A Roman Ransom

Chapter Twelve

It was the same Aulus, though I was surprised to find him here again. Marcus had transferred him to the Corinium house last year. I had suspected it was the man I remembered as soon as Porphyllia mentioned onions, and when he came into the room there was no mistaking him: a great coarse lumbering bear of a man with a leering manner, shifting eyes and a habit of flicking his tongue out nervously and moistening his thin lips when he spoke.

He did it now. ‘Ah, citizen, it’s you. What do you want with me?’ He eyed me warily. Unlike most other people in the house, I knew about his past. He had been gate-keeper here long before Marcus had acquired the house, and in those days Aulus had combined his duties at the gatehouse with the more profitable business of spying for the state — informing on his previous owner to the authorities. True, the man in question was a most unpleasant person — but the chief authority in this area, then as now, was Marcus Aurelius Septimus himself.

So Aulus had always been Marcus’s private spy, trained to keep an observant watch and doubtless duly rewarded for his services. It was not an arrangement I cared for even then, especially since Aulus was not over-blessed with brains — but he’d fulfilled his double role with a certain cunning relish, and Marcus had used him quite a lot. I’d even had some useful leads from him myself, though I’d had to bribe him for the privilege. So it was particularly interesting now to hear that he was publicly grumbling that he had given information to His Excellence, and had not been paid for it.

‘What do you want, citizen?’ he said again. ‘I’ve got to be back on duty very soon.’

I looked at him. He really hadn’t changed. He had swapped his former ugly cudgel for a more formal sword, and he now sported Marcus’s scarlet uniform and a handsome heavy cloak, but apart from that he was the same old Aulus still, right down to the stench of onions and stale beer. He was born to be brutish and rather underhand, and there was a hint of menace in the way he looked at me. There was no room for subtlety. I tackled him outright.

‘Porphyllia says you have been cheated of your just rewards,’ I said, trying to sound as sympathetic as I could. Aulus was always on the lookout for a denarius or two, and I thought this was the best way to gain his confidence.

Aulus was not so easily cajoled. He looked at me with distrust. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard. There was a flock of birds,’ he muttered. ‘Flying left to right. Got to be an omen of bad luck, that has.’

I hauled myself a little more upright. ‘Aulus,’ I said, ‘don’t waste my time like this. There’s something else. Of course there is. Marcus didn’t employ you all those years to have you tell him nonsense about flocks of birds.’

He turned a sullen red. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘there was another thing. I’ve told His Excellence — but he’s not interested. Said it was not significant, since it was not that afternoon.’ He licked his lips again. ‘Of course, if you could see your way. .’

I ignored the blatant hint. ‘What was not significant?’ I said.

He hesitated, obviously still hoping for a bribe.

‘His Excellence will tell me, if you do not,’ I said. ‘Save yourself a whipping, and tell me what it was.’

He breathed stale onions at me. ‘The fact that there were people lurking in the woods,’ he said at last. ‘At least, I think there were. Julia said she saw them, and she’s no idiot. But when I went to look, there was nobody in sight. I suppose they slipped away into the trees.’

The way he spoke about the mistress of the house was over-familiar from a household slave, but I ignored it. ‘When was this?’

‘That morning, when she came back in the carriage from visiting her friends.’ He hawked and spat, leaving a damp patch on the floor beside his feet. ‘Might have been the kidnappers spying out the house, I thought.’

‘It’s possible, I suppose. Have you told Marcus that?’

He shrugged. ‘I tried to. But His Excellence would hardly hear me out. Said that when it came right down to it, I hadn’t seen anything at all. Me, who was his eyes and ears for years! And he refused to pay a single quadrans for my help. I think that he actually believes. .’ He broke off.

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

‘He thought you made it up, to earn a share of that reward?’ I said, and was answered by his shifty, red-faced scowl. I nodded. I would not have put it past the man, myself. ‘I’m surprised that you did not suggest he checked the facts. Other people must have seen them.’

‘I did suggest it, but who was there he could ask?’ Aulus retorted gloomily. ‘The carriage-driver might have noticed, I suppose. But it was not our private coachman. Marcus had our carriage out himself, and Julia had arranged to hire one for an hour or two, so that she could go out when she wanted to.’

