The Lydian Baker

29

Critias came back with the news that the deed was there, and I breathed again: sure, I hadn't doubted Cotile for a second, but there was just the chance that, if he and Demetriacus had set the Scallop up together,Melanthus had kept the ownership in his own name. So now I had my first bit of hard evidence linking the two.

'So we make another appointment?' I said to Callippus.

'No.'

'What?' I didn't believe this. 'Look, pal..!'

'No appointment.' He had a determined look on his face that I hadn't seen before. 'This time we go straight round to the house. I don't like being lied to. And the man has questions to answer.'

'Hey! Great!' I stood up.

'Wait a moment, Corvinus. My questions, not yours. Remember that. I have your word.'

'Sure.' It would be difficult, but if that was the deal I could hack it. 'I've got Lysias outside. I'll give you a lift.'

'That won't be necessary. This is an official investigation and we'll take an official carriage.'

Talk about pernickety. Still, if the niceties of protocol were all that important to him it was fine with me. I shrugged.

He didn't speak on the way, and I kept my mouth shut. Good practice. Besides, I wanted to keep him sweet. In his present mood Callippus was touchy as a sackful of vipers.

Demetriacus had a modest little mansion outside the Diochares Gate, backing onto Theophrastus Gardens. Successful was right: he'd even got the EridanusRiver flowing through his grounds. A slave led us through the portico to the garden beyond. I took a quick look round and nodded to myself. It fitted: the place was chock-full of statues and ornamental urns big enough to take an oak tree. There was money here by the barrowload, sure, but unlike at the Scallop it didn't whisper, it shouted. Demetriacus had chosen this particular decor himself, without Melanthus's help, and it showed.

He was in a lounger, reading. Serious stuff, I noticed from the label on the roll: Apollonius of Perga's Conics. Poetry I can hack, but mathematics is the pits. He set the book aside. For a split second, when he saw us, the guy looked fazed, but he covered it well.

'Commander. Valerius Corvinus. Delighted to see you,' he said. 'Alcis, some wine for our guests.'

The slave bowed and left. I indicated the cup of milk on the table beside him. 'Still having problems, right?'

Callippus shot me a glance. Yeah, well, it had slipped out. Covertly, I held out my hand, palm down, in apology, and he nodded.

'Still having problems, Corvinus.' Demetriacus smiled. He was wearing a plain tunic this morning, but he still looked like a shaved monkey. 'Never be an invalid, young man. It's the most boring thing in life.'

'I'm sorry to disturb you again, sir,' Callippus said. 'Especially since I assured you there would be no more questions. However, there have been fresh developments.'

'Really?' Demetriacus indicated the two chairs opposite. 'Whatever the reason, you're most welcome. Have a seat, please.'

We sat down. 'First of all,' Callippus said, 'we've found Melanthus of Abdera's body.'

If he'd expected to catch the guy out — and I was sure he had — then it didn't work. Demetriacus's face didn't change.

'But that's dreadful,' he said carefully.

'Yes. My colleagues discovered it yesterday evening, on the Hill of the Nymphs. His throat had been cut.'

'Ah.' Demetriacus picked up the cup and took a sip of milk. 'Robbers, I suppose? The Hill of the Nymphs is quite a wild region.'

'Not robbers, sir. At least, we don't think so.' Callippus's eyes went towards me. 'Melanthus was killed elsewhere and his body hidden under some bushes. It was only found by accident.'

'I see.' Demetriacus set the cup down. 'And what does this have to do with me?'

'I wondered if perhaps you'd care to change your statement.' Callippus's voice was neutral. 'About not knowing the deceased. Truth's always helpful, sir, and every piece of information in an enquiry such as this is important.'

'You're accusing me of killing the man?' That came sharp: milk-drinker the guy might be, but underneath he was hard as an Ostian bruiser.

Callippus blinked: like most Athenians he wasn't used to such straight talking. 'No. Of course not.'

'Then why come here?'

'I learned today' — Callippus was still being ponderously official — 'that you purchased your property near Ptolemy's Gymnasium, now called Aphrodite's Scallop, from Melanthus of Abdera. The Records Office have confirmed this.'

