by Ruth Downie
Lucius paused for breath, and Marcia’s voice floated across the yard. ‘Are you two going to have another fight?’
The unified ‘No!’ was one of the few things they had agreed on since Ruso’s return.
‘I’ll take the cart,’ growled Lucius to the approaching stable lad. ‘The farm will have to manage without it because my brother’s wrecked the only fast animal we’ve got our hands on and that woman he brought –’
‘Yes, all right!’ snapped Ruso. ‘If you’d taken your wife seriously in the first place, you wouldn’t need to chase after her now.’
‘Hah! You’re advising me about marriage?’
Ruso took a deep breath, consciously unclenched his fists and said, ‘Neither of us did anything to help, so Cass and Tilla have gone to Arelate by themselves to see what they can find out about the Pride of the South. Now I’ve found out Severus had a man in the port who –’
‘What man?’
‘All I know is that his name is Ponticus, and if he finds out why they’re there, he’ll try to silence them.’
Lucius ran a hand through his thinning hair. ‘I can’t believe this. You knew my wife was in danger and you didn’t even tell me?’
‘If we leave now –’
‘Oh, no. This time we is just me. You’ve made enough mess.’
‘But –’
‘I’ll take the stable lad. You can stay here and do all the work for a change. You can have the old mule that’s left, and that horse will want delivering back to the estate in the morning.’
‘But –’
Lucius’ fist shot out and grabbed a handful of his tunic. ‘Just for once, Gaius, just once – will you bloody well let me make my own decisions?’
Chapter 54
Ruso left his brother strutting about, shouting orders. He was making his way back past the dead fountain when his thoughts were interrupted by a wail of ‘Gaius!’
It was time to see what he could do to clear up the rest of this afternoon’s chaos.
‘They’ve been through our underwear, Gaius!’ shouted Marcia, leaning out over the porch balustrade, clearly eager to get her complaint in first.
‘Not while we were in it,’ added Flora.
‘Really, Flora!’ This last was from Arria, who was positioned at the top of the steps like a legionary about to defend a breach in the garrison walls. As he lurched unevenly up towards her, she said, ‘You must send a complaint to the Senator, Gaius! They’ve upset everybody and broken one of the best bowls.’
‘Only one?’ asked Ruso, relieved. While Calvus questioned the household, Stilo and three of Fuscus’ thugs had been searching the house for – he was not sure what. Poisons, he supposed. Stilo had emerged still clutching the knife in his disfigured hand. Perhaps he imagined that, if he found the poison, someone was going to force him to swallow it.
‘It was one of a set. A beautiful set. Your poor father bought them for me.’ She sniffed. ‘On our first anniversary.’
As he climbed the steps, he saw that his stepmother’s eyes were glistening with tears. The girls, noticing the same thing, retreated into the house.
‘It’s all right,’ he assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders and realizing this was probably the first time he had ever touched her voluntarily. ‘We’ll get another one.’
‘But they’ve been through all our lovely things!’
The lovely things were of secondary interest. ‘Is anybody hurt?’ The fourth member of the gang had been ordered to prevent him from leaving the garden. Ruso had been forced to wait out the questioning, limping back and forth along the gravel paths, listening for any sounds from the house and planning to beat Fuscus’ man aside with his walking-stick if he heard anyone scream. He had heard nothing, but he was still relieved when Arria confirmed that Calvus and Stilo had done no worse than frighten their victims.
‘And they’ve upset Cook! I knew they would. Goodness knows what we’ll get for dinner now, and we can’t cancel Lollia again. Those dreadful men made him open all the jars in the pantry and then they made the kitchen-boy eat something out of every one of them. No wonder he was sick.’
Ruso scowled, trying to stifle the guilty awareness that he might have spared them all of this by giving the investigators the evidence about Claudia buying rhododendron honey. ‘What about the others?’
