Illegally Dead

25

They were at breakfast, Acceius and Seia Lucinda, when the slave showed us in.

‘Corvinus! And Clarus.’ Acceius put down his breakfast roll. ‘What on earth are you doing here at this hour?’

‘We’ve just been round at Bucca Maecilius’s,’ I said. ‘Asking him about the corpse that he ferried over to Caba three days back.’

His eyes widened. ‘Indeed? What corpse is this?’

‘I was rather hoping you’d tell me, pal. After all, you dumped her on him in the first place.’

Silence. Long silence. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Seia Lucinda shoot him a look. Acceius dabbed carefully at his lips with his napkin and stood up, wincing as he did so. Yeah: the stitches would still be in.

‘Perhaps we’d better go into the study,’ he said.

I stood aside to let him pass, with Clarus tagging along behind. I could feel Seia Lucinda’s eyes on my back all the way to the door.

We went in.

‘Sit down, please.’ He indicated the couches. ‘I’d rather stand, if you don’t mind. It makes things rather formal, but standing’s more comfortable for me at present, and besides under the circumstances perhaps a certain degree of formality is called for.’

We sat.

‘Now.’ He took a breath. ‘How did you know?’

‘You admit it?’

‘Yes. No point in a denial, is there?’ He was frowning. ‘I should’ve said I’d killed her — her, not him — straight away. Making up that story was silly. Worse than silly, stupid.’

‘So why did you?’

He closed his eyes. ‘Because I’m a lawyer, Corvinus, and because I’m a man. The first sometimes thinks too much, the second too little. Unfortunately the combination will sometimes act very stupidly indeed. As I did.’ The eyes opened again. ‘As far as the killing went, it followed roughly the same lines as I described, except that the struggle was more prolonged and of course ended…differently. She was a very powerful woman, you must be aware of that if you’ve seen the body. Also…well, she really, really wanted me dead. I managed to turn her round and get a tight grip of her knife hand about the wrist, but that was as much as I could do: she wouldn’t drop the knife and I couldn’t move the arm itself. I…got my left arm up to her throat and my fingers caught in her necklace. I thought if I twisted that and held on tightly, choking her, I could force her to let the weapon fall, or at worst render her unconscious. I…well, I simply held on too long and too hard. When she did finally go limp and I risked releasing her I found that she was dead.’ He paused and looked me straight in the eyes. ‘I swear to you I didn’t mean to kill her. It was like the other time, an accident. I was so damn scared I just acted without thinking.’

I let that one pass for the moment. ‘Okay. So why the story? You’d been attacked, badly wounded, you’d defended yourself and accidentally killed the attacker in the process. You’re a lawyer, you’d know you were within your rights. So why try to cover things up?’

He smiled weakly. ‘It was because I’m a lawyer, Corvinus. Or partly so. I told you, the combination of ordinary man and lawyer can give rise to acts of unbelievable stupidity. Thus far I’d acted as a man. I was frightened, I panicked, I overreacted.’ He paused. ‘No, I’m being unfair to myself, I didn’t overreact, I simply fought as hard as I could to avoid being killed, which I knew I would be if I gave the woman the smallest degree of quarter. Once she was dead, unfortunately, the thinking lawyer took over. I’ve argued cases, Corvinus, for the defence and prosecution both, all my life. I know all about circumstantial evidence, and how damning it can be, how difficult it is to get round. She was the second person I’d killed by “accident”’ — he stressed the word — ‘under identical circumstances inside half a month. Suspicious? Of course it is! Besides, she was a woman, I’m a strong man; why could I not simply have disarmed her? And strangulation? A fatal knife wound could be sudden and truly accidental; but strangulation is slow, and therefore deliberate. Oh, yes: I could make a case myself, a very good one at that.’ I said nothing. ‘So the upshot was that the lawyer made his points and the man accepted and acted on them. Stupidly, as I say, criminally so. I hid the body as best I could — yes, I suppose I did know it was Bucca Maecilius’s yard, but it was the handiest place at the time and I was almost out of my mind with pain and fear — and…well, the rest you know. Or I assume you do. When I talked to you the next day, of course, it was as a lawyer trying to make the most of a bad job, a nightmare situation. I’m sorry about Bucca, very sorry: I will, naturally, go straight round to Libanius, explain the whole business and take the consequences.’

‘The bruise on your hand,’ I said. ‘You made that deliberately? After you’d killed her?’

Another weak smile. ‘No. I’m not that devious, I’m glad to say. I must’ve grazed my knuckles against the wall in the struggle, although I didn’t notice it at the time. But yes, you’re right, I did turn it to use later.’

‘But you did recognise the woman?’

He looked at me blankly. ‘What? No. No, of course I didn’t! Why should I?’

‘Come on, pal! She was a relative of the guy you killed, the guy who attacked you and your partner. Senecio.’

‘No, Corvinus, I’m sorry, but — ’ He frowned. ‘Hold on. Senecio…Senecio…’

‘You defended him, you and Hostilius. Him and his brother Lupus, on a burglary and murder charge.’

‘Wait. I — ’ He was still frowning. ‘The Brabbius brothers. Yes, by god, you’re right. It must’ve been over fifteen years ago, in Bovillae, before we moved here. We lost the case, Lupus was executed and Senecio went to the galleys. The man was Brabbius Senecio?’

‘Yeah. At least, I think so. And it was twenty-one years ago.’

‘So it was.’ He was staring at me. ‘Why should Brabbius Senecio want to attack us? Yes, we lost and his brother died, but we did our best, it wasn’t our fault. And I realise I shouldn’t be saying this, but we never had a chance from the start because they were obviously guilty. You say the dead woman was a relative?’

‘Yeah. My guess would be a wife or a sister. He have either of these, that you know of? Or anything like them?’

He shook his head numbly. ‘No. I’ve genuinely no idea. Oh, I remember Senecio, yes, of course I do, although I’d never have recognised him in the man who attacked us even if I’d known who it was, certainly never made any sort of connection. But apart from Lupus I never met any of his family, to my knowledge. If they did exist then they kept well clear.’

I stood up. So did Clarus. ‘Right,’ I said. ‘Thanks, pal. Very informative.’

His lips pursed. ‘Yes…well. I’m sorry about all this, Valerius Corvinus. Sorry and deeply ashamed. As I said, I will see Quintus Libanius and make a full confession at the earliest opportunity. My apologies to your father, too, Clarus. I’ll see you out.’

He did. No sign of Seia Lucinda now, but no doubt she’d be having a talk with her husband after we’d gone.

‘You believe him, Corvinus?’ Clarus said as the door closed behind us and we went down the steps.

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Jury’s out on that completely.’ He’d handled it well, though, I had to give him that. If he was lying, somewhere along the way, it’d be hellish difficult to prove. ‘All we can do now is dig and see what turns up.’

One thing was certain: if I was going to get any more answers I’d have to do my digging in Bovillae.