Under Vesuvius s-11

by John Maddox Roberts

  She hissed, then took a deep breath and gathered her dignity. Greek women have extravagant ways of mourning, but she did not wish to put on such a display for Romans. "I want to see him."

  "You don't need my permission," I told her. She strode past me and disappeared within the gate.

  "Everyone here," I said, "disperse to your homes and your business. This is just another sensation and it needn't be made worse by a lot of idle speculation."

  They did not look pleased with my high-handed methods, but they knew better than to argue. I was the man with the lictors and the im-perium. By this time the older men of my staff had caught up, and I beckoned them to me.

  "Publius Severus," I said, addressing an elderly freedman who for fifty years had been secretary to some of Rome's greatest jurists, "I need you and your colleagues to search the law books. This man may have been killed by one of his slaves. I need to know if the old law that condemns all his slaves to crucifixion in such a case is valid only if the victim was a citizen. This man was a resident alien."

  "I can tell you right now, Praetor," said Severus. "The matter was addressed during the consulship of Clodianus and Gellius, when slaves were murdering their masters right and left. The ultimate punishment was inflicted only in the case of a citizen murder. The status of foreigners is little higher than that of slaves, and the matter is to be treated as an ordinary homicide. Only the murderer and his direct accomplices are subject to crucifixion."

  "Excellent," I said, greatly relieved. The last thing I wanted to do was order several hundred crucifixions of people who were in no way responsible for their master's death. We have some truly monstrous, archaic punishments on our law books.

  Regilius the horse master arrived and I dispatched him to scout for signs of an intruder. He began to ride slowly along the estate wall, his eyes on the ground.

  I ordered everyone back to the villa and we mounted. Riding, this time at a leisurely pace, I discussed the latest murder with Hermes.

  "It was someone he knew," Hermes said.

  "Clearly. Someone he had in his bedroom after dark, when the estate was closed up. That doesn't let the slaves off. He might have sent up one of the girls. He certainly had some fine stock."

  Hermes shook his head. "He was a big, powerful man. No girl did

  that."

  "Why not?" I said. "A moment's inattention, he turns his back, and in goes the knife."

  "That stroke was delivered with great power and accuracy," Hermes protested, "right into the base of the skull where the spinal cord joins. It's a job for a trained swordsman."

  I nodded, musing. "It's hard to imagine how a woman could have done it. I've known some dangerous women in my time, though. I know better than to rule them out."

  Before we reached the villa, Regilius caught up with us.

  "That was quick," I said. "What did you find?"

  "It was the same Roman-shod mare," he said.

  I thumped a fist on my saddle. "The same murderer! I knew it!" Actually, I had known nothing of the sort, but it is always good to appear wise before subordinates. "How did the killer tether the horse?" I asked. "There are no trees between the walls and the bluff. Did you find sign of a picket pin?"

  "No, the mare was held."

  "Held? There was an accomplice?" This I had not expected.

  "Two horses rode up to the wall, both mares, both Roman shod," he reported. "From what I could make out, your killer went over the wall. Probably just stood in the saddle to do it. No problem with a wall that high. The other then rode off, leading the unridden horse, and waited about two hundred yards away. The first did the deed, then came back over the wall and the two of them rode away. Clever bit of planning, too."

  "How is that?"

  "When I saw where the killer went over, I stood in my own saddle and pulled myself on top of the wall for a look. There's a stable on the other side. You can just step onto the stable roof, then down to the fence, then to the ground and make no noise. If anyone heard those horses, they'd just think they were hearing noises from the stable."

  "You're right," I told him. "Now you have two horses to watch for."

  "If I see sign of them," he said, "I'll let you know."

  When we reached my villa, Julia had to know what had been going on and I gave her a quick rendition.

  "We have to inform Gelon," she said.

  "I'll tell him," I said, "but not just yet."

  "What are you going to do?" she asked, alarmed at my tone or my appearance.

