LVIII
Once out of the necropolis, we hit the main road and approached the Rome Gate. It was formed of an entrance and exit, between square towers set in the city walls, the very walls which were built by Cicero as Consul, after the devastating sack of Ostia by pirates. The protective walls were now half buried in habitation. Within a few years of their construction, Pompey had cleared the seas. Freed from fear of attack, people had built houses and workshops behind, abutting, and sometimes right on top of the defences. A marble plaque told a poignant story. First it commemorated Cicero's creation of the city walls; five years afterwards Clodius, Cicero's arch-enemy who was a kind of urban pirate himself, had erased the Consul's name and covered it with his own, in blood red lettering. Cicero, approaching political decline, had bitterly complained. The old orator would have had caustic things to say about the modern interlopers we held in custody. The vigiles caused quite a stir as they hit the main road and held up the traffic in both directions so their parade of downcast prisoners could be marched in through the gate. As our battered human trophies emerged on the Ostia side, a familiar white-haired figure hove into view. He was the navy man, Caninus. The vigiles neither looked at him nor paused. But I did both. I glared him in the eye and planted myself right in front of him.
If you're going to the funeral, it's over."
I was unaware of it until too late. I should have been there on surveillance."
Well, the vigiles have wrapped up the kidnapping problem, and solved the Theopompus murder." He gave me a bland smile. I remained unmoved. You were a damned failure yesterday, Caninus!"
Clearly no harm came to you, Falco."
No thanks to you! I didn't expect you to row a trireme by yourself, but a word to the harbour master, and a search party, would have helped. I'm amazed that when a citizen is being carried off by force, the navy just give him a cheery farewell."
Sorry. I thought you were just waving a greeting."
Caninus, you let the Illyrians take me. You never expected to see me alive today."
Oh be reasonable, man. A trireme in harbour cannot be moved without re-tensioning the main cables, the hypozomata I raised an eyebrow and let him burble nervously. Run fore and aft; hold the timbers in a lock along the length. We slacken off the hawsers, to rest the frame, when we dock for any period, standard practice. It's impossible to sail like that; the ship could break her back." The attache, who had always talked too much, finally stopped.
Caninus, I never expected pursuit by trireme. Tell me, how come a bunch of Illyrians who are working new versions of the old trade, ever felt comfortable with their liburnian moored tight against three naval warships? Do the Cilicians cosy up to you in the same way? Caninus, what exactly is your game?"
Excuse me He was turning away. I will be needed to brief Marcus Rubella." I had already briefed Lucius Petronius with my own thoughts on Caninus. We walked in silence until we came to the side street that led to the vigiles station house. The prisoners and their escort must all be inside already.
Aren't you coming, Falco?" Caninus asked in some surprise when I made it plain I was heading off down the Decumanus.
I'm still looking for my scribe. Besides, I have a sense of family. I have no wish to be present if you are intending to proscribe my Uncle Fulvius." A small tight smile disfigured the navy man's well-barbered face. He turned down the side street. I continued along the main highway towards our apartment, hoping to find Helena Justina there. I never made it. I ran into Passus. He was on Petro's team, a comparative new boy though he must have been with the Fourth for a couple of years. Head-hunted by Petronius, Passus was short in stature, with clipped hair, and big hands and feet like a puppy. That belied his casual competence. I gave him a quick round-up of the day's events. He told me he had been trusted by Rubella as the sole invigilator on Holconius and Mutatus, and was watching their apartment in the hope of developments.
So what's the word, Passus?" We had worked together previously on the murder of an art patron; Passus knew me well enough to open up. I think I bungled it," he said.
You were on your own," I sympathised.
All the lads were on the necropolis exercise so I had to manage… A child brought a note. I had nobody to send for back-up. Either the scribes had spotted me, or someone warned them. So they both came out, but they split up. I tailed the one with the boy, Holconius. But he and the boy just walked around in a bloody big circle, then he went back inside the apartment. The boy ran off. I am depressed, Falco."
You think the scribes have a new ransom demand? Mutatus gave you the slip, and went alone to a meet?" Passus nodded and swore bleakly. Then he took himself off to report to Rubella. I gave up my plan to find Helena, and went to see Holconius. Of course at first he denied everything. But sitting alone in the apartment had sapped his courage. He admitted the new ransom demand. Rubella had firmly warned the scribes to do nothing, but again they ignored advice in case it rebounded on the so-called captive Diocles. They still had money. Mutatus had gone to fetch the cash. The new ransom note said only one man was to handle this exchange. Mutatus would be contacted.
