"Oh who's that, then?" asked Helena dryly. "I thought he was going with you, Falco."
Justinus, who knew how to look innocent, roused himself as if to go and fetch his travelling gear. Then he paused. "Is this the moment to mention someone you're looking for?"
"Not Gloccus and Cotta?"
"No. You told me about that supervisor, the hard man I was not to approach alone."
"Mandumerus? The gang leader Pomponius wanted to dangle from a man-made tree?"
Justinus nodded. "I think I saw him. I'm sure it must be him. He fitted your description he was among the Britons from the site, heavily patterned with woad and a real ugly brute."
"When was this, Quintus?" Helena put in.
"The same night Marcus came over and mentioned him." That would be the night Pomponius was killed.
"Why not tell me earlier?"
"I haven't seen you since. I went out for a drink, after you had left." Justinus managed to sound casual. And he was conveniently forgetting that he saw me last night. My assistants were growing casual. This could all go wrong.
"A drink?" asked his sister. "Or mooning at that bar girl?"
"Oh she just reminds me of my own dear Claudia," he lied.
Then he described what had happened. As he sat supping what he alleged was a modest beaker of diluted beverage, a man who resembled my description of Mandumerus had entered the bar.
"Is this your favourite joint? Where Virginia gives the men the eye, and more, while Stupenda issues promises of what life is like among the gods? What's it called the Maggot's Arse?"
"The Rainbow Trout," said Justinus primly.
"Very nice. I do love fish."
"Do you want to know about the Mandumerus lookalike or not?"
"Absolutely. What are you waiting for?"
"He seemed to have just come from out of town I can't say why exactly I thought that. Something about the way he plumped himself down as if he was either exhausted or really fired up."
"What "Give me a drink, I'm desperate!", you mean?"
"More or less his words, Marcus. The other men huddled round him. I won't say they lowered their voices, because they didn't say much; they just exchanged rather significant glances."
"Were they keeping things from you as a stranger?"
"General caution, I would say."
"And is this the bar where the Britons drink?"
"Yes. It's none too pleasant."
"But you and Larius fit in!" I sneered. "So had you seen this man before?"
"I think so. What caught my attention this time,"Justinus said, 'was one quick gesture he made to his cronies as he sat down."
"Go on?"
"He put one hand around his throat and imitated somebody choking eyes bulging and tongue out." Justinus copied it: the universal mime for being throttled or suffocated.
Or strangled, as Pomponius had been that night.
back at the palace later, I detected an uneasy atmosphere. Verovolcus and his men must have returned last night, having found no sign of Perella. Naturally word snaked around the site huts that Marcellinus had been slaughtered in his bed. No doubt those who had benefited personally from his constant home refurbishments were looking now to other scams to enhance their income. That would take up some of their time. The rest was given over to shinning up the scaffold on the old house, whence they leaned over showing their underwear, or in most cases their lack of it, while they whistled at passing women.
They were targeting one in particular: my nursemaid Camilla Hyspale. "Oh Marcus Didius, those rude men are insulting me!"
"Try minding Julia indoors out of sight, then."
"Of course, Marcus Didius." That was strangely obedient. Had Maia taken the girl in hand?
"Beyond my scope," Maia reported in an undertone. "She's being nice because she hopes you will let her go out and spend this evening with a friend."
"What fn end
"No idea. She keeps running off to flirt with a man. Larius swears it isn't him."
"Should I let her go out tonight?" I consulted Helena.
"Of course," she returned mildly. "So long as the friend is a matron, free from any hint of scandal, who will send her own chair for Hyspale!"
That seemed unlikely.
Julia was too busy to go indoors. Too young to be worried by men on scaffolds, she had her entire toy collection spread in the courtyard: ragdoll, wooden doll with one leg missing, fashionably dressed ivory doll, push-along cart, clay animals, dolls' dinner set, rattle, beanbag for throwing games, balls in three sizes, nodding antelope, and dear gods- some swine with no care for her parents' eardrums must have given her a flute. I won't say my daughter was spoiled, but she was fortunate. Four grandparents doted on their dark-eyed toddler. Aunts vied with one another for her love. If a new toy was created in any corner of the Empire, Julia somehow acquired it. You wonder why we had brought every one on a thousand-mile journey? Sheer terror of her reaction if she discovered we had left any treasure behind.
Now our acquisitive two-year-old was absorbed in some well ordered play.
Helena grabbed my arm and hissed with mock-excitement, "Oh look, darling! Julia Junilla is taking her very first inventory!"
"Well, that's next Saturnalia sorted. Her present can be an abacus."
"The child has expensive tastes," Helena replied. "I think she would rather we supplied her with her own accountant."
"Be more useful than her nurse!" scoffed Maia.
Maia had been standing in the open doorway to our suite, supervising Julia or rather applying a jaundiced eye to Hyspale's encounters with the men on the scaffold. The fellows would have had more to comment on if they could see Maia, but she stayed the wrong side of the threshold so was out of sight. One member of my household knew how to behave modestly, if she wanted to.
She did, however, have a male follower. She had been talking to Sextius the statue-seller. Well, she had been letting him talk, without making her replies too objectionable. Sextius, still with the wary look he had always given Maia, had been telling her he had sold his cartload of statues.
At this news, Aelianus stuck his head out; he and Larius must have been lounging indoors. "Olympus, who bought them?" demanded Aelianus with professional interest.
"One of the contractors for the King's bath house."
Aelianus shot me a private smirk; apparently he thought little of the statues. Installing them in the royal changing room would be a huge joke.
"There should be plenty of water on hand for the works!" I commented. Unnerved by our presence, Sextius shambled off. If he had returned to the site hoping to inveigle himself into Maia's confidence, it had failed.
Maia was only interested in hearing from me. She dragged me indoors. Having reassured myself that in our absence there had been no incidents, I gave her a brief update on Perella. I had to come clean about the Marcellinus death before my sister heard it from others. I played down the details. I stressed that this indicated Perella's mission to Britain had been quite unconnected with us. 4Oh really!" scoffed Maia.
I went to my office. There I found Gaius, working on a batch of invoices and sipping mulsum. We had not spoken since I stormed off after accusing him of lying to me.
"Oh I see, Iggidunus waives his ban on serving this office, so long as I'm not here!"
Gaius grinned warily over his beaker rim. "You have to know how to handle him, Falco."
"That's what I was always told about women. Applying it to the drinks boy never cropped up before." I gazed at him. "Magnus says I got you all wrong. Apparently you are honest, helpful and an all round model of probity."