Death of an Eye

by Dana Stabenow

  Tetisheri picked up the piece of linen and smoothed it back over Khemit’s body. “Is this wound similar to others you have seen, Aristander?”

  “It is,” he said, “and it isn’t. For one thing, I can’t say for sure that whoever struck the blow meant to kill.”

  “But—”

  “Someone meant to hit her, Sheri,” Apollodorus said. “But that someone may not have meant to kill her.”

  “If they hadn’t meant to kill her, why strike her down?”

  “It was a blow of great force, agreed.”

  “It certainly looks like deliberate murder,” Aristander said, nodding. “But it is entirely too soon to be making assumptions. As yet, the only evidence we have is the body.” He paused. “We can rule out theft, certainly. The only thing of value on her body was the Eye, and no self-respecting thief would have left that behind.”

  It was even possible, Tetisheri thought, that the Eye had been left behind deliberately as a message to Khemit’s mistress as a warning against further investigation. See what happens when you send your servant to inquire too closely into my business? If that were the case, the killer didn’t know Cleopatra very well, which could be a clue to his identity all on its own. “What was she doing out on the streets of the city at the Twentieth Hour?”

  “I would guess she was about her mistress’ business,” Aristander said.

  “And that business got her killed,” Apollodorus said.

  Aristander raised a hand. “Perhaps.”

  Apollodorus smiled. “Ever cautious, Aristander. Very well. Perhaps.”

  *

  Aristander escorted them to the main door and took a fond leave of Tetisheri and a respectful one of Apollodorus. They emerged into the sunlight and Tetisheri took a deep breath of air that smelled only of salt water and the wood fire from the cart nearest the corner, where someone was roasting kebabs of goat meat interspersed with onion and peppers. A wave of nausea and dizziness came over her and she swayed on her feet.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Apollodorus slid his arm around her waist and half walked, half carried her across the street to where someone else was squeezing juice from pomegranates cooled by a block of ice brought down the river from the mountains far to the south. He purchased cups for both of them and then moved her to the edge of one of the many fountains and pools that lined the center of the Way.

  The cool spray of the fountain was refreshing and the juice was tart and cool. Slowly, Tetisheri recovered her composure. “Thank you. I don’t know what came over me.”

  “I’d wager that was the first time you saw a body done to death by violence,” Apollodorus said. “That would do for anyone, I would think.” He paused. “You did well.”

  “I almost fainted in there,” she said with asperity.

  “No, you almost fainted out here. There’s a difference.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Keeping control in the moment and letting down your guard after the fact are two different things. The former is essential. The latter is understandable and possibly even necessary. You held it together when it mattered. I’m impressed.”

  “Well. If you’re impressed.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice. “Finish your juice and we’ll go talk to the captain of the ship the coin came in on.”

  Surprised, she said, “Aristander doesn’t have him in custody?”

  He looked at her.

  Oh. Of course. If Aristander had the captain in custody he would perforce have to allow access to him by both co-regnants. “Ah,” she said. “Shall we?”

  *

  “You’re joking,” she said.

  They were standing on a long wharf near the Heptastadion. A dozen ships of various sizes and conditions were moored to both sides. The ship before them was a deep-hulled merchant galley. The top half of an improbably buxom woman carved from wood was fixed to the prow and the weight of gold leaf applied to her skin probably lowered the front half of the ship by at least two fingers. There was a large piece of anonymous equipment amidships with a tarp lashed over it. A winch, perhaps, or some other device designed to aid in the swift loading and unloading of cargo.

  The galley bore a single, three-cornered sail now furled to a crosspiece fixed to the mast. Tetisheri had seen many ships rigged like this one on a journey to Punt with Uncle Neb, but this was the first time she’d seen one in the Middle Sea. “This is the ship?”

  Apollodorus nodded.

  “Where are the ports for the sweeps?”

  “She isn’t oared.”

  She turned to stare at him. “No rowers?”

  He shook his head.

