Foreign Bodies

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Foreign Bodies Page 17

by David Wishart


  Maybe Augusta wouldn’t be so bad after all. And I noticed that Perilla was looking happier.

  Score one for the politicians.

  THIRTEEN

  I got down to business first thing the next morning, while Perilla and Crinas investigated what the town had to offer in the way of shrines and temples: it seemed that we would be having the pleasure of Smarmer’s company for a few days yet while arrangements were made for his onward trip, although fortunately it transpired that the local medical network had come up trumps again re accommodation and we wouldn’t have the pleasure of watching him munching his groats at mealtimes.

  Balbinus had got Diligenta’s sister Quadrunia and her husband’s address for me before we arrived, although he hadn’t, he told me, made any preliminary contact. As a matter of fact, they lived practically next door, in the north-east quarter between the residence complex and the Moguntiacum Gate.

  Top of the local property market – which it was, seemingly – or not, the place was no great shakes: wooden-built, like most of the town, two-storeyed, in a plot of land of its own front, sides and back, surrounded by a waist-high wall. Most of the plot was taken up by practical stuff – an orchard plus a vegetable patch with cabbages, beans, carrots, leeks and salad leaves – but the bit at the front, facing the road, boasted a well-kept lawn, a small statue of the Goddess Diana, and a topiary cockerel: evidently, the family had some pretensions and wanted passers-by to take note of the fact.

  I unlatched the gate and went up the garden path. The door was open, but I knocked, and a few moments later a young girl appeared, drying her hands on a towel.

  ‘Yes?’ she said, her eyes straying to the purple stripe on my tunic. ‘Can I help you?’

  ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘My name’s Valerius Corvinus. I was wondering if I could talk to the mistress; Quadrunia, isn’t it? She in at present?’

  ‘She is, sir. What was it about?’

  ‘It’s a bit complicated. And personal. You mind just asking her if she’ll see me?’

  ‘All right. If you’ll just wait there.’ She disappeared back inside.

  Well, so far so good: there had always been the chance, after twenty years, that the family had moved away, or even that Quadrunia was dead; Diligenta, of course, by her own showing had had no contact with her in all that time, and although Quintus had been back and forward there wasn’t any reason for him to get in touch off his own bat; quite the contrary, from all indications. At least the journey was proving not to be a washout from the start.

  The girl came back. ‘The mistress will see you, sir,’ she said. ‘This way.’

  We went inside. Nothing grand here, either: a simple lobby, with the wooden beams and rafters showing through the white-painted plasterwork, and a wooden floor. Clean and neat as a pin, mind: the floorboards were oak, and polished to show the grain, as was the staircase leading up to the second storey. No decoration except for a small table with a vase of flowers on it.

  ‘In here.’ The girl opened a door and stepped back.

  It was a largish sitting room, obviously the main room of the house: low-ceilinged, and like the lobby with the beams and rafters showing. There was a woman about Diligenta’s age sitting in one of the wickerwork chairs. I could see the family resemblance at once.

  ‘Quadrunia, yes?’ I said.

  ‘Indeed. And you’re Valerius Corvinus, Escena tells me. We don’t have many Roman visitors, especially ones with a purple stripe on their tunics. Also, Escena said your business was personal, which is mystifying in itself. Have a seat, please.’

  I pulled up another chair facing her and sat. ‘I’ve just come from Lugdunum,’ I said. ‘From your sister.’

  She looked blank. ‘My sister?’ she said.

  ‘Ah … Diligenta?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ The blank look disappeared, but now her lips formed a hard line. ‘I’m sorry; I didn’t—’ She stopped. ‘You may not be aware of this yourself, Valerius Corvinus, but I haven’t seen Diligenta or heard from her in years, half a lifetime, in fact. Which’ – and there was ice in her tone – ‘neither surprises nor concerns me. Why on earth should she want to get in touch now?’

  ‘She doesn’t; she just gave me your name. I’m here on my own account. Your brother-in-law died three months back.’

  ‘Really? I’m most sorry to hear that.’ She didn’t sound it, and there wasn’t a smidgeon either of regret or even of interest in her voice. ‘But it still doesn’t explain why you came.’

