I could've gone back to the tomb before the lads had reburied it, pulled the guy out and carted him somewhere innocent but I didn't want to do that. Not just for the obvious reasons: he had a right to stay where he'd chosen to be, and I'd fight to the last inch to keep him there.

I put on my best straight face. 'I don't know,' I said.

Cominius clicked his tongue. 'Then how the hell d'you know he's dead?' he said.

Reasonable question. And again not one I could answer.

'I'm willing to swear that too,' I said. 'Also that he killed himself.'

Aternius shifted irritably on his couch. 'Corvinus, we can't go to the praetor's representative with this. Even if it is the truth, you're expecting him to take your pure unvarnished word for the fact. Where's your evidence, for heaven's sake?'

I was on firmer ground here. 'I've already met the rep,' I said. 'He's an old friend of mine.' Jupiter! I could just see Crispus's face! Still, this was the way things worked, and a pair of grafters like Aternius and Cominius would appreciate that. 'He'll take my word. Just tell him that if he's at all unsure my wife and I will be very happy to come specially to Rome and explain things to him in full at his new club.'

Cominius looked doubtful. 'And you believe that will be sufficient?'

I tried not to grin at the thought of how Caelius Crispus would react to that little guarantee. 'Yeah,' I said. 'Yeah, I think that would about do it.'

Aternius sighed. 'Well, we can certainly try. As far as Papatius is concerned, though, I'm afraid we'll have to keep him in custody until the representative arrives and authorises his release.'

Well, you win some, you lose some, and you've got to compromise. It was only three days, and the guy was safe enough: to avoid another embarrassing meeting with Perilla Crispus would've accepted my oath that the Wart had come up from Capri and done the murders himself.

'Yeah, okay,' I said. 'There's one more thing.'

'Yes?'

'That scrap of vineyard. I understand you might come into ownership of it yourself quite soon. By marriage.'

The guy coloured and glanced briefly at his uncle. 'I don't know where you got your information from,' he said, 'but yes, that is possible. Very possible, in fact.'

'Fine. There's a young guy called Publius, last name I don't know. Works in the records office in the main square. He'll be inheriting Larcius Arruns's property and he may be making a bid for it. You think you might be interested?'

Aternius stared at me coldly. 'Corvinus, first of all I don't answer hypothetical questions of that nature; secondly any interest I might or might not show would be none of your business. And thirdly as a convicted murderer Larcius Arruns's property is forfeit to the state and subject to public auction. Now I'm sorry, but we really have a lot to do this morning and -'