A Whispering of Spies

EPILOGUE

I was sitting in the garden of my patron’s country house, where Marcus had been sitting when the whole affair began. Marcus was lolling on a folding chair nearby, watching his infant with indulgent eyes.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I suppose we can call that satisfactory. I am relieved that you managed to redeem yourself and did not cause me any more embarrassment. And they cleared you on all charges, even of the cart. Finding the lictor’s body helped, of course. How did you manage to work out where it was?’

‘Where would be more obvious than in the garden of Florens’s country house, where I would duly cover it with a pavement floor? He must have put it there the night that Voluus died — after he’d removed the ring and toga-clasp, of course. But it would not be really safe till I’d put the pavement down. He even had his servants flatten out the place, so that I would not disturb the grave by accident.’

‘Unfortunate that he actually murdered Voluus himself; otherwise he might have got away with just a fine. But a Roman citizen? And planning all the rest? No wonder he was sentenced to instant exile.’ He threw a padded ball for little Marcellinus to retrieve. ‘After being a wealthy councillor, he’ll find it hard, I think, though he’s taken that servant with him, I believe. Don’t know why the fellow went — the court decided that he was justified in killing two runaways whom the law condemned.’

I made no answer, too full of sugared dates to speak. I had been given a whole plate of them entirely to myself, which I took as a kind of edible apology for his not volunteering to speak up on my account. It didn’t matter: Alcanta’s testimony had been more than enough to sway the magistrate, but I’d not declined the dates. I’m not particularly fond of them, in fact, but I was going to eat them all on principle.

‘It’s Porteus that I feel sorry for,’ he went on presently, when Marcellinus had toddled over with the ball. ‘All those debts that he’s been lumbered with! Well, he should have remembered that the buyer must beware. He is liable, because he did the ordering, though Florens wrote and asked him to, under the lictor’s seal. And he still has that daughter to find a husband for!’

I nodded stickily. ‘It won’t be easy now. She won’t have much of a dowry after this.’

Marcus gave a grunt. ‘And he won’t be able to afford to be a candidate for Imperial priest. That was what Florens was working for, of course — they were always rivals for the Servir’s post. If Porteus wasn’t such a pompous idiot, I could feel quite sorry for the man.’

I didn’t answer. I hadn’t quite forgiven the councillor for what he’d done to me.

Marcus didn’t notice. ‘I don’t think that awarding him the lictor’s flat is going to compensate him much, and of course he won’t get anything from Florens’s estate. That’s all gone to the imperial purse. Alcanta offered him the steward, I believe, but that’s no use at all. Calvinus wouldn’t fetch a quadrans at the slave-market after what they put him through.’

‘I wonder if Florens feels guilty about that? He must have known the servants would be the first to take the blame.’

Marcus rose, yawning, and threw the ball again. It went about an arms-length and fell into a pool. He sat down with a laugh. ‘We’ll no doubt find that Calvinus was impolite to him. Florens was vindictive, I told you that before. That’s why — when the opportunity arose — he tried to imply that you had been involved. Not that he had anything against you personally, but he knew that by indicting you he would embarrass me.’ The slave had fetched the ball and rolled it to his feet. Marcus kicked it back, remarking lazily, ‘Well, he won’t be trying to embarrass me again. By sundown he’ll have had to leave the Empire for life.’

‘It’s lucky that Alcanta didn’t suffer the same fate.’ I licked my fingers delicately, as I’d seen my patron do.

Marcus laughed, slapping his hand against his thigh. ‘There was never any chance of that, I think. Of course, she had a representative to speak for her in court, since being a woman she couldn’t speak herself, but she lowered her lashes at the magistrate and looked properly contrite, and managed to convince him that she’d been overruled by men. He even volunteered to act as guardian himself. Titus Flavius — the man’s a recent widower. I think she’ll be all right.’

I had to laugh at this assessment of Alcanta’s charms. ‘She’s persuaded him to buy that pavement, too. I thought I was going to make a loss on that.’

‘Speaking of women, how’s your charming wife?’ Marcus was doing his best to flatter me. ‘She’s a doughty woman, too. You know she came here the other night to plead your cause? Wanted Julia to persuade me to speak for you in court. I had to promise that I’d do it if you really needed me. Combined their wiles against me, though I didn’t have to do it in the end.’ He glanced towards the gate. ‘Ah, and here they come! With that new slave of yours. Funny little fellow. What’s his name again?’

‘We call him Brianus,’ I answered. ‘And it’s worked out splendidly. My son and his family have been looking for a slave and Brianus will suit them very well. It’s sometimes difficult to make him understand that I am not his master and he works for Junio, but he is young and willing and no doubt he’ll learn. Now that he’s eating better, he is gaining strength as well. He told me he had never been so happy in his life.’

‘Well,’ my patron said, heartily, ‘I’m very pleased myself. You did very well to sort this problem out. They would never have caught the murderer if it had not been for you.’

Marcus was not good at compliments and I appreciated this. ‘Oh, it was nothing, patron,’ I told him modestly. ‘At first I made a number of mistakes. The only thing I really did was focus on the farm.’

He smiled benignly. ‘Come to think of it, I suppose that’s true. Anyone might have worked out the rest of it, if they’d happened to be there.’ He looked over at the plate which had been set for me, picked up the last date and ate it daintily. Then he got to his feet. ‘Shall we go and greet the ladies? I believe a light refreshment may have been prepared.’