  ‘Actually, his death wasn’t natural. He was murdered.’ I was watching her face closely; surprise, yes, and faint disgust, but still no concern or interest. ‘The emperor asked me to look into it.’

  ‘Did he, now?’ Not a trace of emotion, and almost a sniff. A tough cookie, evidently, this Quadrunia. It must run in the family. ‘The emperor himself, in person? Well, well, that’s nice. What it is to have friends in high places. However, this isn’t Lugdunum, is it? And my husband and I have had no contact with Claudius Cabirus these twenty years either, so I’m still at a loss as to what you’re doing here. Not simply to bring me the news, obviously.’

  ‘No.’ I shifted in my chair and mentally crossed my fingers; here came the crunch. ‘I was hoping you might fill in a few blank areas for me. Tell me why Cabirus and your sister moved to Lugdunum in the first place.’

  ‘Surely the best person to ask about that would be Diligenta herself.’

  ‘True. According to her, it was so Cabirus could be more in the centre of things, business-wise; but—’

  ‘Then I’m afraid I can’t add anything further. I’m sorry you’ve had a wasted journey, but there it is. It was nice to meet you.’ She half-rose. ‘Goodbye.’

  Damn. Not that I was going to give up quite that easily, though, not after a four-hundred-mile trip with Smarmer for company. I didn’t move.

  ‘Me, I was wondering if it had anything to do with the Florus revolt,’ I said.

  She sat down again. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘It’s just that the timing was too neat to be completely coincidental. At least, that was the idea. And, as I say, it could be relevant to Cabirus’s death.’

  ‘I see no reason why it should be. The revolt is ancient history now.’

  ‘True again. But still—’

  ‘Valerius Corvinus. You’re a Roman. No offence, but you don’t understand these things.’ Yeah, I’d been told that before, several times by various people, Diligenta included. ‘The Florus revolt was a catastrophe for this part of Gaul, in all sorts of ways. I said it was ancient history, but that’s not quite true; we all lived through it, people of my age, anyway, and many of the memories are not pleasant ones. To a certain extent, the problems it caused are still very much with us. All we can do is forget what we can and move on. Which is what I, and most Augustans, have done.’ She got to her feet. ‘Now I really cannot help you. Diligenta said that she and her husband moved to Lugdunum for reasons of business, which is, as far as I’m aware, perfectly correct. I’m afraid that you will have to be satisfied with that. Good day.’

  There was no more to be said; she was hiding something, that was sure, but I couldn’t force it out of her. We were still stymied.

  I got up and left.

  Hell!

  So what now?

  It wasn’t exactly the end of the world; at least we were in Augusta. There must be lots of people who’d been around twenty years ago and known the Cabirus family, and who wouldn’t be as tight-mouthed as Quadrunia. It was just a question of finding one. Balbinus might help, or point me in the right direction, at any rate.

  I went back to the residence and buttonholed the first skivvy I came across, filling the lamps in the entrance hall.

  ‘Excuse me, pal,’ I said, ‘you know where I can find Saenius Balbinus at this hour?’

  ‘Oh, yes, sir. He’s waiting for you in the atrium.’

  ‘Uh … right. Right. Thanks.’

  I went through. Odd. There wasn’t any reason that I
knew of why Balbinus would be keeping in such close touch: he had his own work to do, and I’d made it pretty clear when we’d discussed things over dinner the previous evening that I didn’t need squiring around and was perfectly happy left to my own devices. Still, if he was here already then it simplified matters.

  He’d been sitting on one of the couches. Now, he got up.

  ‘How did it go, Corvinus?’ he said. ‘Did you talk to Quadrunia?’

  ‘Yeah. Not that I’m any further forward as a result, unfortunately.’ I waved him back into his seat and sat down myself. ‘I’ll need some help on this one, pal.’

  ‘Certainly. What kind of help?’

  ‘An introduction to someone local who was around at the time of the Florus revolt and knew the Cabiri. Preferably someone with a penchant for gossip-mongering. Possible?’

  He frowned. ‘I can’t think of anyone offhand,’ he said. ‘But then I’m normally based with the governor in Durocortorum. I don’t know Augusta all that well.’

  ‘Damn!’

  ‘Oh, it’s no great problem. I can easily make enquiries, and I’m sure I can come up with something.’ He hesitated. ‘Meanwhile, I have an enormous favour to ask of you.’

