In at the Death

21

‘It explains a lot of things, lady,’ I said when I’d finished telling Perilla about the subsequent gossip with Crispus. ‘Why the divorce. Why Allenius never took any interest in him. Why the consular’s so bitter against his ex-wife. Allenius and Ahenobarbus were of an age, they were colleagues. Only thing was, Ahenobarbus was related to the imperial family. There wasn’t much a career politician like Allenius could do about it.’

‘You think he knew?’ Perilla said. We were in the garden, me with a half-jug of Setinian, Perilla with a chilled fruit juice. No Placida: the lady had relented and let Alexis take her out rabbit-chasing. ‘The boy, I mean.’

‘Sure he did. Cluvia told me: he was proud of his family, his father especially. I thought that was odd at the time; the Papinii are no great shakes, and although Allenius had made consul he was no ball of fire personally. Besides, he and young Sextus had hardly ever spoken. Change Ahenobarbus for Allenius and the Domitii for the Papinii and you’ve got a pretty good pedigree. In social terms anyway, because the gods know who’d want that bastard Ahenobarbus for a father.’

‘But why didn’t Ahenobarbus acknowledge him?’

‘Gods, Perilla! For any number of reasons. One, whatever his own private life was like, Tiberius was a moralist in public. How do you think he’d’ve reacted if it came out that one of the imperial family had got a colleague’s wife pregnant? Two, the pressure would’ve been on — if Allenius had blown the whistle and subsequently divorced Rupilia, which he would’ve done — for Ahenobarbus to marry her, and Ahenobarbus had much bigger fish to fry than a hick provincial from Leontini. She’d been an amusement, nothing more, and young Sextus had been an accident. Three, on Allenius’s side — Rupilia’s, too — where was the benefit? Rupilia would be disgraced, Allenius laughed at, and with Ahenobarbus as an enemy his career would be down the tubes before it’d even started. As it was, if he kept schtum, at least officially, he was owed.’ Doxa; it all came down to doxa.

‘But he still divorced Rupilia.’

‘Sure he did. As soon as he could, right after the birth. I never said he didn’t have a concern for his honour, and raising another man’s child by his wife while having to pretend it was his own just wouldn’t sit with a guy like that. Only thing was, he didn’t give out the reason.’

‘Hmm.’ Perilla was twisting her lock of hair. ‘So what has this to do with the murder?’

‘Fuck knows.’

‘Marcus!’

‘Yeah, well. Maybe nothing. Probably nothing. Still, it opens up another angle. And I’ll have to have a word with Ahenobarbus.’

‘Why should you do that?’

‘Lady, he was the kid’s real father. He knew, young Papinius knew. The chances are Papinius got his job with the fire commission directly through Ahenobarbus, not via Allenius. That means Ahenobarbus had a personal, vested interest in him. And I’ll bet you a jar of Caecuban to a pickled anchovy that the solution to all this has something to do with the kid’s job. Good enough?’

‘Not really.’

‘Stick, then.’ I leaned over and kissed her. ‘Also, apropos of nothing whatsoever, I’ve got a link between Albucilla and Acutia.’

‘Between Albucilla and who?’

I did a double-take. Oh, yeah: the day I’d talked to Albucilla at the Apollo Library had ended with me being mugged, and subsequent events had pushed that little interview into the background. Perilla didn’t know about her, because I’d never mentioned the lady. ‘You remember Acutia in Antioch?’ I said. ‘Publius Vitellius’s wife?’

‘Oh, that Acutia! Yes, of course I remember her; mousy little thing. And I did know she was in Rome, it’s only that our paths don’t cross nowadays.’

‘That so, now? Anyway, I bumped into her at the Apollo Library. She and Albucilla seem to be good mates.’

‘Really? So?’

‘You don’t think that’s strange?’

‘No, Marcus, of course not. Why should I? And what has Acutia to do with Sextus Papinius in any case?’

I ignored the last bit; yeah, I was wondering about that myself. ‘Or that both of them should just happen to have had connections with Aelius Sejanus?’

‘Marcus — ’

‘Albucilla’s husband was one of his pals before he betrayed him, and according to Crispus Albucilla was his mistress. And that bastard Vitellius — well, you know all about him.’

