I nodded. Flavius would have to be a brave man to cross a woman who had Marcus as her legal protector. ‘You will do it splendidly, Excellence.’
‘Yes, I will.’ There was no false modesty about Marcus. ‘And I was right about Lupus as well. New evidence has come to light that puts the matter beyond doubt. Send that slave of yours to fetch Mutuus: he is waiting in the study. I think you should hear this for yourself.’
I turned to speak to Junio, whom I had posted at the door, but I was too late. He had obviously been listening, because he had disappeared before I had time to utter a word.
Marcus was enjoying himself. He refused to be drawn on what this ‘new evidence’ was. ‘Wait and see,’ was all he would say. He did, however, consent to listen to my news, which he received with a kind of smug dismay. ‘Maximilian, eh? You said that there was something suspicious about him.’ He vouchsafed this consolation in the tones of a man offering a bone to a hunting dog who has lost a rabbit. ‘Plotting to have his father robbed. We could have had him sentenced for that.’
‘Could have had him sentenced? Why the past tense, Marcus?’ It was not an idle question. As the governor’s representative, he understood the finer points of law better than I did.
He gave me a forgiving smile. ‘Unfortunately, with Quintus dead, there is no chance of a civil case. There is no injured party to bring one, and there must be someone to accuse him.’
I said, doubtfully, ‘Surely you could bring a criminal case yourself? As Julia’s representative?’
‘I could, but there is a chance that I would lose on technicalities, and that would be bad for my authority. Quintus didn’t raise a search for his attackers at once, so he clearly didn’t intend to sue — and so on. Then, Maximilian would presumably bring this old woman to testify that he did not intend violence, so the punishment would only be a fine. And that, of course, would be a further complication.’
The appointment as Julia’s legal spokesman was clearly going to his head. He had adopted his best magisterial manner to deliver this pronouncement. I asked dutifully, ‘A complication? Why is that?’
‘Maximilian would have to pay damages to his victim’s estate. But most of that estate is now Maximilian’s own, which he could presumably use to pay with. That anomaly would bring the whole question of the will before the praetor, and once that happened, the entire testament could be declared invalid. I’m sure you can deduce what that would mean.’
Anyone could. Once a querela was entered against a will, no one was likely to profit except the imperial coffers. Better for the sake of Julia, Sollers, debtors and even pavement-makers to leave matters exactly as they were.
He smiled grimly. ‘Of course, I do not intend to let Maximilian escape entirely. I shall make sure he knows that I am aware of his guilt, and might raise a prosecution at any time. That should ensure that he is properly grateful towards me. A loyal ally in Corinium would be a useful tool.’
‘You do not feel, Excellence, that he may be dangerous? He might have killed Quintus. A man who hatches one plot against his father might well propose another.’
‘I might have thought so myself if it were not for what I heard this afternoon. But here is the man himself.’ He gestured towards the door, where Junio had just reappeared, accompanying an elegant figure.
It was Mutuus, although for a moment I hardly recognised him. Gone were the ochre tunic and the thonged sandals. The secretary was dazzling in red leather shoes and a fine woollen robe which put my toga to shame. Of course he had now regained his status. He would resume his full Roman name, too, though I would never think of him as anything but Mutuus.
‘So,’ I said, when the formalities were over, ‘you have resumed your former status?’
‘Not precisely my former status, citizen.’ The pedantic Latin sounded better coming from a young man who dressed to match it. Mutuus had somehow acquired an air of intellectual distinction. No wonder Julia had found him attractive. Even Marcus was looking at him appreciatively, although my patron’s taste, unlike that of many Romans, had always been almost exclusively for females. Like Julia, for instance.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that it took me a few moments to recognise the force of what Mutuus said next. ‘I have not returned to my father’s power. When a man is freed from bondage, he is not obliged to. He is able to operate — make contracts and decisions — on his own responsibility. He becomes legally a man.’
I groaned inwardly. This was obviously my afternoon for having lectures on the legal system.
‘I have gone further than that. I have called seven witnesses and repudiated my adoption altogether, just as I once repudiated my natural father’s estate. I shall go back to writing letters in the forum and wash my hands of Lupus and his affairs. It is no great loss: all Lupus’s estate will be forfeit, if this crime is proved against him. I would inherit nothing but his dishonour.’
‘But the crime is not proved,’ I said. ‘Flavius still has questions to answer, and there were suspicious stains on Maximilian’s clothes — and on other people’s too. I saw them at the fuller’s.’ Somehow, I could not bring myself to mention Julia by name.
Marcus was looking at me indulgently, as if I were a dancing bear at a street market. This visible condescension made me more vehement than ever.
‘Lupus could not have struck Rollo,’ I went on, ‘and it is hard to see how he could have stabbed Quintus either, without someone seeing him go into the reception room.’
‘But that is just the point,’ Marcus said. ‘Someone did see him. Mutuus did.’
I looked at the young man. ‘But when you were asked, you said. .’
He looked calmly back at me, his shrewd gaze untroubled. ‘I told you no lies, citizen. I did not deny seeing my father yesterday morning.’
I nodded. I had noticed the evasion at the time. ‘I recall that I asked if you had seen your father and you replied that it was impossible to see through the window glass.’
He had the grace to colour. ‘And that is true.’
‘But,’ I said, ‘you were not looking through the window glass. What a pity that you are too young to seek office. You could make a fortune as a magistrate. You juggle words like a Greek.’ I did not add that without the inheritance from Lupus, he stood little chance of election even if he were twenty-five. There is a property qualification for public office.
He regarded me stonily. ‘I was under obligation then to my adoptive father. I did not know what Lupus had said to you. It was possible that he had told you about the events himself, but I did not wish to bring unnecessary trouble on him if he had not done so. He is vain, foolish and a bore, but he has been good to me in his way.’
There was some truth in this, I thought. There was no way in which Mutuus could know how much Lupus had said — I did not know exactly, myself, since I had not been present either. However, I maintained my hostile demeanour. ‘So you said nothing to help us, even though your master had been murdered?’
He looked uncomfortable. ‘I didn’t volunteer unnecessary information. Besides, I did not believe then that Lupus could commit a murder, especially with a knife. Lupus was not a robust man, and he preferred words to weapons. Later, when I heard about the bloodstains, I wondered if he might have struck in self-defence: Quintus appeared to resent Lupus much more than Lupus hated him. Last night I debated with myself, and this morning after Rollo was found I felt I must say something. Especially since I was no longer legally under Lupus’s tutelage.’
I said, ‘But Lupus could not possibly have attacked Rollo.’
‘If it was indeed the blow that killed him. You heard what Sollers said. It might possibly have been poison, and even an enfeebled old man can administer that. And Lupus would have had the opportunity to give Rollo something poisoned, after Quintus was murdered, when the page was ordered to the study to help prepare it for you.’