David Wishart - Foreign Bodies

Yeah, right. ‘So they take sides?’

‘Indeed they do. Or they would, given the chance. Which, of course, both the pro- and anti-Roman camps among the British themselves – Verica’s and Caratacus’s, in effect – know perfectly well and are trying to exploit. Essentially the war – call it that – has already started and been running for the past three years, only it’s Celt against Celt, a propaganda war beneath the surface. We can help and hinder at need, sure, we’ve plenty of actual muscle, but at root most of the time using direct force isn’t the answer, and it may even make things worse; while for the same reason the anti-Roman party can’t cause real trouble too overtly because they know at the first signs it’ll be stamped flat and the country stitched up tighter than a gnat’s sphincter. Hence the agents, ours and the agents provocateurs .’

‘Only now things have changed.’

‘Yes, indeed. The closer the actual invasion comes the more desperate the anti-Roman party – Caratacus, because he’s effectively the British leader – will be. We’ve talked about this before. If Caratacus can persuade the Treveri, at least, to revolt within the next few months then the campaign will be seriously jeopardized. It’s an all-or-nothing throw, but if it comes off then at the very least he’ll have bought himself some breathing space. So you see how important getting to the root of this business is?’

Gods! I shifted on my stool. ‘Drutus was on to something, right?’ I said. ‘Something specific?’

‘He must have been. It makes perfect sense, with hindsight. Probably he’d identified our agent provocateur .’ He was frowning. ‘But in that case why the hell didn’t he just come to me, tell me the whole story, and let me take things from there? I could’ve had the bastard arrested within the hour.’

‘Perhaps he wasn’t sure himself. Or more likely he wanted more names – the agent’s local contacts, say – before he took things any further. That’d make sense, wouldn’t it? Coming directly to you might’ve blown his cover too prematurely.’

‘I suppose so.’ Balbinus ran a hand over his chin, and I noticed he hadn’t shaved that morning. ‘Even so, some sort of formal indication of what he was up to wouldn’t have been difficult. A private message. He could’ve managed that easily.’

‘I don’t think he had the time or the opportunity. He didn’t have the information himself until the evening he was killed.’ I told him what the tavern-keeper had told me. ‘My bet is that the servant Anda, who must’ve been in on his secret, had just discovered something off his own bat and the two of them decided to play a lone game. For the time being, at least.’

‘Yes. Yes, that’s fair enough. Still-’

‘You want the theory? For what it’s worth?’

‘Corvinus, I’m grasping at straws at present. Of course I want your theory, if you think it’s valid.’

‘All right.’ I settled back on the stool. ‘Me, like I say, I think the whole thing was a bolt out of the blue. Anda finds out, how I don’t know yet, but it doesn’t matter, that X is our villain, and also that he’s got some sort of secret rendezvous arranged for that night. He tells Drutus, and they meet to talk things over and do the planning in the room above the tavern. Drutus takes the time between then and when things start moving to go round to his lady friend’s, to say he won’t be staying the night after all and leave her his coin for safe keeping. Then-’

‘Hold on. Why should he do that? If he had time to play with then why not use it in contacting me?’

I sighed. ‘Balbinus, pal. You married, at all? Any significant other, here or back in Rome?’

‘No. What does that have to do with it?’

‘Leaving aside the concrete proof aspect of the thing, the guy might not have known he was going to his death, but he sure as hell must have realized what he was about was pretty risky. He may’ve been a professional agent, but he was human like the rest of us; he couldn’t just disappear for the night without warning and leave her to worry. Besides, there was the coin. You said it was British, right? Atrebatan?’

‘Yes. Struck by Verica’s father Commius.’

‘OK. So now with hindsight we know why he was carrying it; it was a sign, if he ever needed to use it, that would prove his bona fides to any other undercover Verican sympathizer he came into contact with. Only it’d go the other way, too; if he was caught with it on him then anyone on the other side would know he was an enemy. Oh, sure, the chances were that if he and Anda were caught snooping under suspicious circumstances it probably wouldn’t make all that much difference, but at least they could try bluffing their way out of trouble. So he had to leave it behind, somewhere safe.’

‘All right. I’ll accept that; certainly it seems to fit. Carry on, Corvinus.’

‘The rest’s pretty straightforward, except that before I’m sure of the details I’ll have to have another look at the place where the bodies were found. Basically, though, they follow X to the rendezvous point outside town; only they’ve been spotted themselves, and either X or his co-conspirator kills them. End of story.’

Balbinus pulled at his ear. ‘So who’s our X?’ he said. ‘Let alone the person or persons he was meeting? That’s the crucial factor here.’

I shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. We’ve got one clue, though. Before I left the tavern, the owner told me he’d caught the last few words of what Anda had been saying to Drutus when he interrupted them with the bean stew. Quote: “He’s lying. He’s never been there.”’

‘Who was lying? Where had he never been?’

‘Yeah, right; those are the questions. If we had the answers we’d have our murderer and so your British agent. But we don’t. Not yet, anyway.’

‘You must have some thoughts on the matter, surely.’

‘Just one obvious one. The trouble is, it can’t be right because it’s completely impossible.’

‘Tell me in any case.’

‘That Burdigalan wine merchant I mentioned to you. The one who volunteered to help with the Cabirus business. You remember?’

‘Yes. Segomarus, wasn’t it?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You think it’s him?’

I hesitated. ‘Under normal circumstances he’d be among my front runners, sure. There’s something not quite straight about him for a start, and he’s from well out of town, the other side of the country, in fact, as far away from here as you can get. Or claims he is, at any rate, which is just the point: my tavern-owner friend said that Anda had travelled pretty extensively when he was younger, so it’s a fair bet that, whoever X is, Anda had caught him out in a lie about where he originated and taken things from there.’

‘Sounds good to me.’ Balbinus had perked up. ‘Good enough to pull him in for questioning, at least.’

‘Hold your horses, pal. I said: Segomarus is a non-starter. Whoever X is, he absolutely isn’t it.’

‘You care to explain why not?’

‘Because he arrived with us, in Laco’s party. Quite definitely; I can vouch for that myself. He was with us all the way, too, so there’s no question of him having ridden on ahead and then come back for some reason.’

‘Why should that-?’ Balbinus stopped. ‘Oh, yes. Yes, of course, stupid of me. You didn’t arrive until late in the afternoon, did you?’

‘No. And by that time Anda had already made his discovery, whatever it was. So as much as I’d fancy the guy otherwise, he’s definitely out.’

‘Bugger.’

‘As you say, bugger. Still, he can’t be the only game in town, can he?’

‘Far from it, I’m afraid. That’s the trouble: Augusta may not be as big a place as Durocortorum, but it is on the main route to Moguntiacum and the Rhineland. There are plenty of non-locals about. Mostly merchants, but others too. And Anda didn’t specify a merchant in any case. Without something else to go on we’re looking for a needle in a haystack.’