  "What I should have done sooner," I told her. "I'm going to the temple to get that poor girl. At least I have legal cause now."

  She nodded and Hermes grinned. "Lictors!" he bellowed. Julia draped me in my formidable toga and we trooped off to the beautiful temple of Apollo. A hundred yards from the temple we could hear a woman screaming.

  Julia grabbed my arm. "Don't run. It's undignified. That woman is being beaten and she won't die of it before we get there." I was not so certain. After the thrashing Hermes had described, could Charmian survive another as savage? In the courtyard behind the temple we found them.

  Diocles the priest looked on coldly while a big slave wielded a whip on a young woman tied to a post. Her back and buttocks were crisscrossed with ugly stripes, and blood ran to her heels and formed a spreading puddle beneath her feet. But the screaming victim wasn't Charmian. It was the big German girl, Gaia.

  "Stop this at once!" I yelled. One of my lictors knocked the whip wielder sprawling with his fasces.

  Diocles turned to look at me, seeming almost dazed by this turn of events. "Praetor? By what authority do you interfere with my conduct of my own household?"

  "By my authority as praetor peregrinus of Rome. Diocles, you are a suspect in the murder of Gaeto of Numidia. I demand that you surrender to me certain slaves of your household for questioning in this case and in the matter of your daughter's death. You will turn over to me the girl Charmian and this girl Gaia, and while you're at it, give me the other one, Leto, before you whip them all to death."

  The old man turned paler than he already was, and his head began to tremble. "Gaeto? Dead? Well, what is that to me? So the Numidian swine is dead. How dare you accuse me of murdering him, if the killing of such a man can be considered murder?"

  "You had the greatest motive to kill him, since you believe his son murdered your daughter. As a resident alien he was under the protection of Roman law and I administer that law. Now fetch Charmian!" I was out of patience and the defiance went out of him.

  "I can't," he admitted, seeming to shrink.

  "Are you saying she's dead?"

  "No, she escaped from the ergastulum. And that German slut-" he jabbed a finger toward the suffering girl "-let her out! That is why she is being punished. And you have no right to interfere." He seemed to regain a bit of his defiance.

  "For the moment," I told him, "my power here is absolute. You may bring suit against me after I leave office in the fall. Of course, I may already have had you beheaded by then, so don't count on it."

  I walked to the post. Under Julia's solicitous direction, Hermes and the lictors had unbound the girl and lowered her to the ground. Her screams had subsided to a continuous moan.

  "She won't be talking for a while," Julia said. "I'll have her carried to the villa and looked after." She snapped her fingers and pointed. A lictor rushed back to the villa for help. They never stepped that lively for me.

  "When did Charmian escape?" I asked the priest.

  "The night before last, but I only learned of it this afternoon. Gaia had been taking her meals to her and concealed the fact that she had let the bitch out. When I sent for Charmian-"

  "Why did you send for her?"

  "I had some questions to put to her."

  And a whip ready, no doubt, I thought. "Where is the other one? Leto?"

  He summoned a slave and sent him to fetch the girl. "Are you really serious about regarding me as a suspect?"

  "Serious as Jupiter'
s thunderbolt," I assured him. "Something very unpleasant is going on here in southern Campania. I came here expecting a pleasant, unexciting stay and you people have disappointed me sorely. This puts me in a vengeful mood, and I am ready to inflict as many executions and exiles as it will take to set things back in order."

  "You make much over the death of a nobody," he almost whispered.

  "He was somebody," I assured him. "He was a resident alien under my protection. His death and your daughter's were connected and I will have the truth. Should I decide that you are that connection, my lictors will be calling on you."

  "Surely you cannot think that I was involved in my own daughter's murder?" His indignation sounded genuine, but some people are experts at faking such things.

  "Should I decide so, you will be in need of an inordinately sympathetic jury."

  Leto appeared, trembling and almost faint with apprehension. She stared at poor, bloodied Gaia with huge eyes and would have collapsed had Hermes not caught her.

