Ovid

I set the winecup down. 'Yeah. End of story. So what happened to the guy with the ring? Our fourth conspirator? Why wasn't he arrested with the others?'

Perilla opened her mouth and shut it. I'd never seen her at a loss for words. It was quite something, and I owed it all to the Caecuban. Maybe I could get old Marcia to let me have a flask of the stuff.

'I'll tell you what happened to him.' I was enjoying this. 'Nothing. Zero. Zilch. He disappears out of the picture. No execution, no exile, no nothing. Not so much as a footnote.'

'Perhaps they just never caught him.'

'Perhaps they didn't want to catch him.'

Perilla stared. 'Why shouldn't they want to catch him?'

Clever women can be incredibly thick sometimes. But then Perilla hadn't grown up like I had in the murky world of power politics. I explained.

'Look. Silanus was the group stool-pigeon, right? He peached to Augustus. Now if Silanus knew who our fourth man was — which he must have done — the guy didn't have a hope in hell of avoiding prosecution. So if he wasn't prosecuted — which he wasn't — it means that the authorities knew who he was already.'

'But if they knew who he was, then-'

I laid it on the line.

'Sure they knew. Because our fourth man was involved in the conspiracy with their unofficial blessing.'

'You mean he was the emperor's agent?'

'Right. It was Augustus's classic ploy. Don't wait for a conspiracy to come to a head, infiltrate it and destroy it from the inside before it gets going. Our fourth conspirator could've been Augustus's man from the start.'

'Then he can't've been the reason for my stepfather's exile.'

That stopped me. 'Why the hell not?'

This time it was Perilla's turn to be patient. 'Because my stepfather said he'd seen something and failed to report it. If he only meant that he knew who your fourth conspirator was, and Augustus knew the man's name already, then surely it wouldn't matter very much?'

'Unless the fact that Ovid hadn't told him rubbed Augustus up the wrong way.'

'But you said Augustus wasn't vindictive. Punishing my stepfather with exile for something that happened by accident and hardly mattered in the end…well, I'd say that showed a fair degree of vindictiveness, wouldn't you?'

'Don't forget Ovid wasn't family like his daughter Julia's kids. And Augustus didn't like the poor bastard, either.'

'It's still completely out of proportion.'

'Yeah.' I swallowed the last of my wine and emptied the flagon into the cup. 'Okay. Maybe we're still missing something.'

'Of course there is another possibility,' Perilla said.

I frowned. The wine was finally getting to me. 'What's that?'

'That the fourth man was someone really important. Too important to risk charging.'

'You got anyone in mind, lady? The guy would have to be pretty big to rank above the emperor's granddaughter.'

'How about Tiberius? Would he qualify?'

I stared at her in numb shock. 'Oh, no. Not the emperor. It couldn't be the emperor.'

'Why not?'

Why not? How the hell could she be so calm about an idea like that?

'Because…' I began; and that was as far as I got.

Shit. Why not? I tried frantically to think of reasons. None of them worked. What was worse, everything that had happened in the last few days made perfect sense. If the Wart had been our fourth conspirator in the days when he'd been a not-so-humble commoner and he knew I was busy ferreting around in that particular closet then you could count my chances of seeing another birthday on the fingers of one foot.

'Oh, hell!' I whispered. 'Oh, hell and damnation!'

'It would make sense, wouldn't it?' Perilla said.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. But she was right, dead right. Of course it would make sense. Ten years before, the Wart had been the empire's foremost general. He had powers second only to Augustus's own, and although the old man hadn't actually named him as such he was the only realistic candidate for the succession. Paullus and Julia would've welcomed him into their cosy little conspiracy with open arms. It would've meant giving him the purple, sure, but the chance would've been too good to miss. Paullus would've had his work cut out getting the support he'd need for the top job anyway. As an imperial candidate he wouldn't be all that convincing; but as the man responsible for the new emperor's elevation he'd have his feet firmly on the bottom step of the throne. New bosses are very grateful people…

'Corvinus? I asked you a question. Don't you think it would make sense?'

'Hmm?' Absently I swallowed the wine in my cup and reached for the jug. It was empty. Well, maybe she was right. Maybe I did drink too much. 'Yeah, it'd make sense. But would it be worth Tiberius's while? After all, the emperor was into his seventies. And the Wart was set to succeed anyway.'

'Only so long as Augustus had no alternative.'

Right again. Tiberius was never exactly the blue-eyed boy with Augustus. He'd spent years being shifted around from the wings to centre stage and back, from star billing to supporting role. The only reason he'd got to be emperor at all was that there was no one else around at the time to do the job. Maybe he'd just got tired of being the permanent second choice. Maybe he just decided he couldn't wait any longer…

'Or maybe he was playing it both ends against the middle.' I didn't realise I'd spoken the words aloud until I noticed Perilla was staring at me.

'What was that?'

The Caecuban was working again. 'Maybe the Wart wanted to have it both ways. When Paullus propositions him he lies on his back and opens his legs. Then he runs and tells Augustus he's been raped. He can't lose, right? If the conspiracy comes off then Augustus is dead meat and he's the new emperor. If not and things aren't going too well then he can go back to the emperor and say, "Look, I've broken up your latest gang of troublemakers for you. See how loyal I am? I could've been emperor myself but I put your interests and Rome's first. Now how about a bigger share of the action?" In the event that's what happened. Maybe he didn't feel it was worth the risk, especially with Silanus doing his political tap-dance on the sidelines. So he pulled the plug on the conspiracy and bowed out gracefully.'

'And my stepfather?'

'Like I said, Ovid found out that Tiberius was involved. If he'd reported it to Augustus he would've simply been told that everything was under control and warned to keep his mouth shut. But he didn't. He didn't tell anyone. And where would that leave him with the emperor?'

Perilla leaned her chin on her hand.

'Augustus wouldn't be sure whose side Ovid was on,' she said. 'In effect he was giving his tacit support to the conspirators.'

'Right. Also, once everything was over and Tiberius had slid out from under Ovid would be an embarrassment. Or a potential embarrassment. Augustus had to make sure he wouldn't open his mouth too far, even by accident. It wouldn't do the emperor's street cred much good if the news got out that the second man in Rome had tried to knock him off the wall, would it? Ovid had to be disappeared, fast. The Black Sea was as good a place as any, short of slitting his throat. And maybe even Augustus had a conscience.'

'It would explain something else too.'

'What's that?'

'Why Tiberius didn't allow him back when Augustus was dead.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. That's right. He could still open his mouth. And Tiberius was never a poetry-lover. He's a soldier first and foremost. In fact — '

I stopped. Stopped dead.

'What's wrong?'

'Shit.'

'Corvinus! Will you tell me what's wrong? Please.'

I didn't know whether to break down and sob with relief or howl with disappointment.

'Our fourth conspirator. Whoever he is, he isn't Tiberius.'

'What are you talking about? We've just spent ten minutes working out how — '