  “But—but that’s insane, Apollodorus. What about pirates?”

  “She outruns them.”

  “And that’s fine if there is a fair wind,” Tetisheri said with awful sarcasm, “but if she is becalmed?”

  “Her captain takes care that she is not,” Apollodorus said, and he kept a straight face while he said it.

  Tetisheri closed her eyes and shook her head. “The man is mad. And the queen is mad for trusting him on such a mission.”

  He didn’t answer her, but there was just the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. She could see nothing about this situation that anyone would find amusing but it was apparent he wasn’t going to enlighten her. “Well.” Tetisheri blew out a breath. “She looks seaworthy, at any rate. Two hundred fifty tons?”

  Apollodorus nodded.

  Tetisheri eyed the trim lines of the sleek little vessel. “She does have the appearance of a ship that eats the leagues port to port,” she said grudgingly.

  “Her missions are never ones for dawdling.”

  Tetisheri gave him a suspicious look, but Apollodorus presented a blank countenance which refused to give anything away.

  There were two men on the deck in civilian clothes that nevertheless screamed “guard” in the sharp eyes that missed nothing and the well-cared-for weapons at their sides. They were longtime members of the queen’s personal guard and Tetisheri knew both of them by sight. “You have him locked up on his own ship?”

  “It’s the last place anyone would think to look, isn’t it?” He saw her skepticism. “Besides, it’s not like you can hide anyone or anything away for long in this town. This was the best I could do.”

  “Does Aristander know?”

  “Only the queen. Aristander knows nothing about the theft of the currency. Only the queen and Sosigenes. And now us.”

  “And the crew of this ship?”

  “Obviously, they would have loaded the chests, and would probably have suspected from the weight that what was inside must be valuable. But no one told them, unless the captain knew, and did.”

  She contemplated Apollodorus, the two guards and the ship, and sighed. “Let’s go ask him.”

  He offered his hand. She ignored it, stepping nimbly from wharf to railing and down onto the ship’s deck, no assistance required, thank you. He might have been grinning as he followed her.

  The niece and partner of a merchant trader, most of whose goods were carried in the holds of ships they owned, Tetisheri knew a well-maintained vessel when she saw one and she was looking at one now. The deck was scrubbed clean, the sail was neatly folded and bound, the lines were coiled. Rudjek and Pentu, the guards, nodded at both of them without speaking. The runners on the hatch that led below-decks were well waxed so that the hatch slid open without hesitation.

  The captain, too, was unexpected. He sat splicing an eye into the end of a mooring line. He looked up as they descended the short ladder into the galley.

  “Ah, Apollodorus, back again,” he said, without any trace of alarm, or of guilt that Tetisheri could detect. “And you brought a friend with you this time, I see. How nice.” He gave Tetisheri an appreciative look and a smile that was friendly without being in any way ingratiating. He was the least alarmed person suspected of a crime punishable by death that Tetisheri could imagine. “Introduce us, why don’t you?”

>   “She is an agent of the queen. That is all you need to know.”

  “Pity.” The captain executed a half bow from his seated position. “Laogonus, owner and captain of the good ship Thalassa, at your service. Please.” He waved a hand. “Have a seat. May I offer you some tea?”

  “Thank you, no.” Tetisheri was determined to match the good captain in insouciance in this, her very first interrogation. “Captain Laogonus, will you please repeat the events that led up to the, ah, disappearance of your cargo? All of them.”

  “From the time we left Alexandria?” He glanced at Apollodorus.

  “From the time you loaded your cargo on Lemesos,” Apollodorus said.

  “No,” Tetisheri said firmly. “Begin with when you were first assigned to carry the cargo from Lemesos to Alexandria.”

  At minimum she was pleased to see that she had startled the captain out of his unshakeable calm. “What?”

  “You heard her,” Apollodorus said.

  Laogonus hesitated, looking from one to the other, and set the rope and spike to one side. “Very well.” He spoke without hesitation but neither did Tetisheri get the feeling he had rehearsed what he had to say. He told his story chronologically and with at least no outward sign of internal editing.

