‘It is what I am afraid of, more than ever now.’ I tried to avoid the look of anguish in her eyes, and shook my head. ‘But there is no time to linger. We must get back to the house. My patron will be waiting, and so will my wife, and besides there are a great many preparations to be made if Aulus is to be disposed of decently before the Lemuria begins.’ I turned and led the way briskly back along the path, not wishing to discuss the matter any more.
Chapter Twenty-one
When I reached the villa, it was to find Junio at the gate with Niveus, both of them peering anxiously up and down the lane. I had forgotten that they would be waiting to escort me home and, further, that with his new status as a citizen my son was likely to come looking for me here, instead of waiting meekly in the servants’ room.
He turned to say something to the duty gatekeeper, and as he did so he caught sight of me. ‘Father!’ He sounded not a little startled to see me emerging from the woods with a woman.
‘Stand here,’ I muttered to her, and I hurried over to my adopted son. ‘That is Morella’s mother,’ I explained. ‘She and her husband came here seeking me.’
Junio’s expression was inscrutable. ‘Mother told us that you were talking to the girl’s parents at the gate, but when you did not return we began to be concerned. More so when we came out here and found you’d disappeared, and the gatekeeper did not seem to know where you had gone. There have been too many mysteries at this villa as it is, what with Aulus vanishing and the corpse and all the rest.’ It was as near to a rebuke as he would ever dare to offer me.
‘Well, one of those mysteries is solved at any rate, at least in part,’ I said. ‘We have just found Aulus’s body in the woods — or rather it was sniffed out by a dog. He has been poisoned, by the look of it.’ I saw the shock reflected on his face, and added, more gently, ‘I was going to go round straight away and ask Stygius to send some hefty land slaves out to bring him home. The slaves will need something to carry him back on, I suspect — a wooden shutter or a sledge or something of the kind. The woman will lead them to where the body is.’
Junio was suddenly all brisk efficiency. ‘Don’t worry about looking for Stygius yourself. Niveus or I can see to that for you. Do you need to ask your patron for permission for the slaves?’
‘I don’t think so, in the circumstances,’ I said. ‘It would just cause more delay. There have already been orders to all the villa staff to look for Aulus and use any means to bring him home. The sooner the body is brought back here, the sooner funeral preparations can begin — there is no time to be lost if he is to be decently cremated before the Festival of the Dead begins. That’s midnight tomorrow, as I’m sure you know.’
‘I will go and talk to Stygius,’ Junio said. ‘You had better go inside. Your presence has been missed. My mother is concerned for you, and your patron has been demanding to know where you went. Even Lucius has roused himself to send his bodyguard down to your roundhouse to see if you were there.’
This was alarming — it was not wise to be elsewhere when Marcus wanted me. ‘Very well. You make the arrangement with the land slaves, and I’ll go in and tell Marcus what is happening,’ I said. ‘I should have to report to him in any case, if only to tell him that Aulus has been found.’
Junio made a face. ‘He won’t be very pleased. A gatekeeper like Aulus is expensive to replace. And just when the family’s about to go abroad and leave the villa without an occupant!’ He meant ‘no occupant apart from slaves’, of course, but the principle was sound. A house where the owner is away for months is obviously a tempting target for opportunist thieves. And there were those rumours of the rebels in the wood. A good guard is a vital deterrent at such times.
Aulus was especially valuable, I thought, because not only was he intimidatingly large, but he was also so useful as a spy. I glanced at the current stand-in, who looked half Aulus’s size and was taking no interest in Junio and me. Any owner would be inconvenienced by losing an effective gatekeeper but I suspected that Marcus would feel genuine regret.
‘I will go directly to the atrium and break the news,’ I said. ‘You can give the message to Stygius if you will.’ I could see Niveus hovering anxiously nearly, like a puppy dog waiting to be thrown a stick. Clearly he’d hoped that I’d trust him with that task. ‘I will have to cleanse myself, yet again, of course! Niveus, you can come into the ante-room and hand the towel for me. I presume that Colaphus is not on duty there, since I understand he’s gone down to the roundhouse seeking me.’ I turned to Junio. ‘Are you coming with us through the house?’
Junio shook his head. ‘I will go round the other way. I’m not sure that Stygius will be in the rear court now — he may have gone back to the fields again to supervise the slaves, and if so there’s a chance that I shall see him on the way. But I’ll make sure I find him, wherever he may be, and see that he gets the message and sends the party out at once. Shall I meet you in the villa afterwards, or will you have gone home?’ He grinned. ‘I know my mother hopes that you will change your tunic for tonight, and give Maximus a chance to sponge your toga-hems.’
I looked down at my garments, suddenly aware of the disastrous effect that my day’s adventures had had on my attire. I sighed. ‘Look for me in the villa,’ I said. ‘I expect I’ll be some time. Someone will have to arrange for Aulus’s funeral, and with Marcus’s bereavement he won’t do that himself. You’d better mention it to Stygius as well. The land slaves will have to get busy with the pyre, if they are to get it properly rebuilt. Yet another corpse to dispose of before the spirits walk.’
‘I’ll be as prompt as possible,’ my son replied.
I watched him disappearing down the farm track to the back. Morella’s mother was still staring at us from across the lane, so I went over and explained to her what the arrangements were, and then at last I went in through the gate and crossed the courtyard to the house, with little Niveus padding at my heels.
‘I gave that message to your servant, citizen,’ he announced proudly, as if to reproach me for not trusting him with messages again. ‘He’s gone to Glevum now. The master put him on the fastest horse. Wanted him to catch those entertainers up and see if they could provide an interlude tonight. Pity that Marcus let them go at all. They only left when he came back from Glevum — I suppose they were waiting to be paid.’ He stood back to let me precede him to the door and let me in.
‘Entertainers?’
He nodded. ‘The ones who were performing at the banquet yesterday. You remember that some of them stayed here overnight. In the stable with the extra sleeping space — where Colaphus has a bed. If there are entertainers overnight, they’re always put in there.’
I hadn’t known that, but I nodded anyway. ‘The athletes? And the dwarves? For a funeral feast?’
He grinned. ‘That’s just what Lucius said! But the mistress thought the athletes might be able to devise a stately dance or something, which would be appropriate. And the chief dwarf claims he can write a poem for any circumstance — it’s one of the things he sometimes offers as an act, though Marcus did not have him do it yesterday.’
I snorted. ‘I doubt that writing tribute eulogies is what he meant.’
‘It’s not the sort of thing that any of them is usually called upon to do, but, as the mistress pointed out, it’s impossible to find anyone else at such short notice, anyway. Of course, there is always Atalanta and her lyre.’ He pushed open the door of the little ante-room and stood by while I performed the ritual with the water and the ash. There was a pile of towels still sitting on the stool and he fetched me one and waited while I dried my hands and face.
‘Shall I announce you in the atrium?’
I shook my head. ‘I’ll see myself in. You wait here for me.’
The atmosphere in the room was noticeably tense when I walked in. Gwellia was there, with Marcus and his wife: and there too was Lucius, standing on his own and looking grim and imperious — though his tunic was now trimmed with dark-coloured mourning bands, instead of his patrician purple stripes. I was ready immediately to burst out with my news, but a warning glance from Marcus prevented me.