The litter jolted off. Scowler stood beside me as it vanished out of sight, with stout Hyperius panting after it. ‘I’ll have to arrest you, citizen,’ he said when it had gone. ‘I could have argued otherwise, but you agreed to it.’
I nodded. ‘Don’t worry about that,’ I said. ‘You may have saved my life. If I’d been forced into that litter, I doubt I would ever have got out of it alive. And I wanted to go to the garrison anyway. I meant what I said. I must talk to the commander as soon as possible. It’s vital that I do. We’ve lost too much time already, and there are lives at stake.’
Scowler pulled out his swagger-stick and scratched his head with it. ‘What’s all this about? Did that Virilis fellow really kill those men?’
‘I’m afraid so. He thought that they were me. That’s why he put them in my workshop afterwards. He took a lot of pains to put them there, too. That poor old turnip-seller you heard me talk about just now must have been carried halfway through the town, draped across his saddle in the growing dusk, wrapped in those hangings from the curia. The gatekeeper on duty when Radixrapum disappeared told me that there was nobody in sight, except an ox-cart — and a young man carrying a roll of something on his horse! That was Virilis, of course — that tallies with something that the market-trader said. I even saw the marks of the pommels on the corpse, though at the time I didn’t realize what they were.’
Scowler took his helmet and plonked it on his head. ‘I still don’t understand. Why has that decurion got it in for you?’
I shook my head. ‘There’s no time to explain. Take me to the garrison — and, Junio, you take a carrying litter and go, as fast as possible, to Pedronius’s country house. Get the youngest, strongest bearers you can find, and never mind the cost. I’ll see that they are paid.’
My son was boggling at me. ‘But I promised not to leave you!’
‘I’ll have an armed and armoured escort,’ I reminded him. ‘Being under guard has some advantages.’
Junio nodded. ‘So when I reach the villa, what am I to do? You don’t just want me to finish off the pavement, I presume.’
I shook my head and smiled. ‘You can tell the gatekeeper that it’s what you came for, if you like. That should ensure that he will let you in. Then find the steward and ask for Minimus. I think you’ll find he’s got him locked up somewhere in the place.’
‘What makes you think so? Something Quintus said?’ Junio was still havering. ‘And isn’t he intending to go out there himself? He said he was going to.’
‘Exactly so,’ I said. ‘Which is what makes me suppose that Minimus is there. That, and thinking through what happened yesterday. Though I can’t explain it now.’
‘Just a minute, citizen!’ That was Scowler now. ‘I have a vested interest in all this — you owe me a half-denarius if you find that slave today. So answer his question. Why do you think he’s there?’
I was impatient to be taken to the garrison, but one cannot argue with a sword. ‘Well,’ I said reluctantly, ‘I was called out to the villa on a false pretence: one of the garden slaves appeared and asked for someone to come out to the site. At the time I didn’t question it — I’d seen the boy before — so I hurried over, but Pedronius wasn’t there. I thought nothing of it — it happens all the time — but, on reflection, I don’t think it was chance. Normally, Junio, you would have been with me in the workshop too. So if there was a summons to do something to the site, and I was expecting an important customer, what would anyone suppose that I would do?’
‘Send me to do it,’ Junio replied. ‘But I was buying provisions for the bulla feast that day.’
‘Which Quintus — who would not dream of buying things himself — had not allowed for in his plans.’
‘That would have left you with Minimus all the same.’ Scowler observed, earning his name again.
I nodded. ‘They obviously had plans for diverting him as well, probably to carry something to the site, where he could be imprisoned and later charged with theft — I think they always meant to plant that purse on him. I believe that the garden-boy met up with Virilis, no doubt by appointment — he told me he had another errand to perform and he would have to let the cursor know the coast was clear. When Virilis heard I’d gone in person in answer to the call, and realized that only Minimus was left behind, he came up with a plan. It was so simple that it was spectacular. After a little while, he sent the garden-boy again, saying that there’d been an accident to me at Pedronius’s house and telling Minimus he was to come at once. But Minimus complicated things by trying to send a message home.’
‘So he did send the messenger after all?’ my son exclaimed.
‘A red-haired slave, exactly as described. And he gave the message to the garden slave, who seems, in fact, to have delivered it after he had spoken to Virilis again, though this time Glypto found them at the pile and heard him saying that “everyone was out” and, by implication, that the coast was clear.’
‘Dear Mars!’ said Junio, ‘So Minimus hurried to the villa, supposing you were hurt, but when he got there. . what?’
‘I imagine that the steward took him in and sent to Quintus for orders what to do. I’m sure that Minimus was there. The gatekeeper told me that he’d seen no visitors, except a slave in a blue tunic. I thought he was talking about a different one — a boy that I myself saw scurrying out — but I realize now he must have meant Minimus all the time. The steward was no doubt perplexed in any case — first I turned up and then my slave-boy did, when he’d been told each time he was expecting you. He had orders to detain you in the garden, I expect.’
‘So he knew all about it? The attempt to murder you?’
‘I doubt that very much. It would be too dangerous. He was just obeying orders, as he always did — he used to work for Quintus after all, and no doubt his former master retains him as a spy. The man was saving for his slave price, and I’m sure he’d just received a small donation to the fund. When I went back later on, I saw him counting it.’
‘So he was the one who locked up your little slave?’ Scowler was incredulous. ‘I heard he’d been arrested by a private guard.’
‘Well, in a sense he was, though doubtless it was Quintus who began that rumour too — just as he lied to me when he denied that he knew who’d taken Minimus.’
‘But wouldn’t the whole villa staff have known of this? Someone would have told you when you visited the house,’ Junio objected.
I shook my head. ‘Not necessarily. Pedronius wasn’t there, and the steward, in his absence, has full authority and controls the keys. In fact, when I went there the first time in answer to the summons that never was, I did not even see a door-keeper. The steward came out to me himself to tell me that my errand was in vain — quick thinking, since he was expecting you! With no one at the gate, it would have been easy for him to let Minimus come in and march him to some storeroom and turn the key on him. Quintus had really put a warrant out, of course, and the steward probably believed what he had been told — that the slave-boy was a thief — especially when Quintus later sent the purse, claiming it was evidence against the boy.’
Scowler was still scowling. ‘This is all speculation. You have no proof of it.’
‘I think you’ll find that it is what happened all the same. As I am hoping that Junio will find out — if he gets there before Quintus Severus, that is.’ I turned to the soldier. ‘Then you can have your half-denarius.’
A crafty smile spread over Scowler’s face. ‘I think we can arrange that, citizen, don’t you? We heard the decurion tell his litter-men to take him home. If we can delay him for a little while. .’ He turned to his companion. ‘Get over there at once. Say that the garrison needs a written charge from him regarding this assault. Make sure you slow him down. And don’t say who sent you or anything you’ve heard, or I’ll have you down the lead-mines as fast as you can blink.’
The soldier nodded and set off at a run.