by Ruth Downie
She should have said something to him about this journey. He did not deserve to be abandoned without a word. But if he had known, there would have been an argument. He would have had to pretend he wanted her to stay and eat dinner with the rich widow.
Tilla’s gaze followed the track of the long shadow that stretched away from her feet in the direction of the town. There was still no sign of the man from Arelate.
At her feet, the tiniest ants she had ever seen were swarming around a dead bee, shifting first one end and then the other, nudging their charge along through the dust. Others were scurrying to and fro along an invisible track, carrying back news of the discovery to their nest.
She put on the hat she had borrowed late last night from Galla. Now the tall thin person in the shadow had a huge round head.
The clang of a distant bell made her look up. If Brother Solemnis did not turn up in a minute, she would be missed at the house. Perhaps she had said the prayer wrong. Perhaps the new god was too busy being everywhere to stop here and listen to one woman.
The bee was being hustled away into the dry grass at the side of the road.
This trip was a very big mistake. She should face up to Lollia Saturnina instead of running away. She must go back now, before someone from the house saw the family guest standing at the roadside with a travelling bag.
But then who would find out about Cass’s brother?
‘I am going to count to ten,’ she told the god. To be fair, she would do it very slowly. Then, if the driver was not here, she would walk back down the track and hope the dog would not make a fuss when she sneaked back in through the unbolted gate.
By the time she had reached eight, her hopes of a reprieve were rising. On ‘nine’ they were dashed. There was a vehicle approaching in the distance. There were also footsteps running up the track behind her.
‘Stop!’ cried Cass, breathless, struggling with a bright blue-and-green-striped bag slung over her shoulder.
Ten. She had been caught. Feeling relieved and rather silly, Tilla picked up her own bag and turned to walk back to the house.
‘Galla told me,’ called Cass. ‘Don’t go without me!’
Chapter 45
Tilla had wandered off somewhere by the time Ruso woke. She would be with Cass or Galla, keeping out of Arria’s way. Lucius was nowhere to be seen either: probably sleeping off last night’s wine and bad behaviour. Ruso was not sorry. He had nothing amicable to say to him, and he did not want any more discussions about Who, How or Why. He knew the answers now. What he did not know was what he was going to do about them.
Before Ruso could dismount from the mule, the one-eyed gatekeeper silenced the dog with ‘Oi, Brutus!’ and said, ‘Miss Claudia’s not here, sir.’
‘You mean she’s not on the premises, or she’s not allowed to see me?’
The eye met Ruso’s own. ‘I wouldn’t want to lie to you, sir.’
‘But you would, if you were ordered to.’
The scars folded around a grin. ‘I would, sir. Miss Claudia’s not here. Can I say something, sir?’
The man’s attitude seemed to have warmed considerably since the last visit, perhaps as a result of Ruso’s conversation with Flaccus the kitchen-boy. ‘Go ahead.’
‘Some of us hope you get away with it.’
‘It wasn’t me!’
The one eye blinked slowly, and Ruso realized the man was winking at him.
‘It wasn’t!’
‘If you say so, sir. You might want to know the investigators have arrived, sir.’
Ruso stared into the eye. ‘That’s impossible. The message was only sent a couple of days ago.’
‘Turns out they were just down the road in Aquae Sextiae, sir. On some other business for the Senator.’
This was not only bad news, it was an amazing coincidence. ‘Are you sure?’
‘One of ’em’s a smartarse called Calvus,’ the doorman told him. ‘His mate’s just here to provide some muscle.’ Before Ruso could ask how he knew, the man added, ‘I haven’t got no instructions to lie about them, sir, see? I just let them in a minute ago. If you want to talk to them, I’ll go and ask.’
‘No thanks,’ said Ruso, gathering up the reins of the mule. He urgently needed to talk with Claudia but the last thing he intended to do was to walk straight into the arms of the official investigators.
Ruso turned the mule and was just persuading it into a trot when the man called, ‘Hold on a minute, sir, I was wrong. Miss Claudia’s here after all.’
Claudia was there, but so was the gatekeeper, and behind her he could see Zosimus the steward hurrying towards them. The conversation he needed to have with her would be impossible. The best he could do was to beckon her outside the gatehouse and respond to her frantic ‘Gaius, there are men here asking questions!’ with ‘Have you been lying to me?’
‘Me? No! Ennia’s the one who tells lies. All this nonsense about the marvellous boyfriend in Rome? I said why doesn’t he come and fetch her, then, and it turns out he’s been dead for years! She only wants to go back there because nobody here will have her.’
‘Claudia, listen. I’ve talked to the root-cutter.’
‘Who?’ Claudia’s face was impressively blank.
He glanced over his shoulder. There was no time to be subtle. ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’
‘What? What was me?’
He was not going to pretend he had to explain.
The manicured nails dug into his arms. ‘Who’s been telling you lies?’
‘He described you.’
‘Who? Gaius, what are you talking about?’
Suddenly he felt weary. ‘Just tell the truth, Claudia. Please. For the sake of the staff. The investigators will find out sooner or later anyway.’
