Sejanus (Marcus Corvinus Book 3)

by David Wishart

  It took Agron four days. When Bathyllus let him in to the flat on the fifth evening he was grinning all over his face.

  'Got the bastard,' he said.

  'Yeah?' I was feeling pretty chirpy myself. It was a lovely evening and I'd left Perilla scribbling in the study and slipped out for a cup of wine at the local wineshop. I'd got talking to a guy who half an hour into the conversation turned out to be from Calatia, which is just down the road from Capua, and who had a cousin in Pergamum. It ought to've been a recipe for disaster but it wasn't. We ended up slagging off the Romans and the Roman upper classes in particular, and parted the best of friends.

  'Yeah.' Agron sat down. 'He's seeing the wife of a senator who lives on the Viminal near Patrician Street.'

  'Seeing as in "seeing"?'

  'Definitely. Every evening. The affair seems to be hotting up, and the senator concerned is busy with committee work.'

  'Handy.'

  'That's what I thought. Understandably, Silanus doesn't come calling with a fanfare of trumpets. Just him, on foot, with a single slave. Very untypical, very low-key.'

  'Uh huh.' It was perfect. 'How do we do it?'

  Agron frowned. 'You sure you want this?'

  'Sure I'm sure.'

  'Okay. In that case we keep it nice and simple. Next time lover boy goes visiting I grab him and bring him here instead.'

  I set down my wine cup. 'You do what?'

  'Don't look at me like that.' He took one of the new season's grapes from the bowl in front of him and popped it into his mouth. 'It's the best way. I'll borrow two or three of the barge boys again and scare up a double litter with nice thick curtains. There'll be no hassle. None at all.'

  'You want to bring Silanus here?' I was still staring at him.

  'Why not? It's quiet, it's safe. What else do you want?

  Jupiter! And Perilla accused me of having crazy ideas!

  'Safe, hell!' I said. 'If he traces me back then we're in real trouble!'

  'Come on, Corvinus!' Agron popped another grape. 'We gag and blindfold him and run him around a bit before and after. By the time you're ready for him the guy won't know which way's up, let alone what part of Rome he's in. Besides, this is the best you'll get.'

  Yeah, well. It might work after all. It was certainly better than taking him somewhere even semi-public and risking being interrupted. 'What about the slave?'

  'The Ostians can handle that side of it, don't worry. If he doesn't co-operate we tap him on the head and bring him with us in the same litter.'

  'Appius Silanus share his litter with a slave?' I grinned. 'He's going to love that part.'

  'The last thing he'll have to worry about is compromising his aristocratic principles. Believe me.'

  'Okay,' I said. 'So let's do it.'

  'Tomorrow?'

  'As ever is.'

  I'd got everything set up for our guest's arrival. Perilla and Bathyllus had been warned to stay well away, and I'd closed the window-shutters in case the view put any ideas into his head, immediate or retrospective. Plenty of lamps, though: I wanted to see how he looked when he answered my questions.

  It was an hour before midnight when Agron brought him in. He steered the guy to a chair, sat him down firmly, and took off the gag and the mask. Silanus sat for a moment blinking in the lamplight like a parrot choosing between two swear words. Then he struggled to his feet.

  Agron pushed him down. 'Easy,' he grunted.

  'By the gods, I'll have you strangled for this, you wretches!' Well, he was gamer than I thought he'd be, even if he did sound like a character in a third-rate comedy. 'Let me go at once!'

  'Sure,' Agron said. 'When we've finished.' He looked at me. 'You want to take over now?'

  I'd been studying Silanus with interest. Late thirties, skinny, weak chin, watery eyes. He'd be short-sighted. I hadn't seen him around, and his face wasn't familiar from Paullus's drawings, either, so he hadn't been one of Vitellius's callers. I hoped we hadn't made a mistake. If Crispus had put one over on me after all I'd have the bastard's scrotum for a dice bag.

  'Appius Junius Silanus?' I said. I didn't use my hick Campanian accent, and the patrician vowels came over loud and clear.

  'Of course.' He was staring at my beard and long, bound hair. I could see him making a mental reassessment, wondering whether perhaps I might be worth his consideration after all. 'And who might you be?'

  'The name's Marcus Corvinus.'

  'Corvinus? Good grief, man, you're supposed to be...' He half-rose again, eyes wide, before Agron's hand stopped him.

