‘That’s the one he’s bought. He was lucky to get it,’ Glypto said. ‘You can’t get the wolves these days, with all those rebels in the wood.’
‘But that was not the only customer?’ I said. ‘There was another fellow who came in looking round — a man with a fancy cloak-clasp, I believe. I remember your master mentioned him to me.’
The mask had come down on Glypto’s face again. ‘Glypto can’t tell you, citizen. He wasn’t in the shop. He has already told you about everyone he saw, and his mistress will be furious with him for being late.’
There was no point in pressing him, and I let him go, though I did call after him as he scampered off, ‘There will be a quadrans for you the next time that we meet — more if you happen to remember something else.’
He paused and turned around. ‘But how can I be sure to see you, citizen? They don’t let Glypto out. Only to put on the rubbish on the pile.’
‘Then I will meet you at the midden-heap,’ I said. ‘If you can contrive to be there tomorrow’ — I was about to say ‘when the sun is at its height’ but I remembered that I had a naming ceremony to attend, and I amended it — ‘in the late afternoon. I will keep a watch for you.’
He nodded. ‘Till tomorrow then,’ and he went back through the gate into the tannery. Almost at once I heard the shrill voice of the tanner’s wife. It raised in hectoring reproof, followed shortly after by the sound of blows. I cringed a little. I felt responsible.
Six
Radixrapum caught my eye as I turned back. He raised an eyebrow. ‘Funny sort of fellow, that old slave. I wonder what he did see in the alleyway — or whether he really saw anything at all.’
‘I hope I’ll discover that tomorrow, when we meet,’ I said, but even as I spoke the words they sent a chill through me. If Minimus was in danger, that seemed too long to wait. Surely I had to find him before that! Yet my best hope of finding him was to trace the murderer, and I had little idea of where to start with that. Besides, there were other urgent things that needed to be done, and — what with questioning Glypto and lighting candles by the corpse — I’d already delayed too long. ‘I had planned to tell Lucius’s mother what had happened to her son,’ I told the turnip-seller, ‘but now there’s scarcely time to reach her before the cart arrives.’
‘There’s no chance at all of reaching her, I shouldn’t think, and certainly no time for you to get back again.’ He gave a little grin, tilting his turnip head at me. ‘Don’t look so stricken, citizen. You never did have time — and if you stop to think, you’ll realize that as well. When we were in the workshop just now, you mentioned that your recent customer was chief decurion, didn’t you? I could see he was wealthy, but I hadn’t realized he was as important as all that. If the senior town councillor tells the garrison to send the cart round here, obviously they’re going to do it straight away.’
I nodded thoughtfully. ‘I suppose that’s true.’
‘Then perhaps you don’t need me to stay and keep a watch? Or do you still intend to go to the pie-bakery and find her anyway? You said it would be better if she didn’t see the corpse.’
I suppose that had been vaguely in my thoughts, but I answered stubbornly, ‘I think she ought to know. And she may know something that will help me trace the murderer — for instance, whether Lucius had personal enemies.’
He looked at me quizzically. ‘You wouldn’t like to put that piece of work up on a plank and rest it on my barrow before you go? I’ll give you a hand, of course, and you can wheel it out into the street. Then it will be out here when the army comes, and nobody need ever know that it was in there with the corpse. The decurion did not see inside the shop, you say — and I want that half-sestertius, so I won’t be gossiping — but you can’t prevent the soldiers from telling everyone. And they will have to go inside to pick the body up.’
He was quite right, of course, and it was a concern. Quintus’s reaction to a dead man in my shop had been enough to tell me what my customers would think if rumour got around. I was beginning to look at Radixrapum with more and more respect. His suggestion was not a foolish one. In fact, I rather wished I’d thought of it myself.
Although his barrow was much smaller than my handcart was, and currently full of earth and bits of turnip-top, it would be the work of moments to clear that away, and, with care, the Apollo plaque was not too large to carry in that way. The piece was already mounted on its linen backing cloth, ready to be reversed and cemented into place, and I had that terracotta tray on which to carry it. That could be managed on the barrow, though it would take a lot of care. The mosaic was not quite finished at one edge, of course, but that was, if anything, a help. It made it slightly easier to move, since I could protect the edges in transit with a rolled strip of cloth, and a border can always be filled with larger tiles, or even with painted mortar if required.
I had border tesserae already cut and quite a lot to spare; the extra pieces could be taken with it as they were, and I could put in the final touches when it was in place. I had already left the necessary tools and mortar at the site, when I put down the preliminary layer yesterday. So it was tempting to do as the turnip-seller said. But there was Lucius’s mother to consider too.
Radixrapum saw that I was havering. ‘It won’t make any difference to his mother, citizen. She cannot help him now. If you go off and tell her, what are you going to do? Stop the army carting him away and ask her if she wants to take the corpse herself? That will just be an impossible expense, because she’ll have to provide the funeral — you and I are both aware that he would never have contributed to any guild. So you’ll end up paying for it all yourself. And you couldn’t decently just put him on a public pyre. If you’re going to stand as patron, you would have to do it right — with at least a funeral director and bier, and very probably a priest and some sort of sacrifice. It would cost a huge amount. To say nothing of all the cleansing rituals you’ll have to get performed before you can reopen your shop in any case. And you weren’t officially his patron, were you, citizen?’
He was voicing the very thoughts that I’d had earlier. I made a groaning sound. With the loss of Quintus’s order, things were hard enough, without additional expense — especially if the Apollo piece fell through. ‘Not officially his patron,’ I said reluctantly. ‘Though he’d half-adopted me as one, this last half-moon or so. I simply feel an obligation to do something, that is all.’
He cocked a brow at me. ‘If the corpse had turned up anywhere but here, it’s likely that nobody would have told the mother anything, and she would only have deduced that Lucius was dead when he did not come home. You will have saved her that, at least. This has been thrust on you, and you have done your best — you’ve lit candles for him and called three times on his soul. No reason why you should lose your customers as well. You can go and see the mother afterwards, if you feel you must, and offer her such consolation as you can. But if we are going to move this piece of work of yours, we ought to do it fast, or the army cart will turn up and catch us in the act.’
It was no good arguing. The man was not such a turnip as he looked. He was obviously right. I nodded doubtfully. ‘We’ll do as you suggest.’
He gave me another conspiratorial grin. ‘Of course, you’ll have to buy those last few turnips first, to clear the space. Shall we say another half-sestertius for the lot, and for the temporary hire of the barrow too?’
Dear Mars! He almost seemed to be enjoying this. ‘Oh, very well,’ I said. ‘If you look behind the counter, you will find a leather bag I sometimes use to carry bread and cheese. Put the turnips in it, and we will make a start.’