See Delphi and Die

XXII

Sertorius had sat down before he realised I had given him orders. He coloured in indignation. His wife scuttled up, protectively; she must expend a lot of effort in saving him from the effects of his rudeness. Then their children came over, looking inquisitive. The girl placed herself behind her mother, hanging over her with her thin arms around the woman's neck in a display of unnecessary affection; she had knocked her mother's beaded ear-rings awry. The boy swaggered up and helped himself to our remaining food. We had finished eating, so we ignored it until he began flicking a strip of octopus at the sauce in the serving dish to make it splash all over the place (yes, we had chosen the version with sauce, hoping for our favourite at home, pepper and fennel in red wine; we never learn).

Helena closed her hand around his wrist. "You know, Tiberius Sertorius, son of Tiberius,' she informed him, with blistering sweetness, "I would not allow bad behaviour like that from Julia, my three-year-old! Please, either listen quietly, or if you cannot stop fidgeting, go and wait for your parents in your room.' She released him, and let his shock register.

Helena had observed that the two teenagers tyrannised even their own family, mainly because no one ever pulled them up. Her public rebuke startled all of them. The parents were nonplussed and had the grace to look embarrassed. The boy subsided grumpily. Behind the father's back, I could see Indus and Marinus silently applauding. They were the group's subversives. I had hopes of juicy gossip from that pair, later.

"You have worked out all our names!' Sertorius senior accused us, still annoyed about spying.

"Nothing sinister.' My reply was mild. "It is my job to be well briefed. May we talk about Valeria and Statianus? When did you first encounter them?'

"We all met up for the first time when we took ship at Ostia. the wife began.

no

"Let me deal with this, dear!'

As the husband interrupted, Helena cut across him and spoke directly to the woman in a friendly voice. "I am so sorry; your name is one we don't have specifically.'

"Sertoria Silene.' Her Greek second name, taken with the shared family name, explained some things. The rude bastard with the superior attitude had married his ex-slave. He never let her forget it. Now they had two children he could not control, while she was too diffident to try. The children had little respect for their mother, taking the lead from their father.

"Let your wife contribute,' I murmured to Sertorius, with mock-confidentiality. "I find that women have the best memories.'

"Oh well, if you want trivia…' At his scathing sneer, I merely smiled, aiming to mend fences. Helena would give me all Hades for it afterwards, but my business was to humour these folk. "As she says, He referred to his wife without naming her; he must be ashamed of her origins. "We met as a group on board ship; the Calliope -absolutely ghastly hulk. Bilges were so full of water, they could hardly steer the thing. Not what we were promised. That's going to be the first point in my letter of complaint. Before I get started on this place, of course. Putting us up here is an outrage. The manager is running a brothel on the side.

"Tell Aquillius. It's up to him how he houses you. Stick to facts, please. First sighting of the wedded ones?'

I knew my rebuke would rile Sertorius; he believed he was ultra-efficient. He squinted at me angrily, then said in a tight voice. "The newly-weds were pretty well invisible at first. Later they peered out of their shells a bit.'

"They had only been together a week at most, when we started,' put in Sertoria Silene.

"Were they happy?' asked Helena.

"You mean, were they having a lot of bedtime fun?' broke in Sertorius coarsely, as if he were accusing Helena of prudery.

"Actually, I meant both.' She met his eyes directly, chin up and challenging.

"No doubt- both applied.' Sertorius answered as if he had not noticed Helena answering back, but his voice rasped – a sign of uncertainty.

"Did their relationship deteriorate?' Helena turned from the husband as if he did not exist, seeking details from Sertoria Silene.

"They did argue sometimes. But I thought if they stuck it out, they

would settle down eventually. They were young. He had never had control of any money before, so he bungled it – and she was brighter than him.'

This was a sharp evaluation. I had underestimated Sertoria. While her fool of a mate seemed to dominate, I wondered if she had married him knowing she could run rings around him. It was citizenship at a price, but the price might have been worth it. She could read, poring over her Herodotus, clearly for her private pleasure; she would never have been a mere kitchen skivvy, but must have occupied a good household position. Helena told me later, she could imagine the woman as the educated secretary and companion of some previous, probably wealthy, wife. The wife died; Sertorius hated to live alone, so he picked up the nearest female who would accept him. That made sense. We did not envisage them having an illicit liaison while the first wife was still alive; mind you, anything is possible.

"And what do you know about the day Valeria died?'

"Oh nothing, really.' So Sertoria Silene had been told to prevaricate. I blamed the pompous husband for that.

I took up the questioning, addressing him. "The men went to watch combat sports that day. Statianus came with you all?' He nodded. "While the women took a tour of the Pelops relics?' Both looked surprised that I knew so much. People like this would never have met an informer before. "Valeria too?' This time Sertoria nodded. Then she stared down at her lap. The daughter, still dangling around the mother's neck in a way that must have been painful, was suddenly still. I leaned back and stared at them, then asked softly, "So what happened?'

"Nothing happened.'

Untrue, Sertoria.

I resumed my questions to Sertorius. "And that night, you all ate together?'

"No. We men were dragged off to a so-called feast.' He sneered. "It was supposed to simulate how winners in the Games celebrate at a banquet in the Prytaneion – if theirs is the awful standard that we had to endure, then I pity them. The women stayed at the tents, and all complained when we rolled home slightly merry!'

Helena pursed her lips in sympathy at Sertoria Silene, who rolled her eyes, to indicate how disgusting this had been.

"At what point that evening did Statianus and Valeria have their final quarrel? Was it when he reappeared drunk?' I wondered if it was

Valeria's first experience of this. Given that she had been brought up only by a guardian and a remote grandfather in Sicily, the girl might never before have seen a close relative staggering and vomiting and behaving unreasonably. Maybe she was squeamish.

"Before we men went out.' Sertorius disappointed me.

"It was just a tiff,' his wife murmured, almost whispering the words.

I rounded on her. "So you do know what it was about?'

She shook her head quickly. Helena shot me a warning not to harass Sertoria, then leaned forward to her. "Please tell us. This is so important!'

But Sertoria Silene insisted, "I don't know.'

Her husband then told us, just as decisively, that none of them knew anything of subsequent events. As a family, he said, they retired early to bed – because of the children, he charmingly explained. His wife had already told us he had been drunk, so no doubt there had been angry words, followed by tortured silences.

As if scared that somebody would say too much, they all stood up and retreated to their room, ending our interview.

Helena let them go with the mild comment that it would do the Sertorius children good to have an enforced afternoon nap.