I pricked up my ears. ‘Was that unusual?’

He shook his head. ‘She’s used the man before: she books him when Marcus has appointments in the town. Fellow’s got a little business on the Glevum road: a coach, half a dozen horses and a cart or two. I think he has a stable lad, and another man who drives for him as well, but he mostly makes a living hiring himself out. Next time I saw him I asked him if he had noticed anyone in the woods, but he swears he didn’t hear or see a thing. He doesn’t want trouble with his wealthy customers, that’s the truth of it, and of course I can’t force the man to talk. And then I got annoyed and did a stupid thing. I said it was a pity the mistress wasn’t here herself to tell him what was what, but His Excellence got to hear about that and he was furious. He lost his temper, roared at me and refused to pay me anything at all. I’ve even had my duty shifts increased — I’m sure the master had a hand in that.’ He had turned pink and shifty.

I was thinking that in the circumstances it was a wonder that his remark had not earned worse, when Junio (who had been standing by so quietly that I’d half forgotten him) asked the obvious question. ‘What about Julia’s attendant?’ he enquired. ‘The wet nurse accompanied Julia that morning, didn’t she? Surely she could speak up on your behalf?’

I turned to Aulus. ‘By Bacchus, so she did. That’s right, isn’t it?’

He made a scornful face. ‘Of course she could, if only she was here. It was her who got out of the carriage at the gate to tell me what Julia had seen. I didn’t think of that at first — it was only after the master had been quizzing everyone that I remembered it.’ He caught my eye and flushed. ‘All right, so by then he was offering rewards. What difference does it make? By the time I thought of getting the wet nurse to vouch for me, they’d sent her home again. I can’t leave my post and go off to look for her. And Marcus wouldn’t listen when I tried to talk to him.’

‘Well then, I’ll talk to her myself as soon as possible,’ I said. ‘If she bears out what you say, I’ll tell His Excellence myself. She’ll be here in the morning, I believe.’

‘So they’ve arranged to have her back, have they? I wondered if they would.’ Aulus’s ugly face turned pinker yet. ‘She generally gets here about the second hour,’ he went on. ‘You do that. Talk to her. You’ll see. She’ll tell you that what I said is true — in general terms at least.’

So he was already starting to retract his words! I turned to Junio. ‘You can watch out for Myrna when she comes. Make sure she doesn’t speak to Aulus at the gate. I don’t want him coaching her in what she has to say.’

The gate-keeper sneered. ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll be off duty and asleep by then. She usually uses the back gate anyway — after all, she’s not a visitor. Myrna only came the front way if she was accompanying the mistress anywhere.’

I looked at him suspiciously. Of course Myrna was likely to go round to the back — like any other tradesman visiting the house. But all the same. .

Junio, however, was ahead of me. ‘Master, I knew you’d want to see her,’ he said. ‘I’ve left instructions with all the gate-keepers that they are to let us know as soon as she arrives tomorrow. Whichever gate she uses.’

I nodded. ‘Well done, Junio. I’m sure that Marcus won’t object if we have a word with her first thing — though obviously we’ll have to keep it brief. Marcellinus will presumably need feeding by that time and she will have other urgent duties to perform. But it won’t take long to discover if what Aulus says is true.’

Aulus grunted. ‘You’ll find out,’ he said. ‘Now, was there anything else, or can I go back to the kitchen and find something to eat? They had a bit of bread and soup for me, but no doubt it’s cold by now, and anyway I’ll be lucky if I’ve time to eat at all. I told you, they’ve increased my duties at the gate, and there’ll be trouble if I’m not back double-quick. I’m on an extra half-shift as it is.’

‘Very well, Aulus, you may go,’ I said, and he stumped out without another word.

‘So,’ Junio said, ‘we’ll see what Myrna says?’

I nodded. ‘I was anxious to talk to her in any case. It seems she was the only slave about that afternoon — even if she was in the kitchens at the time — and I want to hear her version of events.’