  'Yeah,' I said. 'Your pal Sejanus tried to set me up with a treason rap. Only I decided I wasn't going to play.'

  'Sejanus is no friend of mine!'

  I glanced sharply at Agron. Sure, it could've been bluster or an automatic denial, but he obviously didn't think so either; that had rung true. Shit. Maybe we had made a mistake after all.

  'Is that so?' I said carefully.

  'That is so. Sejanus was responsible, as you perhaps know, for my father's exile among many others. And if that is your reason for kidnapping me then whatever you're planning you can forget it. I'm no friend of Sejanus's, I don't know anything about your little feud with him and he would certainly not care whether I went missing or not. Now get your fellows to take me back where they found me please.'

  'When we've had our talk.'

  'Talk? What on earth do we have to talk about?'

  Ah, well. In for a penny. 'Your plans to assassinate the emperor in forty days' time.'

  I'd been watching his eyes, but I didn't need to look for any subtle signs of guilt this time. The guy went grey as an old wash-leather and collapsed into the chair like someone had sucked his bones out.

  'What?' he said.

  'You heard,' I said. 'You care to deny it, maybe?'

  'Of course I deny it!' He licked his lips. 'The idea is preposterous! Why should I want to murder Tiberius?'

  'I was hoping you'd tell me that yourself.'

  'You're mad.' He glanced back at Agron. 'Both of you.'

  'Oh, we're not mad. We're not wrong, either. Sejanus is going to cash in his winnings on the twenty-eighth of next month, and you're going to help him do it.'

  'I've told you, I have nothing to do with Sejanus!'

  There was something screwy here. I'd got him cold and he knew it: the date had hit him hard, and he was frightened; but I had a gut feeling that he was also telling the truth.

  'Okay,' I said. 'So if not Sejanus then who are you working for?'

  'No one! I don't know what you mean!'

  A lie. I looked up at Agron. 'You got your knife handy, pal?' I said.

  Silanus shrieked; at least he started to, but Agron whipped the gag across his open mouth and pulled it tight. The shriek turned into a gurgle, and above the gag Silanus watched me with terrified eyes.

  Agron handed me his knife. I held it against the guy's cheek.

  'Okay, sunshine,' I said. 'We won't kill you. We'll just carve little bits off until you decide to talk. You can choose to co-operate or not, but you only get one chance. Understand?'

  The eyes blinked rapidly. Then, slowly, Silanus nodded.

  'Take the gag off,' I said. Agron did. Silanus never moved. 'Right. So I'll ask you again. If you're not working for Sejanus then who are you working for?'

  He passed his tongue over his lips.

  'The young prince, of course,' he said. 'Gaius Caesar.'

  29.

  I sat back. This I hadn't expected. It didn't make sense, either. Why should Gaius want Tiberius dead? He hadn't a hope of taking power. He was only nineteen, hardly more than a kid. His mother and brothers were gone, the Julian party was smashed, he was living on sufferance already. And if he were stupid enough to put Tiberius in a hole then Sejanus would gulp him down like a shark swallowing a guppy.

  Of course, there was the other obvious explanation...

  'So tell me,' I said. 'What is the plan exactly?'

  'I'm going to stab him.
With a dagger built into the spine of a letter-roll. Servaeus...' He stopped and put his hand to his mouth. It was almost comical.

  'Quintus Servaeus?' Uh huh. This was beginning to fit together. I remembered Servaeus, sure: one of the original Julians, a close friend of Germanicus and Agrippina, and the principal prosecutor in the Piso trial. The very crooked Piso trial. And Servaeus had been appointed to the College of Priests by the Wart shortly afterwards, together with his mate Vitellius. Oh, yes. I remembered Servaeus. 'Come on, Silanus! I knew you couldn't be in this on your own. So Quintus Servaeus is involved?'

  'Yes. He's having the letter-roller specially made.' Now Silanus had been rumbled the poor sap was almost garrulous. 'And of course he's the one responsible for my inclusion in the senatorial party to Capri.'

  'And how did he manage to do that, pray?'

  'Oh, Quintus is a very astute man. Very aware. He pretends to be a friend of Sejanus's but of course that is a necessary and useful ploy. His loyalty is and always has been given, like mine, to the Julian family.'