Perilla sighed. ‘Marcus, dear, I’m sorry, but so what? Half of Rome had connections with Sejanus, one way or the other. And if he was a…common interest between the two women then it’s perfectly natural that they should be friends. However, Sejanus is dead, and if not exactly forgotten then the next thing to it. Support for him — if that’s what you’re accusing the two of them of, and the gods know in what sense — is no longer an issue. Besides, why on earth should it be relevant? From what I remember of Acutia and know of Lucia Albucilla they may not be particularly similar in character, but that’s no bar to friendship. They obviously share literary tastes, for a start.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I realise all that.’ I took a morose swig of the Setinian. Perilla might be right, sure, but I’d seen what I’d seen: those ladies had had something cooking together besides a common interest in lyric poetry, I’d bet my sandals on that. And although the Sejanus link was probably completely incidental I still couldn’t get it out of my head. ‘Still — ’

‘What did Crispus have to say about Carsidius?’

‘Hmm? The bastard’s pure as the driven snow. Any more perfect and they’d deify him.’

‘That doesn’t sound very promising.’

‘Too right it isn’t.’ I took another pull at my wine-cup. ‘One thing, though. You can forget the bribery aspect. When I suggested it Crispus laughed in my face, and Crispus can scent a crook like a dog scents vomit.’

‘Marcus, please — ’

‘So Carsidius lied. Why did he lie? Someone put him up to it, but who?’

‘Balbus, perhaps.’

‘Or Ahenobarbus. He’s part of the equation now, remember, and he’s Balbus’s — and Papinius’s — ultimate boss. It all comes down to the fire commission. There’s a cover-up involved there, and it’s a top-level one; for Balbus and Carsidius to be involved at the least it has to be.’ I poured myself more wine from the jug. ‘Jupiter and all the ever-loving gods!’

‘Don’t get annoyed, dear.’

‘I’m not annoyed, I’m frustrated. There’s something we’re missing, something big. Until we know that nothing makes sense.’

‘All right. Say there is a connection with the commission. What could it be?’

‘Peculation on a major scale. Creaming the top off the Treasury allocation. That much is obvious.’

‘How would it work?’

‘How should I know? It wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure. The Wart set the commission up himself, and the Wart’s no fool. Four men at the top — four —, all on a level, all imperials by marriage. Domitius Ahenobarbus, sure, he’s as crooked and ruthless and self-serving as they come, but he’s got colleagues that’ll be watching him like hawks. Watching each other, too, because they’re no saints either, and you can bet that each of them would just love to see one of the others step out of line so they could yank the rug from under. Come down a step and it’s the same: checks and double-checks all the way down the line, the Wart’s seen to that. And to round things off, we’ve got to believe that someone like Lucius bloody Carsidius, who never bent a rule in his life, will tie himself in knots and lie like hell to cover for whoever is milking the scheme and is a murderer into the bargain. Fuck!’ I banged the table and the wine-jug jumped. ‘The whole thing’s impossible!’

‘Marcus, dear, don’t lose your temper.’

‘Yeah, well. It is.’

‘So assume that it isn’t. How would Papinius fit in?’

I took a deep breath. The lady was right: losing my temper didn’t help. We had to look at this thing dispassionately. ‘Not as a major player,’ I said. ‘Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t’ve seen, heard something, read something…Perilla, this is sheer fantasising!’

‘He was Ahenobarbus’s son. You know that now. If you think Ahenobarbus is the most likely villain — and I’d agree — then that fact might be relevant to his involvement. At least it puts it within the bounds of possibility.’

‘Sweet immortal gods, lady! He was a nineteen-year-old kid on the bottom rung of the ladder! What chance would he have to be privy to any sort of secret?’

‘I don’t know. Of course I don’t. But he was murdered, after all, and his death disguised as suicide. Surely that counts for something?’

That stopped me. Yeah, right; that was the absolute bottom line, and there was no escaping it. Someone had decided that the kid was too dangerous to live, and had enough clout to cover his tracks by putting pressure on some of Rome’s top men. We weren’t playing games here.

I would definitely have to talk to Domitius Ahenobarbus.

At the end of the garden, the side gate opened: Alexis back with Placida. She looked up and saw me…

Ow-ooo! Ow-ooo-ooo-ooo!

Oh, hell.

Now I knew what a Gallic boar felt like when it saw a hundred and twenty pounds of boarhound racing towards it. I just had time to get up and put both my hands out before she hit.

‘You have to forgive her really,’ Perilla said as I picked myself out of the flower bed and fended the brute off. ‘With all her faults she is very affectionate. And she’s definitely beginning to take to you.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, right.’

Problem was, she still smelled of fish