He looked older than Novus, though similar: the same skin tones and well-fed solidity. A fleshy body with a heavy head, and a bushy black moustache which hid the movements of his mouth.

He exhibited a strange lack of curiosity about who I was or what I might be talking about here in their family dining room, with the family cook. Instead, he crossed in front of us and seized the fluted blue flagon from which Viridovix and I had helped ourselves. Luckily I had previously put down my cup on the floor where it was hidden behind my feet. Viridovix somehow let his winecup burrow invisibly into the folds of our couch's coverlet. The freedman glanced at the flask, spotting that some of the liquor was missing.

'Novus couldn't wait!' he grumbled.

I detached myself from Viridovix. 'Excuse me, sir. Are you Crepito?'

'Felix.' The one married to Pollia. He was still scowling at the flask as if accusing Hortensius Novus of starting it. Neither Viridovix nor I disillusioned him.

'I'm Marcus Didius Falco. Here on an a.s.signment for your wife...' Impossible to tell if he knew anything about it. 'If Hortensius Crepito is anywhere around can I request an urgent interview?'

He lifted the flask. 'Special vintage! Crepito and Novus are both about to join me--'

'Not Novus, sir. Something has happened. May we talk--with Crepito as well, if possible?'

Still more concerned with the flask than this mystery, Hortensius Felix shrugged and led me out.

The three freedmen had meant to marshal and sample their Falernian in a small room on the other side of their main hall. Another which was new to me. It was exuberantly foreign--Nilotic paintings, fans, statuettes of ibis-headed G.o.ds, vibrantly striped cushions and ivory couches with sphinxes for arms.

'Our Egyptian salon.' Felix noticed me step back a pace. 'Like it?'

'Every home should have one!' Like a wasps' nest, or a door that will never stay closed.

Another gust of garlic billowed in after us: Crepito-- who must have been searching for Novus. 'I can't find the fool; what's he playing at?'

Although Pollia had a.s.sured me these freedmen had no direct blood relationship, now that I had seen all three they definitely sprang from the same eastern tribe. Crepito had a smaller moustache than Felix, less flesh than Novus, and a louder, bluffer voice than either, yet the same jowls, swarthiness, and irritable temperament, Novus must have been the youngest of the three.

I introduced myself a second time. 'Hortensius Crepito? I'm Didius Falco, on hire to your wives.' Crepito grunted, so I proceeded on the a.s.sumption that I was a known quant.i.ty. 'I'm sorry to be the one who breaks this; Hortensius Novus has had a sudden accident--a fatal one.'

Both showed proper evidence of surprise. 'Impossible! We were with him no time ago --' That came from Crepito.

'I found him myself,' I declared quietly. 'He must have had some kind of seizure, immediately after your meal tonight.'

The two freedmen exchanged glances. 'You mean --'

'Yes; it looks like deliberate poisoning.'

'How?' demanded Felix, with the urgency of a man who realised all too keenly that he had just eaten the same meal as the murdered man.

I rea.s.sured them sympathetically. 'What happened to Hortensius Novus seems to have struck with great rapidity. If anyone else was affected, I'm sure they would know by now.'

Despite this, Felix put down the fluted blue flask on a side table, and stepped away hastily.

I was wishing I had met Crepito and Felix earlier. Breaking news to strangers is always unsatisfactory. It's harder to judge which of their reactions are due to shock--and how much of the shock is genuine.

Hortensius Felix had grown sombre and uncommunicative. Crepito requested details, so I described how I had found Novus dead on the floor of the lavatory, which was where he remained. 'You may feel,' I suggested, 'you ought to call in a magistrate before you have him moved.'

'Is that normal?' demanded Felix abruptly. 'Normal to call in the authorities?' Under stress he had revealed for the first time signs that the freedmen had come to Rome from some different culture.

'Best to act responsibly, sir. Most householders report a suspected murder to the Praetor of their own accord, rather than have him sending his aedile round after tip-offs from their neighbours.'

'People don't--'

'People do,' I said grimly. 'Don't expect solidarity from the folks you used to dine with, once the nasty rumours start to fly.' Once again the two of them exchanged glances. 'I know Hortensius Novus was like a brother to you both,' I said, more gently. They received this with a distinct air of reserve. My sense of dealing with foreigners increased. I thought I needed to rea.s.sure them again: 'I'm trying to advise you. If the murderer were fleeing from the scene, you should send for the vigilantes to dash in pursuit. But poisoners normally hope they will remain undetected; so they stay put, looking innocent. You can rely on the magistrate's office to investigate tomorrow. Then the matter will be handled with greater sensitivity --' I meant, polite incompetence.

