Illegally Dead

10

I’d earmarked next morning for a talk with Partner Acceius: not before time, because barring Veturina squeaky-clean reputation or not as far as motive went he had to be up there with the prime suspects. Clarus had given me both of his addresses, the office and the house, though practically speaking there wasn’t much difference: he might not actually live over the shop, but his house was just around the corner.

Office first, as being more likely. Also, Scopas had mentioned a clerk — what was his name? Fuscus — who might be able to fill in a few of the obvious blanks.

The office was on the main street leading off the town square, a smart-looking property with a plastered front, a marble-pillared porch and a smart-looking (but not plastered) young door-slave sitting on the steps outside. He stood up as I came over.

‘Good morning, sir.’

‘Morning.’ I went up the steps and he opened the door for me. ‘Quintus Acceius in?’

‘I’m afraid not. His clerk’s here, though. He’ll look after you.’

‘Fine. Thanks, pal.’ I went inside. Impressive: the entrance lobby had a good abstract mosaic on the floor, pastel-blue walls with a bowl-of-fruit fresco and an alcove with a bronze Mercury. Tasteful without being showy; and if the quality of the decor went for anything the firm wasn’t doing too badly.

The lobby opened onto a smallish room with a desk to one side and two doors leading off it. The decor wasn’t cheap here, either, and just as tasteful: a painted and gilded plasterwork dado that ran all the way round the red-panelled walls, a big fresco of the Graces, all carefully draped, that could’ve been Greek work, and two or three very nice bronze candelabra.

The guy at the desk stood up. Like Scopas, he was in his sixties, but that’s where the resemblance ended: five-five max, thin as a rake and with a bright, quick eye like a bird’s. He wore a neat beige tunic — tasteful again — and a freedman’s cap.

‘I’m — ’ I began.

‘Yes, sir, I know. Valerius Corvinus. You’re looking into the death of Lucius Hostilius.’ Brisk and businesslike, but suitably grave. Yeah; we were dealing class here. ‘I’m Fuscus, the practice’s clerk. Quintus Acceius said you might drop in, and he told me to give you every assistance.’

‘He’s not in himself this morning?’

‘No, he had to go up to Rome yesterday and he won’t’ve got back until the early hours. But he did say if you weren’t too prompt he’d be delighted to talk to you at his home. That’s only a step or two away, just round the corner.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I know. Great, I might do that.’

‘Fine. Do have a seat.’ He indicated the chair my side of the desk: polished oak, with red leather upholstery. I sat, and so did he. ‘Now. Please ask away, I’m at your service.’

‘This, uh, attack on Lucius Hostilius fourteen days ago. Can you tell me anything about that?’

‘Not personally, sir, as far as the attack itself went, but it happened just up the street and Sextus would be able to give you the full details.’

‘Sextus?’

‘The door-slave, sir. He saw the whole thing, although he wasn’t quick enough to help. A very strange business altogether. The two gentlemen were quite shaken when they came in, understandably so.’

‘Did they know the man at all?’

‘No, sir. No one did, he was a complete stranger to the town, a vagrant. Deranged, obviously.’

‘Obviously.’ Well, I could check up on the finer points with the slave on the way out. It might not have anything directly to do with Hostilius’s death, but I’d bet a gold piece to a sock in the jaw that there was more to that attempted knifing than met the eye. ‘Okay; let’s talk about Hostilius’s brother-in-law instead. Castor. He works here, doesn’t he?’

Fuscus hesitated. ‘He…used to, sir, yes, certainly. To tell the truth, at present I’m not sure myself of his position vis-a-vis the firm.’

‘You mean after his spat with Hostilius the day before he died?’

Fuscus looked relieved. ‘Oh, you know about that already? I’m glad, sir. As I said, Quintus Acceius instructed me to give you every help possible, but Castor’s not a bad young man by any means and I’d hate to prejudice you unduly against him. Especially since’ — he hesitated again — ‘appearances might be deceptive. Lucius Hostilius being the way he was, if you understand me.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I know all about that side of things, too,’ I said. ‘So tell me about the spat.’

‘Castor came in just after lunch, sir. I was alone in the office: Quintus Acceius was out seeing a client and Lucius Hostilius had gone home mid-morning saying he wouldn’t be back again that day. Castor said he’d just come from there and that Hostilius had forgotten to ask me to take a conveyancing deed round to Publius Decius; he has a potter’s business sir, on the other side of the main square, and we were negotiating the sale to him of an adjacent property.’

