“If you get any communication from them at all, let me know. I’ll come over immediately.”
“But if someone sees you-”
This was the difficult part.
“Tell them we’re having an affair.”
The farce of it all overwhelmed her fear long enough for laughter. She laughed for long minutes, drawing out each breath and shaking with it. Finally, they subsided, and she looked at me with half a smile.
“But you don’t want my body. You want my information.”
I grinned back at her.
“No offense. Your body is quite nice-and I’ve seen a lot of them. But my wife…”
She sighed. “She is a beautiful woman. And you love her. I hope she realizes how lucky she is. I’ve always wanted a man who loved me-not just who loved loving me.”
I let myself feel gratified while she watched me with a wistful expression. But hope died hard in Sulpicia, and she got up from the couch with a gleam in her eyes. Suddenly I heard lute music again.
“I’d better go. I have an appointment at the baths.”
She was getting uncomfortably close standing there and was somehow looking much younger than a few minutes ago. Her voice was a purr.
“I’ll send you a message the second I know anything. And I’ll tell you … whatever it is … you want to know.”
I backed out of the room. “We’ll have to talk again. Maybe tomorrow.”
She leaned into me suddenly, and with such force that I had to hold her to keep her upright.
“Anytime, Arcturus. And remember what I said … the offer.”
Her pelvis was slowly gyrating against mine. She put her lips to my ear to whisper, and I felt a nibble.
“I’m still fertile. I could give you anything. Anything, Arcturus. I know … all kinds of things … that can help you … relax.”
I fled the house, my ears full of sandalwood and lute music in my nose.
* * *
Ligur was waiting for me. I hoped Sulis’s miracle water would get the smell of sandalwood out of my hair. I was undressing when I felt a small pluck at my elbow. Aeron.
“Sir-you told me to tell you-”
“Yes?” I said encouragingly.
“There’s a man been here to see you. A priest.”
Calpurnius. “Where did he go?”
“He was asking around to see if anyone saw you come in. I knew he was talking about you from what he said. He went inside-the Great Bath.”
I tipped the boy and walked through the arch. Everyone was already there-I’d missed the fashionable hour again. Grattius splashing on one end, Vitellius stretched out on the pavement near Papirius, Philo leaning against a side of the pool with his eyes closed. Gaius Secundus was on the opposite end from Grattius, with Big Belly and Fish Eye, the two men I’d seen when I first arrived, and a competing gaggle of others I didn’t know.
I saw the gemmarius and Buteo among a less moneyed group, in an overcrowded part of the pool farthest away from the pipe that fed the water. No Calpurnius.
I was hoping to escape notice, but Octavio appeared out of nowhere.
“Arcturus! So glad to see you again!”
He could’ve been heard over Hannibal’s elephants. The poet trying to sing Apollonius looked over at us in irritation, and Grattius bellowed out to me.
“Arcturus! C’mere, my boy, c’mere!”
Octavio escorted me over; Secundus looked around, saw me, and decided to join us. Two duovirs at the same time. You’re such a lucky bastard, Arcturus.
“Arcturus-Grattius. We’ve got to set that census date, Grattius, next session. No gettin’ around it, this time.”
Grattius climbed out of the water, looking like a pimple that needed to pop. “No talking shop, Secundus. You know my baths are sacred.”
The other duovir grunted. “Bring your mare tonight, Arcturus. My stallion can cover her. She sounded like she was in heat.” He nodded at me and Philo, who’d sidled up, before returning to his own territory.
Grattius looked after him with dislike. “You’re having dinner with Secundus? Poor boy. You should stop by my house first so you can eat decently. Secundus thinks everyone should eat like horses. Probably shits in pellets, just like his stallion.”
He guffawed, and a hammy hand slapped his freckled, quivering thigh, leaving a pink suffusion that slowly spread through the white.
“Arcturus-can I speak to you?”
Philo sniffed the air suddenly, and I wondered if I still smelled like Sulpicia. He took me by the arm and led me to the west end, in an alcove near Vitellius and away from Grattius. I could find everyone I didn’t want to see, but no Calpurnius. Where the hell was he?
I was impatient. “What is it?”
Philo studied me for a moment. “It’s your wife.”
My eyes narrowed. “What about her, Philo?”
“She came to see me this afternoon. She asked me not to tell you.”
“She did? But what-why-”
He shook his head. “She’s worried, Arcturus. Overly interested in this Bibax problem, and the Aquae Sulis gossip. It’s not good for her-especially in her condition.”
I tried to keep from exploding and to look like I knew what he was talking about. “What do you suggest, Philo? I chain her to the kitchen stove?”
He smiled and infuriatingly patted me on the back. “Every woman likes excitement, and she’s a woman of tremendous spirit. She told me what you’ve been doing-how you think you’ve stumbled on a series of murders, possibly connected to Bibax. It sounds fantastic, but I’ve seen enough of the world to expect the unexpected. I’ll help in any way I can.”
He looked into my eyes with intensity. “If it’s true, she could be in danger. If it’s not true, the excitement could overstimulate her. I would just-watch her. But there-I’m giving advice that isn’t wanted to a better doctor-and a husband, besides.”
“Thanks for the concern.”
He shrugged. “Not at all. I care about your wife. And you. I’m sure you find that hard to believe, but I do care. The welfare of everyone in Aquae Sulis-visitor or resident-is important to me.”
My back itched. I turned around, and a pair of rodent eyes were peering at me from the western room.
“Excuse me, Philo. Thanks again. We’ll talk soon.”
He stared at me and then turned back toward Vitellius, a slave trailing behind him with a bottle of scented oil.
I walked into the dimmer room with the smaller pool of magic water. Calpurnius was lurking in a niche on the end closest to the Great Bath.
“Where’ve you been? I’ve been waiting!” he hissed.
“You’re early. What’ve you got to tell me?”
He glanced around the stone, which in the murky light looked like the color of old cream.
“I can’t stay much longer. I have to empty the spring tonight.”
“When?”
“Sundown. Senicio and I.”
“Then talk. What did you mean about Bibax and his curses?”
He shrugged. “I think you already know.”
“Maybe I guessed, but you can tell me more. Like what happens to certain offerings-the ones made by former customers.”
His narrow eyes got bigger. “You-how did you-”
“It doesn’t matter how. I’m after three things. One-who Ultor is. Someone being blackmailed? Maybe. Or someone who figured out the game and didn’t like the score.”
He looked increasingly nervous. The pool around us was not quite empty, and someone standing at the other end could still see us talking.
“Two. Who’s behind the Bibax scam. He had a partner, or maybe more than one. The dead don’t collect blackmail.”
Calpurnius was breathing harder, and his knuckles were white.
“Three. I’d like to find out, before I leave, what the hell is wrong with this city. It’s got too many goddamn ghosts.”
He looked up from his lap, where he was holding on to his hands as if they might fall off. There was a curious light in his eyes.
He whispered: “Cui bono?”
I remembered my Cicero but still didn’t understand the reference.