  He’d had his orders, he said, from Sosigenes. He had met him here, on board Thalassa, and given him his instructions and the name of the agent he was to contact in Lemesos, one Paulinos Longinus.

  “When was this?”

  “The Ninth Day of the First Week.”

  “And you were to depart Alexandria when?”

  “The next day at first light.”

  Eleven days ago. “Was anyone else present when Sosigenes gave you your orders?”

  Laogonus shook his head. “Sosigenes came here alone and asked me to order the crew ashore.” He shrugged. “There was only Old Pert, who was happy enough to adjourn to his daughter’s taverna for an hour or two.”

  “Where was the rest of your crew?”

  “We had just returned from Ephesus and I’d given them leave. Old Pert is a widower and his children grown so he makes his home here on Thalassa.”

  “So the vessel is never left unmanned.”

  “No.” Laogonus spoke with emphasis. “Not here in Alexandria and never in a foreign port. That’s just begging for trouble.”

  It was Uncle Neb’s standard practice as well. “So you left Alexandria the Tenth Day of First Week at dawn.”

  He nodded. “I had the city launch tow us from the harbor and we were lucky enough to pick up the first of the offshore winds. We cranked on sail and were in Lemesos by noon of Second Day of Second Week.”

  Eight days ago. Even with a fair wind, with a single sail and no oarsmen, that was good time. “How long were you in port before you made contact with the agent?”

  “He was waiting for us at the docks.”

  “Was he? With your cargo?”

  “Yes. We loaded it immediately and left as soon as we had it secured in the hold.”

  “You didn’t stop to take on supplies? Have a drink? Visit your girlfriend?”

  He chuckled. “I see you are wise to the ways of sailors, ma’am.”

  “You see correctly. And so?”

  He shook his head. “We met Paulinos, took on the cargo, and set sail for Alexandria immediately. I would say within the hour but it was even sooner than that.”

  “What was the cargo?”

  “Twenty small wooden chests, locked and lashed.”

  “How had Longinus brought them to the wharf in Lemesos?”

  “By donkey train.”

  “Did you know what was inside the chests?”

  “No.”

  “Did you ask?”

  “No. I never ask on this kind of shipment.”

  “‘This kind of shipment’?”

  He smiled. “Any cargo contracted by the crown.”

  “You’ve carried such shipments before?”

  He shrugged.

  Tetisheri looked at Apollodorus, her eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t answer my question, Captain.”

  His eyes twinkled. He did everything but grin at her. “The chests were very heavy for something so small.”

  She waited. So did he. She sighed. “What next?”

  “The winds were with us, even more so than when we were northward bound, and we sighted Pharos after dark on the Fourth Day. We followed it in and docked at the Twenty-first Hour. I kept the crew on board until the following morning while I went to tell Sosigenes his cargo was in.”

  “What happened?”

  He sighed, and looked at Apollodorus. “Everything?”

  “Everything.”

  “Very well.” Laogonus met Tetisheri’s eyes with a steady gaze from which all trace of former amusement had been banished. “We were not the only ship to dock late that night. A second followed us in. The wharf was crowded and the port master rafted them next to us until the next day when, he said, he could sort us out by daylight. I didn’t like it, but it happens, and if I’d made a fuss it would have drawn attention, and the whole point of our existence is to not draw attention.” He shook his head. “At first light I was on my way to let Sosigenes know we had made port and to send for the cargo.” His lips tightened. “The moment I was out of sight, an extremely fortuitous fire began in the ship that docked after us. Standard practice in Alexandria port—in any well-run port, for that matter—is for the burning vessel to be cut loose before the fire jumps ships.”

  Or to shore, Tetisheri thought. Alexandrians shared a vivid memory of the year before when Caesar had set fire to his ships and that fire had leapt ashore, nearly wiping out the buildings of the Royal Palace and the Great Library.

