Marcus got up from his chair to come and clap me on the back. ‘Well done, Libertus. You have solved the mystery, as usual. That wretched steward came in here, and crept into the temple secretly. Presumably to meet his friend. .’ He emphasised the word derisively and glanced at Hirsus who was cowering by the door. ‘I still think he was stealing from his master, too — those gifts we saw were too rich for a slave. Someone must have known of that, and threatened to expose him as a thief, so Lucianus murdered him and then exchanged the body for the bones.’ He looked at Hirsus again, and this time his glance was much less friendly. ‘No doubt with help, as Libertus suggested earlier.’
Servir Meritus nodded. He seemed deep in thought. ‘That would make sense, Excellence. Perhaps Trinunculus disturbed him in the act and had to be silenced too, before he talked. Trinunculus was a pleasant fellow but he always had a tendency to say too much. And — I regret to say this — but Hirsus could have been in the grove at the important time. I sent him there myself.’
Hirsus had turned the colour of curdled milk. ‘Excellences, by all the gods I swear — I was not part of this. I did not touch Trinunculus — or the bones. And if Lucianus came to the temple court by night, it wasn’t to see me. That would have been a sacrilege, and besides there are always temple slaves about. I wouldn’t dare!’
But Marcus wasn’t listening. He wore a look of great complacency. ‘Seize him, Libertus!’ he said, and there was little I could do except obey.
Chapter Twenty-five
I seized Hirsus firmly from behind and pinioned him. ‘Well reasoned, Excellence! Of course it had to be a priest!’ I said, struggling to hold my prisoner as he tried to wriggle free. ‘You might send for the centurion and guard, perhaps?’
Marcus nodded and gestured to Aurelia’s page, who was by now the only servant in the room.
‘Where shall I find them, Excellence? In the temple court?’ He sounded frightened, and I could hardly blame him. I remembered how eerie I’d found it myself, crossing the courtyard earlier, and I’d had a companion and a torch. This lad would have neither of those things. But I needed him to go. Hirsus was still protesting violently.
‘Look in the robing room,’ I said. ‘And when you’ve done that — with your permission, lady? — go to the slaves’ waiting room and send my slave to me.’
Aurelia gestured her assent and the boy disappeared. We saw him open the door and disappear into the night, the rain still dancing in the peristyle.
‘By all the gods. .’ Hirsus was struggling in my grasp.
‘Secure him, Meritus,’ I panted. ‘I am an old man and I can’t hold him long.’
The sevir whipped off his embroidered scarf, and made to tie my prisoner up, but Aurelia prevented him.
‘Don’t bind him! Not in my husband’s house!’ she cried.
I nodded. ‘You are quite right, lady. I had forgotten that. Stop struggling, Hirsus.’ I jammed my right arm firmly round his throat. ‘It will do you no good, in any case. There are three of us — four if you count the lady here — and only one of you. The front door is guarded, and there are soldiers in the court. You would not get far, if you escaped.’
He quieted at this, and I relaxed my grip a little, but he had closed his eyes in terror and I could feel him trembling — so much so that I thought he might collapse.
‘It’s time to tell His Excellence the truth,’ I said. ‘There is more behind this than your amorous affairs. The things that Lucianus brought to the shrine — you knew that they were stolen, didn’t you?’
He gulped and nodded. ‘It was not really theft. More like immortal providence. The very day that Optimus had raised the purchase price.’
‘I wondered about that,’ I said, not releasing his arms. ‘You wanted Lucianus. You are a wealthy man. Why didn’t you simply purchase him?’
He twisted round to look at me. ‘I tried. As soon as I’d been elected sub-sevir and found Lucianus again, I went to Optimus and offered for his slave. That was the start of all our troubles. Lucianus had been saving for his price, and had saved up more than half the sum agreed, though Optimus had set it absurdly high.’
‘Face this way, prisoner! You are answering to me!’ Marcus rapped out sharply.
Hirsus did as he was bid, and said no more. He looked thoroughly defeated now.
‘But Optimus saw a chance of making money?’ I suggested.
Hirsus looked at me gratefully. ‘The price went up like a ballista ball, and when I protested he made it clear that if I did not accept his price, he would change his mind and refuse to sell Lucianus at all. I had to agree to his terms eventually, but the cost of being sevir is so high, I knew I couldn’t do it till my term came to an end. I was already facing ruin, with the cost of nomination, and if I didn’t make sufficient contributions to the shrine, I wouldn’t even receive the usual honours when I left.’
Marcus was unsympathetic. ‘That is your own fault entirely. A man should not accept nomination to a post he can’t afford. If you hope to enjoy the homage of the town, the gift of lucrative contracts and the friendship of the great, you must expect to pay for it. Some seviri have even found sponsors and become equites, in time. Naturally the authorities want something in return. That’s why the wealth of offerings in a sevir’s year of tenure directly affects his standing afterwards. What else do you expect? But you seem to show a lack of business sense. If you — a wealthy man — showed interest in buying Optimus’s slave, naturally Optimus increased the price. I would have done the same myself.’
‘So,’ I persisted, ‘the fates took a hand. What was it, Hirsus? An unlooked-for chance that came his way and tempted Lucianus into theft? It must have been something of the kind, to demand such costly acts of penitence. A man in need of money does not repeatedly make gifts unless there is some pressing reason for it — a threat of crucifixion as a highway thief, or worse.’
‘He found a bag, citizen, inside these very temple grounds,’ Hirsus confessed. Meritus gave a derisive snort, but Hirsus protested. ‘He told me so himself, and I believe him. All sorts of goods and jewellery — silver plates, bells, drinking vessels, even coins! Just lying in the grove, he said — as if it had been waiting to be found.’ He gulped. ‘It would have paid the purchase price twice over. We thought it was the hand of fate. If only we had known!’
Marcus was looking thunderous. ‘You knew that was theft, dishonest wretch, even if he found them as he said he did. If a slave discovers something in the street, it becomes his master’s property, not his.’
‘But this was not found on the street. It was found within the temple grounds,’ Meritus put in. ‘Clearly it was intended for the shrine. Those things were costly, highest quality. They would have meant a great deal to my sevirship. That’s why I set him penance as I did.’
Marcus looked at him in astonishment. ‘You knew?’
‘Of course he knew, Excellence,’ I said. ‘Lucianus was his suppliant all along.’
The sevir threw me a furious glance, but his voice was calm. ‘I have been selfish, Excellence, I confess. He came here offering a cup, and I saw at once that he could not have acquired it honestly. I should have denounced him to the authorities then. It was a weakness, but I reasoned that if he gave the items to the temple — where they should have been — that was sufficient punishment. I knew that he was saving for his price.’
‘So you permitted him to pay his debt before the gods by offering these stolen goods before the shrine?’ Marcus sounded reluctantly impressed. ‘Weren’t you afraid the owners would appear and lay claim to their former property? It is customary, after all, for people to nail up curse plates and petitions to the gods, especially when they have mislaid their possessions. And do you believe this story of the bag? More likely he was robbing Optimus.’