Porteus was on his feet again, his face so pink the acne showed like little pits of white. ‘Don’t listen to the man. Of course he knew about the cart — though he tries to deflect suspicion from himself by feigning ignorance. Why else would he be pointedly asking questions in the town today, very specifically about Voluus’s wealth and what he was bringing with him out of Gaul? That did not happen by mere coincidence. If Libertus did not carry out this robbery himself — and I grant you that he probably did not — then I say he helped at least to organize the raid. It required armed men and horses and probably a vehicle to remove the treasure too, which means his patron, Marcus Septimus, was almost certainly involved as well. Marcus assuredly knew all about the lictor’s carts. Weren’t we, as councillors, all discussing them and the amount of treasure they contained — here on the steps of this very basilica, just the day before the Ides?’
Titus Flavius gave a barking laugh. ‘I know that you were, Porteus, because you were boasting of the lucrative deal you made with the lictor while he was here before! How much was it that Voluus promised you for that piece of land of yours? Hundreds of denarii — twice what it is worth. It’s clear why you might have an interest in the safe arrival of the lictor’s wealth. But why should you suppose that Marcus Septimus is involved? He is immensely rich. What interest could he have in raiding Voluus’s cart?’ He shook his head. ‘Much more likely to be that steward, I should think, bribing accomplices and seeking to get rich at the expense of a master who was not kind to him. He would not be the first.’
Porteus snorted. ‘And where would Calvinus hide the treasure? It isn’t in the apartment! I tell you, Marcus had a hand in this. You’ve just heard that he sent a letter to the steward there, and ordered this pavement-maker to deliver it. As for his being wealthy, that’s no argument! Who would not be interested in wagon-loads of gold, however rich they are? And who can hide treasure more easily than a man of wealth? In Marcus’s villa a few more gold coins and jewels would scarcely raise remark!’
‘But Calvinus. .?’ Florens interrupted, with a frown.
Porteus held up a restraining hand. ‘I agree that Calvinus played a part in this: most likely he told the ambush where to strike and when. But he doesn’t have the money to buy arms to mount a raid, and he doesn’t have the goods that were taken from the cart. I’ve had the apartment searched most thoroughly and there is nothing there that wasn’t on the earlier manifests, beyond a few gold coins beneath the steward’s bed. I say that we should seize Libertus and search his patron’s homes — both the town apartment and the country house. And the pavement-maker’s own roundhouse, too. That is near the villa, so I understand, and would make a splendid temporary hiding place.’
SEVEN
I was struck with horror at this new development. The idea of them rummaging through my roundhouse was ominous enough — likely to cause damage and terrify my wife — though I was merely a private citizen. But offering to search Marcus’s property as well? That was an indication of how serious things were. This affair was escalating like a dreadful dream.
I was so shocked and startled that I could hardly speak, but at last I managed to collect myself. I said with such calm dignity as I could conjure up, ‘Gentleman, you are completely wrong. I’m certain that my patron had no part in this. He’s famously honest: look at his record as a magistrate — he has never taken bribes or altered the course of justice to protect the powerful. He will be as shocked as I am when he learns about this crime. He always says that robbery on the highway is bad for all of us — it gives the colonia a bad name for trade. As for his personally conniving at the theft, I am amazed that you could imagine such a thing. Certainly, I swear that he never plotted anything with me.’
This time it was Gaius who shuffled to his feet. I could see he was embarrassed because he would not meet my glance. He was as old as he was skinny and his voice was tremulous. ‘Citizen, your loyalty to your patron is commendable. But — and it pains me to say this, as I have always held Marcus Septimus in very high regard — I fear that I must contradict your evidence.’ At last he raised his rheumy eyes to look at me. ‘You say that he didn’t plot anything with you. Do you deny that you were with him yesterday, in private conference, a little before noon?’
I could hardly argue, since it was the truth and others knew it — Maximus, for one. I didn’t want him questioned by the local torturers. ‘That is no secret. Marcus summoned me to attend him at his country house,’ I said.
‘Exactly, citizen. And what did he want to talk to you about?’ Gaius waited a moment while I debated what to say, then pressed the point again. ‘Wasn’t it precisely about Voluus and his wealth?’
‘Don’t try to deny it!’ Porteus said, with an unpleasant smile. ‘You are too careless, citizen. You were overheard on this occasion too! Tell him, Gaius.’
Gaius looked even more uncomfortable but he said, ‘I lament this, Libertus, but what Porteus says is true. I sent my page-boy on an errand to the villa yesterday, consulting Marcus on a point of etiquette, but when he arrived it was to be told that His Excellence was already occupied with a visitor — yourself — on a matter of importance and could not be disturbed.’
‘I have agreed that I was there,’ I protested. ‘That does not prove that we were plotting robberies.’
‘You were talking about Voluus and his treasure — and how you could inveigle yourself into the lictor’s house and talk to the steward about what he’d done with it.’ Porteus was bobbing in his seat impatiently.
‘We were talking about nothing of the kind. I was merely. .’
Porteus leapt up to interrupt and point an accusing forefinger at me. ‘The page-boy — who is a professional courier, trained to learn a message off by heart at a single hearing — heard everything you said and reported it to Gaius, verbatim, afterwards. So don’t try to tell us otherwise.’
‘He was deliberately listening in to us?’ I was indignant, but my mind was racing, too, trying to recall exactly what we might have said.
‘He didn’t come and spy deliberately, of course,’ Gaius said apologetically. ‘It was an accident.’
Privately, despite the old man’s mildness, I rather doubted this. Spying on other men of power is what everybody does: Marcus has a dozen people in his pay — other people’s servants who report to him about their master’s households and who came and went, and why. Very likely Gaius had private spies as well and this eavesdropping was perfectly intentional — what else would explain the careful reporting afterwards? However, I could hardly voice that thought aloud.
Gaius spread his bony hands, appealing to his fellow councillors. ‘My page had already loitered in the servant’s waiting room, hoping to speak to Marcus when he was available, but in the end it was taking far too long. He tried to find a slave and explain that he was now obliged to leave, but he couldn’t find one in the public rooms, so he went out to the courtyard garden at the back.’ He turned to Florens. ‘In case you are not familiar with the house, that leads out through a gateway to the outer court, where the stores and servants’ living-quarters are, and thence to the rear entrance on the farm-lane at the back, where he thought at least he’d find a gatekeeper.’
It was a common pattern for a country house, of course, and Florens nodded. ‘I understand. Go on.’
‘Well,’ Gaius resumed, a little plaintively, ‘on his way across the courtyard garden towards the inner gate, he heard people talking in an arbour to one side. .’