'I see.' The cold eyes rested on me. 'And who would your informant be, may I ask?'

I stared back. Callippus's own eyes didn't move. 'That I'm not at liberty to say, sir, and it's not important. However, the fact of the transaction itself is beyond dispute.'

The slave came back with the wine. Demetriacus waited until he had poured and left. He was still looking at me even when he talked to Callippus. 'Very well. Yes, I knew Melanthus, and yes, he sold me the Scallop.'

'And you have been close friends ever since?'

He paused. 'Yes.'

'Would you mind explaining why you claimed at our last talk that you'd never met the man?'

Demetriacus sighed. 'Watch Commander, I have spent my whole life avoiding irrelevant complications. If I had told you I knew Melanthus — that he was a friend, indeed — I would have been subjected to precisely the pointless interrogation I'm facing now. I may not look it, but I am an extremely busy man, and I have too much on my mind at any one time to bother with trifles.'

'Trifles like murder?'

'Melanthus of Abdera was a friend and an entertaining companion, but he was…peripheral.' He frowned. 'If I may use the word of such a first-rate scholar. I'm sorry he's dead, but since I have no idea whatsoever of how he came to be so I feel no pangs of conscience at having lied to you about our relationship.'

'So he didn't visit you in your office at the Scallop the night he died?'

Demetriacus looked at him sharply. 'Who told you that?'

'Did he?'

'Watch Commander, I'm sorry, but I think you had better go. I have a very important business meeting this morning, and I need to relax.'

'You decline to answer?'

'The question has no meaning for me.'

'Very well, sir.' Callippus stood up. I followed him. 'One last thing. I was wondering if you knew a compatriot of yours from Paphos.' He repeated the description of Prince Charming that I'd given him.

Demetriacus pulled himself to his feet. His face was still impassive, but his eyes were narrow slits.

'Alcis!'

The slave came running.

'These gentlemen are just leaving.' He gave me a poisonous look. 'See them to the gate, please.'

Callippus was hard-faced as we got back into the carriage. 'I enjoyed that,' he said.

'Yeah. I could see.'

'My congratulations, by the way. You're a man of your word.'

'It was no sweat. You were doing okay without me, pal.'

The coachman started up, and we rattled along the road to the Diochares Gate. 'Can I drop you?' Callippus said. 'We can cut across to Lyceum Road once we're inside the city boundaries.'

'No, it's okay. Perilla wants some things in town, and Lysias will be waiting. Also, I'd like to talk.'

'Yes. So I imagine.' Even so he was quiet for a good two minutes. Then he said: 'Demetriacus knows your Prince Charming.'

'Yeah.' I'd seen the flash myself, when Callippus had asked his question. 'He didn't like the suggestion he'd talked to Melanthus that night, either.'

'No.' A pause. 'You think he's guilty? That he killed him?'

'Sure. Or had it done, rather. Don't you?'

Callippus nodded slowly. 'There's steel there, under the surface. Not too far under, either. And I wouldn't like to cross him.' He glanced at me. 'Like he thinks you've done.'

'You noticed that?'

'I noticed. And I think that, in the immediate future, you should be very careful. Very careful indeed.'

A cold finger touched my spine. Yeah. I'd go along with that. And I'd already met the guy's hit man. Next time it might be a different story. 'So what do we do?'

'Zeus alone knows.' Callippus sighed. 'We've got no proof, and we're not likely to get any. Demetriacus knows that. Dig, I suppose, and see what comes up. But I'm not hopeful.'

Right. That was the problem. Demetriacus was our villain, sure he was: pinning it on the guy was another matter. 'Unless I can find Prince Charming,' I said.

'If the man's in the City or the Piraeus he's keeping his head well down.'

'Yeah. But sooner or later the bastard's got to come up for air.'

Callippus looked at me. 'Maybe so,' he said. 'But if he does then my advice to you is to watch your back.'

I nodded. I meant to, very carefully indeed. Whatever else we'd achieved today, I knew I'd just made myself an enemy.