Helena Domna brightened. ‘So there will be no proof?’ She shook her head. ‘Burned them, do you say? Let’s ask the doorkeeper. .’
‘So, it was the doorkeeper you sent?’ Junio’s satisfaction was on my account I knew, because my deduction had been proved correct.
She didn’t answer.
‘Rather a bad choice, Helena Domna,’ I remarked. ‘I think that he was passing information on. You used him as a messenger, as your son had done. Perhaps you even heard him mentioned when you were listening in. It was clear to me already that he knew the place, and had carried things to Antoninus several times before — that’s how the blackmailer knew so much about this house.’
‘So that’s what you meant about the statue, citizen?’ Helena Domna had turned very pale. ‘He told Antoninus? And I sent him there. .’ She paused to take in the enormity of this. ‘I’ll have him flogged for this. Flogged to within inches of his wretched life. Pulchra, send the slave to fetch him. I shall have him flayed!’ She sat down heavily on the couch again. ‘How could he betray me? The doorman is our slave. He owes us loyalty. We own him, after all.’
‘So you got the doorkeeper to murder Antoninus?’ Redux said, as Pulchra came back into the room again. He was addressing Helena Domna with a smile, which almost suggested that he felt some sympathy. ‘How did you do it? Put poison in the wine? Or even in that pot of garum that you sent back to him? But I suppose the doorkeeper was anxious to make sure, and thrust a knife into his back as well.’
Gracchus was listening avidly to this, though he had made no contribution up till now. ‘All the same — as a patrician lady — you deserve respect for making the attempt to save the family’s name. Though it seems you may have killed your son for nothing, after all. You tried to save his honour, but the truth has all come out. Nonetheless, I’m sure the court will understand, and not exact the highest punishment.’
Nobody answered, and he turned to me. ‘Well, it seems you have succeeded in your efforts, citizen. I salute you and agree to pay you what I owe. Pompeia is not guilty, and she can be my bride. An honour killing is not the kind of thing that would prevent one seeking alliance with a family. Honorius had already done the same thing with his eldest daughter, after all.’ He looked around the table, as if seeing confirmation of his words.
But Helena Domna was on her feet again. She was very nearly trembling with rage. ‘I did not instruct the doorkeeper to murder anyone. I did not touch the garum. It was returned intact — Livia herself is witness to the fact. She was the one who sent it back to him. And as for colluding in the murder of my son, of course I did nothing of the kind.’
‘But you admit the other allegations?’ Redux said.
She threw a furious look in my direction, then: ‘Oh, very well. The pavement-maker’s right. I did send a necklace to pay Antoninus off, because I’d overheard the conversation in this house that night, about the statue and its illicit past. I never had the chance to tell Honorius what I knew — I was going to wait until the wedding guests were gone and try to persuade him that he should send it back, and maybe even apply to Commodus for reward — but he died before I had the chance. All I could think of was the honour of his name — and the fear that Antoninus would publicize the crime and maybe seize the statue on his own account. I knew he’d want the money that he was asking for.’ She banged the table with her stick and glared around the room. ‘But I have never stooped to murder, and I’ve never planned to kill. The doorkeeper will tell you, when we bring him in. When he left, Antoninus was very much alive — tucking into a meal of bread and cheese and sending demands for further jewellery.’
Twenty-Four
A little hush greeted this impassioned outpouring. Gracchus turned to me. ‘So what do you think, pavement-maker? Have you earned your fee? You have managed to get Helena Domna to confess to paying bribes and being in possession of illegal goods — in front of four Roman citizens, too, which is sufficient evidence for a court of law — so there’s no escaping blame. So why is she denying the remainder of her crimes? Any magistrate would honour her for her protection of her son, and sentence her to exile at the very most. I would be prepared to pay the cost of a good advocate myself — Pompeia’s dowry would allow for that.’
‘I’m not interested in an advocate!’ Helena Domna sat down heavily. ‘I tell you, I am not guilty of the deaths. In fact, I would pay almost any sum myself, to see the person brought to justice who poisoned my poor son. But we seem no nearer to knowing who that was — though I have been humiliated for my lesser sins.’
‘On the contrary, madam!’ Junio jumped up. ‘I know that expression on my father’s face — I think he knows who did it, or he thinks he does.’
He broke off as the steward came in with the tray. ‘I’m sorry, citizens. I know you were asking for the doorkeeper, but he cannot be found. I’ve got every slave that can be spared searching the house for him.’ He set down a plate of nuts and dates, and put a drinking cup in front of each of us. ‘I will bring him, with the wine, as soon as possible.’
I waited until the steward had disappeared before I spoke again. ‘I believe the doorkeeper will tell us the same thing, when he comes. Helena Domna behaved unwisely, but she did not conspire to kill. I think we must look elsewhere for our murderer.’
‘So Antoninus’s murder was not connected with the statue, after all?’ Redux contrived to look relieved at this.
‘Indirectly, I think it may have been. It was what brought Antoninus Seulonius here the other night, and that’s what caused his death. But Helena Domna and her doorkeeper were not the only ones who feared what Antoninus could reveal. Zythos, for example, was a victim too.’
‘Zythos, dear man, is unfortunately dead.’ Redux’s plump face was pink and crumpling. ‘I think we can keep his reputation out of this.’
‘Of course he arranged that Minerva should be stolen, shipped and sold.’ Gracchus was attempting to be judicous now. ‘But he could hardly be responsible for what has happened since. Certainly not for either of the deaths.’
‘And yet, you know, I rather think he was involved,’ I said, as gently as I could. ‘Not only these deaths, but Honoria’s as well.’ I turned to Livia. ‘And doubtless, madam, you would agree with me — if you can be prevailed upon to admit the truth.’
Livia had risen to her feet. She was as pale as marble, though her eyes were bright. ‘Citizen Libertus, you have made your point. Helena Domna has admitted to every charge you raised. I cannot imagine what you hope to gain by blaming a dead man for my husband’s death — far less the death of a man I hardly knew. Let Gracchus pay you, as he promised, and we will say no more — lest Zythos’s spirit be offended and return to haunt us all.’
‘As he already haunts you, madam?’ I enquired. ‘The “fair-haired beauty” to whom he wrote his poem? Oh, don’t look startled — Redux told me that he had seen the verses though he did not suspect they were composed for you. No doubt he could also identify the lock of hair that you are wearing in that locket ring. I should have noticed at the time that you referred to it as “the dead man’s hair”, not “my husband’s”, as one might expect.’
I looked at Redux and he swallowed hard then said, ‘I only knew that Zythos had lost his heart — and that it was not to me.’
‘It was you, lady — I am quite sure of it,’ I said. ‘It was you that he was hoping to encounter on that night, when he was discovered in Honoria’s room — the bedroom that she usually gave you, when you came to stay.’
Helena Domna looked triumphant now. ‘So it was you, you hussy! Let me see that ring.’ But Livia simply went on gazing in a kind of trance, as if she were trying to read the mural on the wall.