‘But I didn’t –’
Her protest was cut off by the arrival of Zosimus, backed up by the gatekeeper and the gatekeeper’s dog. Ruso was not allowed on to the Senator’s property. An official inquiry was under way. If he had anything to say, he could say it to the investigators when they were ready. In the meantime, he was to stop harassing the bereaved family.
Ruso had never seen Claudia look so frightened as when Zosimus escorted her back towards the gate.
Chapter 46
Probus’ slave ushered Ruso through an entrance hall that had changed little in the years since his last visit. The heavy iron-bound chests in which his former father-in-law kept other people’s money were still flanked by two surly-faced men armed with clubs and daggers. The man who had told him about Marcia’s attempts to borrow money, now back on duty, showed no sign of recognizing him. He followed the slave out into the garden, where he had once asked for Claudia’s hand in marriage, and wondered whether Probus knew that she had murdered her latest husband.
Probus was seated by a fountain that much resembled the one in Ruso’s own garden, except that it was built properly and it worked. When the slave had been dismissed, he said, ‘Keep your voice down. We won’t be heard over the water.’
Evidently Probus did not trust his staff any more than he trusted Ruso, who perched on the side of the fountain and trailed one hand in the cool water. He wondered what Claudia was telling the investigators. None of it would answer any of his own questions: questions like how she had managed to poison Severus without harming the rest of the household, and why he had been such a fool as to believe her.
Probus was still talking. ‘… but I haven’t heard anything.’
Ruso cleared his throat. ‘Anything about what?’
The corners of Probus’ mouth turned down even further than usual. ‘You were the one who wanted to meet, Ruso. Kindly have the courtesy to listen.’
‘Sorry.’
‘You wanted to know about Severus’ business affairs.’
Ruso nodded, although in the light of what he now knew, they were of limited interest.
‘Everyone knows the Gabinii are hard men if you cross them, but until recently I thought he was honest. If I hadn’
t, I would never have loaned him the money for the shipping deals.’
‘Or let him marry your daughter,’ put in Ruso.
‘Of course not.’
Ruso had been considering telling Probus what he had found out about Claudia, but the arrival of the investigators had changed everything. With luck, they would find out about her for themselves. He would be clear of the murder charge without incriminating her himself or incurring Probus’ revenge in the process. On the other hand, her denial had been remarkably convincing …
‘… whether it was Justinus all along,’ Probus was saying.
Ruso did not like to admit that his attention had wandered again. He said, ‘Ah.’
‘But Justinus was with me for fourteen years and was always entirely reliable.’
‘Like his sister,’ put in Ruso.
‘I like to think I know how to judge a man,’ continued Probus, ‘but when the letters of credit started appearing in different ports after the ship had gone down, it was difficult to know what conclusion to draw.’
Ruso frowned. ‘You mean things turned up later that should have been at the bottom of the sea?’
Probus gave a tut of exasperation. ‘You’ve never really understood how business works, have you, Ruso?’
‘No. Did you say there was more than one shipping deal?’
‘This was the third. The others had gone smoothly, so I had no reason to suspect there was anything wrong when Severus asked for a bigger investment.’
Probus’ voice was calm, but there was a faint involuntary flicker of the left eyelid that Ruso had not noticed before.
‘When Justinus left here, he was carrying a certain amount of cash, but certainly not enough to fund him for the whole trip or purchase the cargoes. That was arranged in the usual way, with letters authorizing him to withdraw cash up to specified amounts from bankers in the various ports with whom I have arrangements. Since the ship disappeared, someone has been going round withdrawing the cash.’
‘So you started to wonder if he really was dead and went to ask Cass if she’d heard from him?’
‘He may be dead,’ continued Probus, oblivious to any distress he might have caused. ‘Or he may have been part of a conspiracy to rob me. As I’m fairly certain Severus was.’
‘The letters could have been washed up on a beach somewhere. Anybody could have got hold of them.’
‘Justinus had orders to keep them on his person at all times and destroy them in the event of shipwreck.’
‘I see.’
‘No, you don’t!’ Probus seemed to startle himself with the sudden exclamation. He glanced around the colonnades that surrounded the garden, then dropped his voice again for ‘I accept that you probably didn’t kill Severus. I don’t know who did and, frankly, I’m not interested. He was a serious disappointment, he lost me a lot of money, and my advice to Claudia was to get rid of him.’
He caught Ruso’s eye and added, ‘Divorce him, of course.’
‘Of course,’ agreed Ruso. ‘Divorce him. Unless you and she decided to take revenge on him together.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Ruso. We don’t all do business like the Gabinii.’
Probus dismissed the possibility so summarily that Ruso was inclined to believe him.
‘But if you stir up some false connection between Severus’ death and this shipping business,’ Probus continued, ‘the Senator’s investigator will start poking around in all sorts of affairs that could have …’ He paused. ‘Unintended consequences.’
‘There may already be a whisper in Rome that Severus was up to something,’ said Ruso. ‘Did you know that two investigators have arrived this morning? Apparently they were already up here.’