  Julia took her hand. "Be calm, girl. You are coming to our house and no one will harm you."

  By this time I was beginning to wonder about my ability to protect anyone from harm.

  8

  It didn't look like much of a weapon, lying on the table in the impluvium. A messenger had delivered it while we were occupied at the temple. Julia had taken the German girl and Leto to quarters where they could be cared for. I wasn't going to be questioning Gaia for a while, but I hoped to get something coherent from Leto, if she could just overcome her terror.

  Antonia picked up the sticker and examined it. The Egyptians had cleaned it before it was sent to me. It was made of a single piece of steel, the handle shaped like that of a miniature dagger. The blade part was triangular in cross section, tapering to a needle point and no more than five inches long. It resembled a writing stylus more than a weapon.

  "He was killed with this little thing?" she said.

  "It was sufficient," I told her. "It's all in the placement. As any legionary sword master will tell you, a puncture an inch deep in a man's

  jugular will kill him just as dead as hacking him clean in two. Same thing with this. Put it in the right place, and death is all but instantaneous."

  She twirled it in her fingers, fascinated. "I could use something like this. Most often, I strap a dagger inside my thigh when I go out, but it chafes after a while."

  "You do?" Circe said. "I usually carry mine down here." She poked a finger into her own ample cleavage. As usual, every new thing I learned about Roman women alarmed me.

  "It weighs practically nothing," Antonia observed, tossing it high, end over end, catching it adroitly by the handle on the fall. "You could hide it in your hair. That way, it would still be handy when you're wearing nothing at all."

  "Enough of that, ladies," Julia said, entering the room.

  "Actually," I pointed out, "little daggers similar to this are sometimes earned by prostitutes, hidden in their hair, as Antonia suggests. They carry them to protect themselves from cruel or violent customers. Assassination is not the point. Such women know how to, ah, distract a man by stabbing him in an intimate spot."

  "You two are having a bad influence on my husband," Julia said. "But if it's a prostitute's trick, doubtless Gaeto had a number of them in his slave barracks."

  "The murderer came from outside-we've established that," I told

  her.

  "If you can rely on the word of an old cavalryman," she said. "If he made up some details to make himself seem more important, he wouldn't be the first."

  "I trust him," I said. "Now what have you learned from the girls?"

  "Leto is shattered and not a hand has been laid on her. Gaia is made of stronger stuff and that girl Charmian must have been made of iron to escape after the beating she took. I've dosed both the girls in our custody with poppy juice. I hope they can talk for a few minutes before they pass out."

  "They'd better,'' I said. "I have to find Charmian. Surely she must have had someplace to run to."

  "You should send out word that she is to be brought to you when she's found," Circe advised. "Otherwise she'll be turned over to Diocles for the reward and he'll probably kill her. That old man is entirely too fond of the whip."

  "And he has something to hide," Julia said.

  "Everyone does," I mused, "but I don't want people combing the whole countryside for her. I need her alive and talking, and it's best if she comes to me freely."

  "How is she to know?" Antonia asked.

  "Hermes will put out word on the slave grapevine," I said. "He knows how to do it."

  "You have a romantic conception of slaves' concern for one another," Julia said. "Her fellow slaves are as likely to sell her to Diocles as guide her to you."

  "Nonetheless, that is my decision."

  Shortly after this, Hermes came to inform us that the girls were able to talk. I told Antonia and Circe to rein in their unhealthy curiosity and stay where they were. They yielded with poor grace. Julia and I went to the room that had been prepared for our unexpected guests. Gaia lay on her stomach. The cushions beneath her were arranged for the greatest degree of comfort. Her stripes were cleaned and anointed with soothing oil, and she was covered with the lightest, gauziest sheet to be found in the villa. Leto sat beside her, holding her hand. She swayed in her chair, calm but almost numbed by the drug. Julia and I took other chairs, while Hermes and Marcus stood behind us.

