David Wishart - Foreign Bodies

‘Have a nice time?’ I said sourly.

‘Oh, yes. It was fascinating.’ She sat. Bathyllus materialized behind me. ‘The usual, please, Bathyllus. Marcus, the complex is huge . You should’ve come with us.’

‘Yeah, well, I was working, wasn’t I? And I had a pretty interesting day of my own.’

‘Did you?’

‘Oh, yes. Profitable, instructive, and in places surprising. Who could ask for more? Except that it was a tad lacking in alcoholic content.’

‘Marcus …’

‘OK.’ I shrugged. ‘Even so.’

‘Did you tell Diligenta about Quintus?’

‘Yeah. Actually, she didn’t seem too concerned. Still, I can see her point: he is family, and every family has their black sheep. Or at least a seriously-off-white one. She evidently thinks she can sort things out for herself.’

‘That’s very generous of her. And very forgiving.’

‘Maybe. But I wouldn’t like to be in Brother Quintus’s shoes when that lady gets him on the mat and faces him with it. She’s no pushover, Diligenta. The problem is, it knocks the theory that Quintus is our killer into a cocked hat.’

‘How so?’

‘Well, she seemed to think that, even if he did know, her husband would’ve taken the same line. There would’ve been no reason for Quintus to kill him to cover up his tracks.’

‘Quintus might not have known that.’

‘No. All the same, she said that he would’ve done, she’s known him for a long time, and naturally it goes the other way as well. Plus, of course, the two men were brothers. If she says she doesn’t think Quintus is capable of murder – which she does – then her opinion carries weight; while on his part Quintus would’ve been able to lay a pretty safe bet that, even if he had been rumbled, he’d get away with no more than a smacked wrist. So yes, the guy could very well have been our perp in theory, but in practice there’re too many objections. Unless he had some other motive, of course. Bugger.’

Bathyllus shimmered in with the lady’s barley water on a tray. ‘Dinner will be served shortly, sir. Madam,’ he said. ‘If that’s convenient.’

‘Fine, little guy,’ I said. ‘By the way, we don’t need the grand butler act when we’re by ourselves with no company, right? So tone it down a little, will you?’

He sniffed, and exited.

‘Spoilsport,’ Perilla said.

‘Yeah, well, we don’t, and he should.’

‘What other motive could he have? Quintus, I mean?’

‘None that I know of. But crooked is as crooked does. I don’t altogether trust Brother Quintus any more. Besides, there’s something out of kilter about his past. About the whole family’s past, for that matter.’

‘Oh, yes? What’s that?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe – probably – nothing that’s relevant. But that was the second thing I found out today, from my talk with the senior magistrate, Julius Biracus. You know old Cornelius Lentulus? Lives up the road from us, on the Caelian?’

‘Yes, Marcus, of course I do. What has Lentulus got to do with anything?’

‘They’ve got a lot in common, those two, besides their size. Ask Lentulus anything about goings-on in the Senate and the murky back corridors of power any time these fifty-odd years and he’ll have the details at his fingertips. I reckon Biracus is the same where Lugdunum’s concerned. And like Lentulus he knows far more than he’s telling. Or in this case hinting; at least, reading between the lines, I think he was.’

‘So what, specifically, was he hinting about the Cabirus family?’

‘That it was no coincidence that they moved from Augusta to Lugdunum just after the Florus revolt.’

‘Perhaps not. And?’

‘What do you mean, “and”?’

‘Marcus, it would have been perfectly understandable, under the circumstances. Life couldn’t have been too easy there at the time. To begin with, in the aftermath there would probably be reparations to pay, so money would be tight in general. And because of the revolt, relations with their former customers outwith the region, Roman and otherwise, would have been soured, or at least tinged with suspicion.’

‘Only if they’d supported the wrong side.’

‘Did they?’

I frowned. ‘That’s what I’m not clear on; not as far as the family as a whole is concerned. Biracus fudged it. Oh, he admitted he’d done as much, on the perfectly reasonable grounds that it didn’t matter any more, that the world had moved on these past twenty years. But he did say that Diligenta’s brother had gone in with Florus, and that the two of them – Diligenta and Licnus, that was the brother’s name – had been pretty close. The implication was there.’

‘Come on, Marcus!’ Perilla sipped her barley water. ‘Biracus is absolutely right: the revolt was a generation ago, it’s long over and done with, and who supported whom at the time is completely academic. Certainly it has no current relevance.’

‘Yeah.’ I was still frowning. ‘Even so, Diligenta didn’t at all like me bringing up the subject. She got quite heated, in fact.’

‘Wouldn’t you? Some Roman who only arrived two days ago goes poking his nose into a part of her private life that she’s long since left behind, then practically accuses a member of her family to her face of being a traitor. How would you feel yourself?’

‘I didn’t exactly-’

‘That’s what it sounded like to me, dear. And my sympathies are all with Diligenta.’

‘Well, maybe. And as you say it’s irrelevant now. Forget it.’ I shifted in my chair. ‘Anyway, there’s a lot more to report. Like I say, Biracus was a gold mine. First of all, young Titus Cabirus has a girlfriend called Aia.’

‘So?’

‘Only that that’s curious in itself. When I talked to him yesterday about his plans for the future he said he was thinking of a career in the army, and that there was nothing barring his family to keep him here. I asked about girlfriends and he said no, he hadn’t got one.’

Perilla laughed. ‘Marcus, be realistic! He’s – what – nineteen years old? For a start, she may be a casual attachment, and for another thing, again, it was no business of yours.’

‘Admitted. But you weren’t there at the time. It was a straight denial to a straight question. Why should he lie, which is exactly what he did, if it wasn’t important in some way? It was no skin off his nose, or it shouldn’t have been.’

‘There could be several reasons, all perfectly innocent. Is the girl from the same social class as he is? Because if not then he might consider that the fewer people who know about her the better, particularly since the information might get back to his family. Does Diligenta know she exists?’

‘No. Actually, she doesn’t. I know that for sure. But-’

‘There you are, then. Didn’t you have any dubious girlfriends yourself at that age?’

‘Uh, yeah, as it happens, now you come to mention it, off and on, but-’

‘And you kept them quiet from your parents too, yes?’

Bugger. ‘Look, lady,’ I said. ‘Just cut it out and listen, will you? I know what I’m talking about. This is a different ball game altogether.’

‘Very well, dear. I’m sorry. You have the floor.’

‘I followed the girl up. Her father has a farm out in the sticks, and he was flogged on Cabirus’s orders a few years back for punching one of the procurator’s men’s lights out when they tried to take his grain for unpaid taxes; that’s the procurator ’s men, note, the same outfit that her current boyfriend works for. Aia’s an only child, the mother’s long dead, and she and her father are very close. Given all that, what would be your conclusion?’

She was twisting a lock of her hair. ‘Ah.’