"That's all I know. These were among his last words to me that morning before we parted. As he left me he said he had other important business to complete."
"Did he say where he was going or what he was doing or who he was to be meeting?" Suetonius queried.
"No sir, he did not."
"A question of a personal nature, Mistress Thais," Clarus intruded. "Did you in the course of your intimacies have reason to kiss your young friend's neck, possibly with some passion? You know, sufficient to leave skin markings? Love bites?"
Thais blushed at the question's audacity but considered it thoughtfully. She replied in a frail voice.
"It could be said so, sir. Yes we were passionate together on several occasions through our final night. I recall very many moments when I caressed him all over."
"And precisely where would you say you placed your caresses?" Suetonius asked with forensic coolness. Thais blushed even more deeply.
"Everywhere sir, everywhere. But I find his neck and throat to be an especially desirable place to kiss," she whispered.
"Could you say where specifically upon the neck or throat?"
"Where specifically? Well, sir, I am not as tall as Antinous. In his arms I recall I find his throat near the bridge of his chest to be closer than, say, his jawline or lips, unless he bends towards me. Is this what you mean?"
"I see. And did Antinous have any wound evident anywhere on his person on the day?" Suetonius continued. "A fresh wound in his flesh? A severe cut?"
"A wound? Not that I recall, sir. The old scar on his cheek is the only wound I have been aware of, but that was long healed, though he had many light abrasions around his trunk from scratches inflicted during a lion hunt some weeks ago," she replied.
"But nothing on his arms or wrist, you would say?" the biographer probed.
"No sir."
It was Clarus's turn to interrogate.
"Where were you on the night the young man drowned, Mistress Thais of Cyrene? And do you have a witness?" the senator searched. Thais was flummoxed by such a question.
"I naturally awaited my beloved's return in my own chamber, sirs," she responded. "My witnesses would have been his household's servants or Simon, the senior steward of Lysias's household, a Jewish freedman of good repute. Lysias too joined us later. But Simon was murdered last night near our tents, before our very eyes! He, Lysias, and I were attacked at our tents by cloaked ruffians. We don't know who they were or what they wanted. But they seemed intent on killing us nonetheless.
They cruelly killed Simon, a kindly man of honor, who was bravely defending us by covering our escape as we fled the attack. We were unarmed and could not help him.
Yet these villains seemed to get past both the Praetorian and Horse Guard protections and the passwords of the camp! It's for this reason I have taken refuge here with Senator Salvius Julianus. He is known to me as a friend of Antinous."
Suetonius perceived this line of questioning was achieving little.
"Then what do you think might have happened to Antinous, Mistress Thais, on the night of his death?" Suetonius asked, returning to the heart of the issue. "Was he too a victim of ruffians or robbers?"
"I had hoped, sir, you might tell me," Thais replied as the glint of moisture returned to her eyes.
"Strabon, locate the paper records of the personnel traffic at the wharf to The Alexandros we stored earlier. Mistress Thais might advise us on a matter."
The scribe immediately began rifling through his basket with its wax tablets, scrolls of transcriptions, and paper sheets.
"Tell me," Suetonius continued, "do you know where Lysias was on the evening of Antinous's disappearance? Does Lysias share such details with you?"
"Yes sir, he does. He was at our chambers throughout the evening. I believe he had spent some hours earlier that afternoon in the company of my beloved. We talked together in the evening after Antinous had departed to his unhappy destiny. We both shared how we were perplexed by my beloved's actions, and by his secrecy about his intentions that day."
"Gentlemen, I believe we have a great contradiction here! Strabon, what do the wharf records say about Lysias two days ago?" the biographer called to his scribe. Strabon scanned the papyrus sheets collected from the wharf clerk
"Sir, the documents record Lysias arrived at The Alexandros in the early evening of that day, complete with a formal invitation for him from the Governor's consort Anna Perenna. But there is no record that he departed the vessel later that day or night or at any time the following day."
"You say there's a record of Lysias arriving, but no record of Lysias departing, on the very night Antinous died?"
"Not on these sheets, Inspector," Strabon confirmed. "Oh, however there's something here you might care to note, sir." Strabon offered one of the sheets to Suetonius and pointed at a particular place, his eyes showing studious concern.
"Great Zeus!" the biographer exclaimed. "Why didn't we note that before? That puts a different light on something we heard earlier!"
Strabon nodded acknowledgement, withdrew the sheet, and rolled it carefully for his basket.
"What was there, Tranquillus?" Clarus enquired.
"Nothing, Clarus, nothing. Just an oddity of perception we had missed, that's all," Suetonius replied dismissively.
Clarus turned to the young lady interviewee. He was puffing scarlet with a victory.
"How do you explain, Thais of Cyrene," the burly magistrate asked gruffly, "that according to the record of the Watch at the river jetty to the governor's barque, your friend Lysias of Bithynia was not with you that evening, as you claim, but enjoying his pleasures aboard the barque in the company of the priestess Anna Perenna? Why should you aim to provide a covering alibi for him? Is there some conspiracy between you and Lysias?"
Thais stared at the mature-aged, portly Roman senator in visible dismay.
"That's simply not possible, sir!" she responded with some alarm. "Lysias was in my company throughout the evening and night of Antinous's disappearance, and again yesterday from just after dawn when the shocking news of the death was revealed. Like me, he was stricken by the news."
"Then how do we account for Lysias going aboard The Alexandros the previous eve, according to this record, but never departing?"
A heavy silence hung in the air. It was broken by an unexpected voice from one side of the patio.
"That, Special Inspector, is because he didn't go aboard The Alexandros," the muffled voice interjected from a near proximity. "He's never ever been onboard the Governor's barque, ever, in his life," the same voice proclaimed from beyond a marquee's flap. The group turned towards the source of the vocal protest.
Salvius Julianus strode to the tent portal and again lifted its flap to expose the shadowy vestibule beyond.
"I told you I have something else to show you, my friends."
Once again he drew a bead curtain aside to reveal a figure standing in the dimness of the vestibule chamber beyond.
"Lysias of Bithynia, please join us," the Roman jurist called.
CHAPTER 27
"Explain yourself, Lysias of Bithynia! We are Caesar's investigators into the death of your companion Antinous!" Suetonius demanded sharply. He aimed to impress Clarus with his determination.
"You dare to put yourselves above the law! You, Lysias, only yesterday swore under oath you would attend our interview today. You did not! Your claim to arete, to honor, is the worthless promise of a dissembler and hypocrite!"
"You also offend against the Imperium!" Clarus added menacingly.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen," Salvius Julianus interceded, "perhaps he had good reasons which we should hear first?"