Probus was as surprised as Ruso had been, and no more pleased. He leaned back in his seat and surveyed his former son-in-law. ‘Let’s hope they can be persuaded to keep out of things that don’t concern the inquiry.’
‘I think they’ll be the ones doing the persuading.’
Probus sighed. ‘You may be clueless about business, Ruso, but until now you were always fairly good at keeping your mouth shut.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And you do appear to have some residual sense of duty to my daughter. So I’m going to tell you exactly what I think happened, and then perhaps you’ll understand why it’s so important that I know if your Cassiana hears from her brother. At the same time you’ll understand what a difficult position you’ll put me in if you aren’t discreet.’
Ruso waited. If he could glean some information to help Cass, this would not have been such a wasted meeting.
‘It’s my suspicion,’ said Probus, ‘that the captain and the crew sold the cargo – or possibly there never was one in the first place – and then scuttled the ship, which my informants now tell me was practically worthless. Presumably Severus paid next to nothing for it, despite having taken a large sum of money from me to invest in a decent vessel. They may have done away with Justinus and stolen the letters, or he may have joined them and used the letters himself to defraud me. What matters is that this is kept confidential. If there’s any whisper of suspicion that there are unauthorized letters of credit circulating around the banking fraternity in my name …’
‘You’d be ruined. Nobody would ever trust your seal again.’
‘This is only a short-term problem,’ insisted Probus. ‘The letters had cash limits and an expiry date on them. All I have to do is weather the storm. But after the loss I sustained on the ship in the first place, it’s a considerable nuisance.’
Ruso thought for a moment. Over the years experience had formed a small clearing in the fog of his commercial ignorance, and it had revealed some of the dangerous terrain of borrowing and lending. ‘Who else put money into the shipping deal?’
Probus visibly stiffened. ‘I was acting alone.’
‘I’m surprised,’ observed Ruso. ‘With that large a risk, I’d have thought you’d want to spread it. The first trips went well. Severus seemed to know what he was doing. I’d have thought you might suggest to a few clients that, if they had money to spare, they might want to invest it in something that would give them a good percentage.’
‘I was acting alone,’ insisted Probus. ‘It was a family arrangement between myself and my son-in-law.’
‘Come on, Probus! Most of your reputation is built on introducing rich lenders to good borrowers.’
‘Will you keep your voice down?’ hissed Probus, halfway out of his chair. ‘You have no idea how these things are arranged!’ When Ruso made no attempt to argue, he settled back down again. ‘Even if there were other investors, I couldn’t possibly divulge their names,’ he insisted. ‘No more than you would divulge details of a patient. Everyone who invests in shipping knows they risk losing their money. That’s why the interest rates are so good.’
‘So you haven’t told your investors that you think they were swindled by the man you recommended to them.’
‘Even if there were other people involved,’ said Probus, skirting round the question, ‘none of them has complained. So if nobody suspects anything, nobody would have a motive to do away with Severus.’
‘And they won’t be asking you to refund their money.’
Probus winced. ‘Ruso, try not to interfere in things you don’t understand. The loss of the ship is not relevant to the murder.’ He leaned closer. ‘If word gets out, Claudia will be ruined. All she has is what I can give her. It looks as though that worthless husband left her nothing at all.’
‘So who’s got the money? He can’t have set all this up for nothing.’
‘I have no idea. If it’s here, he hid it away somewhere neither Claudia nor I can trace it. Possibly it’s all still over in Arelate with his contact there.’
Ruso looked up. ‘He’s got a man in the port?’
Probus sighed. ‘Of course he has. You don’t imagine he made all the arrangements from this distance by himself, do you?’
‘Who is he? This contact?’
‘I always assumed he kept the name to himself so I couldn’t deal with the man direct and cut him out altogether. I’ve been told since that he was called Ponticus. He must have been in one of the marine shipping guilds, but nobody seems to know how to find him now. There’s a rumour he drowned on the ship with the captain and crew.’
‘If he’s that heavily involved in a fraud, he probably started the rumour himself.’
‘He’s not someone I want to do business with,’ agreed Probus. ‘The sooner I can wash my hands of this whole affair, the better.’
‘What I can’t understand,’ said Ruso, ‘is how you can know that Severus was doing business with violent and ruthless criminals who did away with your own man, and yet when Severus himself is poisoned, you’re confident it didn’t have anything to do with the shipping deal. Is there something else you’re not telling me?’
Probus frowned. ‘Obviously it wasn’t the same people. Severus was on their side.’
Ruso reached for his stick. ‘You need to go and have a serious talk with your daughter, Probus. There are things she might tell you that she won’t tell me.’
‘What? Why? Claudia knows nothing about any of this.’ Probus’ voice rose as Ruso stood. ‘I thought we had an understanding.’
‘Talk to her.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To Arelate,’ he said. ‘There’s something else going on here. Something I think the investigators might already know about. I’m going to find out what it is.’
Chapter 47
‘You haven’t seen Tilla, have you?’
The slave brought his hand-cart to a halt on the way to the midden heap. ‘I don’t think so, sir.’