David Wishart - Old Bones

'Well, now,' Nepos said when we were ensconced on a pair of reading couches with the Falernian between us. 'And how's the investigation going?'

I took a swig. Caeretan's fine in its way, like I said, but its big brother from down south definitely has the edge. Nectar. 'Not bad. In fact it may be all over.' I told him what the Gruesomes had just told us about Navius, Thupeltha and Papatius. 'That make sense to you?'

'It doesn't surprise me, certainly, although I knew nothing about the affair myself. Remember, I'm no Vetuliscan, I'm not one for gossip and I don't see much of the locals. Barring that old bastard Arruns, naturally, but that's another story.'

'Arruns?'

'Larcius Arruns. My immediate neighbour. You won't have met the fellow yet, but he's quite a character.' Nepos chuckled into his wine. 'Too much of a character for my delicate taste, to be truthful.'

My ears had pricked up. Immediate neighbour, right? So he'd be a neighbour, too, of Navius, on the other side from Papatius, and Nepos's tone hadn't exactly been all sweetness and light. If the Papatius angle fell through this Arruns might be interesting. 'So why doesn't the affair surprise you?' I said.

'Oh, anyone could see it coming. Thupeltha's got red blood in her veins, Navius was a good-looking lad and Papatius isn't a man I'd like to cross. There's a story about a Caeretan butcher -'

'Yeah. The girls told me that one. Is it true?'

'As far as the basic facts are concerned, yes.' Nepos frowned. 'Beyond that I don't know. Certainly the fellow was found dead of a broken neck half way to Caere, but he'd left the wineshop drunk and it was a filthy night in the middle of winter. He could easily have strayed off the road. Whether there was ever anything between him and the woman your guess is as good as mine, and as for actual foul play -' He shrugged.

I took a swallow of the Falernian. 'What sort of a guy is this Papatius? In himself, I mean. You think he's capable of murder?'

'Possibly. Under the proper circumstances.'

'Care to tell me what these are?'

'I doubt if I can. Papatius isn't an easy chap to pigeonhole. Thirty days out of the month he's as easy-going a man as you could wish to meet. The thirty-first' – Nepos turned his cup in his hands – 'well, you know these flash rainstorms we get this time of year: one minute blue sky, the next all hell let loose and Deucalion's flood over again. Papatius is a bit like that.'

So. That fitted with the Gruesomes' story, anyway. And if the guy's wife was carrying on with Navius an impulse killing was a definite possibility.

'We'd an incident a year or so back, for example. I was in the wineshop myself, as it happens. Stranger up from Pyrgi took on more wine than he could handle and began to get a bit abusive. Papatius let the man rant for a while, then he gets up and without a word of warning smacks the fellow in the mouth.' He chuckled. 'Breaks his jaw for him, one punch, then sits down like nothing's happened and leaves us to pick up the pieces.'

'Jealousy?'

'Oh, it had nothing to do with Thupeltha. The woman wasn't even there at the time. In bed with a bad cold, had been for days.'

'They get on well together? Papatius and his wife?'

'As far as I know, publicly at least. In business terms the marriage is an ideal arrangement. Thupeltha owns the wineshop and the land, Papatius is the best damn vine-grower in the district, partly hard graft but that's never enough with vines. Whatever the fellow's got – and remember the wine business is chancy at best – it's very close to magic. Between them he and Thupeltha are coining money hand over fist.'

I sat back. Yeah. That little nugget was interesting. Also it fitted in with a couple of other things that'd been bugging me about Navius's murder. Maybe when I got Perilla alone I'd try them out on her.

'Okay,' I said. 'Tell me about this Larcius Arruns.'

Nepos chuckled. 'Now he really is a Vetuliscan. The family's been here at least since Deucalion's flood, probably a lot longer. If you're looking for someone to add to your list of suspects, Corvinus, then I recommend Larcius Arruns to your attention. And guilty or not speaking personally I wouldn't be sorry to lose him.'

'How so?'

Nepos reached for the wine jug and topped up our cups. 'Because he's a crusty, litigious old bugger, that's how so,' he said. 'We share a perennial boundary stream, and you know how precious these things are. I've fought tooth and nail ever since I bought this place over my fair share of the irrigation rights, but the wretched man won't give an inch.'

I could understand the exasperation in his voice: all-year-round water is as precious to a farmer as gold. 'I thought irrigation rights were written into the deeds,' I said.

'Of course they are. But the word of the law's one thing, implementing it's another matter, especially if you want to stay on neighbourly terms. And it's not just me. He has court cases pending with half Vetuliscum for one reason or another.'

'What about Navius?'

'Oh, my dear fellow, that's a very old chestnut! Practically a family feud. There's a stretch of vineyard on the edge of Navius's property that Navius's grandfather bought from Arruns's father fifty years back. Arruns has always claimed the sale was bogus and the vineyard still belongs to him.'

'The sale's on record?'

'Certainly.'

'So?'

'Arruns claims the deed is forged, that his father never sold the land and Navius's grandfather swindled him.'

'That's no reason to murder the grandson.'

'Agreed. But then stranger things have happened.'

I grunted. Yeah, well, it was possible: these old country feuds had nothing to do with logic. Maybe Arruns had the right of it and the land was his after all. Or maybe, like Nepos said, the guy was just a litigious old bugger who got a kick out of mixing it with the neighbours. Still, it was another strand. Not that I needed one at present. I swallowed the last of my wine and put down the cup.

'Okay,' I said. 'You've done what you set out to do.'

Nepos laughed. 'And what might that be?'

'Cooled me down. I might even let that phoney bastard Hilarion live after all. Let's go and rejoin the party.'

'Fine. Oh. Before we do that I've one small bit of news myself.'

'What's that?'

'Quintus Cominius is sending an investigator of his own. His nephew, as a matter of fact. Chap called Gaius Aternius.'

I stared at him. Hell. Hell's bloody teeth.

We got back about two hours later, in time for a late lunch. Nepos had pressed us to stay, and his side of the table would've been safe enough, but Mother would've found ways and means of getting me to eat the whacky stuff, and with Phormio and Hilarion both slugging for the home team I wasn't risking food poisoning for no one. We had fennel omelette, rissoles and braised chickpeas. Marilla bolted hers and dashed off to do whatever the hell fourteen-year-old kids find so fascinating, leaving us to our wine (me) and fresh-squeezed cellar-cooled grape juice (Perilla).

'So, Marcus,' Perilla said. 'What was Licinius Nepos saying?'

I told her. 'I owe you an apology, lady. Papatius is the murderer after all.'

'Unless Tanaquil and Ramutha are lying about seeing him pass their house that morning.'

'Why should they lie? Sure, they might invent a juicy bit of scandal just for the fun of repeating it, but they've got no down on Papatius. Quite the reverse.'

'We've only got their word for it that Navius and Thupeltha were lovers. Nepos didn't confirm that, did he?'

'No. But it hangs together, especially looking back to what Mamilius told me. Or didn't tell me, rather. Navius was involved with someone. If it wasn't Vesia then Thupeltha's a fair bet, especially if the lady's that way inclined.'