Ruso and the Root of All Evils

66

Ruso presented himself at the gates of the Senator’s estate without much hope, but to his surprise a slave escorted him into the garden, where Claudia was sharing the shade of a summerhouse with her sister-in-law. Both were sitting with their hands in their laps and their backs very straight. As Ruso approached, Claudia’s expression betrayed a warmth of welcome he had rarely experienced when she was his wife, while Ennia’s pinched face grew even tighter. In response to his polite inquiry, Ennia burst out, ‘Of course we are not well! What do you expect? My brother is dead!’ She turned to the slave who had escorted Ruso across the garden. ‘Why was he allowed in?’

The slave mumbled that he did not know.

‘He is here,’ put in Claudia, ‘because I left instructions that, if he called, I would see him.’

‘My brother would never have allowed him in!’

‘Your brother is not here.’

Ruso said, ‘I’d like to talk privately with Claudia, Ennia.’

Claudia replied, ‘Of course,’ at the same moment as Ennia said, ‘Well, you can’t.’

In the silence that followed, the girl looked from Ruso to Claudia and back again. ‘Oh, all right,’ she said, and got to her feet.

She was still within earshot when Claudia said, ‘Really, she’s such a child!’

Ruso waited until he heard Ennia’s footsteps retreat along the gravel path behind the tall cypress hedge before saying, ‘She’s bound to be upset.’

‘She doesn’t have to be completely unreasonable. Even if she does think you poisoned her brother.’

Ruso seated himself on the bench Ennia had just vacated and said, ‘We both know that’s not true, don’t we?’

Claudia gave a dramatic sigh. ‘Gaius, what is the matter with you? Daddy keeps saying do I want to tell him something, but I don’t. You’re as bad as the investigators, both of you.’

‘Claudia, I know what happened.’

‘They’ve been crawling all over us like lice. They’ve turned out all the bedrooms, and the farm buildings, and you wouldn’t believe the chaos they caused in the kitchen. Zosimus is furious. The staff had been getting the preserves in for the autumn, and that Stilo opened up every single jar and made the kitchen-boy eat some.’

‘Flaccus?’ asked Ruso. ‘Is he all right?’

‘They even went through my make-up.’

‘I hope they didn’t make you eat that.’

‘Don’t be silly, Gaius. They got one of the girls to do it. And of course she was sick too. I did warn them.’

‘Do you want me to look at them both?’

‘They keep saying I must know where Severus kept his money. I’ve already told Zosimus to show them the strongbox in the office, but they keep saying there’s more hidden somewhere.’ She gestured towards the elegant garden with its tranquil fishpond. ‘Severus didn’t own any of this, you know. He wasn’t rich. Besides, I’m the victim. They’re supposed to be nice to me.’

Ruso was beginning to wonder whether Calvus and Stilo were reaching the same conclusions about the murder as he had himself. He said, ‘So they tested the honey, then?’

‘They tested everything.’

‘They wouldn’t be able to tell from the taste,’ Ruso continued. ‘And you’d need a substantial dose.’ He had proved that himself.

Claudia’s ‘So you really have found something out!’ seemed excited rather than alarmed.

‘Of course, if the victim was known to have a weak heart …’

‘You have found something! Oh, Gaius, bless you, I knew you would!’

This was hardly the reaction he had been expecting. Maybe his wife was much cleverer than he had ever realized.

It would not do to dwell on that thought. ‘I didn’t come here to play games, Claudia. I spoke to the man you bought the honey from. He sold it to a woman wearing the same sandals as you, and she had …’ Even now he could not bring himself to upset her by calling it orange. ‘She had hair the same colour as yours. It’s hard to mistake.’

All around them the air was live with the singing of the cicadas. Claudia tightened one hand around the edge of the wooden bench and then released it again. When she said, ‘You really do think I did it!’ her voice was husky.

‘The bitch has poisoned me.’

The neatly plucked eyebrows drew closer together. ‘I can’t understand …’

‘You were seen buying the poison. There’s a witness. If I tell the investigators, your father will ruin my family. Please, Claudia. You can still do something good for other people. Confess.’

‘But it wasn’t me. I told you that.’

He sighed. ‘I wanted to believe you.’

‘Then believe me! Anyone can buy a pair of shoes. Dozens of girls have hair this colour. It’s very fashionable.’

Ruso shook his head. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence. Severus was unfaithful, he’d lost your father a lot of money, you didn’t love him — ’

‘I didn’t love you either,’ she retorted, tearing the pins out of her hair in distress, ‘but I didn’t murder you!’

To Ruso’s surprise, Claudia’s strength of feeling was such that she grabbed the top of her head and began to tug at her curls. He was even more surprised when the curls came detached from the head and she flung them at him.

‘There! Anybody can buy my hair too!’

He stared in disbelief at the dark cropped head that now faced him. Claudia’s hair was not very much longer than his own. More interestingly, the tips of the hair were olive-green. He lifted up the wig, shook it and pretended to examine it while he struggled not to laugh.

‘I had the hairdresser flogged,’ said Claudia. ‘But it won’t bring my hair back any faster. Well, what’s the matter with you? Haven’t you ever seen a wig before? I can show you the other one if you like, still tousled from the funeral. Anyone can buy red hair too! It wasn’t me.’

Ruso was still considering his reply when they heard footsteps and looked up to see Zosimus striding towards them, followed by several garden slaves brandishing hoes and scythes in a manner that did not look horticultural. Ennia emerged from behind the hedge to join them. Claudia snatched back the wig and crammed it on to her head, whispering, ‘Perhaps it was Ennia in disguise!’

Ruso said, ‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, do I? Because she’s a horrible little toad and she hates me. Shush. If you mention my hair I’ll kill you.’

The steward stopped at a safe distance and announced, ‘The investigators have forbidden any contact between the suspects.’

So Claudia was a suspect. Ruso reached for his stick and got to his feet. ‘I was just going.’

As he joined Zosimus to be escorted back to the gate, he heard Ennia say, ‘I told my brother he was a fool to marry you!’

Suddenly Ruso wondered how long the girl had been lingering behind that hedge. He had heard her footsteps retreat along the gravel, but that would be easy enough to counterfeit. Distracted by the arrival of Zosimus, he had not noticed the sound of her approach. How much had she overheard?