‘Then they found some wretched dried leaves in the barn – Lucius says he uses them to get rid of wild dogs, but they’ve taken them away.’
‘Dogbane?’ suggested Ruso, summoning a vague childhood recollection of watching his father’s farm manager making dry leaves into cakes with suet and being told not to touch them.
‘Oh, who knows what he keeps in there?’ sighed Arria, letting him lead her out into the garden. ‘And now they’ve taken your lovely case …’
‘Nothing that was in my medical case will be a problem, I promise you,’ he insisted.
Arria sniffed. ‘But it was so beautiful, with all those pretty clips and places to put the little bottles – what would your father say?’
‘He’d say at least they let me keep the instruments,’ insisted Ruso, who was privately outraged at the confiscation. After all the arguments about duty and responsibility, the gift of the medical case had been the tacit sign of his father’s acceptance that Ruso was not going to stay at home and run the farm. ‘They promised to release it when they’ve checked the medicines.’ As if he had been likely to believe them.
‘Oh, Gaius, what are we going to do? I told that horrible man we don’t know anything, and it was all a silly fuss about nothing, but he still kept on asking questions and looking at me.’
‘A murder isn’t nothing, Arria.’
‘But he wasn’t murdered, Gaius! For goodness’ sake!’
This was unexpected. ‘Have you been talking to Lucius?’
‘I told him, you’re not that sort of doctor.’
‘What did you say to him, exactly?’
‘I told him the truth. Well, that was what you wanted, dear, wasn’t it?’
‘And the truth is?’
Arria paused to run her little finger along the lower lid of each eye and inspect it for stray make-up.
‘You look fine,’ he assured her, knowing he would get no sense out of her until her poise was recovered.
Arria patted her hair. ‘I explained to him,’ she said, ‘that you’ve been away in the Army.’ She put her hand on his arm. ‘Please don’t be cross with me. I’m sure you’re a very good doctor. I’m sure you know all about arrows and sword-cuts and what to do when people get their fingers stuck in those ballista things, but really, dear, the legionaries don’t go around poisoning people, do they?’
‘Not as far as I know.’
‘So you really don’t know an awful lot about it, do you?’
He bristled. ‘I know a lot more than most people.’
‘Yes, dear, but even you can still make a mistake. Can’t you?’
‘Of course, but –’
‘And you’re tired after all that travelling and, to be frank, Gaius, you do have a tendency to over-dramatize.’
‘I have a what?’
‘You see? I knew you would be upset!’
‘A tendency to over-dramatize,’ he repeated, deliberately keeping his voice under control. ‘What else did you say?’
‘Nothing. I didn’t even know Severus was here until after he – until it was too late. Then I just asked Galla to make him look presentable for the family.’
‘Right.’
He sensed her movement as she straightened up beside him. ‘I only did it to help. I didn’t mean to make you cross.’ She sniffed again. ‘I know you’ve never approved of me, Gaius.’
‘I – what?’ He did not want to discuss this now. Or indeed, ever.
‘I know everyone thought I only married your father for his money.’
Ruso cleared his throat. ‘That was all a long time ago.’
‘I did my best, you know. It wasn’t my fau
lt I could never be your mother.’ She wiped away tears with her forefinger, crinkling the skin beneath her eyes. ‘If you could try to like me just a little bit, Gaius –’
Ruso cleared his throat again.
‘All this will blow over,’ he assured her, feeling the graze on his elbow stretch as he tightened his arm around her. ‘We’ll find a way to sort out the money, Lucius will bring Cass home, the investigators will find out we didn’t poison Severus, and in a few weeks it’ll all be forgotten.’
‘Really?’
‘Really,’ he assured her, ignoring the voices in his head that were demanding to know how all this was going to happen, and pointing out that he should have told her about Marcia’s gladiator.
‘And you’ll be nice to Lollia and Diphilus tonight, won’t you?’
Ruso, who had forgotten all about the wretched dinner, managed a grunt of assent.
