Pliny made a temple of his fingers and rested his chin. “There’s death, Didymus, and then there’s death. I can spare your family the ignominy of a crucifixion. I can omit confiscating your property. You can’t expect more than that.”
“Can’t I?” The little man was on his feet, spittle flying from his lips. “Will you have me strangled in the dungeon? That’s a nice example of Roman justice! Or will you put me on trial and have it all come out, how your procurator has looted the province for two years? I’m sure your emperor will congratulate you for that!”
“Lictors!” Pliny shouted. Suddenly, he couldn’t bear the sight of this man. Galeo and two others who had been waiting in the antechamber rushed in. “Get him out of here!”
Suetonius crossed the room and put a hand on Pliny’s shoulder, easing him back in his chair. He could feel his chief trembling.
Chapter Thirty-eight
“A modest celebration,” said Pliny, touching his napkin to his lips, “seems in order.”
“Hear, hear,” Nymphidius said, lifting his glass, and was echoed by the other staff officers, and Zosimus, and Calpurnia, all reclining round the remains of a frugal luncheon.
“So the banker is the murderer after all?” said Calpurnia. “Who could have imagined it?” She gave her husband a smile that did not rise to her eyes. Tired eyes. The eyes of someone to whom sleep was almost a stranger. “What will you do with him?”
“For the moment, nothing. I will write the emperor for instructions, lay out everything I’ve discovered. I don’t relish it. In the meantime, I intend to issue a statement and have it read out in the assemblies of all the cities that Didymus has confessed to the murder of Balbus because of a personal grudge and is being held for trial. I will say nothing about Balbus’ involvement with stolen taxes. I’m not ready to make that public yet. Eventually we must tell the cities how they were cheated and make restitution, but I will happily lay all that in Trajan’s lap. I have sent a dispatch to Gavius Bassus, the Prefect of the Pontic Shore, in Sinope to place all our ship captains under house arrest until I have the leisure to interrogate them. Meanwhile all of you will say nothing about this to your subordinates or your wives. Is that understood?”
Suetonius gazed glumly into his wine cup. “Sophronia almost certainly knew about Balbus’ stealing tax money and had good reason to suspect Didymus of killing him, but she preferred to see her brother Argyrus go to his death for it rather than tell us the truth.”
Pliny agreed. “I’ve already ordered Argyrus’ release. We will leave that charming pair to their own devices.”
“Worse luck for you,” Marinus leered maliciously at Suetonius, whose dalliance with the lady was the subject of gossip among the staff. Suetonius ignored him.
Aquila gestured with a chicken leg. “Couldn’t we just blame it all on Silvanus? We’re going to execute him anyway. Wouldn’t look as bad as a corrupt procurator.”
“An unworthy suggestion,” Pliny frowned. “No, this province has seen two corrupt governors already in the past ten years. We will survive a corrupt procurator too when the time comes.”
“How long can it be kept secret?” Marinus said. “Young Aulus already has some suspicion, and I’m not convinced Fabia doesn’t know something about what her husband was getting up to.”
“Maybe, but they are the least likely to talk about it. I dread the day when it does all come out and Aulus has to endure the public humiliation.”
“You care for the boy, don’t you?” Calpurnia said.
“I do. He has courage. When I told him I wanted him to confront his father’s killer, he didn’t hesitate for a moment, even though it might bring on a seizure.”
“Which it did,” Marinus said. “A bad one. He’s still sleeping it off.”
“I’m fond of him too,” said Calpurnia. “I’m glad you brought him to my lesson, although he sat there the whole time staring either at his feet or at me. I’m afraid poor Timotheus was quite disconcerted.”
Pliny’s heart leapt. Was there something here at last that they could agree on? Some small opening for rebuilding a relationship strained to the breaking point? He covered her hand with his; he didn’t risk speaking.
“The money,” Caelianus protested with the outrage of a born accountant. “Where did it all go?”