In fact, the more I thought of it, the keener to speak to her I was. If we were looking for somebody with links inside the house, but who had the opportunity to come and go at will, Myrna was obviously a candidate. Furthermore, Marcellinus had been cared for, after a fashion, while he was missing from his home. Someone had fed him, kept him clean and rubbed him in hog’s grease as a protection from the cold. Someone who knew about young children, by the look of it. And Myrna might have done that — she had been absent from the house. But why? And what had she to do with Lallius?

I shook my head. It was hard to imagine why the child’s own nurse, who clearly loved him well, should tear off his precious bulla and his clothes, give him poppy juice to keep him quiet and pack him inside a basket in the dark. And what of Philades? Did he somehow know the girl? Had they met before, in Glevum? After all, they had both worked for councillors. Had she somehow been instrumental in the doctor’s being here?

I was anxious to question Myrna as soon as possible.

I got my chance to talk to Marcus about it a little later. He came to see me — dressed for dinner now — and still with the medicus a step or two behind.

He seemed depressed and sober. ‘Porphyllia told me that you weren’t asleep. I’ve come to tell you that we’ve put the ransom money out. The page took it, left it where they said and then went on to Glevum. I don’t know if they’ve picked it up yet, but I assume they have. I sent the oil-seller out a little afterwards, and told him that if he sees anybody in the lane he is to send me word. I didn’t tell him why, of course — the fewer people in the area who know that I’ve agreed to pay the kidnappers, the better, or we shall have this kind of thing again. But there’s been no word. I’m sure these villains are far too clever to be conspicuous. In the morning, when it’s light and my page comes back again, I’ll send him to discover if the money’s gone.’

‘And Gwellia?’ I said.

‘I asked the oil-seller to call in and tell her not to come tonight, on the medicus’s orders, because you had to rest.’ He caught my glance. ‘I had to tell her something — I did not want her to worry unnecessarily, and I couldn’t tell the oil man about the ransom note. So,’ he forced a joyless smile, ‘if you have everything you need, I think that’s all we can do tonight.’

I assured him that I was entirely comfortable. It was true — I am not accustomed to such luxury.

He nodded. ‘You are looking more like your usual self. No doubt the draught the doctor left for you has helped.’

‘You did take all of it?’ the doctor asked. ‘The second time?’

That was a tricky question. ‘Every drop has gone,’ I answered truthfully, and saw the doctor’s small, triumphant smile.

‘Then we will say goodnight,’ my patron said. ‘The kitchens have some soup for Junio and there is some hydromel for you. I must go to dinner and attend my guests — though I don’t feel much like eating anything. However, the chief priest of Jupiter can’t be made to wait. He is staying at the villa overnight again, and will conduct the reconsecration ceremony for my son at dawn.’ The chief priest has his own house in the temple court and has public duties almost every day, but when you are rich and powerful, it seems, even the gods must wait from time to time.

I seized my moment. ‘Speaking of the morning, Excellence, may I have a word with Myrna as soon as she arrives? There are several things I really want to ask her to explain. I think her testimony may be of vital help.’

Marcus nodded vaguely. ‘As you wish — though I don’t know what you hope to get from her. I’m sure that when I questioned her she told me everything she had to tell.’

‘With respect, Excellence,’ I said, ‘there may be things she doesn’t know she knows.’

‘Your pardon, Marcus Septimus.’ The medicus almost sounded humble for a change. ‘Allow me to make a small suggestion here. By all means allow him to interrogate the girl, but perhaps we two should be present when he questions her? You can ensure that she gives the same account, and I can keep a professional eye on poor Libertus here, and make sure that he does not exhaust himself.’

The ‘poor Libertus’ had a mocking tone, but my patron seemed oblivious of any irony. He nodded. ‘Anything you say, of course. Just as long as we get Julia safely back.’ He gestured to the doctor. ‘Come! We must cleanse our hands and make libations to the family gods before we eat. Libertus, we shall see you in the morning. After the bulla rituals, of course. The priest assures me that for the best results we should begin those at first light: we have consulted all the calendars and tomorrow is fortunately a propitious day. I wish that you were well enough to attend yourself. However, we shall see you afterwards and you can talk to Myrna then. In the meantime, try to get some sleep.’