Do you think Commodus and I are intimately engaged in some way, Inspector? Do you suspect we're having a hot, passionate sexual affair? No, Inspector, Commodus has far more nubile people in his sights than a warhorse such as I.
Besides, Commodus is now a married man. His wife Avidia is with child at Rome. So he has other priorities these days. These aim to consolidate his career and his future political life, not the pursuit of gentlemanly pleasures.
Caesar has let it be known Commodus may be adopted as his legal heir. Therefore he may be a candidate to be Caesar someday. There are some senators who may resist this prospect, so Commodus and I share continuing broad-ranging discussions of policy and our roles in resolving them. We have interests to explore on behalf of our respective factions and the wider Empire.
All this is entirely innocent, Special Inspector, and does not lead to the murder of Hadrian's intimates. Does this satisfy your prurient curiosity?" Arrian ventured. "If not, ask Commodus yourself."
Turning to the former Western Favorite standing nearby still fumbling for signs of spoiling on his boots and toga, the biographer raised a single questioning eyebrow.
Commodus replied simply, if dismissively.
"It is precisely as Arrian says, no less, no more."
Chastened, Suetonius lurched into fresh, deeper waters of exploration.
"Senator Commodus, would it be presumptuous to infer that the death of Antinous may be a welcome contribution to the progress of the career of an Adoptee Designate?" he proposed, daringly risking Hadrian's ire in the process. "Especially as no love was lost between you and the dead youth, we're told? Could this be construed as a motive for pursuing the boy's destruction?"
Commodus sighed with weary disinterest and then raised sufficient energy to bat the accusation aside effortlessly in the derisive manner of his class.
"Antinous, good Inspector, was my benefactor's greatest joy. Despite my onetime jealousy of the young man's influence upon Caesar, I am not one to deny others their deserved happiness. Especially my Caesar. And definitely not by murder! Gold would probably be adequate encouragement to achieve those ends, I'd guess. You're barking up the wrong tree, Tranquillus. You'll have to search elsewhere for your murderer."
"Yet you are known to have once attacked that unarmed youth at sword point at Athens? You inflicted a wound on the fellow's face! Is Caesar aware of this assault, Senator?"
Commodus sighed tiredly and straightened a fold in his toga.
"That was many years ago. I was suitably chastised by Caesar some months later. But my impetuous nature has moderated over time. I do not harass Caesar's companions these days. Instead, I revel in his pleasure. His joy is my joy.
I am known for many petty foibles, Inspector, but murdering Caesar's chosen companion is not one of them. Besides, you have my alibi for the night in question, I was fully engaged with witnesses of probity throughout. You need not fish in my direction, Tranquillus. Am I such a fool I would jeopardize my future in such an unprepossessing venture?"
Clarus and Suetonius glanced sheepishly to each other. This line of enquiry was leading nowhere. Suetonius changed tack. It was now his palms which were sweating. It was time to return to the Egyptians.
"Priest Pachrates, you yourself have been identified by the two fishermen Ani and Hetu to be the man who was sailing the river at very earliest light when the body was discovered. Ani and Hetu described your temple's felucca with its identifying blazons and your temple colors. We possess a record of their words identifying these insignia."
The Egyptian wizard looked pained by this accusation. He drew himself to his full height.
"But that's not possible, Inspector. Not only am I never upon the river so early in my sacramental day, our sole river vessel is out of commission. It lies at dock awaiting repair. It was damaged a month ago in a river collision. We do not possess a river-worthy felucca at this time. So we hire other people's craft to travel."
"Allow me to read the relevant testimony," Suetonius responded. "Strabon, locate the transcript and read!"
The scribe declaimed the words loudly for all to hear.
"… The fisherman Ani speaks:- 'We know all the fishermen and ferrymen at Besa and Shmun. We know their boats, their trade, and their daily habits. They're our neighbors, we know everyone well. Even though it was some distance away, we could see it was a different sort of boat to ours and of a different people. It was a strong wooden felucca of quality, well made and costly, not a boat of bundled rushes.
Inspector Suetonius speaks:- 'And who would own such a boat at Besa or Hermopolis?'
Ani replies:- 'I did not know either the boat or the two rowers. It could have been a new boat from Shmun we had not seen before, but I would still know the rowers. Perhaps it was a boat sailed by priests from upstream for The Isia, or a boat belonging to Pharaoh's people'.
Suetonius speaks again:- 'Did the boat have any identifying features? Would you recognize it again?'
Ani:- 'Yes, it was painted the color of the sky and possessed the ever-watching Eye of Horus at the prow. Its sail had no insignia."
Whispers rippled the assembly. Suetonius looked questioningly at the priest.
Pachrates spoke with a gleam in his eyes.
"The field of sky-blue and the Eye of Horus are indeed our markings on the hull of our damaged boat from Memphis. Yet you say its sail had no insignia?
Great Caesar and Special Inspector, listen to me; the single craft we possess here at Besa, which has been out-of-commission awaiting repair for the past month, indeed possesses a sail. It is stored at this very temple for security from common theft. It's a sail emblazoned with the major emblem of our deity, the Ram's Head of Ammon. If the felucca had been our vessel, all three tokens of the Old Religion would have been visible to your fishermen, the colors, the Eye, and the Horns of Ammon. The vessel you describe simply is not ours."
Silence fell across the chamber. Surisca tugged at Suetonius's sleeve and raised a finger to speak. Clarus sharply waved an impatient dismissal.
"We're in the company of your betters, woman," he hissed. Suetonius nodded approval nevertheless. She whispered into her hirer's ear.
"May I ask, master, who translated the fisherman's words for you? I was not present at that time, and I doubt any fisherman among the population speaks Greek, let alone Latin."
The biographer blushed in recognition, knowing full well who the available translator had been.
"Strabon," he whispered, turning evasively to the scribe, "who was our translator?" Strabon nodded towards the detachment of troops standing at attention across the sanctuary.
"It was Centurion Quintus Urbicus of the Alexandrian Praetorians, yonder," he whispered.
Surisca's query shifted the enquiry's terms swiftly.
"It is possible, Caesar, that we can test this translation," Suetonius advanced. "I wish to call upon the testimony of a layman worker in our company here today. He is named Hetu, a fisherman. Hetu, come here!"
He waved to the clutch of six Egyptian workers hovering beyond the assembly with their cleaning materials, sponges, and brushes.
"Hetu the menial?! Hetu the serf?! Hetu the fisherman?!" Pachrates wailed.
Strabon, who had spied the man earlier, moved forward and waved at the quaking figure hiding behind other workers, peeping out hoping not to be seen. Strabon called him to the front of the assembly by his name.
"Hetu!"
The workman reluctantly shambled forward, his eyes darting about at the weapons, uniforms, and fine fabrics around him, as well as the temple guards' assegais glinting beneath the brazier flicker. He was ushered into the presence of the awesome notables of Rome and fell to his knees from sheer fright.
"Surisca, do you have sufficient command of the local dialect to translate for us?" Suetonius asked. "We should not leave it to the kind priests of Amun or the efficient Alexandrian guardsmen to interpret for us, don't you think?"