‘So what was he doing in Honoria’s sleeping room?’
‘I imagine that he found himself surprised, felt that he’d dishonoured me and my family by the act and simply rushed into the nearest room to hide. And then Honorius came in.’ He snapped the tablet shut. ‘But we will never know. If there was an explanation, Honorius would not hear. But, enough of that. Here comes my foreman. It is time to buy some salt, and then I’ll come with you and we’ll pay that little call.’
Fourteen
I collected Minimus, who had been crouching inside the warehouse door — playing knuckle bones with the skinny servant by the look of it — and we followed Redux and his foreman out on to the dock.
The purchase transaction took a little time. It was clear that the foreman had already half-agreed a price, but when Redux appeared there was a flurry of further haggling, with a lot of raised voices and emphatic gesturing. I retreated to a safe distance with my slave and settled down to wait.
‘Did you discover anything useful, master?’ Minimus enquired, when we were out of earshot of the rest. ‘I was sorry not to be able to assist you in your questioning.’
It seemed a pity to deflate the boy by admitting that I hadn’t succeeded in asking Redux much. ‘I’ve learned a lot about Antoninus, for one thing,’ I replied. ‘Not a pleasant character, by all accounts. Redux has offered to accompany us there — he knows the man well, and he may be of help.’ I didn’t mention daggers.
Minimus grinned at me. ‘And after all, Redux is not himself a suspect, I suppose?’
But of course he was, I thought. And I must not be seduced into forgetting that, just because he’d pointed out the facts himself. Redux had both the motive and — as I now knew — the opportunity, since he had been to Honorius’s house the night before and could obviously have taken a little wine with him — as a gift, perhaps, just as he’d suggested that I take some with me. Or he could have slipped poison into something else — it had not been proved that it was in the wedding wine.
But would he have shown me how easy that would be, if he had really done it? I shook my head. Redux was sharp enough to have outlined a case against himself, knowing that I would reason exactly in this way. He had even mentioned the strategy of confession as a bluff — although in relation to Pompeia, of course. I looked at Minimus. ‘I have not entirely ruled him out,’ I said, and gave the boy a sketchy outline of my reasoning.
He beamed at me. ‘Then, master, I have something which might interest you.’ He held out a small glass phial with no lid on it. ‘I didn’t know if it was useful, but thought you would be pleased to have it anyway.’
It was quite empty. I turned it upside down but not a drop came out, and when I gave it an experimental sniff I could not really detect anything at all. I was about to dip my finger in the neck and see if I could recognize the taste, but Minimus — who had been almost bouncing with excitement during this — put out a hand and stopped me doing so.
‘Don’t do that, master. It may do you harm.’ He sounded gleeful, rather than alarmed.
‘What was in it?’
‘Wolfsbane, master. The slave was using it. He mixes it into the ink, he says, to stop the rats and mice from nibbling the writing on the bark. His master always keeps a stock of it in his office for that use.’
I took my finger out of the phial as quickly as I could. ‘And how did you get hold of this?’
‘I beat the slave at knuckle bones and claimed this as my prize. He had lost the stopper so it wasn’t any use, and I pretended that I was going to put some ink in it and try his little tip. He was quite relieved. He only had a single as in cash and he was afraid I was going to ask for that.’ He grinned. ‘So, I suppose you could say I paid an as for it. But I thought you would be interested to know about the rats.’
I beamed at him. ‘You did well, Minimus. Here, give that to me. Redux might not be very pleased to know that you have taken it.’ I put it inside my toga as I spoke, securing it in the large pouch-purse attached to the belt of my tunic. ‘And wrap that tray securely in my cloak. I’m going to give the package to that soldier over there and have him take it to the gatehouse when he is relieved, and hand it to the commander of the guard. That way we won’t get robbed. I’ll go and do it now, in fact, while Redux is busy with his bargaining.’ I left my servant waiting and went over to the guard.
The soldier was reluctant to take responsibility at first, argued that it was hours until his relief was due and it would be impossible to look after my package till then, but when I mentioned Marcus his demeanour changed. ‘Oh very well, citizen. I’ll see what I can do. There is a party from the barracks coming down here very soon — the army are taking a little of this salt. They’ll bring my relief and I’ll go back with them. I presume there will be a small reward?’
‘When the salver is safely at the villa,’ I replied. ‘In the meantime. .’ I looked around. I was prepared to forgo the formal witnesses — I didn’t want Redux noticing the phial — but I had forgotten the necessity of getting a receipt. I had nothing to write on, and in the end I had to call on Minimus and smooth out the note that Antoninus had written to summon me to him. I didn’t have a stylus either, but I found a piece of stick and manage to scratch a statement using that.
The soldier glanced at it and scratched his initials where I’d left a space. I wasn’t convinced he’d read it properly — or even that he could — but it would have to do. I was confident that he would see the parcel safely to the guardhouse at the gates, if only to lay his hands on that reward. I thanked him and put the tablet in my pouch as well — to Minimus’s visible dismay. ‘I’d better keep this now,’ I said to him. ‘In case I have to produce it at the gatehouse later on.’
I looked around for Redux, and saw that he was busily engaged, waving his arms about and arguing. So when a pie seller sauntered past us, his tray upon his head, I fiddled in my purse to see what coins I had. The smell of hot pastry made my stomach groan and reminded me that I hadn’t eaten anything since shortly after dawn. I found enough to buy a couple of his remaining wares. They were tough and greasy, but I wolfed mine down, and Minimus was happy to tuck in as well, though he told me that he had eaten bread and curd-cheese at Honorius’s house — it was the custom to offer something to the slaves of visitors, while their masters enjoyed more lavish hospitality downstairs. Only, of course, the feast had not occurred.
I was further tempted by the sight of a dairy woman coming down the dock, offering not only slabs of cheese but dippers of milk from the little metal cup chained to the handle of her pail. But I had spent all my money so I could not buy a drink. We contented ourselves with plunging our mouths and faces under the spout of the public fountain on a street corner nearby.
We got back just in time. The bargainers had reached agreement finally — based on a price of hides and cloaks it seemed, because the foreman and the slave were fetching piles of each from the warehouse even as I watched. Redux came over, with an expansive smile.
‘Barter, citizen?’
My puzzlement amused him. ‘Always rather more flexible than gold — it clears my warehouse, and besides, it is much harder for the taxman to assess.’ He beamed. ‘And we are all satisfied with the bargain we have reached, I think. Now, shall we call litters to Antoninus’s house? It is a little way to walk and it is getting late. You wanted to be there by the ninth hour, so my foreman said, and it must already be rather more than that.’
I made a face at him. ‘I don’t have money for a litter, citizen. I came out ready for a wedding feast, with just a little money — and I used most of that to tip the doorkeeper.’ I did not confess to the purchase of the pie. He was already looking rather pitying as if an empty purse was never part of his experience.