‘Goodness knows what we’ll eat: some of the traders have been very tiresome. I wish these people would keep proper records. Of course Lucius has paid their accounts. Anyway, Cook says he’s found some oysters, and there’s enough here to manage. Now, the next thing is entertainment. If the girls do some practice perhaps they could –’
‘Do they ever do any practice?’
She paused for a moment. ‘No. Perhaps we’d better just talk to each other. Seating is going to be awkward with an even number of diners, but I’m going to put you with Lollia at one corner, and then Diphilus and me at the other, and the girls …’
Ruso made an effort to care and failed. He would wait till after the dinner guests had gone and then tell her about Marcia.
Arria leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘I am glad you’re home, Gaius. I’m sorry you were let down by that girl. What did you call her? Tilla?’
‘At least she and Cass are together,’ said Ruso.
‘Cassiana is bound to come to her senses in a day or two. And that girl will find a way to survive. These foreigners are often cleverer than we give them credit for, you know.’
‘True.’
Arria lifted her head. ‘After all, she managed to work her way around you, didn’t she, dear?’
Chapter 55
The stable lad looked up from heating a potion of what appeared to be melted fat and vinegary wine and declared the animal to be not too bad, considering. ‘This should fix him up, sir.’
Ruso explained about the unscheduled leap across the ditch, and the stable lad declared that idiots like them investigators shouldn’t be allowed on the road, which echoed Ruso’s sentiments precisely.
Spotting the water bottle slung over a hook, Ruso took it down. ‘I appreciated the drink,’ he said. ‘But this needs a good rinse through before it’s used again. It tasted a bit stale.’
‘Oh, it’s not ours, sir,’ explained the lad. ‘It was left slung over the saddle-pad, so I just filled it up for you.’
‘It’s not ours? You mean it came with Severus? The man who was poisoned?’
The lad looked sheepish. ‘Sorry, sir. I didn’t think.’
Ruso, who had drunk most of the contents on the journey back to the house, paused to ponder the state of his internal workings.
‘It was pretty much empty before, sir.’
‘Never mind,’ he said, hoping that the minor gurgles and rumblings of which he was suddenly acutely conscious were nothing to worry about. ‘Just keep it with the saddle for now and make absolutely sure nobody uses it.’
‘Are you feeling all right, sir?’
Ruso ran one hand through his hair. ‘I think so,’ he said, reminding himself that the snake man had said it wasn’t usually fatal and vaguely aware that he might just have found out how Severus had been poisoned after leaving home. ‘I’m going to go straight to the kitchen and drink a large quantity of salt water. If it doesn’t work, I want you to tell the investigators exactly what happened and who the flask belonged to. And make sure everybody knows it had nothing to do with tonight’s dinner.’
The stable lad’s eyes widened. ‘I’m really very sorry, sir.’
‘I don’t doubt it,’ agreed Ruso. ‘Hopefully, I’ll be in a fit state to tell you off properly when you get back from Arelate.’
Chapter 56
Ruso watched Lucius, with the stable lad beside him, driving the cart up to the main road and turning the mules towards the darkening clouds of the eastern sky. With luck, Severus’ accomplice was still away in some distant port, cashing in Probus’ letters of credit, and had left no one at home to mind his affairs and fend off inquisitive women. If not, Tilla’s and Cass’s best hope was that Lucius would catch up with them before they got themselves into serious trouble. This time, Ruso was not allowed to interfere. The little brother was determined to tackle the monsters himself.
When the vehicle was finally out of sight beyond the vineyards, he shut the gate and walked back across the garden. In his hand was a list of detailed reminders that Lucius had left for the farm slaves to stop them ruining everything in his absence, despite the fact that most of them had been working this land all their lives. Ruso hoped they knew what they were doing. Instructions like ‘Day 2, jars 3 to 8, add brine’ were meaningless unless the men knew what quantities were involved, and there was now nobody left to ask. Apart from the staff, the only other adults here to consult were Arria and Marcia.