“When we know that,” Pliny answered, “we will know everything. Balbus’ murder has done no more than lift a corner of the veil that covers his crime. In general, there’s no doubt where it went. Didymus was merely a conduit for money which has found its way into the hands of rich men to invest in building schemes out of which they make even more money. Once the money’s spent it can’t be traced. It’s like-like…” he paused, searching for an image.”
“Like sending a soiled toga to the fullery?” Zosimus suggested with his customary diffidence. “It goes in spotted and comes out clean.”
“Brilliant, my boy!” said Pliny. “Like laundering money! A very apt metaphor indeed.”
“And,” said Suetonius, “one could easily make a list of the likely recipients. But proving it is another thing.”
“Is there no way to make Didymus talk?” Calpurnia asked.
Pliny gave a helpless shrug. “If the man is willing to die rather than expose his family to the wrath of the others, and the Sun-Runner, I don’t know what I can do to change his mind.”
“With good reason,” Suetonius added. “If Didymus didn’t murder the high priest Barzanes then there’s another murderer out there and he must be desperate, thinking what the banker might tell us. I trust he’s safely stowed away where even this mysterious Sun-Runner can’t get at him?”
“I’ll double the guard on his cell,” said Pliny. “Mehercule, I almost feel like we’re fighting a ghost!”
“And you must be careful too, Gaius. I’m afraid for you.” Calpurnia touched his arm.
“Now, now, nothing at all to worry about, my dear.” And again his heart leapt.
“So now we just wait to see what will happen next?” said Nymphidius without enthusiasm.
“What I propose to do,” Pliny replied, “is resume my tour of the province.”
“What?” Marinus was alarmed. “You’re exhausted, man. As your physician I can’t-”
“Nonsense. Do me a world of good to get back to my proper work again. The weather’s turned unseasonably mild again and I shall take advantage of it. Look, we’ve solved Balbus’ murder and that’s all anyone outside this room needs to know. If I continue to hang around Nicomedia people will start to wonder why. No, I’ve made up my mind to set out tomorrow, in fact. Suetonius, as before, I leave you in charge of things here. ’Purnia, I hope you’ll keep a kindly eye on Aulus, he-I say, ’Purnia…”
***
The next morning
Calpurnia sat at her dressing table while Ione brushed her hair with long, vigorous strokes.
“’Purnia, this is your chance! But no more hanging about the temples, please. I’ll take him another letter if you want.”
“Oh, Ione, I’ve given up. It’s over,” she lied. She’d been badly frightened when she learned that Zosimus had spoken to her husband about Ione. Maybe the girl would never let anything slip, but the less she knew now the better.
“You don’t mean that.” There was an edge to Ione’s voice; something almost accusing in her tone.
“I’m afraid I do.”
“But-“
“I’m actually not feeling very well today, dear. I’ll spend the day alone with a book. You may leave me now.” With her back to her, Calpurnia could not see that look that passed over Ione’s face. And if she had, could she have guessed what lay behind it?
“As you wish, Mistress.”
Calpurnia had lain awake most of the night while Pliny snored peacefully beside her. In the past month, since she had seen him for that brief moment in the temple of Zeus, she had, indeed, struggled to forget Agathon, had almost persuaded herself that she could. How foolish! She was powerless-a weak, fooli
sh woman, a slave to her love, her need. She must see him again, only once, she told herself, just once so that they might part friends. But she knew this was a lie. She would send him another message. Not like the last one, complaining, threatening-of course, he hadn’t answered her. No, she would be dignified, reasonable-but not cold, no, she would tell him how much she loved him, she would ask him to spare her an afternoon, an hour even, to be with him. But who would deliver her note? If not Ione, then who? One of the household slaves? Could she trust any of them to keep her secret? They were Pliny’s slaves, not hers. She thought for a long time and then she knew whom she would entrust it to. She’d never asked him for a favor but why should he refuse? People like him were useful for this sort of thing. Of course she was taking a risk, but that would be true no matter what she did. She would go out of her way to be charming to him today.