  Oh, sure, I thought. And I'm a blue-arsed Briton. 'So you go to Capri and stab Tiberius while he's reading his mail. This is fascinating. What happens next?'

  'Tiberius's death is the signal for a general rising throughout the empire. The armies will give their oaths of allegiance to the Julians and to Gaius in particular.'

  'Is that right now?' Jupiter! I couldn't believe this guy! He was so politically naive it wasn't true. Even Agron was smiling. 'And what's Sejanus doing all this time? Playing marbles with the consuls?'

  Silanus gave me a stare like he'd just found me in his salad.

  'Sejanus will be gone,' he said. 'He won't last five minutes with the emperor dead. He derives his power from him, and the only reason he wields the influence he does is that Tiberius is a victim of delusions. You know that.'

  'Do I?'

  'Of course you do. You're no friend of Sejanus's yourself, either. No one can be who has Rome's best interests at heart, even if they're pretending otherwise at the moment. The senate will have him arrested and executed as soon as the news breaks.'

  'What about the Praetorians? Sejanus is their commander.'

  'They won't support even him against a son of Germanicus, especially Gaius Caligula. And with Sejanus gone there'll be no one else left. We will have won, and Rome will have a Julian emperor at last.'

  'Does he know about all this, by the way? Prince Gaius himself?'

  Silanus hesitated. 'It was decided not to tell him,' he said. 'That way he couldn't be implicated if anything went wrong.'

  Surprise, surprise. Well, that about wrapped it up. I looked at Silanus consideringly. He was glowing with honest patriotic pride and self-satisfaction. I hated to spoil things for him, but it had to be done.

  'Silanus,' I said, 'you've been had.'

  He stared at me. 'What?'

  'Had. Swindled. Conned.' I was getting through at last. He was beginning to look less smug. 'Sold down the river. Screwed right left and centre.'

  'That's nonsense!'

  'It isn't nonsense. Servaeus has been Sejanus's man for years, and Gaius hasn't a hope in hell of being acclaimed emperor. I've followed this up from the other end and believe me I know what I'm talking about. It stinks. Take it from me, sunshine, it's Sejanus's scam from start to finish.'

  He looked shaken. 'That's not true! You're. –'

  'Look,' I interrupted. 'I won't confuse you by going into details. Just take my word for it. I've saved your life here.'

  'My life?'

  'Sure. Use whatever serves you as a brain and you'll see I'm right. Do you honestly think that dagger-in-the-letter crap would fool the imperial guards for one second? There're these things called searches, and on Capri they do them pretty well. You wouldn't get within a mile of Tiberius. Which was exactly what Sejanus intended.'

  He goggled at me. I'd lost him. Gods! Scratch the twelve-year-old, I'd known more about political life in the raw when I was six. 'Silanus, watch my lips and try to follow, okay? Your so-called pal Servaeus was setting you up. The idea was that you'd get caught red-handed in an assassination attempt, and when they asked you cui bono you'd say Gaius.'

  'I wouldn't! I swear!'

  'Probably you wouldn't have to, not in words. The evidence would be there, neatly planted when you weren't looking. But a few touches of the red-hot iron would confirm it.' He winced. 'As a result Gaius would be chopped or exiled and the last obstacle between Sejanus and the succession removed.'

  'But what about Servaeus? He'd be implicated too!' The poor guy was visibly struggling. Jupiter knew how he'd ever made consul, with his grasp of the realities. In families like his it was difficult to avoid, but in his case we'd've been better off with a tadpole.

  'Servaeus would deny everything, naturally,' I said. 'And Sejanus would back him.'

  'I don't believe it!'

  I sighed. 'Silanus, have you got anything in writing? Anything confirming arrangements and so on? A letter? A note of some kind in Servaeus's handwriting or with his signature? So much as a laundry bill with the guy's name at the top?'

  'Of course not! That would be –' He stopped. Clink. The penny had finally dropped.

  'Stupid. Yeah. I agree.' I looked at Agron, who'd stood expressionless through this. 'Agron, I think you can take Appius Junius Silanus back to his girlfriend's house now. He won't be giving us any more trouble. Or the emperor.'

  'Blindfolded?'

  'Blindfolded. Brain-rot isn't endemic throughout the whole ruling class yet.'

  Agron grinned and sketched a salute. I gave him the finger and reached for the wine.