'Where do you fit in?' Felix asked brusquely.

'I can continue to act for you privately. I'm so angry about this, I may beat the Praetor to the truth.' As businessmen I hoped Crepito and Felix might contribute the local Praetor's name; no luck. 'There was no way I could prevent this,' I told them levelly. 'But I shall not rest until I have exposed the poisoner. Severina has to be the prime suspect. My next move is to interrogate her. I'm intrigued to hear she was an absent guest tonight?'

'She gave some excuse to Novus,' Felix said.

'But she was here earlier?' Both Felix and Crepito shrugged, 'Well, if she thinks being off the scene is enough to clear her, I'll have news for that young lady!' Once again the two freedmen made eye contact.

A silence fell, which warned me to disappear. 'I'll be on my way... Ought I to see Sabina Pollia and Hortensia Atilia first?' I hoped to witness the ladies' first reactions to the tragedy.

'Not necessary,' Felix replied, with a curtness which just fell short of hostility. He rang a bell to reinforce the message.

'Fine! Well, I will call again tomorrow of course. I want to pay my condolences in person... By the way,' I asked in a neutral tone, just as I was leaving. 'Were relations between you and Novus fairly friendly this evening?'

For once, they avoided looking at each other; in fact the rigidity with which they kept their eyes fixed ahead was suspicious in itself. Both solemnly a.s.sured me the party had been relaxed and harmonious.

Thanks to Viridovix I knew they were lying. Which raised an interesting question: why?

I guessed there would be some vivid debate later that night in the Hortensius house. I wished I could overhear it. I wondered what part the two women who employed me would play.

But in the meantime I was speculating on something else: how I would face Severina with news of this crime.

It was only then, as I walked south through the streets full of delivery wagons, trying to avoid having ray toes crushed under a cartwheel, that a thought I had been too busy to frame consciously finally found s.p.a.ce to present itself: what was the point of it?

Hortensius Novus had died too soon. Severina had no hope of inheriting his fortune, except as his wife. At this stage in their affairs she would be lucky to get a sack of apples and his kind regards. Whatever was the woman playing at?

Chapter x.x.xVI.

Most of Abacus Street lay in darkness. A few dim lights showed, but the pa.s.sage to Severina's accommodation was pitch-dark; I stubbed my toe on a bucket left outside the cheesemakers. Her house itself looked dead.

It took a quarter of an hour to rouse one of her slaves. I tried to attract attention discreetly, but I could only batter the metal knocker continually. The noise must have carried all over the Caelimontium, though no one threw open their shutters to investigate or protest. How unlike the intolerant types I knew on the Aventine!

The slave recognised me; he made no comment on the time. Perhaps Severina knew other men who called on her during the silent hours. As he admitted me I noticed the house seemed m.u.f.fled, with few lamps lit, all apparently at rest.

I was left to wait in the room where the girl and I first met. The work on the loom had been changed to a new pattern. I glanced at a library scroll lying on a couch: something about Mauretania. I lost interest. I was listening for movements elsewhere in the house.

The slave put his head round the door curtain. 'She'll come down,' he muttered grudgingly.

"Thanks. Tell me,' I asked, 'have Novus and Severina fixed a date for their wedding yet?'

'Ten days' time.'

'When was that agreed?'

'Earlier this week.'

'So Novus may have announced it to the world at large tonight?'

'She'll be down!' the slave reiterated, giving me a caustic look. He could tell that I was just firing off ballista bolts in the dark.

I never heard her coming.

She was tricked out as if the slave really had roused her from her bed: unshod feet; bare-armed in a short white undershirt; face slightly puffy; the drift of that coppery hair all spread loose down her back. She probably had been in bed: lying awake, waiting for a messenger to bring the news.

'You've got some talking to do, Zotica!' She met my bald scrutiny and held my gaze, I expected that. There would be no faltering from this one. 'Novus is dead.'

'Novus?' She said it, quickly, then frowned as if confused.

'Did you know?'

'Dead?' she repeated.

'Keep it up, Zotica! I teased insultingly.