  "Girls," I said, "I need some information from you. I know you both need sleep but this will not wait. I am not going to threaten you with punishment, but I must have your fullest cooperation. You will be much safer that way. Do you understand?"

  Leto nodded dumbly. Gaia managed to say "yes" in a weak voice.

  "We won't turn you back over to Diocles," Julia told them firmly. "You have been seized as evidence. My husband will have you remanded to the state, and I can then buy you and give you easy work in our own household. My husband can do this. He is a Roman magistrate. But you must answer him honestly."

  This seemed to reassure them. "What do you want to know?" Gaia asked, her voice a little stronger. She must have been captured young or else born in captivity. Her Latin was without discernible accent.

  "First off," I said, "what was Charmian's offense?"

  "She was helping Mistress Gorgo," Leto said, speaking for the first time, although somewhat listlessly. "When the mistress went out at night, Charmian spied the way for her. Sometimes, I would sleep in Gorgo's bed, so it would look like she was there."

  "Charmian would hide the gifts the mistress returned with," Gaia said. "When Gorgo could not get away, Charmian would sneak out and tell the-the visitor."

  "Gorgo was seeing a lover?" Julia asked. Both girls nodded. "How often?"

  "Almost every night," said Gaia.

  "Was there just one lover?" I asked. "Two? Many?"

  "They never told us," Gaia said. "She confided fully only in Charmian. They were almost like sisters."

  "I think there was more than one," Leto said in a tiny voice.

  "Why do you say that?" I asked her.

  Even in her benumbed state, the girl's face flushed. "Some nights, when I slept in Gorgo's bed, she would just climb in and tell me to go back to our chamber. On some nights she-she smelled different than others." Her head nodded and in seconds she was asleep, still sitting, holding Gaia's hand.

  "She never told me that," Gaia said.

  "A few words more and you can sleep, too," I told her. "How did you help Charmian escape?"

  "I was caring for her. She begged me to help her. She said one more beating would kill her and I knew it was true. She hadn't told Diocles everything and she swore she would die first. He knew she was withholding something and was just waiting for her to recover enough for the torture to resume.

  "The night before last, when she was recovered enough to walk, even run if she should have to, we left the temple, went out through the grove by the spring, and from there she ran."r />
  "Where did she go?" I asked. "Did she tell you her destination, who would hide her?"

  "She said she would be safe, that she had a friend in Baiae."

  "So you returned to the temple and pretended that she was still in the lockup?"

  "Yes. Diocles wasn't fooled for long, but I bought her time to escape."

  "Gaia," Julia said, "why didn't Charmian accompany Gorgo on the night she was killed?"

  "She went, but Gorgo told her to stay at the edge of the grove, not go with her to the spring."

  "Had Gorgo done that before?" Julia asked.

  "I don't know. I don't think so. ." The girl was asleep.

  We rose and left them there, under the eye of a slave woman skilled in healing. Back in the colonnaded courtyard, we compared notes.

  "She went to Baiae," I said. "Who would she have gone to? Who would hide her?"

  "It must have been one of the lovers," Julia said. "What other free 'friend' would she have had?"

  "We know it wasn't Gelon," Hermes said.

  "It's a long walk to Baiae for a girl in her condition," Marcus noted.

  "Desperation drives people to do surprising things," I said.

  The next day was a day when official business was forbidden, for which I was grateful. It gave me a chance to wander about in Baiae, ostensibly just enjoying the sights but in reality snooping. Hermes and I made our way into the goldsmiths' and jewelers' quarter which, this being Baiae, was bigger than Rome's.

  "Somewhere here," I said, "there has to be someone who knows who bought that necklace."

  "Why?" Hermes asked. "It might have been bought in Alexandria or Athens. Somebody may have found it in a shipwreck and peddled it cheap. The man who gave it to her may have stolen it. Why are you so sure that the man who sold it is here? I looked all over this quarter last time."

  "Because this morning I sacrificed a very fine ram to Jupiter and I specifically requested that we find that man today."

  "Oh, well, then. Let's go find him."