Alexandria

by Lindsey Davis

  He bustled along like a worried rabbit and had reached his office when I caught up. I tapped his shoulder to hold him up, in the classic Forum manner. I went straight to the point: 'Philetus! Don't I know that man I just saw you with?'

  He looked annoyed. 'It's Diogenes, a scroll collector. He makes a menace of himself, trying to sell us works we don't want or need. Poor Theon was always trying to get rid of him.'

  'Diogenes,' I repeated, chewing it over slowly, the way people memorise names. The Director was now trying to shake me off, determined not to let me indoors with him. We stood on the steps of his building like a couple of pigeons having a stand-off over a scatter of stale crumbs. He was just puffing up his feathers to look big. I was manoeuvring to get at the barley cake. 'I wanted to ask you about scrolls.' I made my voice casual. 'Explain about the time poor Theon discovered all those Library scrolls on the midden-heap. Somebody told me you had ordered it.'

  'Just a minor housekeeping exercise,' Philetus sniffed. 'Theon was not there and his staff went to extremes.' Trust Philetus to coerce juniors and then blame them. The weakest kind of management. 'When Theon found out and he outlined his reasons for keeping the documents, naturally I bowed to his expertise.'

  'What were you trying to do - save money?'

  Philetus looked abstracted. He was behaving like a man who had realised he might have left a lit oil lamp in an unattended room. I smiled at him reassuringly. That really scared him.

  'So! That was Diogenes...' I murmured, as if it was highly significant. Then I could not bear Philetus and his vacillations any longer so I let the bastard go.

  Thalia was with Philadelphion, the Zoo Keeper, though he left as I was approaching. They had been hanging over a fence and looking at a group of three young lions, just bigger than cubs, the long-bodied male starting to show a ridge of rough fur where his mane was coming, the two females having rumbustuous play-fights.

  I said I hoped I had not driven Philadelphion away.

  'No, he had to get on, Falco. Things to do and he's short-handed. Chaereas and Chaeteas have gone to their grandfathers funeral.'

  'So people still use that tired excuse for a free day off?'

  'Well, it's better than ''got a stomach upset'', even if you can only use it twice.'

  'Informers don't have that luxury - nor you, nor anybody self-employed.'

  'No, it's funny how your stomach goes back to normal very quickly when you don't have any choice.'

  'Talking of upsets, are you fit, Thalia?' I asked affectionately. 'You seemed a bit off-colour yesterday morning.'

  'Nothing wrong with me.'

  'Sure? Not that I would blame you after Sobek's escapade -'

  'Leave it, Falco!'

  'Fine.'

  I changed the subject and reconfirmed with Thalia her impression of the zoo's financial health. She reckoned they had plenty of money. They could purchase any animals they wanted; there was no pressure over fodder and accommodation bills; the staff seemed happy, which meant there were enough of them and they were well treated.

  'Sounds satisfactory... Are you buying those lions?'

  'I think so.'

  'They are beautiful. You're bringing them to Rome?'

  'A lot of beautiful animals will be having a very short visit to Rome, Falco. When the new amphitheatre opens, thousands will be slaughtered. Why should I lose out? If I don't take these three, someone else will - or, since the zoo cannot keep too many full-size lions, they will end up in one of the arenas in Cyrenaïca or Tripolitania. Don't weep for them, Falco. They were doomed from the day they were captured as cubs.'

  I was musing aloud: 'Could the zoo be involved with some scam - procuring wild beasts for arenas?'

  'No. Stop fantasising,' Thalia told me frankly. 'There is no scam. Traders and hunters acquire rare beasts down south and in the interior. They show good specimens to the zoo first. That's what they have always done, since the pharaohs. If the zoo turns them down, the hunters move on to sell elsewhere.'

  'And your three lions?'

  'Were kept here as a public attraction while they were cute cubs. Now they are a handful and Philadelphion is glad I'll take them.'

  'I'd better go and find him,' I said, concluding our conversation. 'I have to ask the silver-haired charmer whether one of his colleagues might want to kill him.'

  'Scram then,' rasped Thalia.

  'I don't suppose you know anything about the Zoo Keeper's love life?'

  'Wouldn't tell you, even if I did!' replied Thalia, laughing coarsely.

  Well, that sounded more like her old self.

  XL

  I tracked down Philadelphion. 'I won't keep you long. I hear your men are at a funeral...' He gave it a nod, but made no other comment. 'What are they - brothers?'

  'Cousins. What do you want, Falco?' He was terse. Perhaps he felt harassed, having to slop out enclosures and heave around feed buckets. When I found him, he had his sleeves rolled up to the armpits, straw in his hair and was doling out fruit to the baby elephant.

  I asked if it was true that he had quarrelled with Roxana the day Heras died. Philadelphion denied it. I said there was supposed to be a feud between him and the lawyer Nicanor, with Nicanor making threats to steal Philadelphion's mistress. 'Roxana herself told me. And I know he is determined to defeat you in the race to become Librarian - using any unfair means.'

