Medicus

32

He was on the way to frighten Albanus again by arriving earlier than expected at the hospital when a voice called across the street, "Ruso! Just the man!" One of Valens's friends emerged from a side street, hurried up to him, and seized him by the arm. "You've got to help me, Ruso. We've got a bit of a problem."

Ruso, who had already done this officer's job for him once by breaking bad news to Merula, offered only a cautious, "What sort of problem?"

The man moved closer and breathed in his ear, "You know that derelict building over where they're putting the new shops up-the one that had the fire?"

Ruso nodded. He had just left his purchase from that particular row of shops sitting in the drab little room at Merula's.

"Well. A demolition gang went in yesterday and started pulling it down. When they were packing up to go home for the day one of them was looking around what's left of the back room and noticed an odd shape in the corner."

"I see."

"It's not an odd shape when you know what it is. It's a body."

Ruso remained carefully impassive. To his relief, the man let go of his arm.

"I don't know why this sort of thing always happens when it's me on duty," the man grumbled. "Now they want me to find some way to get rid of it."

"Why didn't someone deal with it last night?"

The officer scowled. "Because the idiots wanted to get back for their dinner instead of hanging around answering questions. So they decided not to report it till this morning." He glanced toward the street behind him. "I hope they had nightmares."

"Well, it's a nuisance, but I don't see what it's got to do with me. Or you, in fact."

"Ruso, it's Trajan's birthday. The town council are organizing some sort of do this afternoon. Priests in fancy dress parading about and slicing up animals. The legate's inviting important people to dinner. This isn't the day to announce that there's an unburied body lurking in the back streets, is it?"

Ruso scratched his ear. The man was right. The news that a departed spirit was wandering loose in the town would cause an upset: the fact that its corpse had turned up during the honoring of a recently deceased emperor would be seen as a terrible omen. "Can't they wait a day and find it tomorrow?"

The man shifted uneasily "How much do you know about ghosts?"

"Nothing."

"But would you want to annoy one?"

"I wouldn't want to annoy whatever's left of Trajan either."

"Exactly. We need to get out of this without upsetting anybody-or the ghost, if there is one-and the only way I can see is to give the body a decent send-off right away."

"Fine."

"Only we can't get anyone to do it because no one's allowed to know it's there."

"What about the builders? They should be good at digging."

"They're refusing to go near the place. They think it's bad luck."

"The mortuary's no use," put in Ruso swiftly before the man could suggest it. "It's not private enough." Besides, admitting another unknown corpse would mean a fresh encounter with Priscus.

"I thought if we could find out who it was," continued the officer,

"we could ask a couple of its family or friends to come and shift it quietly, and then get the priests to purify the place first thing tomorrow morning so the builders can go back in. We just need to find out who it is without telling anyone it's there."

"We?"

"I've made a start. The family who used to rent the place are all alive and well and HQ's got nobody reported missing."

"I don't see what else you can do."

"It doesn't narrow it down much, I know. You see my problem."

"Yes, but I don't see how I can help you with it."

The liaison officer cleared his throat. "Neither do I," he admitted, "but you're the one who knows about this sort of thing. Even the builders told me to fetch the doctor from the hospital who investigates suspicious deaths."

"I don't! And I'm supposed to be at the hospital by the seventh hour."

"Oh come on, Ruso-don't be modest!"

"Really. I'm not the least bit interested in investigating suspicious deaths."

"But everyone thinks you are. Come on, man. Don't leave me on my own with this. We've all got to do our best for Trajan's birthday, haven't we?"

Any faint hopes of being able to identify the body were dispelled as soon as Ruso's boots crunched across the debris-strewn site of the burned building. At first glance it was difficult to distinguish the human form, which was the same color as the blackened timbers in which it lay curled. He glanced back through the gap that had once been a doorway to see the liaison officer standing at a safe distance. "You didn't tell me it died in the fire!"

The liaison officer winced. "Keep your voice down!"

"How long ago was that?"

"Sometime in late spring. The building was already boarded up ready for demolition so they didn't bother trying to save it. Just pulled down the one next door to stop the fire spreading and left it to burn. "

Ruso glanced around him. The undemolished remains formed a chaotic jumble that reminded him of the collapsed houses of Antioch. This would have been one of the old single-story buildings: mostly wood with rough plaster, probably straw or dried bracken on the floor, and a thatched roof. It would have gone up like a torch. Anyone caught inside would have had to move fast, and whoever this was hadn'tmoved fast enough.

He picked his way across the wreckage, testing the charred timbers to ensure they would take his weight, and crouched to take a closer look from a different angle. He was not sure what he was supposed to be looking for. Yes, it was a body. Yes, it was dead. No, there was no way even its own mother would recognize it. Ruso murmured a quiet assurance to its spirit that he came as a friend. Just in case.

The liaison officer had untied his neckerchief to hold over his nose. He was making no effort to approach. Ruso scrutinized him for a moment, thinking. Then he unsheathed his knife and dug away a loose flake of charcoal. The fire had been fiercely destructive of human flesh but surely something must have survived that would give a clue to the identity of the body. A knife, a belt buckle, a cloak pin… maybe nails from the boots… All of these were things that could have been found by anybody prepared to make the effort. All were things that Ruso should be finding, and wasn't.

"Any ideas?"

Ruso shook his head. "I really haven't got much to go on here." He straightened. "And I haven't the faintest idea whether it's suspicious.›You'll have to…" His voice trailed into silence. He bent down again and poked at something with the point of his knife, then reached forward and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. Then he dropped it into his palm, spit on it, and tried to rub away the soot.

"What have you got?"

Ruso sheathed his knife and made his way over to the liaison officer. "I can't tell you who it is," he said, glancing around to make sure no one in the street could hear him, "but I think it's a female."

"Another one? Gods, that's the second one found this month. And you've no idea at all who it is?"

"I'm a doctor, not a fortune-teller," said Ruso, skirting the question rather than admit a tentative thought that he would be investigating tomorrow. "Whatever they tell you, I don't investigate deaths, suspicious or otherwise. You'll have to start asking around in the morning."

"Damn. It's going to have to stay here till then, isn't it?"

"Unless you have a better idea," said Ruso. Unable to resist, he added, "Good luck finding somebody to guard it."