It may have helped Petronius Longus. His discussion with the governor must have been fairly forceful, and he obtained a decent escort for a plan he still had. I learned next morning that at nearly nightfall Petro had crossed the river and ridden out to the Norbanus villa. He was convinced it must be searched that night, so he chinked off on horseback in the eerie light of torches. I knew why: he had decided that Florius-not Norbanus-had been secretly staying there.
Much later, Petronius returned to Londinium, disappointed. His search party had failed to find any evidence. The villa seemed to have been stripped. A guard was left, with orders to conduct a meticulous search the following morning in the light and then to wait in case either gangster should return. Petronius rode most of the way back to town, but it was too dark to cross the river so he stopped off at the mansio on the south bank where he had been lodging, and slept there. That was good, because if he had been given next morning's message in person, I know he would have sneaked off and dealt with it alone. I mean the message that Popillius brought for Petro from the two gang leaders.
Popillius arrived at breakfast time. He looked embarrassed. Since Petronius was absent, the governor ordered the lawyer to speak up. Anxiously Popillius repeated the message from Norbanus and Florius. When we heard it, we accepted that he had acted as a go-between from decent motives. Popillius had realized the situation was desperate. So did we.
The text was brutal. It was a ransom demand, though not for money. The gang said they had Maia. They were offering to return her-in exchange for Petronius.
L
There was panic. A swift search revealed that my sister was nowhere at the residence. Nobody had seen her for at least a day. The residence was large and people came and went at will. Then in the excitement over identifying the gangsters, she had not been missed. Her room looked the same as when Helena and I went in there yesterday morning; Maia had not slept there last night. Worse, although the gangsters had not mentioned them, none of her children could be found.
All anyone could remember was that Maia had considered accepting the invitation to visit the Norbanus villa. I now wondered if Petronius had been anxious last night over more than the hunt for Florius. Had he gone chasing off there in the dark because he was afraid Maia might have been lured to the gang's hideout? Of course, she did not know Norbanus was a villain. Maia had shared the general opinion that her admirer was "a nice man."
Aelia Camilla anxiously admitted she had given Maia permission to use the procurator's boat. This vessel, which I knew to be a substantial flat-bottomed barge capable of plying up the coast, was now missing from its mooring. Its crew were gone too.
Petronius was found. His immediate response was to rage at me for "allowing" my sister so much freedom.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous." Terrified for her, I flared up myself. "Maia does what she wants. She never answers to me, or anyone. If I tried to stop her, on the pathetic grounds of being her male guardian, she would behave even more defiantly-and probably sock me in the eye first."
"She's unwittingly put herself in the wrong place," murmured Helena. "She doesn't know who she is dealing with."
"I'm afraid of her reaction," Petro growled. "Maia will speak out, and feisty confrontations with violent criminals are damned dangerous. If they knock her about…" He checked.
"Norbanus may still be charming," Helena tried to reassure him. The thought of Maia enjoying a lovers' tryst with Norbanus produced no happy reactions in Petro and me. "Anyway, Lucius, you didn't find them at the villa. Tell yourself she's safe. Maybe Norbanus really does like her."
"He set it up." Petro's reaction was darker. "Right from the start he was using her as bait."
"Florius." I was ahead of him. Well, it was obvious. "Norbanus approached her, because he was a stranger. Florius had to keep away; he might have been recognized. But Florius is behind this scam. Norbanus could visit the governor in safety. At first it was to find out what Frontinus knew about the Jupiter protection gang, but once you were identified as one of the vigiles, Petro-"
"Bloody governor should have kept quiet! Florius would have known at once that if their British operation was to flourish they had to get me out of the way."
I agreed. "Florius carefully planned this as a means to get to you. From the moment they knew you were affectionate with Maia, she was a marked woman."
"The harpist," said Helena. "He was put here to spy-and it won't have taken him long to know Petronius was very close to Maia and her family. The children were always talking about you, Lucius."
"One of the children's most vocal worries was why you had vanished, when you went under cover," I groaned. "The gang would have seen immediately why. They may have bought off the half-baked Londinium troops, but you were a different proposition."
"And they could get to you through Maia," Helena said.
Petronius shook his head. "I don't see why they would think that."
"Don't fool yourself," I said tersely.
"She treats me like-"
"Oh, stop being dense! We all know what's up. Anyway, the harpist saw her go to your room that night."
"What?" Helena riveted me with accusing eyes. Petronius himself, normally so relaxed, bit back any comment, but his annoyance was plain. Now they both knew that I had been a witness. My discretion over the incident won me no laurel crowns.
Restraining his anger, Petronius still tried to gloss it over: "Just a fling…"
It was Helena's turn to lose her temper. "Juno! Lucius Petronius, how can you be so hopeless? It's plain to everyone what Maia feels."
He glared. "Not to me."
"Oh, let me tell you then!" Helena prowled the room. She was edgy and desperately worried about Maia. "You drink too much, you flirt too much, you do dangerous work," she rattled off. "You are a risk to a woman who wants a good life-but Maia Favonia is aching to take that risk. You must be the most exciting man who ever courted her." Petronius looked startled. Helena brought him down to earth: "And there have been plenty! Maia wants you-but she doesn't want to be deceived by you. Her children love you-she doesn't want them to be let down. And now if you don't do something," said Helena more quietly, stopping in her tracks, "she will die because of you."
"That won't happen."
"So why," demanded Helena furiously, "are you just sitting here?"
"Because this is the game," Petronius said baldly. He was indeed sitting (in a chair Maia herself had often used). His face was strained, but he must have slept last night, and I had seen him look worse on many other occasions. He explained in a grim tone, "They will give her back and take me instead-but first Florius has to toy with me." He was right. Florius would humiliate him and torture him with fear for Maia.
Only then would Florius reel him in. "It's no fun unless I suffer. I am sitting here because I now have to wait until the bastard sends instructions."
Petronius was very quiet and still. He knew exactly what fate awaited him if he gave himself up to the Florius gang. With Maia at stake, he would make the sacrifice.
LI
They gave us a day and another night to suffer.
While he waited for his next message, Petronius stayed at the residence. He ate sparingly, rested, occasionally sharpened his sword. He would not be allowed to use it. They would want him unarmed. This obsessive routine was just the old legionary's way of keeping sane before an action. I was doing the same.