A dying light in Corduba

XXXIX

We found where the girls lived and persuaded them to go in quietly; we used the shameless trick of mentioning the return of Annaeus Maximus and warning them that that angry father would soon be talking to their own parents.

'Spunky, Dotty and Ferret are in big trouble! Best to nip indoors looking innocent and pretend you never went anywhere.' I could just hear some pert little minx in the distant future trying this one out on me. I could just see me too, willing myself to believe the lie

…

My plan to have supper alone seemed churlish now; we went back together to try to extricate Optatus and young Constans, if possible before they were publicly linked with the row. Approaching the town house we met a string of chastened youngsters being marched home in the custody of Annaeus' slaves. These were the walking wounded. Up at the house others who could not stagger had been collected up and laid out neatly in a colonnade. We gathered that parents had been sent for. We also sensed that it had not been done out of malice – but as a sensible precaution in case any of these stupid children had actually poisoned themselves with too much wine.

Of Spunky, Dotty and Ferret I saw no sign. Nor were their father and mother visible, though the slaves mopping up the battlefield were doing it very quickly and efficiently, with downcast eyes. The master's physician, overseeing the row of unconscious young bodies, was fiercely purse- lipped. There was no longer an amphora in sight.

We could find neither Optatus nor Constans. In the end we went home, before the oil in the carriage lamp ran out.

Helena Justina was still up, quietly writing letters to Rome.

I sat on the floor at her feet and hugged her. 'Dear gods, I'm sick of other men's sons! I hope mine's a daughter!'

As if to confirm it, the baby kicked me soundly in the face. 'She's got huge hooves!' Helena muttered, after crying ouch herself.

'She'll be a darling… Listen, I'm establishing the rules now – boy or girl, it doesn't go out to visit friends without permission, without an escort of extremely prissy slaves, and without me personally going to fetch it home not more than an hour after it departs our house.'

'Very wise, Marcus. I'm sure this will work wonderfully.'

Helena laid down her pen on a side table and closed the inkwell gently. She ran her fingers through my curls. I pretended not to notice, while I let myself relax. Too large now to be flexible, instead of bending down to me as she once would have done, she kissed the tip of her finger and touched my brow consolingly. 'What's the matter, you poor tired, miserable soul? Didn't you enjoy the party, then? What went wrong with your boys' night out?'

'They were too rough for me. I had a depressing experience talking to the fabled quaestor, who is the last word in moral toughness – if you think fluff is tough. Then the hosts' parents came home unexpectedly – a scheme I shall follow myself when our limb gets old enough. I scarpered. I couldn't find the other two -'

'Constans came back,' she told me.

'The night is full of surprises. How did he find his way?' 'The quaestor brought him.'

'That's commendable!'

'Charming,' she agreed.

'You don't like him?'

'I deeply distrust charm. Even so, I let him share the guest room where he had deposited the snoring Constans.' 'So Quadratus is not beyond redemption?'

'He seemed appalling. He apologised in a well-spoken voice. He introduced himself politely, then praised my brother Aelianus. I loathed him instinctively. But it was very late '

'Are they in the same bed?' I asked, wondering. 'No.'

'It's not like that then!'

'He seems to treat young Constans as an immature lad who needs an older friend.'

'Really charming!'

'So we are supposed to believe,' said Helena.

It was then that Marius Optatus reappeared. He had walked much of the way, apparently. 'I was looking for you, Falco!' he stormed tetchily.

'I looked for you too – honestly! I'd seen you hobnobbing with Aelia Annaea so I thought that since she owns her own gold mine you were in there doing yourself some good!'

'Was Claudia Rufina at the party, Marius?' asked Helena sympathetically.

'No,' he said. presumably that was one reason for his short temper.

'He was too wrapped up with Aelia,' I teased. 'The man has no loyalty.'

'Probably talking about Claudia,' retorted Helena.

Optatus had no sense of humour this evening. He was white with tiredness, and irritation too. 'I did my best for you, Falco, and in return you stole the transport and stranded me!'

