Marcus snorted. ‘Peasant? He’s no more a peasant than I am — though I understand that he was dressed as one. You found him, Stygius?’
Stygius, who had come to Julia’s side, waiting for his instructions, slowly turned. ‘I did, master. On that land we were clearing for this young citizen.’ He gestured towards Junio.
Lucius was looking quite astonished now. He turned to Marcus. ‘The piece of land you pointed out to me the other day? But what was the body doing over there? Surely it was a patch of forest where nobody would go?’
Marcus shrugged. ‘Somebody saw we’d cut some standing timber down, concluded that we’d finished harvesting the wood, and decided it would make a good hiding place, perhaps — not realising that we were about to clear the area completely for a building plot.’ He spoke as though he had been actively involved in felling trees himself, instead of merely giving orders that it should be done.
That would make a kind of sense, I thought, remembering the sledge of chopped wood near the stable block. Yet it was an explanation which had not occurred to me — for reasons which I hastened to express. ‘But even if there weren’t land slaves over at the site — and once you’d cut the timber there weren’t until today — we could see the area from the roundhouse all the time. During the hours of daylight, anyway.’
Junio looked mournfully at me. ‘There was one day, Father, when that was not the case. You took the whole household into town, as I recall, and we did not return to the roundhouse until dark.’
I nodded slowly. ‘Two days ago.’ The day of my painful visit to the barber, while Gwellia and the slaves went hurrying round the town, visiting the fuller to collect the laundered clothes, and making all the other last-minute preparations for today. ‘Then almost certainly that was when the deed was done.’
Junio looked thoughtful. ‘I suppose it must have been. It wouldn’t be at night. Lighted torches would be too much of a risk — anyone might see them from the roundhouse, or even from the road — and one couldn’t do without them. Anyway, what with wolves and bears and darkness, the forest is always very dangerous after dark. So I think you’re right. It must have been that day.’
I nodded. ‘And we can guess that the man who hid the body there must be a stranger in these parts.’
Lucius had been listening with a disdainful face, as if such grisly matters were beneath contempt, but he pounced like an arena lion on these words. ‘What makes you say that, citizen?’ he asked. It was the first time since he had arrived in the atrium that he had addressed a word to me, despite our collusion in the courtroom earlier. Obviously the offering in my purse had not impressed him overmuch. Now, however, his blue eyes were fixed piercingly on me, though his expression still suggested that my opinions — like myself — were unlikely to be of any great account.
‘Anybody hereabouts would know the site was being cleared, and that the body was likely to be found. If he’d visited the villa, he would certainly have heard.’ I summoned up a smile. ‘News travels like lightning in any household full of slaves.’
Lucius managed to convey, without a word, that he was unimpressed. I was tempted to point out that I had firsthand experience, but I sensed that Lucius would be even less impressed if he realised that I’d once been a slave myself. I noticed that he was studiously ignoring Junio, who had been fictitiously his servant for an hour.
‘Indeed,’ I went on, ‘look what happened in the villa here today. His Excellence had scarcely got back to the house before one of the servants had told him all about the corpse. When I arrived it was clearly common knowledge among the slaves — I believe they were laying bets about how soon we’d solve the crime — yet I don’t imagine that Julia had mentioned it to many of the staff.’
‘I was careful to say as little to them as possible.’ Julia was looking horrified.
Marcus glanced around, as if observing for the first time that the room was full of slaves. I have warned him before about his tendency to forget that they are there, silent listeners to everything that’s said and not mere items of household furniture. ‘But they have ears, I suppose.’ He waved a hand at them. ‘Be off, the lot of you. You can wait outside the door. Except you, Niveus. You can bring me another cup and a chair — and one for my cousin Lucius as well. And Stygius, you can go back and guard the corpse.’
There was a startled moment as the servants filed away.
When she was sure that only we five citizens remained Julia looked ruefully at me. ‘You mean that the whole villa will know of it by now?’
‘More than the villa, by this time, I should think. Unless you have instructed your slaves to be discreet, I imagine they will be abuzz with it and chattering to any tradesman who might call.’
She was looking stricken. ‘We had some olive oil delivered just before you came. And I sent a slave to Glevum to hire dancers for tonight.’
‘Then almost certainly the news has reached the town,’ I said. I could see that she was shaken, and I went on soothingly, ‘But anyway, as I understand it, you have sent your land slaves out to make enquiries in the area about a missing girl. You can hardly expect the matter to be secret very long — and you want the family to claim the corpse if possible.’
‘Girl?’ That was Lucius again. ‘I thought it was a youth?’
‘The land slaves supposed it was a girl at first,’ Marcus said shortly. ‘Because of the peasant dress, I suppose. However, it appears that in fact it is a male. Libertus can tell you — he discovered that.’
‘Really?’ Lucius turned to me suspiciously. ‘How did you come to be involved?’
Marcus laughed. ‘I assume that Julia asked him. I would have done the same myself. I always call on him, if there’s a mystery to solve. He has a mosaic-maker’s brain and sees the patterns that other men might miss.’
Lucius looked more disapproving than ever. ‘Of course! I’d forgotten that you were a tradesman, citizen.’
‘An artist,’ Julia said, and would have earned my gratitude and love on the spot if she had not already had them both. ‘And very clever too. He has helped to solve a number of unpleasant crimes, and has even uncovered several plots against the state. He once received a personal reward from Pertinax himself.’ She saw the expression of surprise, and pressed the point. ‘That’s right — the Pertinax who was the Governor of Britannia once — the same Prefect of Rome that you’re so proud to know.’
‘I see. Then I salute the citizen.’ Lucius’s expression did not change a whit. ‘Obviously, Marcus, he is the proper person to advise on how you should deal with this unwelcome corpse. Myself, I should have counselled that you put it on the pyre — as I was saying to your charming lady here — before the Festival of the Dead begins. But obviously you don’t need my advice. I leave it to Libertus, who’s accustomed to such things.’ His condescending little smile did nothing to mask the harsh, sarcastic tone.
My patron, however, did not rise to the bait. He pretended to accept what Lucius had said as a genuine compliment to my aptitude. ‘Then, since there is to be a banquet later on, perhaps you would care to pay that visit to my new bath-house first? I instructed the slaves to light the furnaces last night, and the steam bath and the hot room should be warm by now. I will have a robe and oil and a strigil sent across to you, and Niveus can come and scrape you down and rub you dry — unless you would prefer to use your own attendant for the task?’
Clever. Marcus had acquired this country residence only a year or two ago and he had been making improvements ever since — including a new sleeping wing for himself and Julia — and this new bath-house was his latest toy: proper little hot and cold rooms and a plunge pool at the end, for which I’d been invited to design the floor. An invitation to enjoy the private facilities in this way could only be interpreted as a compliment — a piece of conspicuous hospitality extended only to the most honoured guests — and since Lucius had obviously been angling for the chance to sample it, he found himself entirely outflanked. He could do nothing dignified except capitulate, muttering his less than heartfelt thanks, and accept the offer with as good a grace as he could muster in the circumstances.