In at the Death

28

Fregellanus’s office was practically next door. My tame Praetorian knocked and entered without waiting for an invitation.

Fregellanus — presumably the guy behind the desk was Fregellanus — looked up in alarm and half-rose. A pile of wax tablets slid sideways and he grabbed them before they fell.

‘Pontius Fregellanus?’ I said.

‘Yes.’

Small, nondescript, balding with the hair combed over the bald patch. Also, nervous as hell.

‘Valerius Corvinus. I wonder if we could have a word.’

‘Ah…certainly. Certainly. Of course.’ I’d been watching his expression carefully when I gave him my name, and it had definitely registered, which was interesting in itself. No ‘What about?’ either. He turned to the orderly. ‘Thank you, Titus. You can go.’

‘Commander says the gentleman’s to be escorted to the main gate when he’s finished, sir.’ The guy had come to rigid attention as soon as he was over the threshold, and his eyes were fixed on the plasterwork behind Fregellanus’s left ear.

‘Oh, very well! But wait outside.’

‘Sir.’ The Praetorian threw a sketchy salute, right-about-turned and exited, closing the door behind him.

‘They’re so literal-minded, the military.’ Fregellanus gave me a jerky smile: it was obvious that the guy was more on edge than a cat in a glove factory. ‘I’m sorry, you must forgive the mess, ah,…Corvinus, did you say your name was?’

‘Yeah.’ The subterfuge wouldn’t’ve passed with an intellectually-challenged monkey; but then I suspected Fregellanus didn’t do subterfuge all that well. ‘Valerius Corvinus.’

‘I’m especially busy at the moment, what with one thing and another, so I can’t give you very long. Still,’ — jerky smile again — ‘have a seat.’ There was a stool in the corner. I pulled it out and sat. ‘Now what can I do for you?’

‘First off, I was wondering whether you knew a couple of centurions by the names of Sextus Aponius and Quintus Pettius.’

The hesitation was just a smidgeon too long; like he was gauging the implications of the question and deciding which way to jump.

‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I’m afraid I don’t. But then I don’t have many dealings — direct dealings — with the purely military side of things. If you’re looking for the men then you’d do far better asking Aquillius, the camp commandant.’

‘No, that’s okay, I’ve already asked Macro.’ Now that was a distinct flash of…something-or-

other. Interesting. ‘According to him they’re both on Capri. Only they aren’t because I’ve seen them here in Rome, and I’m pretty certain they murdered a guy called Mucius Soranus. You know him at all?’

No doubt about that one, either: when I’d said the name Fregellanus’s eyes had gone glassy, and I thought he was going to keel over, but he righted himself. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I do. That is…Excuse me a moment, it’s just…’ He filled a cup from the jug of water on his desk and drank. The cup rattled against his teeth, and some of the water spilled onto the desktop. He set it down. ‘I…Soranus is an acquaintance of mine, yes. A casual acquaintance. We…you say he’s dead? Murdered?’

‘Yeah.’ Again, I’d been watching closely. He hadn’t known, or if he had he was a bloody good actor. And the news had rocked him seriously. ‘It happened early yesterday morning. Or maybe the day before.’

‘Indeed?’ He refilled the cup and took another gulp; I had the impression he’d’ve rather the stuff was neat wine. ‘Corvinus, I’ve…I’m sorry, but I’ve changed my mind. I really do have a lot of work to get through this morning, and I honestly can’t help you. Would you think me very rude if I asked you to leave?’

‘No, I wouldn’t think you were being rude at all.’

‘That’s…very understanding of you.’ He reached for the top wax tablet and gave me a ghastly smile. ‘Well, it’s certainly been a pleasure — ’

‘I’d think you were mixed up in something nasty involving your girlfriend Acutia, Lucia Albucilla and Domitius Ahenobarbus and were shit-scared I might find out what it was.’

The tablet dropped from Fregellanus’s fingers. If he’d been rattled before, now he was staring at me like he was on the verge of apoplexy.

‘On the other hand,’ I went on, ‘I could just sit where I am and you could tell me all about it. After all, you could be next, right? Your decision. Take your time.’

His hand scrabbled for the water jug, dislodging the pile of tablets again. This time he ignored them and they scattered. He poured and drank.

‘Get out,’ he said. The voice was hardly more than a whisper.

I didn’t move. ‘Look, pal, you’re no villain. Not a real one, anyway. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself? This is your last chance. If I know part of it I’m going to find out the rest eventually. You might as well save us both trouble and spill your beans now.’

‘You look, Corvinus.’ He was making an obvious effort to pull himself together; wasted, sure, but I had to admire the guy for trying. ‘I don’t know what fantasies you’re indulging in, but I assure you they’re totally without foundation. Now if you’ve finished insulting me — ’

Too late, and fake as a wooden sestertius.