Severina drew an indignant breath. 'Do you need to be so brutal?' She came into the room, putting hands to her face. 'What has happened? Tell me properly,'

'I found your intended tonight, face down in a lavatory. Poisoned, Severina. Don't tell me this is unexpected news.'

She bit her lip when I mentioned the details, but she was angry now. Excellent. She walked over to a couch and sat, apparently shivering. 'What time is it, Falco?' I had no idea. 'The question people always ask,' she murmured abstractedly, 'when time no longer matters anyway...'

The stricken look failed to convince me. 'Cut the pathos! What kept you from the dinner parry?'

Her face clouded. 'I was feeling unwell, Falco. Women's problems.' Her chin came up defiantly as she hugged her stomach. 'You know what I mean!'

'Or I'm supposed to be too embarra.s.sed to ask? Forget it! I grew up with five sisters, Zotica. Victorina was the prize artist--she could make "a bad time of the month" last three weeks, especially if there was some boring religious festival she wanted to miss.'

'I did go up to the house this afternoon,' Severina said shortly. 'But in the end I could not face a long evening of strained formality among people who make no secret of their dislike for me--'

'Yes; you would need courage--to recline alongside your victim while he sampled the poisoned sauce!'

'That's slander, Falco!' she fought back. 'I went to rea.s.sure the cook. Novus has been fussing ever since he sent cut the imitations --' I noticed she used the present tense, the way people continue to do after a genuine bereavement: a delicate touch! 'It was a big responsibility for Viridovix --'

'Whatever possessed Novus to buy himself a Gallic cook? If a man must have a chef from the ends of the Empire, surely he turns to Alexandria?'

'You know how they are in that house--their captive "prince" is a novelty.'

'He's certainly a rarity: he makes the best of things.' I could see this temporary diversion was making no impression, so I abandoned it. 'Tell me about tonight's party. Why the grand performance? Who were the guests?'

'Appius Priscillus.'

For a moment I was at a loss. 'Oh the property tyc.o.o.n! The beater-up of fruitsellers. What is his link with the Hortensius crew?'

'Same interests. Leasing; property; land use. Relations between their two empires had deteriorated badly. They were all acting against their own interests by prolonging the rivalry, so the dinner party was suggested to resolve their differences.'

'Who suggested it?' I asked, frowning. I already knew.

'I did. But, Falco, bringing them together was your idea originally... Excuse me a moment.' Severina murmured abruptly. She looked as if she was going to be sick.

She slipped from the room. I gave her a few minutes, then set off to look for her.

Intuition led me into an anteroom alongside the gracious triclinium where Novus and I had been given lunch. Severina stood motionless in the darkness. I held up a lamp I had carried in with me. 'Are you all right?'

'So much to think about.'

I stepped closer carefully. 'Zotica?' Her intense quiet and fixed gaze were signs of true shock. For a moment she stood with one hand to her forehead. Then she started to cry.

Restraining my annoyance, I said, 'The first rule of an informer is: women who burst into tears are up to no good.'

'Keep out of their way then!' Severina snapped. I put two fingers under her elbow and moved her to a couch. She sat down, without arguing, then turned away and sobbed.I perched alongside and let her get on with it. 'Sorry about that,' she murmured finally, bending forwards to mop her face on the skirt of her shift. I had a glimpse of knee, which I found oddly distracting.

She breathed slowly, as if coming to terms with some unexpected trouble. She was obviously acting. She had to be. I remembered the Praetor's clerk Lusius saying that Severina was naturally undemonstrative under stress, and friend Lusius had seemed observant enough. Vet I still felt that the need to release all this emotion had been partly genuine.

'I hope you've got your story composed for the enquiring magistrate.' She stared ahead, still in a kind of trance. 'Better still,' I suggested, 'why not tell your nice Uncle Marcus exactly what happened, and let him take charge?'

Severina sighed, stretching her minute feet in from of her. Her feet, and what I could see of her legs (more than usual), were freckled; so were her bare arms, 'Oh leave it alone, Falco!'

'You are not going to talk to me?'

'If I did poison Novus, certainly not!'

'Did you?'

'No. Juno and Minerva--if all I wanted was his money, what would be the point?'

'I had thought of that'

'Brilliant! So what twisted explanation have you come up with instead?'

'I feel certain that you killed him--but I have no idea why.'

She had jumped to her feet. 'Didius Falco, you have no reason to be here! Either arrest me, or go away--'

'What are you doing, Zotica?'