‘Marcus Didius and I were disappointed not to see Timosthenes given a chance.’
‘Not as disappointed as him. He took his omission very nastily’
‘What of Nicanor?’ Helena prompted.
‘Nicanor thinks himself well qualified.’
‘What do you think?’ She did not mention Nicanor’s offer to bribe me, in case he thought she was hinting.
‘A bully. Frankly, I shudder at the prospect of working with him.’
‘Someone suggested that Nicanor admires Roxana,’ Helena put forward quietly.
‘Many people who know her admire Roxana,’ Philadelphion snapped back tetchily.
Helena had a tricky expression. Quickly, I weighed in and returned to asking what Roxana had told her lover about the Sobek incident. His version ran: she had come to find him; on the way she heard odd noises; she bravely ventured to investigate and found Sobek killing and eating Heras. Roxana yelled, so the crocodile left the body; she realised the beast was about to attack her too, so she climbed the tree and shouted for help. Then I came along - ‘For which Roxana and I must thank you, Falco, most sincerely’
Helena purred that that was unnecessary; no doubt when we saw Roxana, she would thank me herself.
Chaereas was deputed to take us to Roxana’s house.
On the way there I asked Chaereas about last night and he told me the same stuff we had heard from Chaeteas. Exactly the same. He too blamed an uncharacteristic escape by Sobek. He too called the death of Heras an accident. He had no explanation for the goat.
‘Had you and your colleague perhaps used the meat to feed Sobek?’
‘Oh no,’ Chaereas assured us.
On arrival, he left us to go in by ourselves. Roxana had rooms in an anonymous building, up a dusty staircase, off an uninspiring street. This was typical of Alexandria. In Rome it would have told us she was a struggling manicurist, with five children by three fathers. Here, it meant nothing.
Inside was quite different. Discreet servants padded about a large apartment that was decorated with subtle, extremely feminine opulence. There were rugs everywhere; there were seats formed from enormous cushions; there was much gleaming copperware, ivory and elaborate small pieces of furniture carved from rare woods. I could not see any scroll boxes to confirm the claim of intellectual competence, but I was prepared to believe philosophy and plays were hidden away somewhere. Either Roxana had inherited money or she had had a rich husband - whether living or deceased; or a lover, or more than one, spent a lot on her. Helena was making an inventory scathingly.
Cleaned up, the Zoo Keeper’s ladyfriend looked like a Vestal Virgin’s younger sister. When she appeared (which took some time), Roxana wore discreet robes in dark colours, a plain hairstyle and little jewellery. She moved into the room in a quiet hum of unnerving perfume, but was otherwise not exotic. Mind you, she gave the impression she could make herself just about as exotic as anybody wanted, if she chose.
Helena Justina failed to warm to her. Somehow I expected that. Helena’s presence at my side clearly surprised the lady. I must be the first good-looking man who, on coming to see Roxana, brought his wife. Well, that just showed her what clean-living persons Roman husbands were. And how well supervised.
Roxana’s evidence about the Heras tragedy was as well thought out and organised as her appearance. She told us exactly the same story as Philadelphion. They corroborated one another as tightly as Chaereas and Chaeteas had done. Rarely can descriptions have been so mathematically co-ordinated. My instinct was not to waste much time here.
It was Helena who took charge of the situation.
‘Thank you, Roxana. That was, if I may say so, an extremely clear and beautifully expressed witness statement.’
Throughout our interview so far, Roxana had given the impression of being slightly pent-up, but at this warm-hearted praise she relaxed, at least technically. If anything, she seemed puzzled, as if unsure how to take Helena. I enjoyed watching these two engage so stiffly.
Helena then turned to the servant who had placed herself near the doorway in the attitude of a chaperon. Placing a hand delicately on her pregnant belly, my trusty assistant begged sweetly, ‘I am so sorry to be a nuisance, but could you possibly organise something to drink for us -just water will be absolutely fine, or mint tea would be delectable . . .’ The maid withdrew, muttering darkly, then Helena snapped upright. ‘Marcus darling, stop jiggling about like a three-year-old. If you want to stretch your legs, go and do so.’
I never jiggle. Still, I knew a big hint when it hit me. I shuffled from the room with a shifty expression - then applied my ear to the door.
Helena must have turned back to Roxana. ‘Right! Now we are quite alone, so you can be frank, my dear.’ Perhaps Roxana had fluttered her eyelashes. Waste of time. Helena was crisp. ‘Listen to me, please. My husband was nearly killed last night and another poor young man did lose his life most terribly. I want to know who caused that and I am not interested in pathetic taradiddles, cobbled together to preserve people’s reputations.’
‘I have told you what happened!’ Roxana cried.
‘No; you have not. Now here is what will happen. You can tell me the truth now, then you and I, like sensible women, will work out how to handle it. Otherwise, Marcus Didius, who is neither as stupid nor as susceptible as you obviously think, will explode your false evidence. Of course you thought he swallowed your story. Believe me, he doubts every word. Being a man, he won’t say so to a pretty woman’s face. But he is utterly competent and always direct. If - that means, when - Falco uncovers the truth of what happened at the zoo, he will make it public. He has no choice. You must see that. He is the Emperor’s man and must be seen to expose lies.’ Helena dropped her voice. I could hardly hear it. ‘So, I suppose Philadelphion bullied you into telling us this tale. Is it him you are afraid of - or someone else, Roxana?’
I never have much luck. At this point, the damned servant decided to mooch back with a beaten-up tray of skinny refreshments. For several minutes I was locked in a sign-language tussle with her. In the end, the only way I could get rid of the inept factotum was to shoo her off as if sending a bunch of heifers through a hedge; it must have been fully audible from inside the room.
I had seized the tray myself from her clammy grasp. I knocked quickly and entered the room just as Roxana exclaimed, with heartfelt drama: ‘Somebody let out Sobek deliberately. They cannot have known I would be there with that boy, Heras.’
‘What - up to no good with him?’
‘I deny it! Normally Philadelphion would have been going around to check on all the animals - so what you should be considering is that somebody was trying to make the crocodile kill him!’
The ladies turned their gaze on me. ‘And who might that have been?’ I enquired, mildly. ‘Who wants Philadelphion dead?’
‘Nicanor!’ blazed Roxana. ‘You fool, Falco - it’s obvious!’
I put down the tray on a small table and set about serving mint tea for everyone.
XXXIII
A guilty lawyer - oh I like that!’
‘Don’t say I told you!’
‘Trust me, lady!’
Helena’s eyes sweetly accused me: you dog, Falco! She let me continue the questioning, however.
According to Roxana, Nicanor’s hatred of the Zoo Keeper was all to do with her. Nicanor was not simply a silent rival, lusting from a distance; she said he had been approaching her on the sly for months. He had publicly sworn to snatch her from Philadelphion, whatever it took. She found his persistence a menace. She was a little scared of him; he had a harsh reputation. The Zoo Keeper refused to tackle Nicanor, feeling himself secure in possession of Roxana’s favours and not wanting quarrels at work. She, of course, had always known it would end badly.