'Why, what did you do?'

'I found out that Dotty and his merry selection of friends were -'

'In the cellar?'

'Yes.'

'Soaking up all Papa's choice imported Falernian?' 'Yes.'

'Putting the world to rights like depressed witches when half the coven's failed to show – Yes?'

'And watching a dancing girl,' said Marius.

Helena Justina gripped me by the shoulders and removed me from my cosy position. I sat up with my arms around my knees. Helena demanded, 'Marius Optatus, would this be a dancing girl Marcus has seen before?'

'How should I know?' He was still angry, though being polite to Helena. 'I could not find Falco to compare points of similarity! I had decided to accost the girl myself, but then Annaeus Maximus came home and the row started. In the chaos the dancer slipped away somewhere; that was understandable. Clearly you had done the same,' he sneered at me. 'I wanted to leave myself, but I thought I should try and find out about the girl for you -'

'You've taken to undercover work! What was she like?' I inserted quickly. 'Loose-limbed, gorgeous and with luxurious black hair?'

'She was nothing of a looker – but she could certainly dance.'

That was a surprise. I must have been even more drunk than I remembered at the dinner for the Society of Olive Oil Producers of Baetica. I had thought Diana was fairly personable but her repertoire lacked skill. Aelianus had also said she had her limitations. Maybe we were right; maybe Optatus took the uncritical view. For some men, if a woman has very few clothes on and is signalling that the rest might come off with modest encouragement, that's enough. 'Marius, Baetica is full of women wielding tambourines to make a quick denarius. Why did you decide this one was significant?'

'Dotty told me she had been asking curious questions. She wanted to know where his father was. He reckoned she was making sure there was no chance of parental displeasure – wrong, as it turned out.'

'She's a decent dancer, yet she was tantalising teenagers?' 'Most dancers are short of money,' he corrected me frostily.

'Was she dancing in a costume?'

'She was dancing in an immodest shift, Falco. That is what young men expect.' The stern Marius had reached the sarcastic stage.

'I wonder how they found her? Is some sort of directory of dubious entertainers kept at the Temple of the Capitoline Triad, perhaps? I don't suppose the young Annaei were able to consult the aedile's list; the aedile would have gone straight to their papa.'

'Please don't be facetious, Falco. Dotty was taking the credit for hiring her.'

'My good Marius, you've been working hard.'

'Don't bother to thank me! Dotty said that she had heard about the party and presented herself, offering to perform. He did not know where she came from.' She must be hanging around Corduba – and she must have her ear to the ground.

'Rich young men have all the luck.'

'I expect she charged a gigantic fee,' chided Helena. 'Rich young men don't feel the pain.'

'Anyway Optatus deflated and confessed with a sigh, 'I know this is not the girl you want, Falco. Dotty was perfectly frank. He knew of Selia – she is familiar to all those young men, apparently. They don't care that she is not the most perfece dancer – she has other attractions that compensate. Dotty hadn't been able to hire her this evening because she is supposed to have returned to Hispalis. He did say the older one, the one they did have there, had been trying to find out what other dancers he knew.'

'Did he own up to her that he had wanted Selia instead?'

'He's an oil producer's son, Falco! He's much too cute to do that.'

While I was wondering whether the appearance of a second dancer was just coincidence, Helena decided to confess about the two young disasters who were asleep in a guest bedroom. Optatus was furious.

However, he calmed down next day, thanks to a jape we two devised. The quaestor and Constans had arrived at our house the night before riding together on a highly bred horse which they had stolen from the Annaeus stable. We solemnly promised to return it for them before there was a hue and cry. Then I sent them off back to their own homes on a special horse of my own.

'His name's Prancer. You have to check him or he dashes away. Hold on tight in case he bolts.'

'Thanks, Falco.' Quadratus had already realised he was the butt of a joke. 'But this leaves you without a mount -'

'I will find Marcus Didius a horse,' grinned Optatus pleasantly. 'You keep that one – with our compliments!'