‘I doubt it very much. More likely they intended to take the body out and leave it on the margins where Morella’s corpse was found. They even had a sack with them they could have put it in. But Hirsius would have had to take it out there on his horse — he would have had to be careful to disguise the shape — while the imitation Pulchrus was being seen near town. But Hirsius couldn’t do that, since he had Morella now, so his partner was forced to improvise and find a hiding place. He might have succeeded, too, if work for the new roundhouse had not disturbed the corpse so soon.’
‘And Lucius’s servants didn’t mix with the villa staff, so obviously they hadn’t heard about the plans.’ Junio was still following my train of thought. ‘But who was this second servant? He would surely have been missed?’
‘There was no second servant. You must have realised that. It had to be an actor to get away with it — and we heard from Julia that the mimic had been really excellent. That’s why Lucius had engaged him to go to Rome, of course — that and the fact that he was much the same size as Pulchrus was. Lucius and Hirsius would have met Pulchrus in Corinium, when he went to meet them and escort them here, so they knew what he looked like and how big he was.’
‘But they could not have guaranteed that they would find a man like that. And anyway, this murder happened on the morning before the civic feast. How could the acts have been at the villa then?’
I nodded. ‘I know. That confused me, at first, but of course the acts that Lucius ostensibly chose to take to court weren’t at that feast at all. They can’t have been — they were already on their way to Rome. They must have given their performances in front of him and Marcus at a different dinner on some other day. I believe that Hirsius had seen the acts before, and arranged for the most suitable to meet him here, so he could “select” them to perform at Marcus’s feasts and thence go on to Rome. I have learned that not a single local act — however excellent — was chosen to be sent to entertain the court, and there is a rumour in the town that it was all prearranged. Hirsius took bribes from all the other acts in town. It made it look convincing — and he profited, of course.’
Gwellia was looking more stricken all the time. ‘But why kill Pulchrus in the first place?’ she said helplessly. ‘Why try to take his place? It could only be to stop him doing what he was ordered to, but the message that Marcus sent to Londinium with him was delivered perfectly! Junio was telling me about it earlier.’
‘It was delivered, certainly,’ I said. ‘To the commander of the British fleet — who happens to be a relation of Lucius, in fact. We hear that Marcus is to be entertained there for a day or two, since the governor’s palace is not fit for guests. I wonder if the new governor is aware of that? And what will Marcus and Julia have to say when they discover that the arrangements for their trip are those that Lucius wanted them to make?’
‘I don’t know what His Excellence will say to that!’ I realised that the commander of the garrison had come in with Minimus, and was standing listening to all this at the door. ‘But I’m prepared to guess what he will say to you, if you dare to keep him waiting for a moment more.’
Chapter Twenty-nine
I have never moved so quickly as in getting to that feast. I travelled with the garrison commander in his gig, and — since we had blocked the farmer from passing in his cart, even after Maximus had helped him put the horse between the shafts — Junio and Gwellia followed us in that, with Niveus, while Minimus galloped on ahead to say that we were on our way. He had been sent to find me, it transpired, and from his agitated state I could imagine how irritated my host was going to be.
The new gatekeeper looked scandalised when I arrived so late. ‘They have already started, citizen — at least an hour ago. It’s a solemn memorial, as I told your slave. I’m not sure I should permit you to interrupt them now.’ He held up his torch to have a better look, and took in the presence of the military commander by my side. ‘But if it’s army business, I suppose you may go in.’
Minimus was waiting just inside the gate. ‘You’d better hurry, master,’ the redhead said as he hustled us towards the area where the feast was being held — a large space created by pushing back the screens between the triclinium and the adjacent rooms. It made a splendid banquet hall for formal feasts like this and tonight, with the funeral wreaths and flowers everywhere, it was an impressive sight.
The feast, when we entered, was clearly in full swing. The room was full of sober citizens, impressive in their togas or their syntheses. There were no women present — either they had left, or Julia was entertaining them in some other room — but the most important men in Glevum were all assembled here. Each wore a garland of dark petals and leaves round his head — a version of the dining wreath appropriate to tonight — and the tables were strewn with empty platters and hundreds of fresh flowers, which had been arranged in ribbons to decorate the board. The villa servants must have been working on the preparations for hours.
Lucius was holding forth as we came through the door — on his favourite subject of the Emperor — and the attention of the room was fixed on him. ‘He claims to have killed a thousand net-fighters in combat,’ he declaimed. ‘Ignore the traitorous rumours that he uses poison on his sword, and that some opponents are given imitation tridents which aren’t sharp enough to stab.’ He swallowed another gulp of Marcus’s wine. ‘No doubt such infamous gossip has reached you, even here?’
Marcus looked uncomfortable. It was hard to know if Lucius’s question was the result of drink, or an attempt to trap someone into indiscreet remarks for the benefit of a pair of listening ears — in which case the penalty might very well be death.
‘Caesar’s prowess in the ring is well known everywhere,’ my patron said, evading the moment skilfully. ‘I hear that he once transfixed an elephant?’ He signalled for the crater-bearer to fill the cups again, and as he looked up he saw me standing there. His face grew furious, but he raised his cup to me. ‘Libertus! So you have deigned to honour us? I was concerned lest some accident had befallen you. I could not believe that you would choose to come so late, when it is a question of honouring the dead.’
There was a deathly hush and all eyes were turned on me. I bowed my head. ‘Your pardon, Excellence. I meant no disrespect. Your orders for the provision of a carriage went astray. I have brought the commander of the garrison — he will vouch for me.’
Lucius looked scornful. ‘So not only is this man insolently late, he brings an uninvited guest with him! Such behaviour would never be tolerated in Rome.’
His intervention was quite fortunate. Marcus looked furious at this public slight, and forced a smile at me. ‘I’m sure the citizen has reason, as he says. Libertus, I think that you’ll find there is space for you somewhere on the couches in the corner of the room. There are only seven diners on the table over there. We were rather expecting your son to come as well. The servants will find some bread and meat for you — we were about to be entertained by Atalanta on the lyre, before we moved on to the sweeter course.’ He waved a hand towards the vacant places as he spoke. ‘Lucius was telling us about events in Rome.’
Once Marcus had accepted me the awkwardness passed. People were beginning to chatter among themselves again, and slaves were already appearing with a dining wreath, and a bowl of water to wash my hands and feet. The only sane thing was to take my place. But I looked at Lucius and said, in the clearest tones I possessed, ‘I would be more interested to hear him talk about what happened here.’
There was a gasp around the tables at this impertinence. ‘Libertus!’ Marcus was white with anger. ‘You forget yourself!’
‘But I remember Aulus. He was your gatekeeper. Poisoned in this very household while you were out today.’ I had fixed my eyes on Lucius and I stood my ground.