  ‘Yeah? What’s that?’

  ‘It’s just we seem to have had a murder ourselves.’

  I stared. ‘You what?’

  He was looking embarrassed as hell. ‘Two of them, in fact. They happened last night. Or that’s the assumption, anyway. I thought that since this is your area of expertise—’

  ‘Hang on, Balbinus. What about the local Watch? There is one, presumably.’

  ‘No. No, there isn’t, or not as such. You’re not in Rome now, or even Lugdunum. Oh, there are a number of town wardens, but they’re just that, most of their job involves rounding up escaped livestock and returning it to its owners. Barring the occasional tavern brawl we don’t have much trouble here at all, no crime as such and certainly not murder. They wouldn’t know where to start, and nor would I.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ Shit; this I could do without. I could see why he’d approached me, mind. And that he’d find doing so embarrassing. The lad must be desperate, right enough. ‘Two murders, you said. They’re connected, presumably.’

  ‘Oh, yes, definitely. A merchant from Durocortorum and his servant. Actually, I knew them both personally, myself.’

  I sighed. ‘Fine. So let’s have the details.’

  ‘The merchant’s name was Drutus. He trades in hides, mostly with the garrison at Moguntiacum. His servant’s name was Anda. They were found early this morning by a goat-herd half a mile outside the Moguntiacum Gate.’

  ‘Outside the gate? What were they doing there?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. It’s pretty wild country beyond the cemetery, nothing much but hills and scrub. And, like I said, the murder almost definitely happened during the night, which makes it even stranger.’

  ‘How do you know that? If it’s all that wild, then the pair of them could’ve lain there for days.’

  ‘They’d put up at a local tavern. The owner served them a meal about an hour before sunset.’

  ‘Right. Right.’ Fair enough; as a terminus post quem you couldn’t get better than that. ‘And he didn’t see them afterwards?’

  ‘No. They were bunking down in the hay-loft above his stable, or at least Anda was. He assumed that when they left they’d gone straight to bed as usual.’

  I noticed the qualification, but I let it pass for the moment. ‘They couldn’t have killed each other, could they?’ I said. ‘Had some sort of disagreement?’

  Balbinus shook his head. ‘No. Absolutely not. I said: I knew them, both Drutus and the servant. Drutus was the quiet, steady sort, and a good master. Anda had been with him for years, and they were more friends or family than master and man. Besides, Anda seems to have drawn his knife – the goat-herd found it by the body – but Drutus’s was still in his belt.’

  ‘OK. Usual question. Motive. Who might have done it, and why?’

  ‘I haven’t the slightest idea. As I say, Drutus was just your ordinary merchant who knew his business and kept himself to it. He certainly had no enemies as far as I’m aware, and I’d be very surprised to be proved wrong. His purse was still attached to his belt, so whatever the reason was, it wasn’t robbery; although again I’d be surprised if it had been, because like I told you crime here is practically unknown. In any case what would a robber be doing outside the gate at that hour? What would anyone?’

  Yeah; that was the queerest thing about the whole affair, to my mind. Oh, sure, the implication was obvious – some kind of clandestine meeting, definitely of the shady variety – but from Balbinus’s description of him this Drutus didn’t seem the type for that at all. Balbinus could be wrong, mark you, in fact given the circumstances he probably was. Still, that was for me to find out.

  ‘Anyone able to shed light on the matter?’ I said. ‘Friend, close colleague, that sort of thing.’

  Balbinus hesitated. ‘There is a local woman. Drutus … visits her when he comes through to Augusta.’ Uh-huh; that explained the qualification about sleeping arrangements. ‘A widow by the name of Severa.’

  ‘Where can I find her?’

  ‘Where she lives I don’t know. But she has a vegetable stall in the market.’

  ‘And where’s that?’

  ‘On the river side of Market Square.’

  Fair enough. ‘I’ll need to talk to the guy who found the bodies,’ I said. ‘Preferably take a look at the place where they were found.’

  ‘That’s no problem. I’ll arrange it and let you know.’

  ‘Also, I’ll want to see the bodies themselves. Where would they be at present?’