***
Timotheus sat in his chamber-the mean, shabby little chamber they had given him for his quarters-and eyed the pair of tablets, bound with cord and sealed, that she had placed in his hands, smiling (when had she ever done that before?) and asking, oh so prettily, if he wouldn’t mind delivering it to a certain town house. Messenger boy! It had come to this. Bad enough he had to live on their scraps, but to be sent on a slave’s errand! What should he do with the thing? He would not stoop to opening and reading it himself. He was a gentleman, after all. But just possibly his patron Diocles would find it interesting. Wasn’t it for precisely this that he had been put here?
***
The 4th day before the Kalends of December
“Ah, darling Agathon, don’t stop! I’m dying!” Thais straddled him, brushing his face with her breasts as he thrust into her.
The rays of the setting sun pouring through his bedroom window gave the girl’s skin a golden sheen, struck red highlights in her tangled hair. She was his favorite hetaera and this was the climax of a long, lazy afternoon of drinking, dicing, and love-making.
Abruptly shattered by sounds of scuffling in the entrance hall below them.
The voice of Baucis, “Matrona, no, I’ve orders not to-please, matrona, you can’t-” and another voice demanding to be let in. A voice he knew too well. Gods! Agathon heaved the girl off him, sending her sprawling on the floor. “Quick! Get your clothes on.” He pushed her through a curtain into a side chamber. He struggled into his tunic, smoothed the bedclothes as best he could. And when Calpurnia burst through the door he was sitting in his chair with a scroll in his lap to cover his still swollen organ, forcing himself to breathe slowly.
With one motion she flung off her hooded cloak, ran to him and threw herself at his feet. He recoiled. Could this be the same woman he had once imagined he loved? It had been six weeks or more since he had seen her at the Roman procurator’s funeral, and the change in her was astonishing: her face a dead white, the chin and cheekbones sharp where there had once been soft flesh, and the eyes-the eyes, big and haunted, looking out at him from dark hollows.
Her voice thick with tears, “I waited two days for your answer. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“Answer to what?”
“Please don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. Here now, get up, don’t do that.” She wrapped her arms around his knees like a suppliant before the statue of a god. “Look, you can’t come here. Your husband-”
“He’s gone! He’ll be gone for weeks. Now is our chance! Tell me you love me. I know you do, you must. You were only frightened, I understand.”
“Calpurnia, it’s over.”
“You don’t mean that! Let me be your Callirhoe again, let me love you.” She rucked up his tunic, uncovering him, put her head between his legs. In spite of himself, he swelled again. And sweet little Thais, hidden from them by only the thin fabric of a curtain, was momentarily forgotten. He drew her up and carried her to the bed, still warm from that other body…
When they had finished making love, she lay dreamily with her head on his chest and only then began to take in her surroundings. On the bedside table a tray of half-eaten pastries and two goblets. She sat bolt upright, looking around wildly. “Who’s here?”
“What? No one. One of my chums dropped by, left hours ago.”
Slowly, she lay down again. “I want to stay here all day and all night,” she murmured.
Did he hear a stirring behind the curtain? “Don’t be silly, ’Purnia, they’ll be missing you soon. You have to go now.”
“Say you love me again.”
“I love you, I do. Now you have to go.”
“I’ll come again tomorrow.”
“I’m leaving for the country tomorrow. My parents are complaining they haven’t seen me in months. I’ll be away for a week or more.” This was, in fact, the truth, though if it hadn’t been he would have said it anyway.
“Oh, too long!” she cried. “I have an idea.” She took his face between her hands, her lips parted eagerly. “We’ll spend a day in the country, where you took me once before. You can get away, can’t you? We’ll have a whole day to ourselves. We’ll be nymphs and satyrs in the woods. You are a satyr, my beautiful young satyr!”