The gods alone knew what the investigators must be making of what they had found here today. A resentful farmer with marital problems, a medic with massive debts and some knowledge of poisons, a stepmother who had her staff clean up the site of a murder, and a cook who washed up the evidence. The only faintly good news from today was that, so far, they did not seem to have found out that Severus had been instrumental in the death of Cass’s brother. He supposed it was only a matter of time, though, before they worked it out and added her to their list of possible suspects. Once they had put all that lot together they would probably be able to convince themselves that the barbarian who had fled the scene with her had something to do with it as well.
He would make a final check on the injured horse before taking himself to the baths to prepare for the dreaded dinner.
‘Galla!’
At the sound of Ruso’s voice across the garden, the slave’s body jolted as if she had been speared.
‘I’d like a word. In the study.’
Behind the closed door of the study he demanded to know exactly who this Solemnis the carter was and how Tilla had met him. ‘You may as well tell me,’ he insisted. ‘Lying will only get you into worse trouble.’
‘I would not lie to you, my lord.’
‘So. Who is he?’
Galla took a deep breath and gabbled, ‘He is a follower of Christos, my lord.’
‘I know that. Where did Tilla meet him?’
‘At the meeting, my lord.’ The pitch of Galla’s replies was rising with her terror.
‘What meeting?’
‘Of the Christians, my lord.’
‘What’s Tilla been doing meeting with Christians? Where?’
Galla lifted a hand and pointed towards the window. ‘Next door.’
‘And this was the so-called family you took her to visit last night?’
‘Yes, my lord.’
‘I see.’
She stood motionless, staring at her feet.
‘How far has this superstitious nonsense spread? What about the rest of the staff?’
‘There is only me, my lord.’ He could barely catch her words. ‘I have not been very brave at sharing the good news.’
‘But you have been sharing it with Tilla.’
Galla lifted her chin. ‘She is alone in a foreign country, my lord. I – it is a comfort to her.’
‘Alone in a foreign country.’ Ruso felt his fists clench. ‘She was vulnerable! You had no right to prey on her like that. These Christos people are …’ He broke off. ‘The business about orgies and sacrificing babies isn’t true, is it?’
‘They are kind to each other, my lord. They
share what they have and feed the poor. They nurse the sick and wait for Christos to return.’
‘And while they’re waiting, they break up marriages and run off with young women who don’t know any better.’
Galla’s eyes drifted shut and her lips moved as if she was muttering to herself.
‘You’d better not be praying to your god in here.’
The eyes opened again.
‘You know the sort of good news I want?’ demanded Ruso. ‘I want to hear that the people I’m responsible for are safely back home. And then I want to hear about a religion that doesn’t cost a fortune, doesn’t take up too much time and expects its followers to do what they’re bloody well told.’
Galla swallowed. ‘My lord, in one of the letters from the saints it says –’
‘I don’t want to know,’ he said, ‘and if you want to remain part of this household, neither should you.’ He paused. ‘You haven’t got any religious stuff around the house, have you?’
When she did not reply he repeated the question. After another silence he lowered his head into his hands. ‘Get rid of it, whatever it is. No, on second thoughts – bring it to me and I’ll get rid of it. I never thought I’d have to say this, Galla, but I don’t trust you.’
Chapter 57
Ruso did not normally waylay his dinner guests before they arrived, but he needed a private word with Lollia Saturnina. So private that she asked the slave who was carrying her indoor shoes to walk twenty paces behind them through the olive grove.
‘We’ve had a slight problem at home,’ he said, noting with approval the simple elegance of her dress and the absence of flashy jewellery.
She said, ‘Severus, or another one?’
‘Another one,’ Ruso confessed. ‘In the course of sorting it out, I’ve been warned that you have an infestation of Christians.’
‘Really? Are you sure?’
‘A couple of our people went to a meeting on your property two nights ago.’