Recognition came into the old man’s face. He dropped his scrubbing rag. Felix saw he was trembling. “Are you going to arrest me? How did you find out?”
Had the fellow been drinking or was he mad? “Find out what? About the demons?”
“You do know then! I was afraid, sir. Have mercy on an old man. I didn’t want to tell the truth when Basilius asked me if I had seen anything. It’s true, I only pretended I’d seen the demons the other two were talking about. I need this job to get by.”
“Go on.”
“To tell the truth I was asleep until the uproar in the church woke me. Then I saw an ape leaving the grounds.”
“An ape?”
“It looked like the ape that danced for its master at the shows at the Hippodrome. Like a man, yet not like a man. But I only got a glimpse.”
“Are you sure you didn’t dream this?”
“No, sir. I may doze, but I always keep one eye open.”
Felix cursed silently. As if demons and frogs and scarabs weren’t bad enough, along comes an ape. “Did the ape jump out from the mouth of a wine jug by chance?”
“Not so, sir. Not so!”
Felix’s malignant glare caused Timothy to cower backwards, as if he wanted to climb into Theodora’s sarcophagus with her. “I suppose I am under arrest now?”
“Not yet. But I may wish to speak to you again in case you remember anything else you’ve lied about.”
Felix stalked out deep in thought. There must be some connection between whatever had happened in the mausoleum and the theft which had taken place at the same time. If only he could discover what it was, the mystery would be solved. Wasn’t that how John would look at it?
As Felix rode away from the Church of the Holy Apostles the sky finally began to brighten. Light glinted off puddles and wet marble and further away in the cityscape stretched out below the hill upon which the church stood, the sun illuminated the gilded domes of other churches and mansions.
Was the shroud hidden in one of those mansions? Was a wealthy merchant gloating over his newly found power? With a relic potent enough to protect an entire city, what would any man need to fear?
He considered visiting the Jingler again. After all, Julian had acquired a new amulet in the form of the roundel on his garment. How much greater protection the missing relic would offer! But was it likely a man petrified of devils would even consider raising them so they could steal it for him?
Your humors are deranged, Felix chided himself. Demons are for terrifying children. If someone wants to steal anything they don’t need assistance from demons.
The Jingler might very well have been ordered by his superior to steal the shroud. If indeed he had a superior as he claimed. Whoever was involved with the theft of the relic would be in extreme danger, including an excubitor captain who had unwittingly agreed to assist in its delivery to its buyer.
And what was Felix supposed to say if the Jingler’s superior demanded to know whether the package had been passed along by excubitors as usual?
“No. I found the courier dead and disposed of the body.”
The next question would be: What had Felix done with the relic after killing the courier?
Chapter Nineteen
“You can’t be serious, Felix! A collection of thugs…smugglers…threatening the captain of the excubitors?” Anastasia used her knife to spear the last olive on her plate and raised it to her lips. “I should hope you’d have them arrested on the spot.”
“It’s more complicated than that. I’ve already explained the situation.” Felix didn’t like the irritation he heard in his voice. He had never spoken harshly to Anastasia. But Mithra! Was the woman really so slow to grasp the implications or just pretending? “Quite apart from my debts and all the problems those entail, there’s also the small matter that Justinian has ordered me to investigate a theft in which I am involved.”
“Not knowingly.”
“Convince the emperor of that.”
“The only link to you is the dead courier, but what could there possibly be about a naked corpse abandoned in the street that would connect it with you?”
“I can’t think of anything, true, but I can’t keep myself from wondering if there’s something I’ve overlooked.”
Anastasia’s face clouded. “Wait! What about your donkey and cart?”
“It was just a work cart. I didn’t have my name emblazoned on the side. It was probably gone by the time the sun rose anyway, scavenged for parts and firewood.”
“And the poor donkey?”
“Would I bother marking a donkey as if it were the imperial plate? If he belonged to Theodora he probably would have worn jeweled earrings.”
Anastasia set her fork down noisily. “Don’t be stupid. Theodora wouldn’t have done something that foolish, despite the tall tales people tell about her.”
“Ah, well, you would know better than me. You’re from the palace.”
“And what if the donkey comes back?”
Felix started to bark out his reply but caught himself, closed his eyes for a moment, and only then spoke. “Donkeys are not trained to return home. Although it would be a fine thing, wouldn’t it, to find him braying at the gate like an avenging Fury?”
“You’ve been a swine ever since you got back,” Anastasia pouted.
“I can’t imagine why! I keep waiting for something to happen, or not happen.”
“That makes no sense, Felix!”
“It does. The best thing that can happen is nothing at all. But nothing happening isn’t very reassuring. It doesn’t put an end to worrying, doesn’t insure something might not happen.”
Nikomachos appeared in the dining room and began to clear the remains of the midday meal, slowly, methodically, and clumsily.
“Get on with it, will you?” Felix snapped.
Anastasia clucked, scolding. “If you insist on employing one-armed servants what do you expect?”
“Normally he has only one person to wait on!”
Nikomachos stacked the empty plates, his expression bored, the frozen face on a coin.
“It’s all very exciting, isn’t it?” Anastasia said. “Your investigation, I mean.”
“You seem remarkably unconcerned, but then it isn’t your neck in the noose, is it?”
“Oh, you are such a grumpy bear today. I’m concerned, but it’s an adventure, can’t you see that?”
An adventure compared to the pampered life at court she was used to living, Felix thought. An adventure compared to searching for an earring her mistress had lost. He managed to keep his tongue quiet. Why should Anastasia be concerned, anyway? She did not know Felix well, despite their intimacy, and she wasn’t involved in the robbery.
“Look how easily you relieved us of our unwelcome visitor,” Anastasia pointed out.
“You call it easy, but it wasn’t you roaming the streets in the rain.”
A silver knife clattered against a plate as Nikomachos continued collecting the remains of their meal. Was he eavesdropping? He was always eavesdropping, wasn’t he? “Finish your task,” Felix ordered.
The servant managed to look hurt and contemptuous at the same time. With one hand, he lifted the perfectly arranged pile of platters, cutlery balanced on the top plate, and strode off.
Turning his glare away from Nikomachos’ ramrod straight back, Felix was startled to see Anastasia dabbing away tears.
“Did I upset you?” he asked. “I’m sorry I snapped. I shouldn’t be worrying you with my problems. I’ll think of a solution.”
Anastasia snuffled mournfully. “I was just thinking about the poor donkey. Whatever will happen to him, left out on the streets all alone with nothing to eat?”
A short time and many barbed words later Felix found himself stalking along the Mese in a foul humor, wondering why he had left his own house. It was his house, wasn’t it? Not Anastasia’s.
He had listened to all he could bear about his lack of common human feelings for donkeys. Probably he should not have said he didn’t give a fig if starving beggars were roasting the animal on a spit, although it was true. However, it was she who had said a beast like him should have some compassion for its own flesh and blood.