I nodded. Jupiter, you could tell that the guy was used to legal work: every ‘i’ dotted and every ‘t’ crossed.

‘Normally Castor would have run the errand himself — that was his job, sir, he was the firm’s messenger — but the deed needed a little explanation which he couldn’t give and I could. There was no problem: Decius’s was only five minutes away and the explanation wouldn’t take all that much longer, so I’d only be absent for half an hour, if that. I left Castor minding the office in case a client arrived unexpectedly and went off.

‘As it happened Decius was out, so I came straight back. Lucius Hostilius was here, with Castor. I’d missed the…whatever the scene was about, but Hostilius was clearly very angry. He accused Castor of being an ingrate, a spy, a traitor and a thief, and virtually threw him out of the office.’ He paused. ‘There you are, sir. That’s about all I can tell you. I haven’t seen the young man since.’

‘Did Castor say anything on his side?’

‘No. He’s quite a serious young man, for all his good looks, and he doesn’t have much to say for himself at the best of times. When I came in he was just standing there while Hostilius shouted at him; very pale, with a sort of…tight expression on his face, if you understand me.’

‘Hostilius give any explanation? After Castor was gone?’

‘No, he didn’t say a word. Just went into his office and slammed the door. He left a few minutes later, without a word again.’ Fuscus hesitated. ‘He was a…very difficult man, sir. Latterly. And as I say I wouldn’t be in too much of a hurry, myself, to put all the blame for whatever had occurred on young Castor. If, indeed, anything had occurred, which wasn’t necessarily so.’

Yeah; right. And there were bits there that needed serious thinking about, what was more. Not a clear-cut situation, by any means. ‘Thanks, pal. Very lucid. The two, uh, didn’t get on at the best of times, did they?’

‘No, although — ’ Fuscus frowned. ‘Valerius Corvinus, I must make something very clear, although you’re probably well aware of it already. The Lucius Hostilius of the past twelve or eighteen months was a completely different man to what he’d been before. Increasingly so. If you’d asked me that question two years ago, when his brother-in-law joined the firm, my answer would have been quite different. The impetus may have come from Hostilius’s wife — I believe that it did — but Hostilius certainly approved. Castor had no experience of legal work whatsoever — he was working with his father and elder brother in the family wineshop — but he was keen, intelligent and conscientious, desperate to do well. Professionally ambitious, too: he wanted to be a lawyer himself one day, or at least a lawyer’s clerk, like myself.’

Yeah: Marilla had told me that, it was one of the things that the guy had mentioned in their streetside tete-a-tetes. ‘So why didn’t he get some in-house training?’ I said. ‘After all, he was a relative, and if like you say he had things going for him — ’

‘I’m afraid that was Lucius Hostilius’s doing, sir. After he…fell ill he took a dislike to the young man, wouldn’t have him as an apprentice at any price, to any degree. Quintus Acceius did what he could, tried to persuade him otherwise, but to have insisted or gone behind his partner’s back would only have led to serious trouble, perhaps ending with Castor being dismissed altogether and packed off to Bovillae again. He was forced to leave the situation as it stood.’

Uh-huh. Well, that made sense; in effect, that was what had happened, finally. Or would’ve done, if Hostilius had lived. Interesting. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Let’s move on. I understand that Hostilius had another spat recently. With one of the Maecilius brothers.’

‘Yes.’ Fuscus nodded. ‘Yes, that’s correct, the elder of the two, Gaius. He — ’

‘Hold on, pal,’ I said. ‘That’s Bucca, right?’

‘Indeed it is.’

‘I was told the quarrel was with the younger brother. Fimus. About fifteen days ago, in the square.’

Fuscus frowned. ‘I’m sorry, Valerius Corvinus, I know nothing about any quarrel with Fimus; in fact, I’d be very surprised if you haven’t made a mistake over the name, or that your informant has. After all, they are brothers.’

‘Uh-uh. No mistake, pal.’ There wasn’t, I was absolutely sure of that. Bucca’s name hadn’t come up in the conversation at Pontius’s at all.

‘Then it’s odd. Marcus Maecilius — Fimus — is the firm’s client, and as far as I’m aware he has no complaints whatsoever about how his brief is being handled.’

‘That’s the disputed will business, right? Which of his sons gets old “Lucky” Maecilius’s land?’

‘Correct. We are defending the status quo, under which Marcus — Fimus — gets the property and a quarter of the monetary estate while his brother has the balance.’

‘Who’s on the other side, by the way? Just out of interest?’

‘Bucca’s lawyer? Publius Novius, in Bovillae.’ Was it my imagination, or had there been just a touch of asperity in Fuscus’s tone. ‘The case is scheduled for next month.’