‘Sextus Papinius,’ I said. ‘That name ring any bells?’

What colour there was left in Fregellanus’s face drained away completely. ‘You mean the consul’s son who killed himself a few days ago? I know the name, certainly, but the young man himself wasn’t — ’

‘He was the son of Domitius Ahenobarbus. And the kid was murdered. Don’t spread the first bit of information around, by the way, Ahenobarbus wouldn’t like it. The second you probably knew already.’

‘Corvinus, I’ve already told you that — ’

The hell with this. I stood up, and his mouth shut so fast I could hear the teeth snap together. ‘Okay, have it your way,’ I said. ‘Let me level here. I don’t exactly know what you and your girlfriend and Lucia Albucilla are into yet, but I’m getting there slowly. And when I do find out, which I will, I’ll fucking nail you to the floor. Understand?’

Without giving him time to answer, I turned and left, slamming the door behind me. Titus the friendly Praetorian was standing outside, still at rigid attention, eyes blank and fixed on the wall six inches from my face. The guy must’ve heard, sure, certainly enough to get the gist of the interview, but there was nothing I could do about that. Nor about the fact that six got you ten Sertorius Macro would have the full details just as soon as he could trot along to the commander’s office.

Ah, well.

‘You’re ready to go, sir?’

‘Yeah, Titus. Lead on.’

He took me back to the admin block, turned me over to a couple of squaddies, flashed me a crisp salute and disappeared inside.

The litter boys and attendant trolls were waiting for me at the gate where I’d left them scratching themselves, picking their noses and generally letting the side down. Well, that was that done, and at least I was still loose and walking out on my own two feet. The way things were going, that was a bonus.

So. Next stop the Caeliolan, and Albucilla. I thought about dumping my mantle in the litter, sending the lads back home and walking the rest of the way, but I needed a bit of thinking space here. Besides, it was clouding over again and I’d no particular wish to get soaked. I climbed aboard, stretched out on the cushions and gave the lardballs the thumbs up.

Fine; so I’d rattled Fregellanus’s cage for him. Satisfying, but not very productive. So what did the interview tell me? That he — and so Acutia — were involved in this business to their eyeballs, sure; but that they weren’t responsible for Soranus’s murder. Which meant that it hadn’t been Fregellanus who’d given Aponius and Pettius their instructions. Which meant…

I was putting this off. Oh, bugger; it had to be Macro, it had to be! Macro was the only other obvious Praetorian link, and as Praetorian commander it would be easy-peasie for him to falsify transfer orders. Or even give the guys other, private orders countermanding the official ones. The how wasn’t a problem; what worried me like hell was the why. If Macro was behind all this for reasons of his own then we’d opened a very large and nasty can of worms indeed.

Not that that was the worst-case scenario, either. It hadn’t escaped my notice that Aponius and Pettius had been assigned to Capri. Gaius was on Capri. Macro on his own was bad enough. If Gaius was involved — for some reason that I couldn’t even begin to fathom — with or without Macro’s knowledge then we were really into nightmare territory.

Ah, well; we’d cross that bridge when we came to it. And hope the sodding thing had a far end to cross to.

I found Albucilla’s house, a rambling, old-fashioned property at the end of a cul-de-sac. There was a carriage and a couple of wagons waiting outside: the sort of carriage you use for long-distance travel, when you’re spending the night on the road rather than putting up with friends along the way or — gods save the mark! — lodging at inns. Slaves were ferrying boxes, trunks and various small bits of furniture out from inside.

The lady was planning a trip. Obviously an extended one.

I buttonholed a couple of slaves carrying an inlaid chest that could’ve held anything from clothes to a body. ‘Mistress around, pal?’ I said.

That got me a frightened glance from both of them.

‘In the study, sir,’ one muttered; and they hefted the chest onto the wagon, ignoring me completely.

Well, if that was the only attention I was going to get from the staff I might as well make my own arrangements. I went through the front door, pushing past another slave with a bronze lamp-stand, crossed the lobby and carried on into the atrium. There wasn’t much left of the furnishings: they’d lifted practically everything bar the floor mosaics and the pictures off the walls. The study should be straight through, then to the left or the right, depending.

It was left. I followed the smell of burning.

Albucilla had a brazier lit in the middle of the room, and she was feeding it with sheets of paper. When I came in she spun round, her eyes wide with fear.

‘You going away for a few days, lady?’ I said.

She’d got a hold of herself now, although I noticed she’d glanced behind me to see if I had anyone else with me. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘For rather longer than that, Valerius Corvinus. An extended holiday, if it’s any of your business.’