So you see, Falco," Holconius declared self-righteously, I cannot tell you anything about how the money will be handed over, because I don't know!" I ordered him to go to the vigiles station house and confess to Rubella. I made Holconius tell me which temple was their bank. Then I set off there.
LIX
I stood on the steps of the Temple of Rome and Augustus, thinking. This temple must have been one of the earliest symbols of imperial power. Built by Tiberius in honour of his stepfather and of our lucky city, it was entirely composed of marble. Six fluted columns adorned the front area, which had a platform whence political speakers could bore the luckless crowds on festive days. A couple of extra columns turned around each side to entrances where stone stairs led to the interior. To call the edifice triumphalist would be an under statement. Not only did Victory fly her stuff on tiptoe from forty feet up on the top pinnacle of the fancy frieze, but indoors the cult statue was Roma Victrix, a large lass dressed up in an Amazon costume. She had a figure like Helena, though Helena would kick me for saying so. Let's say, Roma Victrix was in good shape, but as the incarnation of the Golden City she headed up a great new trading empire which imported titbits from every part of the world, and quite clearly she enjoyed her food. Roma was shown as an Amazon, with one extremely round, awkwardly prominent breast, revealed naked among her curiously full draperies. Amazons are usually famous for wearing nothing but a short skirt and a snarl. Roma mainly dressed sensibly. Her other breast was properly covered up, and seemed less well developed. It may have been amputated, as is supposed to happen in the best Amazonian circles, for purposes of avoiding her bowstring. She had one sturdy foot steadying a little globe and looked as if she were about to kick off at the start of a ball game. I had had plenty of time for these musings. I had been inside, but now I was outside again. Indoors, I had glimpsed a priest of the cult, a snooty flamen who thought I was about to steal the ritual vessels and donated treasure. Once I was spotted by this haughty factotum, the temple-keeper, an ex-town slave who did all the work around there – was sent to ask if he could assist me. That meant, assisting me back outside on to the front podium. Now I stood there, pretending I was a little boy who wanted to be an orator. I surveyed the Forum. It was a long rectangular area, with the tall Capitolium at the far end, the statutory Temple of the Capitoline Triad. That was where Rubella and Petro had been trapped the other day, when they watched the builders" guild stamp around in their marching display. I could see a shrine, which I knew was dedicated to the city Lares. Midway across the Forum ran the Decumanus Maximus. To my left, I had the Basilica and Curia. To my right and behind me were baths, public latrines and shops. Ahead, on the far right-hand corner though more or less out of my vision, stood the house of Privatus where Petronius lodged. Things here were not progressing. If Mutatus was on the premises, he must be downstairs in the strongrooms beneath the temple podium. The keeper had refused to let me down there. Saying I wanted to talk to a visitor who was making a withdrawal had failed to impress him. The keeper was doing his job, protecting money on deposit. He might already know that Mutatus and Holconius had had some of their cash stolen, for all he knew, by thieves who had followed them after they came here and made a withdrawal. The temple-keeper had courteously promised he would let me know when Mutatus came up from the strongrooms. To his credit, he did give me the nod, though he waited until the scribe had left. I knew Mutatus had not passed through the Forum. I would have seen him. The piazza was packed with people, the late afternoon surge of pedestrians going to the baths and workmen walking home, but I was on a vantage point and I had the whole Forum area in plain sight. Mutatus must have gone out at the back, and on the Basilica side; from my position, which was on a corner, I had been watching the other exit. I walked down the steps and went to the rear of the temple. At a street corner caupona no one could tell me anything. I crossed the back of the temple. Here began the main road to the Porta Laurentina. This was a seriously important part of town, and although light industry, cornmills and laundries, lurked among the private houses, the neighbourhood lacked the proliferating bars and brothels that clustered around the Marine Gate and the riverfront. It was not the kind of area the Illyrian" had favoured for meetings. This convinced me that someone else had muscled in. The ransom demand for my scribe was a new scam. My scribe. He was mine by now. I was determined not to give up on him until I knew his fate.