He was not going to explain, I could see.
`Look, Birdy; go home -'
I stopped. He looked at me. He let out a brief hack of bitter mirth. `Oh no!'
I sighed. `No.'
Home was where somebody had almost certainly murdered his father, though as we stood on the praetor's doorstep, for the first time I did feel that it might not have been this ineffectual son who committed the crime. Home was where the mother was, who had devised that crime but who intended to condemn him for it.
I had no choice now. Negrinus had lost all hope – and he had nowhere to go. I took him back again to my house. As we walked there, a heavy feeling descended that I was being sucked into a bottomless black pool in the isolated wastes of the Pontine Marshes.
Still, that must be nothing to the mood of the man beside me.
XVIII
THE CAMILLUS brothers had little expert knowledge, but they had skills to deal with Negrinus: they became lads about town together, though on my advice they did not get him altogether drunk. We wanted him capable of speech. They took him up on to my roof terrace, where the night air grew extremely cold. They began drinking slowly, chatting about nothing as if the day's business was over. Since there were two of them, it was easy to let him imbibe more than they did, while appearing to match him. While he still felt fairly sober, they decided it was chilly, so they all trooped downstairs to a salon, where smoky braziers had created a good warm fug.
Negrinus became drowsy. Justinus had actually fallen asleep when I decided to join them. We all lolled about with winecups pretty much unused on the table. I had a scroll, which I did not bother to read. Aelianus used a soft cushion in an endless pursuit of a small moth, ultimately fruitless because he could not be bothered to raise his backside far from his couch.
It was quiet enough to hear the charcoal sizzling in the braziers. Somewhere in the distance baby Favonia was wailing. I kicked Justinus awake. `How's Claudia, Quintus?' I added for Negrinus, `His wife is about to pod.'
`Nothing's happened,' Justinus answered primly. `She's fed up. I'm nervous… Is yours born yet, Birdy?'
Negrinus shook his head. `I suppose not. I suppose somebody would tell me.'
`Someone would call on you for maintenance!' Justinus assured him.
`Dear Quintus is not even a father yet,' his brother marvelled lazily, lunging again at his moth. `But he has learned the rules… You had a stepson, didn't you, Birdy? Do you think your two will get on with him?'
`Of course they will!' Justinus interrupted, slurring his words gently. `Their fathers are best friends, after all.'
As we had hoped, Negrinus was ready to say more than usual. He was sitting on his couch, feet stretched out, staring at his shoes and soul-searching. `I do love my daughter; I shall love the new one. They are my children… None of this is their fault.'
We all murmured sympathetically.
`They are very young,' Justinus soothed him. `They needn't know anything about it until it's all long past.' He too stared at the floor. Aelianus was hugging the cushion, keeping quite still now. Since they started to work with me, I had taught them to be synchronised at least when playing with suspects. `It's curious, isn't it?' Justinus then mused. `Would you ever have seen this coming? When you were a child? Were you happy?'
`Oh we were happy,' Negrinus answered miserably. `We didn't know. I didn't know,' he repeated. We all assumed he meant the current legal matters were unforeseen. `I want my children to be happy,' he maundered. `Is that too much to ask?'
We gravely assured him the hope was reasonable, then Justinus went out for a pee.
Aelianus nodded after him. `Problems with his wife. All going bad. Same as you.'
Negrinus was drinking again. Aelianus leaned forward and gave him a refill, but neither of us took up our cups. A brazier spluttered and the flame sank. I closed it down and let the room grow darker. `Not me,' said Birdy. `Never went bad – it was bad all along, see. I was set up. No chance. Set upon and set up…' He slumped even more. `But I didn't know anything then.'
Was this the same thing he didn't know, something specific? Or was he just tipsily rambling?
Justinus returned. He must have raced to the kitchen latrine and back, desperate to make sure he missed nothing. Aelianus shot him a look, in case he had made our confider lose the thread.
`Who set you up then, Birdy?'
`Somebody!' An adolescent retort. He sounded drunk, but not for the first time I experienced a feeling that this man was armoured unexpectedly. He looked around our group with a challenge, though his attitude was amiable. `Now listen, you naughty fellows – this is my private life!' He collapsed again. `Private life… A man has to have a private life, if he is to have a public life. Have to be married. I had to get married. So I married Saffia.'
`Your best friend's wife?' I queried lightly.
`My best friend!' he exclaimed. `My worst friend too…' We were losing him. Suddenly he revived again. `Tested!' he barked. `Knew what she was like, you see.'
`Were you happy with that?' Was Lutea, I wondered. If Lutea's marriage to Saffia had foundered for some reason, would he have wanted to see his friend pick up his departing wife? Or did Saffia actually fall for Negrinus first, so causing the Lutea marriage to fold? It seemed unlikely. Lutea would not have stayed on good terms with her.
`I was happy!' Negrinus retorted expansively. `She was very happy!'
`But it's over now?' nudged Justinus gently.
Negrinus stopped. Now we really had lost him. `Everything is over,' he explained to us in a hollow voice. `Everything is gone for me. I have nothing, I am nothing -'
`Bear up! I was wondering where you can stay,' I said, sounding as helpful as possible. I had decided I could not bear him filling our house with his unhappiness and his lofty attitude. Not now I knew how much he drank. I would not be put under obligations by a weak willed aristocrat whose name was a Forum byword. It was always possible this man made a habit of dropping hemlock into the householder's dinner. `What about your pal? Wouldn't Lutea give you houseroom for a while?'
'No, I can't go there -' His tone was blank. He gave no reason; he was unaccountable to us. I resented the way we were treated like his slaves sometimes. He was in my winter salon; he was drinking my wine. He was making away with a lot of it too.
Justinus pushed him. `But he is your best friend!'
When Birdy just shrugged, Aelianus asked rather pointedly, `Don't you have any other friends?'
At last he responded. `Oh, I'll find someone,' Birdy agreed offhandedly.
After a moment, Justinus came at him again, wickedly. `Your ex-wife has a nice apartment. Lutea arranged it for her, apparently. You should see if he can find another for you!'
Negrinus gave us a swift, rather bitter smile. He dismissed the suggestion without bothering to comment.
`Have you and Lutea fallen out?' I asked him bluntly.
`Oh no. Lutea loves me!' The reply was ambiguous. It was said with some feeling, but could be either truth or a flash of rueful irony. `Don't worry,' he assured us (trying to make me feel bad). 'I'll move on. I'll find a lodging. I won't be in your way – or anyone's…' His misery, or the drink, overcame him again. `Oh gods – what am I going to do? I have nothing – I don't even know who I am any more!'
`No, no! Stop saying that,' urged Justinus, our young idealist `Don't give in, if you are innocent. Defend yourself!'
Negrinus looked around our group. Like a man falling off a ladder I saw the impact coming. `I need someone to help me. I think you people should take on my defence.'
We were all silent momentarily.
It was Aelianus who spoke first, saving the situation for us all. Having a traditionalist on the staff grated sometimes, but freeing us from nonsense because the nonsense broke rules was a useful business tool. `It is inappropriate for us. We don't do court cases. I'm sorry. We do not have defensive expertise.'