I turned away. ‘Well, there is the manner of their deaths, of course, but I can’t see what else. We don’t even know where Radixrapum was when he was killed, though I’m fairly sure that Lucius was on his way to see me yest-’ I broke off. ‘You mean that that’s the link? Coming to this workshop?’
He shook his head at me. ‘I think it’s more than that. Other people came here — Quintus did for one — and he seems to be all right. And so did Gwellia and the rest of us last night. And the tanner, come to that. What did the dead men see that we did not?’ He looked triumphant. ‘The Apollo piece!’
I had to acknowledge that he had a point, though it was hard to imagine what there was about the pavement that could pose a threat. I said so to Junio. ‘Besides,’ I added, ‘I’ve seen the pavement too, and so have several of Pedronius’s slaves, and up to now, at least, no harm has come to us.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘A lot of people saw the pattern too — including me — before the thing was laid. The finished product can’t be different and dangerous, unless you take Pedronius’s superstitious view and think it’s genuinely cursed.’
I laughed, but there was something niggling in the corner of my brain, some other connection that I could not place. It was disquieting. A little shudder ran down between my shoulder blades.
I was about to say as much to Junio when there was a sudden noise outside the shop, followed by a rapping on the outer door.
Eighteen
I was startled for a moment, but Junio grinned at me. ‘That will be Maximus and the messenger,’ he said. ‘They were on their way. I was about to tell you when I first came in, but then I was distracted by discovering the corpse.’
‘So you found the boy who brought the message to the roundhouse yesterday?’
He nodded. ‘We asked around and it was easier to find him than we thought. That urchin-girl we spoke to knew who it was at once and was eager to help us, for a tip. She even took us to the building where he lived — a flood-damaged ruin in the swampy part of town, where lots of the egentes find shelter overnight. He wasn’t there himself — he’d found another errand, taking a urine-pot to one of the fullers in the town — but we tracked him down, and he promised that when he’d finished he’d come and tell you everything he knew. Maximus was going to wait for him and show him where to come-’
Another knock, more tentative this time.
Junio strode to the doorway. ‘Shall I let them in? Or. .?’ He nodded towards Radixrapum’s body on the floor. ‘Under the circumstances. .’
‘Perhaps you’d better not,’ I agreed. ‘I’ll go and talk to them outside.’ I was already crossing to the entrance as I spoke.
‘I’ll come with you,’ my adopted son replied. ‘In fact, if the lad wants to earn an as or two, we might even send him out when we have finished with him here, to make enquiries as to where the turnip-seller lived. There must be someone in the marketplace who’d know.’
He pushed open the door and we went outside, blinking a little in the stronger light. I was already fishing in my purse for a small coin to reward the little messenger for his willingness to come. But it was no street urchin who was awaiting us. It was Virilis, my patron’s messenger, complete with military hooded cloak and now with a letter-wallet at his belt. Clearly it contained some kind of document — from the shape, most likely a sealed official scroll. For a moment I wondered if he had been sent with some authority for my arrest. He seemed equipped for it: as we emerged he was swishing with his whip at one of the piles of uncut stone that lay outside my door.
However, he looked as startled to see us as we were to find him there and, far from being threatening, he came over with a smile. ‘Citizen Libertus, I am glad to find you. I thought the shop was empty when I first arrived and there was no immediate answer to my knock. I have just come from Quintus, who has instructed me to ask if you have a message that you wish me to convey to His Excellence Marcus Septimus. I am on my way to meet him, starting off at once.’
‘Really?’ I was genuinely surprised, not only by Quintus’s apparent change of heart but also at the idea of setting off at such an hour to anywhere as distant as Londinium. It would be dark before he’d covered many miles, though doubtless as an official messenger he would have access to the military inns, where he could change horses, rest and have a meal. ‘You mean to leave tonight?’
‘Ready and saddled to depart at once, as you can see.’ He gestured to his horse, which he had clearly been leading through the streets and which was now tied to a tethering ring outside the tanner’s house. ‘I am to report the deliberations of the curia and the appointment of his nominated candidate. I should be in Londinium in a day or two at most. So if you have a message. .’ He smiled at me again. ‘About your missing slave perhaps? Quintus Severus seemed to think you might.’
‘Ah!’ I murmured. So that was it. The chief decurion had not regretted his unhelpfulness, as for a moment I had foolishly supposed. On the contrary, he intended to ensure that Marcus was informed that Minimus was lost. ‘No doubt Quintus told you that I have some news? It seems the boy has been arrested on a trumped-up charge and is in custody. I’m not entirely sure where he is being held.’
Junio, beside me, made a startled noise. I had forgotten that this all was news to him as well.
‘And you wish me to pass this information to your patron?’ The cursor cocked a brow at me.
Something in his manner made me think again. ‘It might be wiser to wait until he comes,’ I conceded. ‘Of course, I’ll have to tell him all about it in due time, but perhaps it’s better if he hears the story from my lips. Besides, I hope that later on today I can discover where the boy is being kept and get him freed, if only on the promise of producing him in court. Or, failing that, at least to speak to him.’
The cursor made a doubtful face at me. ‘What makes you think his captor would agree to that?’
He was right, of course, but I said stubbornly, ‘The law requires him to. I am not an expert on such things, but I am sure of that.’
I expected Virilis to be anxious to be gone and impatient of these legal niceties, but instead he flashed me an unexpected smile. ‘I believe you may be right,’ he said in his most charming voice. ‘I was witness to a case like this once, in Londinium. The matter came to court and the magistrate decreed that the prisoner had to be produced so they could speak to him. He wasn’t freed, of course, but it proved that he was safe.’
I was privately ashamed of my earlier churlishness. ‘Go on,’ I said.
‘The plaintiffs were people of no account in law — just the wife and child and a former slave — so it seems that anyone can make a legal claim, if they can prove they have an interest in the prisoner, that is.’
‘Who has a better right to see Minimus than me?’ I demanded of no one in particular. ‘I am his legal owner while Marcus is away, and I want to hear his version of what happened yesterday. I simply don’t believe he took that purse.’ I turned to Virilis. ‘No doubt you’ve heard from Quintus about the troubles here?’
Virilis gave me a knowing, unexpected smile. ‘Oh, indeed I have. Quintus talked to me of very little else. He said that when he got here, you’d come across a corpse — some one-eyed pie-seller with a disfigured face — and he’d had to send the army to take it to the pit. He seemed to feel the entire episode was a personal affront.’ He gave me a sympathetic grin. ‘Do you wish me to tell your patron about it when we meet, or is that another thing you’d rather leave till he arrives?’
He paused, and for a moment I considered this.
‘Before you answer, citizen’ — he gestured to the document wallet at his waist, and I would have sworn he winked — ‘perhaps I should mention that I have a letter to deliver under seal. It’s possible that Quintus has mentioned it himself.’