Caveat emptor

58

Ruso had noted before how the arrival of an infant released a deluge of washing. Rows of it were dripping into the vegetable patch behind Asper’s house, and when he queried Grata’s absence, he was told she had gone to take bedding to the laundry.

“I was hoping the three of you would stay together.”

“I asked her to stay,” replied Tilla, holding up a bone-dry linen towel and pulling it to tug out the creases before folding it and adding it to the pile beside her. “She is nothing but bad temper. I offered to help her turn out Bericus’s room this afternoon, but she says I will only get in the way.”

“She is upset,” put in Camma from beside the hearth. She had removed the baby’s swaddling to massage his limbs, just as Ruso had read in the textbook. “She has a kind heart underneath.”

Tilla reached into the basket for another towel. “I hope so. Did you find the man who sent you the strange letters, husband?”

Ruso helped himself to a stool. “Yes, but he doesn’t know who attacked you.” Their eyes met and he knew she understood that there were things he could not tell her in Camma’s presence.

Tilla grasped a crumpled linen undertunic in both hands and snapped it out flat. The sound startled the baby, who flung his arms into the air. Ruso suspected that Grata was not the only woman here who was in a bad temper. The bluebells had been received politely, but without the gratitude a man deserved for being seen carrying a bunch of flowers through the streets. He wondered if his wife was jealous. She would be returning to Londinium tomorrow, leaving Grata here with the baby and the woman who had become her friend.

He felt partly responsible for Grata’s bad temper. Her upset state was his own fault. The sight of Bericus’s body would have shaken anyone, let alone somebody who had shared a home with him. Even Dias had seized her by the wrist to try and keep her away. Later he had rebuked Ruso for allowing her forward.

Something whispered at the back of Ruso’s mind. For a moment he could not think what it was. He ran over his thoughts again, trying to catch it. It was something Albanus had said this morning. Albanus was alone in the hall with Camma because the other one left to go off and argue with your guard chap.

He looked up. “Camma, what’s the connection between Grata and Dias?”

“Who knows?” she said lightly. “One minute they are friends, the next not. He is not the sort of man to settle with one woman. Why do you ask?”

Tilla said, “That is another reason for her bad temper. Camma, where do you want me to put these clothes?”

The two women carried on discussing the domestic arrangements as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile Ruso was considering the sudden collapse of the case against Caratius. Nico had already suggested that Caratius knew nothing about the murders. Anyone could have put the body on his land. The only real evidence against him was the message luring Asper and Bericus out of town. The message that only Grata had heard. Now it seemed that same Grata was close to Dias. What if Dias had persuaded her to lie?

A further thought struck him. Grata had been in the room when they had been discussing the coin mold. If she had told Dias, then he would know they had found the evidence of forgery.

Ruso would say nothing to Camma. He might be wrong. Even so, he would warn Albanus before leaving him in charge here this evening. Grata could not be trusted.

On the way out he beckoned Tilla into the garden. Gavo’s large form stood awkwardly amid the washing as he kept guard over the back of the house. When Ruso explained that he would like a moment alone with his wife, Gavo nodded and made his way back through the alleyway toward the street. Ruso noticed he did not look at Tilla. After the way she had stalked them through the woods on the way to dinner with Caratius, he probably thought she was dangerously unstable.

When they were alone together beside the bean patch, he gathered her into his arms. He kissed her for the benefit of anyone who might be snooping before murmuring his suspicions about Grata.

“Dias is definitely involved in forging money,” he said, “but I can’t get any more names out of Nico.”

She nibbled his ear and breathed, “It must be a man. A woman working in a forge would be noticed.”

He let her think he had already considered that possibility and dismissed it.

“What about the other man Dias was with when I found them stealing the furniture?”

“What other man?”

She broke away from him. “Wait here.”

She ran back into the house, and returned to whisper, “Camma says his name is Rogatus.”

“The overseer at the stables?” Ruso stared at her. Several things fell into place. Rogatus could intercept the post. He had access to a forge at the vehicle repair workshop. It was Rogatus who had sworn that Asper said he was going to Londinium and had sent him out in a carriage without even the basic protection of a driver. At last this wretched business was starting to make some sense.

He grasped both her hands. “Promise me you’ll stay in the house till I come and collect you,” he said. “And dress for dinner.”