‘Okay. So tell me about this quarrel between Hostilius and Bucca.’

‘It wasn’t only with Hostilius, sir, but I’ve nothing much to tell, actually. It happened the day before the knife attack. Bucca came into the office in the course of the morning and demanded to see both partners. Fortunately both Hostilius and Acceius were in and free. They took Bucca into Acceius’s room — that’s that one there, sir’ — Fuscus nodded towards the door on the right — ‘and held the interview. It didn’t last long, no more than ten minutes, all told, after which Bucca came out and left straight away. He was…not happy.’

‘Uh-huh. You didn’t bat an eyelid when I used the word “spat”, pal. So I assume this interview must’ve been pretty stormy?’

‘Yes, sir. As you can see, the doors to both rooms are very solid. I would not, of course, ever think of listening in on one of the gentlemen’s private conversations with a client, but normally it would be impossible in any case. In this instance I could hear the voices quite distinctly.’

‘Uh…distinctly enough to make out what they were saying?’

Pause. ‘Yes, sir. In part, at least, whether I wished to or not.’

‘And?’

‘I’m sorry, sir. You’ll have to forgive me, but I really cannot take the responsibility for answering that question, not without consulting Quintus Acceius first. It’s a matter of confidentiality, you understand. Acceius was present himself, as I say, and if you ask him I’m sure he’ll tell you.’

Yeah, well; that was fair enough, and the guy was quite right. ‘No problem, pal,’ I said. I stood up. ‘Thanks for your help. That’s about it for the present, unless you’ve anything else you think is relevant.’

‘No, sir. Or if it is then it’s nothing I’m aware of.’ He stood himself. ‘Good luck with your investigations, Valerius Corvinus, and please feel free to return at any time. I’m sure, again, that you’ve heard this before, but Lucius Hostilius was an excellent man for most of his life, and a fine lawyer of great probity.’

I left.

Outside, the door-slave had gone back to sitting on the step kicking his heels. He was a young kid, no more than twelve or thirteen.

‘Ah…Sextus?’ I said.

He stood up. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Fuscus said you might be able to tell me something about the knife attack on your master fourteen days back.’

‘Yes indeed, sir.’ He pointed up the street, towards the town square. ‘Lucius Hostilius and Quintus Acceius were crossing the road just about the water trough, sir. Coming in this direction.’

About a hundred yards away, in other words. ‘Uh-huh. What happened then?’

‘The man was behind them, following and getting closer. He shouted something — nothing important, sir, just something like “Wait!” — and when they turned he drew a knife from his belt and went straight for Lucius Hostilius. Then…well, there was a struggle, I couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but I started running over. Not just me, there were quite a few people. By the time I got there he was lying on the ground with his side all blood, stone dead, sir. I helped Acceius get Hostilius over here and he sat down on the steps a bit, just where I’m standing now, until he felt more up to things. They were both pretty shook, sir. Acceius as well.’ He paused. ‘That’s about all there was to it, really.’

‘The man didn’t say anything when he attacked Hostilius? Besides shouting “Wait!”?’

The kid’s brow furrowed. ‘Actually, he could of done, sir, now you mention. I saw his lips move, but I was too far away to hear anything. So was everyone else, except for the gentlemen themselves.’

Yeah. Yeah, right. Bugger! Well, whatever Acceius said, when I talked to him, I’d have to take his word for it. Or not, as the case might be. Still, we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

‘How about Hostilius himself? He say anything while you and Acceius were helping him over here, or when he was sitting on the steps?’

‘No, sir. Not a word. I think he was too shocked, like. Fact is, I thought he’d peg out there and then, he was a terrible colour. Wouldn’t have us fetch Doctor Hyperion, though, when we did get him inside, not at any price. Said he was fine, just wanted to be left alone. He went and sat in his room for a while, then got the litter-slaves to take him home.’

‘What was Quintus Acceius doing while all this was happening?’

Sextus shrugged. ‘Nothing in particular, sir. Nothing he could do, with Hostilius in the mood he was. Once he’d made sure he was all right he went home himself.’

‘What happened to the corpse? You know?’

‘They took it to Trophius the undertaker’s, sir. That’s Trophius’s over there.’ The kid pointed again, this time the other way.

I reached into my belt-pouch and brought out a silver piece. ‘Thanks, Sextus. You’ve been a great help.’

‘You’re very welcome, sir.’

I set off towards the corner of the block. Time to have a long-awaited word with Acceius.