  They'd been gone exactly two minutes when my other visitors arrived.

  They walked in without knocking. Felix and his big pal Lamprus. I wasn't really surprised because I'd been expecting them now I knew who they worked for and why they'd been tailing me.

  'How are you, Valerius Corvinus?' Felix gave me his best smile. He was wearing a natty green tunic this time, with a yellow leather belt. 'Very nice to see you again.'

  'Yeah.' I indicated the other chair and the stool. 'Sit down. Make yourselves comfortable. My home is yours.'

  'Thank you.' Felix took the stool. The big guy just loomed.

  We sat looking at each other for a couple of minutes like a Greek chorus that's strayed onto the wrong stage. Felix was still smiling and quite at ease.

  'Okay,' I said at last. 'Do you want to start or shall I?'

  'Oh, you first, sir. Please.'

  'Right. A stupid question to begin with. How did you find me?'

  He ducked his head. 'Actually, we've known you were here since the day after you moved. We followed your slave from Puteoli, and incidentally dealt with one of Sejanus's agents who tried to do the same. Since then you've been watched very carefully. Very carefully indeed.'

  'Is that right?' Galling, and probably true, especially the bit about the Sejanan tail. Thank Jupiter for minders.

  'Yes, sir. In fact I'm told that you had a very pleasant conversation with one of my colleagues just the other day. He asked me to give you his regards and tell you how much he enjoyed your company.'

  Shit. 'The Campanian in the wineshop. And I'd thought I was being clever.'

  'Oh, but you were, sir!' The little guy looked pained. 'My colleague was most impressed. He told me particularly to be sure to compliment you on your Capuan accent.'

  'Nice of him.' I poured a cup of wine and offered the jug to Felix. He shook his head. 'So. You work for Gaius Caesar and you've been tailing me in the hope that I'll uncover what sort of scam Sejanus has concocted to put the skids under your boss.'

  'Oh, not the hope!' Felix smiled again. 'The confident expectation! We don't underestimate your skills, Valerius Corvinus. Isn't that right, Lamprus?' The thing grunted.

  'By the way, you want to tell me your real names now that it doesn't matter?' I said.

  'Oddly enough, sir, we really are Felix and Lamprus.' I stared at him. 'It's called a double bluf
f. Of course, I only risked it as a tribute to your intelligence.'

  Oh, shit. Outsmarted at every turn. Well, Bathyllus probably wouldn't've been able to trace them anyway. I sipped at my wine.

  'Question number two, then,' I said. 'Festus, Rubrius Fabatus's gardener. How did you find out about him?'

  'A rather lucky guess, I'm afraid, although one based on sound probabilities. We knew about Fabatus and Tubero already, and we were keeping them under observation. We also knew –having done our homework thoroughly, of course, via a kitchen slave planted in his household – about Fabatus's domestic arrangements, including Festus's little bolt-hole. When our kitchen colleague reported that the three men had had their discussion in the garden and that Festus had not been in evidence for some time we thought the line was worth pursuing. Fortunately we were correct.'

  I whistled, impressed. 'Smart.'

  'Thank you, sir.' The guy was almost blushing. 'Very good of you to say so. We do try. And of course we thought what Festus had to say would help your own investigation along.'

  'You've got him safe?'

  'Festus? Naturally. I won't tell you where – he's outside Rome in any case, and quite content – but he'll reappear at the proper time.'

  'Good. One last question, if I may.'

  'Certainly. As many as you like.'

  'Just one'll do. You never did work for Titius Sabinus, did you?'

  'No, sir.' He sighed. 'I'm sorry for the deception, but no. That was an untruth. Lamprus and I have always been Julian slaves.'

  'So why mention him? It was intentional, wasn't it? To point me in a certain direction?'

  'Oh, how very astute! Isn't he, Lamprus?' Felix looked positively delighted, and the man-mountain grunted again. 'I did wonder if you'd picked that up. Yes, it was intentional. It didn't achieve its purpose, of course, but since you approached the problem from a different direction and solved it in your own inimitable fashion that doesn't much matter.'

  'You care to explain just exactly what that purpose was, then? Just for the record.'

  'Oh, I don't think I could take that on myself, sir, could I, Lamprus?' Grunt. 'But then I'm sure the master will tell you in a moment if you ask him.'

  Jupiter! 'Uh...the master? He's here?'