Caveat emptor

64

Ruso recognized Gallonius ’ S slaves among the men gathered outside Nico’s lodgings. Inside, the landlady looked at him and Albanus through eyes that were red and swollen. Ruso said, “What happened?”

She shook her head as if she could not bear to speak and blew her nose on a scrap of soggy linen.

“Are you all right? You’re not hurt?”

Another shake of the head. She pointed to the stairs. “Everyone’s up there, sir.”

It was not a big room and Gallonius and the doctor had already occupied what space there was beside the bed. Between them, Ruso glimpsed Nico looking more peaceful than he had ever known him to look. The doctor was busy explaining Nico’s mysterious illness to Gallonius, concluding, “So I gave him something to help him sleep.”

Gallonius’s deep voice lent just the right tone of gloom to, “A tragedy.”

Ruso stepped across to the empty brazier in the corner. The metal was still warm. He said, “He’s been murdered.”

The doctor groaned. “You again.”

“We’ve had a tragedy, Investigator,” Gallonius explained. “The quaestor was ill, took a sleeping potion, and was overcome by fumes from the brazier.”

Ruso squeezed past him to get to the window. “He must have come in this way,” he said, examining the edge of the shutters. The dog that had been indoors last night was back on its chain in the yard. It gave a hoarse bark, as if it had worn itself out already. The ground was too hard to betray any footprint of a ladder, but, “You can see where he’s forced the latch.”

The doctor said, “Magistrate, please have this man removed. He does nothing but interfere.”

Ruso said, “He wouldn’t have gotten past the dog if he’d come through the house.”

The doctor said, “As I was saying, sir-”

“Somebody tried to kill me the same way last night.”

“What?” Gallonius turned around as fast as a man his size could manage.

Ruso explained. “The guards are over there now questioning the staff.”

Gallonius looked shaken. The doctor looked sorry that the attempt had not succeeded. “You’re suggesting somebody climbed in through the window here carrying a brazier full of hot coals? You don’t think the dog and half the neighbors would have noticed?”

“The brazier was already in here. All the killer had to do was bring up a few lit coals and arrange the others round them. Nico was doped, so he wouldn’t have woken up.”

The doctor squared his shoulders. “Are you saying this was my fault?”

“No,” said Ruso. “He wasn’t ill, but he was very anxious. I’d have prescribed some light reading and given him a sleeping potion myself.”

The doctor gave a sigh of exasperation. “If you hadn’t interfered, he would have been less anxious.”

“Yes,” said Ruso. “I know.”

“The investigator was just doing his job,” insisted Albanus.

“Quite,” put in Gallonius. “I have no words left to express how appalled I am by this latest news, Investigator. But there’s no need to jump to conclusions here.” He moved a little sideways to allow Ruso a better view of the bed. “Look underneath.”

Anticipating nothing more than a brush and a chamber pot, Ruso crouched. Brush and chamber pot were still in place, but in front of them was a familiar-looking linen bag filled with something that made it bulge in odd places. He dragged it out, blowing off the dust that had accumulated under the bed. The seal had been broken but a small bone tag was still threaded on the cord. It bore the message: “Satto, the kalends of July.”

“If those bags inside are correctly labeled,” said Gallonius, “we’re looking at over seven thousand denarii.”

Ruso whistled softly. “The missing money.”

“So he did have it!” exclaimed Albanus. “Well done, sir!”

“He didn’t find it,” pointed out the doctor. “I did.”

Ruso tightened the drawstring on the bag. “Who opened it?”

The doctor said, “It was already open.”

Gallonius said, “The doctor was just explaining his findings. Perhaps you’d like to finish?”

“Certainly,” agreed the doctor, addressing the magistrate and pointedly ignoring Ruso. “As I said, my patient had become more and more anxious over the business of the stolen money. I had already prescribed treatment for a range of symptoms and yesterday I found the investigator here harassing him, pretending a knowledge of medicine and insisting he was not ill at all. Afterward my patient begged me for some potion to allow him to sleep. I left him with a harmless amount of poppy juice. Later that night it seems he closed the shutters and lit the brazier that the investigator admits was already in the room. Then he took the medicine and deliberately lay down to die.”

“Tragic,” declared Gallonius, looking down at the figure on the bed. “Thank you, Doctor. The investigator and I will carry on from here.” He glanced at Ruso. “A word in private, if you will.”

The doctor snapped his case shut. Albanus shot an anxious glance at Ruso, who murmured, “It’ll be all right. I’ll be down in a moment.”

After a confusion of footsteps had retreated down the stairs, Gallonius said, “Well, at least we’ve found the money, Investigator. It’s very embarrassing to find it was our own quaestor. As I’ve already said, I’m sorry we had to trouble the procurator’s office.”

“You think Nico stole it?”

Gallonius glanced around the room. “A man living in these shabby lodgings, handling large sums of money every day… when Nico realised Asper and his brother had left with no guards, the temptation was too much. He must have paid some ruffians to attack them on the road, stolen the money, and hidden it in his room. Then after you began to close in on him, he realized there was no escape.” He glanced from brazier to window. “There was nobody climbing in with lit coals, Investigator. This was a suicide.”

It was all more or less plausible, but none of it fit either with Ruso’s impression of Nico or with what he had said yesterday.

“Nico was in a position of trust,” Gallonius continued. “He couldn’t live with the shame of having betrayed his people. He left the money where it could be found and did the honorable thing.”

Ruso said, “I want that coin tested by the money changer.”

Gallonius frowned. “It’s already been tested: You can see the tags.”

“Even so.”

“I’ll call the guards and have it taken over.”

“No,” said Ruso. “We both need to keep it in sight until Satto gets it.”

Gallonius raised his eyebrows.

“This way,” said Ruso, not wanting to raise the subject of forgery, “nobody can tamper with it.”

“Very well.” Gallonius grunted as he pushed the heavy bag of coins across the floor with his foot. “While it’s being checked, I’ll call an emergency meeting of the Council and announce the news. I’m sure they will want to thank you for your efforts. And Caratius certainly should.”

“I still haven’t finished.”

“But what is there left to do? You helped us flush out the real thief and we have our money back.”

“Somebody tried to murder me.”

“Obviously some madman who feels he has a grudge. Our men will look into it. But for your own safety, you and your wife should go straight back to Londinium as soon as you’ve reported to the Council.”

“But…”

Gallonius took him by the arm. “I insist, Investigator. You’ve done an excellent job for us, we have our money back, and we don’t want anything to happen to you.”