Anything to be rid of her. And why not? It would be preferable to a day spent listening to a lecture from his father about the planting of winter wheat and why couldn’t he take an interest in things like his brothers. And she did excite him even though she knew none of the tricks of a hetaera. “Yes, yes, all right. Make it two days from now. Take the road that follows the river up toward the Reclining Woman. You remember? At the waterfall follow the track that goes off to the left about five stades. I’ll mark the path for you with a cloth tied to a tree branch. It’s a steep climb but you can do it. And come alone, Calpurnia. You won’t be afraid?”
“I’m not afraid of anything. Only that you won’t love me.”
“Now go, please.”
As the door closed on Calpurnia, Thais rushed out from her hiding place. “So that’s your Roman whore?” she screamed. “You poor man, I could hardly keep from laughing, listening to the two of you go at it.” She picked up a goblet and flung it at him. “You called her Calpurnia. I’m not stupid, I know who that is. Wouldn’t the governor just love to know-”
He hit her in the face with a blow that sent her staggering against the wall. He hit her again and she went down. “You say anything about her and I’ll kill you!” He dragged her to the door and threw her down the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-nine
The 6th day before the Kalends of December
Suetonius had promised himself that he would have no more to do with Sophronia, a woman too wily and amoral even for his jaded tastes. But her note had been urgent. And so he found himself again in her private office in the Elysium together with a weeping girl who would have been pretty but for a broken nose and swollen jaw.
“I don’t like it when people beat my girls,” Sophronia said. “This one is terrified, but I got the story out of her-all but the man’s name. You won’t like what you hear. What you do about it is up to you. I promise you she will tell no one else, nor will I.”
“At what price, madam?”
“That was uncalled for, my dear.” She looked at him reproachfully.
Minutes later, he was making his way back toward the palace, his features grim, his head in a whirl. He had devoted years of his life to chronicling, with sardonic wit, the moral lapses of the great and powerful. He had believed himself unshockable. He was wrong.
At the door to Pliny’s office, temporarily his own, he was met by a sentry who reported that Didymus’ wife and son were waiting on him. “They beg to have a visit with the prisoner, sir. They’ve brought him a change of clothing, some personal things.”
The wife, a stout woman shaped like a flour sack, the son, a younger version of his father, stood in the corner with downcast eyes. A bundle of what looked like rags sat on the floor at their feet.
If Suetonius had been less preoccupied he might have been more cautious. Instead, he waved them aw
ay. “Quarter of an hour, no more,” he told the sentry.
He sat down at Pliny’s desk and remained for a long time with his head in his hands. Finally, he fetched a long sigh, rose, and strode out. He would send a messenger after Pliny of course. But first, he would talk to Calpurnia. For the first time since joining Pliny’s staff he devoutly wished himself back in Italy.
But the lady was not in her apartment, or anywhere in the palace, and even Ione claimed to have no idea where she was.
***
A wintry sun winked through the lattice of naked branches above her head and lit the chuckling water of the river that ran beside the path. The forest floor was covered deep with pine needles and matted leaves so that her horse’s hooves made no sound. She breathed in deep lungfuls of the bracing air and shivered inside her heavy cloak-shivers of excitement, of the thrill of danger, of anticipation of the hours ahead with her lover. Not since she was a girl, roaming in her native north Italian hills, had she felt so free. In her whole adult life she had scarcely ever gone out without a train of maids and servants. Now she was that girl again and her heart sang with joy. She had been very careful, saying nothing to Ione and going before dawn to the stables, rousing the boy from his sleep, and giving him a silver denarius to buy his silence. And she wasn’t afraid of wild animals or brigands for she knew in her heart that Aphrodite, sweet goddess of passion, was watching over her. And now she saw the red cloth that he had tied to the branch to mark the trail for her. She turned her horse’s head and urged it up the steep track toward the distant ridge that people said resembled a reclining woman.
At the clearing she dismounted, spread her blanket roll on the ground and sat down to wait. It was early still. She hadn’t expected him to be here before her, he had once told her he liked to sleep late in the mornings. She had wrapped up a loaf of bread with some cheese and olives and a flask of wine. She was hungry and couldn’t wait. She took a bite, a sip. Another. He would bring more food. What a love feast they would have!
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