  “Instead,” Laogonus said, “someone cut our lines. By the time my crew realized it both ships, still lashed together, had drifted into the middle of the harbor, and the firefighters on the pilot boat had to fight early morning traffic to get to us.”

  “And then?”

  He snorted. “And then my crew was attacked by the crew of the burning ship. They were all of them injured, none seriously, thank the gods.”

  “What happened next?”

  The captain’s smile was mirthless. “By what the port master has managed to piece together from various people watching from the shore, the Thalassa was swarmed by a series of rowboats, one after the other. From land, it looked as if they were offering help, debarking the crews, when in reality they were offloading the cargo. After which they all rowed off in different directions.” His voice rose, betraying his first sign of anger. “They didn’t even bother to sever the lines between Thalassa and the burning ship, they left them both to sink and burn.” His big scarred hands clenched together on the galley table. In a calmer voice he said, “If Old Pert didn’t have the hardest head this side of the Middle Sea she would have sunk with the other one. But he regained consciousness in time to break out the axe and cut the lines, and the pilot boat towed us back to the wharf. Which was when I arrived back on the scene.”

  “It happened very fast,” Tetisheri said. “It doesn’t take that long to walk to the palace and back again.”

  He did not bridle at the implication. “The theft was well planned and extremely well executed.”

  “Has anything like this happened before?”

  “Never.” There was no room for equivocation in the flat statement.

  “What happened to the burned ship?”

  “At the bottom of the harbor. The port master is worried that it will be a hazard to navigation, so he’s sending divers down to clear the wreckage when he can find a moment that won’t disrupt traffic, whenever that may be. We may learn something from that, but I wouldn’t bet on it. These people seem to have covered their tracks very tidily.” That last statement was entirely lacking in admiration.

  They sat in silence for a few moments. “Is there anything else you can tell us, Captain Laogonus?” Tetisheri said finally. “Any detail, no matter how trivial, might be of
use.”

  He frowned down at his still clenched fists. “I’ve been trying to remember anything I can about the ship that burned. We were all tired and, as I said, it is part of our mandate that we are to draw no attention to ourselves. I exchanged greetings with someone who said he was the captain but he didn’t give his name—neither did I—and the moon had already set so it was pitch dark. I didn’t get a good look at him or his crew or his ship. They were smaller than we were, I think.” He shook his head. “Difficult to be sure.”

  “Who took first watch?”

  “I did.” A glint of returning amusement showed in his eyes. “Quick passages are always strenuous and I told the crew to rack out.”

  “Second watch?”

  “None. I kept watch for the rest of the night. It was only a few hours and I planned to sleep long and well once we unloaded the cargo.”

  “Who did you wake before you left the ship?”

  “Dedu, my first mate.”

  “How many in your crew?”

  “Five, and before you ask, they have all been with me since I bought the Thalassa.”

  “When was that?”

  “Twelve years ago this coming Hathyr.”

  “Prior to this one, how many of these, ah, missions have you completed?”

  Laogonus looked at Apollodorus, who raised an eyebrow. The captain shrugged. “They are the only missions I do, mistress. The queen loaned me the money to buy the Thalassa, and in return I work only for her.”

  That didn’t answer her question, exactly, but it was enough. Tetisheri rose to her feet. “Thank you, Captain, I think that’s all for now. I may have more questions for you later.”

  He followed them up on deck. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ve only just completed our repairs, and I have a diver scheduled to sound Thalassa’s hull this afternoon. Just as a precaution.” He looked over the harbor side of the ship and they came up beside him. Two of the cedar planks looked brand new and others bore faint burn marks, planed away for the most part and gleaming with newly applied varnish. Tetisheri ran her fingers over a fresh, deep cut on the railing and the captain said, “I understand his enthusiasm at the time but I could wish Old Pert swung a less zealous axe. We’ll have to replace the railing at some point.” He contemplated the scar for a moment. “Although I don’t know. Perhaps we should leave it as a warning not to let unknown ships tie up next to us in future. No matter what the port master says.”