This time I stood back and let him lead the way inside while I watched him carefully. It had not escaped me that he might know more about this than he would have me think. He would have unquestioned access to the house and grounds and there was something in his manner which I found disquieting.
But perhaps I was wrong to be suspicious. His reactions in the gatehouse seemed genuine enough. There was already a faint, unpleasant odour in the air and I saw Georgicus hesitate as he caught a whiff of it and when he pressed on to the interior his shock appeared unfeigned.
‘Dear gods!’ He whirled to face me. ‘I think you’re right about him being dead a day. You said you found him hanging. This is exactly as he was when you first got here earlier?’
I nodded. It hadn’t occurred to me that it might be otherwise, until Georgicus turned to me and said, ‘Well, it seems my missing land-slaves haven’t been here, anyway. I wondered if they might have wandered up here after all, since we didn’t get our usual warm meal yesterday. The first day we were down there, they sent us a stew to heat, but last night there was no sign of anyone. There were some grumblings, as you might expect, but we had sufficient bread and cheese in any case, and since we had the hens there, we ate some eggs as well.’
‘The kitchens sent no food down, and you didn’t question that?’
He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘Citizen, we’re land-slaves. It’s not our place to ask. We’d been warned that it might happen, because even the kitchen staff were being asked to help to load the carts. So, though we didn’t like it, we were stuck with it. We’re always the last ones to be fed in any case, and we’d had our strict instructions and we adhered to them. Mind you, I am not saying that I would not have come and made a fuss if nothing had arrived for us today. That’s why I wondered if my missing slaves had been here — but obviously not.’
‘Surely, they would have come and told you what they’d found.’ I glanced up at the corpse.
‘I suspect they would have cut him down first and taken him away — if only to prevent his spirit haunting them.’
‘Taken him — where to?’ I was surprised at that.
He nodded. ‘There’s a hut out in the courtyard where dead slaves are always laid until someone can make contact with the Guild of Slaves who will arrange a decent funeral for them. The master sees to that. He pays the subscription dues for all of us. I thought you would have known that, citizen.’
‘I had forgotten,’ I told him truthfully. ‘Though Marcus did tell me that he always paid the dues, so no one’s ghost would have to walk the earth because their body has no proper resting place.’ I sounded sanctimonious, even to myself.
Georgicus glanced at the gently swaying body on the rope. ‘That would not apply to suicides, of course. But this is not a suicide, you think?’
‘I am sure of it,’ I told him ‘You will see the hands are chained.’ I was childishly pleased to have the chance to point out something he had not observed himself.
He had to go around the back to check that I was right. He examined the arrangement silently a moment, and then said, ‘So someone strung him up. Yet gatekeepers like this are valuable things. I wonder that the robbers did not take him too, and sell him on.’
I shook my head. ‘When they had finished in the villa and took the stuff away, I think they simply disposed of any servants who could inform on them.’
‘So if the staff had consisted solely of illiterate deaf-mutes, perhaps they would have lived?’ He raised that brow again. For a man who was looking at a colleague’s corpse, I thought, he seemed remarkably unmoved. ‘I suppose you may be right,’ he said at last.
‘But …?’ I prompted. ‘You do not sound convinced. You see some flaw in my theory, I presume.’
He shrugged his powerful shoulders. ‘We all believed the movement of the goods was done at Marcus’s command. And slaves are merely objects, anyway, in law, simply part of the chattels belonging to the house.’ His tone was cynical. ‘If the villa was to be vacated and the furniture removed, no slave would think it strange if they were taken off and sold. I would not have questioned it if I were sold myself, vineyard or no vineyard. And most of this household were quite expensive slaves. So why did the thieves not take them to the slave-market, at least, and make a little extra profit on the side?’
I shook my head. ‘I think they thought they couldn’t take the risk. The slaves were sure to talk about their former home. To their new masters or to tradesmen calling at the house.’
‘And who listens to a slave?’
‘No one at first, perhaps, but that would change when Marcus got back home. He’d be shouting in the forum that his slaves and goods were gone — and people would start listening then, I’m sure. Once it was clear that the letter was a fraud, there’d be an outcry in the town, and the slave could doubtless describe the culprits perfectly. They could not be permitted to survive.’
‘You think these thieves are local people, then, if such a description could lead to their arrest?’ Georgicus sounded frankly sceptical. ‘I would doubt that. If Marcus ever catches up with them, they would be lucky if their death was merciful.’
‘Yet they have to be people who know Marcus, don’t you think?’ I pointed out. ‘And fairly well at that. Well enough not only to know he is away, but also to be familiar with the contents of the house. Otherwise this robbery could not have arranged.’
He thought for a moment. ‘You’re right. Though it only requires one person to have that knowledge, I suppose. The same might not be true of all of them.’ That concession to my viewpoint earned me a half-smile. ‘And I suppose we are agreed that there were several of these men? That no one person could have done all this alone?’
I nodded. ‘Five or six of them at least. And very likely armed.’ I thought of the beheaded corpses in the orchard. ‘Swords and daggers, at the very least. And clubs as well, I shouldn’t be surprised.’
‘So how in the name of all the gods did they get in?’ He furrowed his weather-beaten brow again and nodded at the corpse. ‘There were keepers at the gates! Large men with weapons, like this unfortunate. I can see that he would let in people that he thought had come to work — carters and wagoners and that sort of thing — but he would never have admitted a gang of men with swords. Not without a struggle anyway. But look at him. There is no sign of wounds. He doesn’t even look as if he’s fought with anyone. And the household staff were to load the carts themselves. It isn’t as if they needed extra men for that.’ He shook his head again. ‘So perhaps the carters did it and then let the others in. Though how many carters do you think there must have been to overcome a household full of slaves? And they must have had weapons. Yet, that must be the solution. The gates have not been forced.’
I let him work all through it before I intervened. ‘But, Georgicus,’ I said patiently, though not unwilling to demonstrate he hadn’t thought it fully out, ‘no one sends wagon-loads of treasure on the road without a guard. The servants — including the gatekeepers, of course — would have expected Marcus to arrange an escort for the trip. So the arrival of armed guards would not come as a surprise. In fact, it’s just what you’d anticipate.’
He made a reluctant gesture of acknowledgement. ‘So the gatekeepers would let them in! And once inside … I see!’ He gave me a long, appraising look, as though reassessing my abilities. Then with a grimace he shook his head. ‘By Dis, these men were clever. I like this less and less.’
‘You’ll like it less still when you see what’s lying in the orchard field,’ I said. ‘Come and I’ll show you.’ And I began to lead the way around the back.
EIGHT
The pile of sorry corpses made my throat go dry again and this time even Georgicus looked shocked. ‘Dear Ceres! You are quite right! All of them are dead. Who would have thought those people would do anything like this?’ The words seemed shaken from him.