Medicus

30

W HEN SOMEONE THUMPED on the door early the next morning, Ruso rolled over in bed, groaned, and pulled the covers over his head. Surely he had made himself quite clear yesterday? His bed was warm, it was almost comfortable, and he was not going to get out of it. Sooner or later, even Albanus would give up. If he tried opening the door, the dogs would frighten him off.

Instead of being frightened off, the man let himself in past the excited dogs and made his way into the kitchen. Moments later he was crashing about with the fire irons. Worse, he was whistling.

Ruso wrenched open the door of his bedroom and roared, "Albanus!"

The whistling stopped. A rotund stranger appeared in the kitchen doorway. " 'Morning, sir. Beautiful morning!"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Justinus, sir. Officer Valens said would I drop by and lend a hand, sir. Get the fire lit, fetch the water, let the dogs out, that sort of thing, sir."

"Did he tell you to make as much noise as possible?"

"Sorry, sir. Didn't know you were in."

Ruso, who felt he had earned the opportunity to sleep in, went back to bed. He had barely drifted back to sleep when he was woken by a knock on his bedroom door. The rotund man handed him a closed writing tablet. "From one of the centurions, sir. Thought it might be urgent."

Ruso undid the tie and squinted at the letters scraped in the wax. "Marvelous," he said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir. Mind if I ask how you're getting on with the inquiries, sir?"

Ruso frowned. "What inquiries?"

"I heard you were looking into the murder of that girl, sir. Or is it supposed to be a secret?"

"No," growled Ruso, "because I'm not. I'm going back to sleep."

The man failed to secure the door properly. Moments later it swung open and a puppy bounded in. It disappeared under the bed and rushed out again with one of Ruso's sandals in its mouth. Ruso leaned over the side of the bed and flung the writing tablet after it. So he did, after all, have a use for the recipe for venison gravy.