  'You think that pumped-up dandy let out my crocodile? Sobek would have crunched him up on the enclosure ramp.'

  'That then raises this question, Philadelphion: did you suspect Roxana might be meeting a rival at the zoo - so did you let Sobek out?' Philadelphion guffawed but I kept at it: 'You would know how to do it. Did you think Roxana was meeting Nicanor, and was he supposed to die?'

  'Falco, what kind of world do you live in?'

  'Sadly, one where it is necessary for me to insist you tell me where you were the night young Heras was killed.'

  'I told you before. Working in my office.'

  'Yes, that's what you said.' I toughened up. 'Now let's have the truth.' I was sick of being treated like a dunce. I was sick of traipsing to and fro across this magnificent complex just so one arrogant scholar after another could think he was bamboozling me. 'I've heard false alibis before. Stop prevaricating. A thirty-foot crocodile escaped and savagely killed an innocent young boy. Heras was flirting with your lady love - who had lured him here to annoy you. What do you and Roxana want - the army to arrest you both for perverting the course of justice?

  Either you cough up what really happened or you'll be in custody within the hour. Your affair will be exposed and it will finish your chances of becoming Librarian. The Director will be absolutely thrilled to drop you.'

  'Flirting with Heras?' Philadelphion interrupted, apparently amazed.

  'My source is impeccable.'

  'I know nothing about that.'

  'So what do you know?'

  'Does Roxana say this happened?'

  'Roxana denies it.'

  'Well -'

  'That clinches it for me. She's a lying little madam. She and Heras had an assignation; I have an independent witness who knows it was pre-arranged. So Roxana is a liability for you - and a suspect for me. Forget being wounded by her skittish behaviour and confess what went on that day'

  Philadelphion straightened up. 'Roxana and I quarrelled, yes. It was about Nicanor. The minx uses his interest in her to cajole me into spending more time with her, bigger presents, better outings...' 'Minx' was too soft. Still, better men had been bewitched by cunning Egyptian temptresses. 'This business with the shortlist has just brought everything to a head over Nicanor. I loathe the man; I make no secret of that. 'The Zoo Keeper shook his head in wonderment. 'But I don't see, Falco, why Roxana would have been with somebody like Heras -'

  I could see it. 'Because she wanted to make you sorry for something. If she had encouraged Nicanor instead, he would have been very difficult to shed once she finished with him. A woman of Roxana's perception would know n
ot to use Nicanor as a temporary dupe. With him, it would be all or nothing. Toy with such a man, and the consequences would be grim. Heras, though, poor Heras seemed a safe plaything.'

  'Roxana is not like that.'

  'She is as tough as an army nail,' I said. 'And trouble. Take my advice - dump her.'

  'Oh but she's such a pretty little thing!' wheedled the Zoo Keeper. I nearly decided the Director was right: this man's judgement was faulty. Still, if candidates were turned down just because they were linked with unsuitable women, no high positions in the Empire would ever be filled.

  The baby elephant was not receiving its fruit fast enough. It began to circle us with its tiny trunk in the air, trumpeting petulantly. If Hannibal had used such little creatures in the Carthaginian armies, the Roman legions would have stood their ground going 'Coo, aren't they cute?' - though only until the babies came at them. This one was half my height but he carried enough weight to make us scamper out of his way when he charged.

  We took refuge behind a fence. As a way to interview a suspect, it was not ideal.

  The Zoo Keeper made a feeble joke about how sweet they were when their ears flapped. Then, crouching out of the little elephant's sight, he knuckled under and confessed: Roxana had been spiky because she thought he was playing around with another woman.

  'What other woman?'

  'Oh, nobody'

  I groaned. As a couple Philadelphion and Roxana seemed made for each other. Both tangled themselves in complications. But according to him, Roxana was ridiculous to doubt him. He maintained his complete innocence and her irrational fears - right up to the point when he decided to admit that after all, he did have an alibi for the night Heras died. I could hardly believe his effrontery; he came out and said it was Thalia.

  I went back to see Thalia.

  'Oh you again, Falco!'

  'Routine enquiries... Can you confirm for me, please, that two nights ago a certain Philadelphion, Zoo Keeper of this locality was - as he is now claiming - engaged with you for several hours in innocent discussion of an animal he calls a catoblepas?'

  Thalia looked vague. 'Oh yes; now you mention it, we might have been.'

  I seethed. 'Never mind what in Hades is a catoblepas -'

  She drew herself up. This was always impressive. 'A kind of wildebeest, Falco.'

  'Philadelphion called it legendary'

  'Maybe yes, maybe no.'

  'This strange dispute kept you entertained all evening?'

  'He refused to see it my way. He told me what he thinks - and I put him straight. The beast hails from Ethiopia, has the head of a buffalo and the body of a hog - or is it the other way around? The name means it looks downwards, anyway. Rumour says its horrible stare or its breath can either turn people into stone or kill them.'

  'That sounds like rubbish.'

