Germanicus

'If the laundress also happened to be a professional poisoner and she needed her services, yes.'

'Okay. So Plancina invites this well-known local poisoner round to Government House for a spot of honeyed wine, introduces her to her friends and generally lets everyone know they're bosom pals. Then she takes her aside one day and says, "Oh, by the way, Martina, while you're washing the crown prince's smalls tomorrow the governor and I would like you to poison him. Only when you've done it don't say we were involved, will you? There's a dear."'

Perilla was frowning. 'Put like that it does sound fishy.'

'Damn right it sounds fishy! If Plancina were using the woman she wouldn't go within a mile of her. And I'll tell you another thing that's queer as a five legged cat and that's whatever game the Wart's playing.'

'Why he should put himself out to protect Plancina, you mean.'

'No.' I shook my head. 'That had to be Livia's doing. The two may not get on but she's still the guy's mother. She knows things about him that would make your hair curl, and you can be sure as hell she can still twist his arm when it matters. Also if the Wart has the guts to tell the empress to piss off when she tells him she wants a favour then he's a braver man than I am.'

'So what do you find odd, then?' Perilla was sitting up too, now. I had her hooked.

'Cotta said Piso and the Wart were pals. Yet Tiberius makes it very plain right from the start that the guy's on his own. No loaded hints to the jury, no files in the cake. Right?

'But naturally! The emperor had to show himself impartial. Piso may have been a personal friend, but he was on trial for an offence against the state.'

'Is that all?'

'Oh, and murder, of course. But as your Uncle Cotta said that charge wouldn't stand.'

I was grinning. 'You've just made my point, lady. To anybody with an ounce of curiosity — even to Uncle Cotta who didn't like the guy, for Jupiter's sake — the murder was the most important thing in this whole business. Germanicus is a five star gold plated national hero. He's Cincinnatus, Scaevola and Brutus and any other blue eyed wonder-boy you like to name rolled into one, and he's been chopped. The mob's literally banging on the senate house doors screaming for Piso to be handed out to them in cubes. Yet suddenly the actual death is shelved. Tiberius fixes it so's the Senate has to concentrate on the treason charge, whereas what they're busting a gut to know is who hung their darling's clogs up for him. You get me?'

Perilla was quiet for a long time.

'Yes, of course,' she said at last. 'You're saying that Tiberius ensured Piso's conviction, but on his own terms and for his own reasons.'

'Right. Terms that affected events postdating his son's death and which had nothing directly to do with it, and the proof for which according to that old bastard Cotta is incontrovertible. No need to dig any further. Full stop, end of paragraph, end of trial.'

'That does sound rather odd.'

'You bet your pants it sounds odd! Then there's the letters.'

'Yes. That was odd too.' Perilla's brow furrowed. 'Why should Tiberius refuse to produce the official provincial correspondence?'

'Private official correspondence. Personal to Governor and vice versa. Forget gripes about taxes or notifications of repairs to the public toilets. We're talking super-secret here. The stuff that goes out under the sphinx seal and back in the diplomatic bag.'

'Then there's your answer. The emperor wouldn't want sensitive material bandied about in open court. And Piso would appreciate that.'

'But the trial wasn't held in open court. It was held behind closed doors, broad-stripers only, no riff-raff allowed. And the Wart only had to give his word that none of the information in the letters was pertinent. He didn't do that. He just told the Senate they couldn't play. So what does that suggest?'

'That some of it was pertinent, of course.'

'Yeah. And the Wart knew it. And there's something even weirder than that.'

'Really?' Perilla stifled a yawn.

I thumped her lightly in the ribs. 'Come on, we're getting someplace! Don't quit on me now!'

'I'm sorry, Marcus. It slipped out. Don't mind me, please, I'm only exhausted.'

'Cut the sarcasm.' I grinned. 'You asked for it, you got it. The Wart's position I can understand, just, although what he had on the burner's another question. Piso's different. His life's on the line and he knows it. So why does he clam up? From what Cotta told us the guy didn't even lodge a token protest or say, “Gosh fellows I really wish I could help but my hands're tied”. Conclusion: he was as keen to keep their straight patrician noses out of the mail bag as the emperor was.'

Perilla groaned. 'Corvinus, be sensible! How could Piso agree to hand his letters over to the Senate when the emperor had already refused? If he did that he'd be finished whatever happened.'

'Things couldn't be any worse. What could the Wart have done to him that his senatorial pals weren't about to do anyway?'

'He could have set aside his sons' inheritance.'

That brought me up sharp. Yeah. Sure. She was right. Tiberius could've done that, and guys like Cotta would've supported him with both hands. But he hadn't. He'd done exactly the opposite and included them in the special plea for amnesty. Even though the elder had committed active treason. And that could mean…

'They had a deal!' I said. 'The Wart and Piso had a deal! Or at least Piso thought they had.'

Perilla shifted against me impatiently. 'What do you mean, "thought they had"? The only member of the family to suffer was Piso himself, and quite rightly so. He left his province illegally while still its official governor and then tried to incite the Syrian legions to mutiny. Now I'm willing to accept that your deal idea is possible and that Piso agreed to co-operate in exchange for a family indemnity, but if so the emperor fulfilled his side of the bargain.'

'Yeah, but what if the deal went further back than that? What if the Wart and Piso refused to produce their love letters because they were evidence of a conspiracy to murder?'

That hit home. Perilla's eyes widened.

'You think Piso murdered Germanicus on the emperor's instructions? That's crazy!'

'Crazy, hell!' I was getting really excited now. 'It's what everyone believes, and why shouldn't they be right for once? Why else would Tiberius want the murder charge played down? Why else would Piso co-operate over the letters, unless he knew he was finished either way? The Wart probably had Martina put underground as well. Or at least connived with his mother to have it done.'

'All right. Then tell me why.'

I frowned. 'Why what?'

'Why should the emperor arrange to have his own son and heir murdered?'

'How the hell should I know? We're only talking theoretical possibilities here.'

'Very well.' She sat up. 'Let's consider the possibilities. First. Do you think Tiberius is by nature a poisoner?'

I opened my mouth to say yes. Then I closed it. Shit. She had me, of course. The Wart might be six different kinds of bastard but poison wasn't his style. We'd been through that one before.

'Germanicus was poisoned,' she went on. 'Or so his friends claim. So was Martina. That does show a certain consistency of method, don't you think? Livia I would believe, but not the emperor. Not even by connivance.'

'Plancina arranged the first death. She may've arranged the second too, for all we know. Or maybe it was Livia and her together, with Tiberius's blessing.'

'Don't quibble, Marcus. It doesn't matter who arranged the actual killings. Not in that sense. But if you're asking me to believe that the Emperor Tiberius connived at two crimes involving poison, the first through a woman and the second with a woman as victim with perhaps another female intermediary, then I'm sorry but I can't accept it.'