I sat down on a chair she’d obviously decided not to take. ‘This has something to do with Mucius Soranus’s murder, right?’ I said.

She didn’t answer, just…looked at me. It was the equivalent of putting salt on a slug. Then she burned another sheet. It looked like part of a letter.

‘Getting rid of unwanted correspondence?’ I said.

‘Yes.’

Time, again, to level. Where Albucilla was concerned, it didn’t look like I was going to get another chance. ‘Who are you running from?’ I asked. ‘Domitius Ahenobarbus or Sertorius Macro?’

No answer. She kept her eyes on the flames and fed in another page.

‘It’s one of the two,’ I said. ‘It has to be, because no one else in Rome has that amount of clout.’ Still nothing. ‘Look, lady, I know you and Soranus were working together as a team blackmailing rich young smartasses. I know you seduced Papinius and got him to tell you about the fire commision scam he was involved in with his father Ahenobarbus. I know — ’

‘Fire commission scam?’ She’d stopped, and she was staring at me with her mouth open. Then she laughed. ‘Oh, gods! You stupid, stupid — !’ She turned back to the brazier. ‘Just go away, Corvinus! Go away!’

Bugger. ‘What do you have cooking with Acutia and Fregellanus?’ I said. ‘That’s why Soranus was killed, wasn’t it? Not just for the blackmail. There’s something else. And you think — you know! — that you’ll be next.’ I stood up, moved towards her and grabbed her shoulder. ‘Why did Papinius have to die?’

She pulled herself free without a word. Then she went over to the desk and began opening and closing drawers. Another sheet of — presumably — incriminating evidence went into the brazier. The room was full of floating bits of ash.

‘Albucilla! Come on!’ I said. ‘This is your last chance! You never wanted any part of this from the beginning, did you? Tell me what’s going on and I swear I’ll do what I can for you.’

That stopped her again. She stood staring at me like I’d grown an extra head.

‘I didn’t want any part in it?’ she said. ‘I didn’t? Corvinus, you are so…bloody…thick! You don’t know a thing about it. Besides, there’s nothing you can do for me. Nothing anyone can do. Now just go and leave me alone. Find out the truth for yourself.’

Ah, well, if that was the way she wanted it that was how it’d have to be. I couldn’t force her to talk, and whoever she was running from, Ahenobarbus or Macro — I didn’t dare even think about Prince Gaius — she was far more frightened of them than of me.

‘Okay, lady,’ I said, turning for the door. ‘Have a pleasant trip.’

She didn’t answer. I doubt if she’d even heard.

Thick, right? Yeah, that just about covered it.

Home, and on foot, this time: the weather had picked up again, and I didn’t fancy another half hour of lolling around on cushions. I unlimbered the heavy mantle, bundled it inside and told the litter guys with their attendant trolls to go on ahead.

Okay; if I was being thick then what was I missing? Let’s start with what we’d got for sure. First of all, a definite grouping: Soranus, Albucilla, Acutia and Fregellanus. They’d been involved in some sort of scam which wasn’t — this, just now, from Albucilla — connected with the fire commission…

Only that didn’t make sense. The fire commission link was the one that brought in Ahenobarbus and Papinius himself, not to mention sideline characters like Carsidius and Balbus. If I scrapped that then my whole case, or virtually all of it, went down the tubes.

Hell!

Don’t panic, Corvinus. If I was stymied there then let’s look at things from the other angle, the group itself. What would bring them together in the first place? What did they have in common?

The answer was, Not a lot. To put it mildly. The two couples were as different as chalk and cheese. Soranus and Albucilla were a pair of fast-living out-and-out crooks; Acutia was — on the face of it, at least — a dumb but respectable Roman matron, and from all accounts her boyfriend Fregellanus’s idea of a good time was cataloguing his rock collection. Hardly a compatible menage a quatre. Of course, there was the Sejanus link between the two women, we’d spotted that already. Still, that couldn’t be relevant, not at this late date five years down the road. Sejanus was dead, his family was dead, the Sejanan party were all dead as mutton or rotting in exile. There wasn’t even so much as a single statue to the guy out of the dozens that there’d been in Rome six years ago because after he was executed they’d all been pulled down and replaced with…

The hairs rose on my neck. I stopped.

Oh, shit.

Oh, holy Jupiter Best and Greatest!

Well, at least it was something I could check up on right away; not that I’d much doubt what the result would be because in its own twisted way it fitted.

Bloody, bloody games!

I’d been walking along Caelimontan Road, heading towards the Caelian. Now I took a right at the next major junction and headed for the centre of town. Just my luck to be completely the wrong side of Rome. Still, I was rested after the litter journey.

The caretaker would know. He’d said he’d been in the job since Augustus rebuilt the place, and it wasn’t something you’d miss.

Bugger!