The Lydian Baker

'I noticed. And I think that, in the immediate future, you should be very careful. Very careful indeed.'

A cold finger touched my spine. Yeah. I'd go along with that. And I'd already met the guy's hit man. Next time it might be a different story. 'So what do we do?'

'Zeus alone knows.' Callippus sighed. 'We've got no proof, and we're not likely to get any. Demetriacus knows that. Dig, I suppose, and see what comes up. But I'm not hopeful.'

Right. That was the problem. Demetriacus was our villain, sure he was: pinning it on the guy was another matter. 'Unless I can find Prince Charming,' I said.

'If the man's in the City or the Piraeus he's keeping his head well down.'

'Yeah. But sooner or later the bastard's got to come up for air.'

Callippus looked at me. 'Maybe so,' he said. 'But if he does then my advice to you is to watch your back.'

I nodded. I meant to, very carefully indeed. Whatever else we'd achieved today, I knew I'd just made myself an enemy.

30

I did Perilla's shopping — a peace offering for the outraged Euelpida and a bag of raisins for Nestor — and then went round to the Eleusinion where I'd arranged for Lysias to pick me up. He was there already, chewing on a plaited bread ring bought from one of the hucksters on the steps. I gave the guy his orders, climbed into the carriage and settled against the cushions to think while we rattled on our merry homeward way.

Okay. So how far had our little tête-à — tête with Demetriacus actually taken us? We knew that Demetriacus was 'Eutyches', or the surviving half of him, anyway. On the other hand, like Callippus had said, just knowing didn't help us much without proof, and getting that was going to be a real pain in the rectum because the guy was smart. Too smart to make any sudden panicky moves, certainly, and now he knew we knew his connection with Prince Charming he'd be careful to keep him under close wraps as well. Maybe even get him out of Athens, if he hadn't done that already…

I ran that last bit past myself again. No, Demetriacus wouldn't send Prince Charming away. Nothing to do with using him to settle scores with me; on sober reflection I reckoned that after our visit I was safer from PC's attentions than I had been for quite some while, because if Corvinus were found face up in the morning dew at this stage of the game then Callippus would come down on his boss like a ton of marble slabs. Which would be the end of Demetriacus. I hadn't been kidding when I'd talked in the cellar about crucifixion. That's one thing about the Roman governing classes; when one of their own gets chopped, even a neverwuzzer like me, they don't stop to take prisoners.

So Prince Charming was still around somewhere, and he'd stay that way until Demetriacus had the Baker. Forget the theory that he wanted it to buy entrance into the Athens top Five Hundred; that was impractical now even if he'd ever considered it. I doubted if he had, seriously, although he might well have used it as a ploy to hook Melanthus: like Callippus had said, he was a businessman first and last, and there were plenty of rich punters in Asia who'd be glad to give it a place in one of their fancy dining rooms with no questions asked. Selling it wouldn't be a problem. The tricky part, from his point of view, was finding it; and to do that he'd have to go through Tiny.

Tiny was the key. If Demetriacus didn't know about him already then we might just win out after all. If he did, then…

That was what was worrying me. This thing had developed into a race in the dark. I'd just have to keep going and hope I was still ahead.

Perilla was upstairs in her own study, where she goes sometimes when she's got serious reading or writing to do and doesn't want to waste part of her brain fielding half-assed comments from me. Sure enough, when I went in she had a book-roll in her hand that you could've used to stun a rhino.

'Oh, you're back.' She kissed me. 'Did you get Euelpida's present?'

'Yeah.' I handed her the ivory plaque I'd picked up in one of the specialist shops on the Panathenaia. 'Look and marvel.'

She looked, and giggled. 'Marcus, I can't give her this! She'd never forgive me!'

'What's wrong with it? I thought Artemis fleeing from Alphaeus was pretty apt.'

'Yes, but…'

'You should've seen some of the others. At least the guy's in proportion.'

That finally got me a grin. 'Corvinus, you're hopeless! I should have gone myself.'

'Too late now.' I brought out the bag of raisins. 'These are for Nestor. If we're very lucky the bastard'll choke on the pips.'

Perilla marked her place in the roll with a slip of paper and set it aside. 'How did your interview with Callippus go? Is he still angry?'

'No. He was okay. Latterly, anyway.' I hesitated. 'And he's found Melanthus. The guy's been dead for days.'

'Oh.' Perilla went very still. 'Oh, dear.'

'Yeah. But at least it clears the ground, and we've got our villain for sure this time.' I told her about the interview with Demetriacus. 'Now all we need is proof.'

'Callippus is reopening the case?'

'He's got no choice.' I sat down on the edge of her couch. 'He'll have backing, too, because Melanthus had important friends. And with luck Demetriacus will slip up somewhere.'

'You think that's possible?'

'Anything's possible.' I told her my latest theory. 'Now Callippus believes he's guilty he won't let go.'

'But, Marcus — ’

There was a knock on the door. I turned round. 'Yeah?'

'I'm sorry, sir.' Bathyllus's voice. 'A visitor.'

'Come in, little guy. We're decent. What visitor?'

Bathyllus stuck his head round the door. 'He's waiting in the street, sir. With his carriage.'

'His carriage?'

'It's that public coach driver, sir.' Bathyllus sniffed. 'He says he has news for you. Something about finding a man you're looking for.'

Shit! Dida had found Prince Charming! I looked at Perilla. She'd gone very pale.

'Marcus, be careful.' She touched my arm. 'Please.'

'Yeah. Yeah, I'll be careful.' I kissed her. 'Maybe things are breaking after all. I'll see you later, lady.'

Dida was grinning.

'Your slave tell you?' he said. 'We've got him, lord.'

'Great! Good work!'

'One of the lads had a fare to Colonus and he spotted him going into a house near the Shrine of Hera. I can take you there now, if you want.'

'Sure.' I was getting in to the carriage when a thought struck me. 'Hold on. I'll be back in a moment.'

Bathyllus was hovering in the hall, making sure I didn't get mugged by the working classes for my sandals. 'Hey, little guy,' I said. 'These two bruisers we use for lugging oil jars. They around?'

'Yes, sir. They'll be in the kitchen, I expect.'

'Dust them down and bring them outside. And roust out a couple of decent clubs.'

'Clubs, sir?' His eyebrows went up to where his hairline would've been, if he'd had one.

'Clubs.' If I was going to pay a visit to Prince Charming I wanted some insurance, and these two were the best policy I could get. 'Preferably with nails in.'

A sniff. 'Clubs with nails in, sir. Certainly, sir. I'll search the broom closets.'

Supercilious bastard. I went back out to Dida.

'Slight delay,' I said. 'We're taking on passengers. Now where did you say our Paphian pal was stashed?'

Dida frowned. 'It's not him, lord. It's the other.'

'The other?' For a moment, I was fazed. Then I remembered. Of course: I'd asked Dida to look out for two men. 'You mean the Ethiopian?'

'Sure. And before you ask, it's definitely a home address because the guy went straight in.'

'Uh-huh. Nice going, friend.' Well, one out of two wasn't bad. And I'd like a few words with Hercules, certainly.

'You wanted us, master?'

The insurance policy had turned up, grinning and fingering very serious damage limitation clauses. Evidently broom closets were more interesting places than I'd thought.