Caveat emptor

14

The wine had not softened Caratius’s mood. His response to Valens’s explanation of the cause of death was, “That makes no sense.”

Valens was unruffled. “Let me show you how we know about the times, sirs,” he offered. “If we pop across to my consulting room you can take a closer look at the-”

Firmus wrinkled his nose and announced that they did not have time for that sort of thing.

“It makes no sense,” repeated Caratius. “If he was hit hard enough to kill him two or three days ago, how can he have been walking around yesterday morning?”

“Oh, you’d be amazed,” said Valens, apparently delighted to be asked. “I’ve shown Ruso this sort of thing several times in the army, haven’t I, Ruso? The man has a head injury and seems to recover, but there’s some sort of damage inside that’s gradually spreading. He complains of headaches, he gets confused… sometimes there’s paralysis down one side. Anyway, once the brain gets inflamed, there’s not a lot you can do. Eventually he passes out and dies. You can try bleeding him, or-”

“Thank you, Doctor,” put in Ruso, before Valens could start to explain the difficulties of choosing the right place to bore a hole in the skull.

Valens was undeterred. “If you like, we could open up the brain and see where the-.”

“No thanks,” said Firmus.

“Absolutely not,” said Ruso, wondering where Valens’s enthusiasm led him when there was nobody around to keep him under control.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” put in Caratius. “Asper and his brother deliberately left town with no guards. It’s obvious that they planned to disappear with the money. Perhaps the brother decided to take it all for himself. That’s who you need to go after now.”

“It’s equally possible that somebody else saw them unguarded and stole it from both of them,” put in Ruso, determined to establish who was the investigator here. “If we find the brother alive, he may be able to explain the lack of security.”

“Hmph! If he was robbed, why hasn’t he come forward?”

“Perhaps he’s dead too,” said Ruso. “If he isn’t, the road patrols already have his description, and so does half the town. I’ll have that letter looked at, and I’ll talk to the boatman who picked Asper up. When we see where that gets us, the assistant procurator will decide how we proceed.”

Caratius did not look impressed.

Ruso said, “It would help, sir, if you could tell me where you yourself were three days ago?”

Caratius scowled. “I was at home, and at a Council meeting in Verulamium, and going about my own business.”

“What sort of business?”

“The business of a loyal, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen of Rome, a senior magistrate and Elder of the Catuvellauni who breeds the best horses north of the Tamesis.”

When this did not shame Ruso into apologizing, he turned to Firmus. “The woman is a known liar, sir. Anyone in the town will tell you.”

Aware of how irritating it sounded, Ruso said, “It’s my job to consider all the possibilities.”

“While he’s considering, sirs,” chipped in Valens, “my staff will have the body dressed and ready to be taken away in a few minutes.”

Everyone turned to look at Firmus, who said, “We can’t have a body polluting the Official Residence!”

“I can’t take him,” said Caratius quickly. “I can lend you my guard and a couple of slaves, but I’m staying with a friend who’s a priest of Jupiter. He can’t be polluted by having a body in the house, either. Besides, the man’s a common thief.”

“How about the fort?” Firmus suggested.

“You might be able to order it, sir,” explained Ruso, “but they won’t take any notice of us.”

Firmus did not look confident that they would take any notice of him, either. He turned to Valens, who insisted that he would be happy to help, “… but we don’t have the facilities, sir. I’m afraid the other patients-”

“One night won’t hurt, surely?” put in Ruso. “His wife can see to the funeral in the morning.”

“Hah!” Caratius seemed to find this particularly irritating. “That’s what she calls herself now, is it?”

Ruso’s patience was wearing thin. “For all we know, the man could have been killed trying to defend your money.”

The magistrate ignored him and spoke to Firmus instead. “Sir, the province has been the victim of an organized gang of thieves.”

“Not the whole province,” Firmus reminded him.

Caratius sighed, as if he was about to say something distressing for both of them. “My people are loyal subjects of the emperor, sir. They handed over their money in good faith-”

“And now one of your people has pinched it.”

“Not one of us, sir. A hired man from the Dobunni tribe. We will do everything we can to help, but-”

“You could have helped by taking the body,” Firmus pointed out, getting to his feet. He turned to Ruso. “I’m going to have to talk to the procurator.”

“Anything else we can do, sir,” Caratius insisted. “My people are outraged. The province has been robbed.”

As they were leaving Firmus turned to Ruso and murmured, “Are all the Britons as awkward as this?”

“I’ve not had many dealings with the Southerners before,” Ruso confessed. “I hope not.”