  ‘At the undertaker’s establishment beside the Moguntiacum Gate.’ He frowned. ‘But why on earth would you want to do that?’

  ‘It can’t do any harm. And I might learn something.’ I was thinking of my doctor son-in-law Clarus; he’d definitely have been useful at this point. Which triggered another thought. ‘Incidentally. Domitius Crinas. You happen to know where he is this morning?’

  ‘Actually, you’ve just missed him. He and your wife went out just before you arrived. He said they were going to take a look at the Temple of Victory, then cross the river to the Lenus Mars sanctuary.’

  Bugger; Smarmer didn’t waste much time, did he? Still, it wasn’t unexpected, and the first thing the lady does when she goes anywhere is check out the local monuments. ‘Where’s the Temple of Victory?’ I said.

  ‘Not far. In the corner of the market square.’

  Great! If I hurried I could catch them mid-jaunt. Perilla would moan like hell, mind, but this was work; she could just do without her prospective boyfriend for an hour or so. I doubted if the guy would be in Clarus’s league where reading evidence from dead bodies was concerned – he was more of the diagnose-and-prescribe type of doctor, and it’d need more than a slice of Clarus’s morbid interest in forensics for that – but he’d be a lot better than nothing. Or so I hoped.

  Besides, I reckoned the bastard owed me for putting up with his company all the way from Ostia. He could just make himself useful for a change.

  I set out for the market square.

  I ran them down as they were coming out of the temple.

  ‘Corvinus! This is a pleasant surprise.’ Crinas smiled his best five-candelabra smile. ‘Done what you wanted to do already, or are you on your way somewhere?’

  ‘I’ve got a job for you, pal,’ I said. ‘If you aren’t too busy, that is.’ He had his hand on Perilla’s arm, supporting her down the temple steps. I gave it a significant glare, and he removed it. ‘Inspecting a couple of dead bodies.’

  That got me a blank look. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Marcus!’ Perilla snapped; as predicted, she looked distinctly unchuffed. ‘If that’s one of your jokes then it’s in extremely bad taste!’

  ‘No joke, lady. Bodies – murdered – courtesy of Saenius Balbinus. He’s just told
me about them.’

  ‘Do they have anything to do with your case?’ That was Smarmer; a definite sharpening of interest.

  ‘Not that I know of. A merchant from Durocortorum and his servant, found early this morning half a mile outside town. Balbinus has asked me to look into it as a favour.’

  Perilla sniffed. ‘I would have thought you had enough on your plate already, dear, without taking on anything else,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, well, I saw Quadrunia and she won’t play. Balbinus is investigating other possibilities for me, so meanwhile I’m at a loose end. Also, one hand washes the other.’ I looked at Crinas. ‘So how about it? Willing to give it a whirl?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ he said doubtfully. ‘If you insist. All the same, I’m not sure what you expect me to do. The men are dead, after all. A bit late to call in a doctor, don’t you think?’

  Humour, now, or what passed for it. I didn’t smile; no point in encouraging him. ‘My son-in-law would disagree,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, yes. Cornelius Clarus. You mentioned him, didn’t you, Perilla? Interesting chap, from the sound of him. Most unusual; I’d like to meet him one day.’ Crinas smiled. ‘Well, on those terms I don’t at all mind “giving it a whirl”, as you put it, although Perilla and I had planned to visit the sanctuary of Lenus Mars this morning.’

  ‘So Balbinus said.’ I kept my voice neutral. ‘But it shouldn’t take all that long. They’re at the undertaker’s up by the Moguntiacum Gate; we can walk there inside of ten minutes.’

  ‘Very well.’ He turned to Perilla. ‘Perhaps it’d be easier if you went back to the residence. We could start out again from there when Corvinus and I have finished.’

  ‘Lovely,’ Perilla said. ‘Let’s just do that.’ I could just hear the clenched teeth. ‘Marcus, dear, can I have a word with you in private? You’ll forgive us for a moment, Crinas.’

  ‘Yes, of course. I’ll walk on ahead slowly, Corvinus, and you can catch me up.’

  He moved off. Perilla rounded on me.

  ‘You did that deliberately, didn’t you?’ she hissed. ‘You don’t need him at all! Marcus Valerius Bloody Corvinus, sometimes I think you are the most—!’

 

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