  'In my opinion,' replied Thalia, 'with which, when I put it to him properly, the Zoo Keeper agreed, a catoblepas is the same as the bloody big antelope I know as a gnu.'

  'A what?'

  'A g-n-u.'

  'Fabulous...' I controlled my lungs, while wishing my breath could kill people. 'So you pair were locked in debate about the origins of this suppositions creature for how long?'

  'Suppositions? Don't come here with your big words, Falco.'

  'How long?'

  'Oh... about four hours,' wheezed Thalia.

  'Don't even begin to hope I'll believe that.'

  'Falco, when I visit Alexandria, we always observe the customs of the desert. Perhaps we aren't actually in the desert - but it's close enough. So most of the time the Keeper and I were sitting cross-legged in my tent, having a respectable bowl of mint tea.'

  'Mint tea? Is that what they call it around here?' I demanded caustically.

  'You do go on, Falco.'

  'I know you of old. You said most of the time. And the rest?'

  'What do you think?'

  'I think I feel sorry for Davos.'

  'Davos isn't here to complain. Jason got a bit jealous - snakes can be touchy - but he knows it wasn't serious and he's all right about it now...'

  'When I first asked, you implied you hardly knew Philadelphion.'

  'Oh, did I?'

  'Don't mess me about. I assume you have in fact known him well for years?'

  'Professional contact.Since before his hair went white.'

  'Roxana presumably knows that. So her suspicions of him were fully justified?'

  'Oh Roxana!' Thalia grumbled. 'Can't she overlook a little bit of fun between old friends?'

  'Your ''fun'' got a boy killed by mistake.'

  Then a shadow did darken Thalia's face. Whatever her attitude to adult behaviour, she always had tender feelings for the young.

  XLI

  This was turning into a drear morning. Either people gave me the run-around or they came clean with stories I preferred not to know.

  Next, I tracked down the lawyer. That was never going to cheer me up.

  Only a fool would expect Nicanor to confess to anything. I knew if he did, there would be some tricky technicality that would get him off - probably with me looking stupid. I was spared that: he denied everything. According to him, he had never looked at Roxana and had no desire to beat Philadelphion to the librarianship. 'Let the best man win, I say!'

  I asked if he had any kind of alibi for the night Heras died. Again, I was wasting my breath. Nicanor declared he had been alone in his room at the Museion. Since he was a lawyer, he knew this was completely useless. His arrogance made me wish I had the key to the padlock on Sobek's enclosure and a goat to lure the crocodile out to eat Nicanor.

  That made me wonder who did have the key to the padlock. I wasted more time returning to the zoo to ask, only to remember I had been told. Philadelphion had one complete set of keys which was with him in Thalia's tent when they were 'drinking mint tea'. The other set hung in his office for the use of his staff. Chaereas and Chaeteas would have taken it when they visited Sobek to tuck him up for the night but they said they returned it. However, while Philadelphion was dallying the office had remained open, so anybody could have removed the keys again.

  I asked about the half-goat. Food for various carnivores came from local butchers, generally unsold stock that was on the turn. Until use, it was stored in a shed, which was kept locked to prevent the poor stealing the meat for food. The key was on the same bunch that was kept in the office.

  Disheartened, I went to dig out Aulus, to take him for a late lunch.

  Helena Justina arrived with the same idea as I was walking to the Library. We all went together, along with Pastous, who took us to a fish restaurant he recommended. I calmed down on the walk there. There was really no need for Helena to send me that look of hers saying, Do not tell Pastous your opinion of lousy foreign fish restaurants. Which is: that you can never tell what anything is because fish have different names everywhere; that the waiters are trained to be rude and blind and diddle change; and that eating fish abroad is the fast way to experience whatever killing diarrhoea that town is famous for. Pastous was right, however. It was a good restaurant. It had enthralling views over the Western Harbour, where the mist had cleared today and we could see the Lighthouse. Among more mysterious names were recognisable varieties - shad, mackerel and bream.

  While we were eating, Aulus and Pastous told Helena and me what they had managed to deduce from the old man's note-tablets. They were full of complaints. Nibytas had left a haphazard jumble. His handwriting was particularly difficult. Not only did he run words together without spaces, but his cursive frequently deteriorated into little more than one long squiggly line. Sometimes, too, he used the papyrus back-side up.

  'You know papyrus, Falco,' Pastous explained, as he spoke adeptly taking apart a fish he had called a tilapia. 'It is made by cutting thin strips of reed, then placing two layers crossways; the first goes top to bottom, the next is placed on top of it, running from side to side. These layers are compressed until they coalesce; to make a scroll,
sheets are glued together so each overlaps the one on its right. For preference, people then write on the side with the grain running sideways and the joins easy to cross. This is smooth for the pen, but if you reverse it, your nib constantly hits ridges. Your writing is rough and your ink blurs.'

  I let him tell me all this, though in fact I knew it. I must have been enjoying my lunch so much it mellowed me. 'So Nibytas was becoming confused?'

  'Obviously had been for years,' declared Aulus.

  'And could you make any sense of what he was doing?' asked Helena.