Murder in Megara

Chapter Thirty-four

Rumors went around the marketplace, a slight breeze turning up the undersides of leaves before the storm broke.

“The new estate owner is visiting Megara again!”

“It’s rumored he’s been making human sacrifices!”

“The City Defender suspects him of murder!”

“Why is he allowed to go free?”

Word of his arrival preceded him. Ears trained to hear picked up half-whispered conversations. Practiced eyes found the tall, slender figure as he skirted the marketplace.

He went down several side streets. The observer was nothing more than another evening shadow.

This time the quarry did not cut down an alley.

The observer saw John go up the stairs to the door of a modest dwelling in a three-story building faced in stucco.

***

Leonidas opened the door. “John, I wanted to tell you before you came in, my wife, well, she-”

“She does not wish you to be associated with a dangerous pariah like myself.”

Leonidas looked embarrassed. “I know she’s being foolish.”

“Not at all. It is dangerous. She is wise to be cautious.”

“I’m sorry, John. I am happy to help an old friend, but women worry and she is my wife. You understand.…”

“I shall make this visit as brief as possible.”

They went inside. Helena could be heard in the kitchen. She did not bring wine. John observed the Tower of Babel had risen two or three stories since his last visit.

Leonidas brought him several sheets covered with numbers and notations. “I’ve copied the tax records for you. I apologize for the writing. I’m no scribe! But as you’ll see, everything is in order.”

“Thank you, Leonidas. No question of missing entries or alterations then?”

“No, at least not this morning. While I was consulting the documents, I learned your estate was owned for a long time by an absentee senatorial family. It seems this family has, over many years, bought up adjacent land whenever it became available. It has never been productive and I have no notion why they would wish to own it.”

“Yes, it belonged to Senator Vinius. He lived in Constantinople.”

“I imagine, given the over-crowding in the capital, owning a large area of open land might be attractive. Perhaps he’d planned to retire here?”

“Or he was just given bad advice when seeking to buy land.”

John could sense his friend’s unease, so much different than his first visit when it had seemed it might be easy to slip back into their old camaraderie.

As John turned to leave, Helena emerged from the kitchen. Leonidas raised a warning hand but she ignored him.

“John,” she said, “my husband and I have disagreed about this but my feeling is it’s only right you should know what happened with your mother. Since Leonidas is reluctant to tell you, I shall.”

“I was just going,” John told her. “I won’t bother you again until the trouble has passed.”

“Oh, that’s a fine thing to hear! You’re more interested in your tax records than your mother!”

Leonidas was appalled. “Helen, please…”

“A man ought to know about his family,” she said. “Even if he doesn’t want to know. If a man wants to avoid his past he shouldn’t come around disturbing friends from his past.”

“She’s right,” John said, mostly to soothe Leonidas and partly because he could see no graceful way to escape whatever revelations Helen intended to impart.

Leonidas cast an apologetic glance at John, a silent plea asking what he could do in the face of her determination to speak.

“Anyway, everyone in Megara knows about her. Why shouldn’t her son?” Helen continued.

“If that’s true I’d find out soon enough,” John said, resigned to hearing what would probably turn out to be a farrago of rumors. “What is it everybody knows about my mother?”

“Well, late in life, Sophia became extremely religious. If it had just been increased church attendance no one would have taken any notice, but it got to the point where she would wander around the city and preach on the street. She held religious discussions with Halmus, shouting up to him when he was perched on his column. Much of what she spoke about was repentance and the life to come.”

John bit back a denial. He remembered his mother as quiet and self-effacing. A down-to-earth woman and certainly not a brazen religious zealot. Seeking out public attention would have been the last thing she would have done. But then, what did he know about her later life?

Helen seemed to sense what John was thinking. “We were all shocked, John. It wasn’t like her at all. Eventually it became obvious she was…unwell. Age affects some people like that. Of course, it was dangerous for an older woman to walk the streets alone at night, and more than once your stepfather had to come into Megara to take her home. After a while she no longer appeared in town and eventually she died.”

“I see.”

“Do you? Do you imagine people here had forgotten the poor woman had a son? Why is her son not helping, they asked.”

“Helen,” snapped Leonidas. “Sophia had a husband to help her.”

“We all know what sort of help he was,” she shot back. “According to what we heard, Theophilus began to wager large sums, got deeply into debt, and sold the farm. Of course, he had inherited it as Sophia’s husband. Then he vanished, leaving his creditors empty-handed. Those tax records won’t have anything to say about that.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” John agreed. “But knowing that may shed some light on Theophilus’ death.” He hoped his comment would make Leonidas feel better about his wife’s outburst.

Helen had run out of disclosures. Did she regret having forced the information on him? “I am sorry, John. It is hard to lose a parent.”

Leonidas showed him to the door. “It was all a long time ago. I’m happy you were able to buy your childhood home back, John. It must have meant a lot to you to be in a position to be able to do so.”