See Delphi and Die

XXV

I rejoined Helena Justina, who had stayed with her new friends, the colourful foursome. I pulled a face, to express my feelings about Volcasius, but they were too polite to comment. I guessed that in private they said how dreadful he was; in public, since they had to endure him as a companion, these expert tourists appeared forbearing.

Helena looked amused by my plain loathing of the loner. She had more urgent things on her mind, though. "Marcus, listen! Cleonyma and Minucia have been telling me about the day when Valeria went on the Pelops tour.'

The two women shuffled closer together like schoolgirls and looked reluctant. But eventually Minucia confessed in a near-whisper. "It's nothing – but when we were going around the site, that big brute, Milo of Dodona, spoke to her.'

I leaned my chin on my hands. "Milo? What did he say to Valeria, any idea?'

"She was embarrassed. There was a lot of whispering; she tried to get rid of him.'

"So what was his game?'

"Oh, he wants sponsors for a statue of himself Minucia did not yet know Milo was in the past tense. "He had been around asking all of us. Valeria was a kind-hearted girl and he picked up on that. She had no idea how to get rid of him. She and Statianus had no real money. Milo was wasting his time there.'

"Was there anything sexual in his interest?' I asked frankly. "Or in her interest in him?

Cleonyma shook her head. "No, no; he's an ugly bastard.

"Marcus has seen him,' Helena interposed.

"Worse,' I said. "I've been thrown on my head by him.' Cleonymus and Amaranthus winced at my heroics. "Some women like the idea of being crushed in the strong arms of a well-developed lover,' I suggested. The women to whom I propounded this coy theory heard it in silence, implying they were all admirers of intellect and sensitivity.

Cleonyma inspected her fingernails; even Helena straightened her bangle with a very refined motion. "We suspect Milo invited Valeria to meet him. Was that in your hearing?'

Cleonyma and Minucia glanced at each other, neither wanting to tell me.

"Come on, ladies; this is important. I can't interrogate Milo, by the way, because he's died on me.'

Looking shocked, Cleonyma pressed a hand against her lips then muttered through her fingers, "He was trying to lure Valeria to the palaestra to hear some poet reading his work.'

The palaestra would be used as an auditorium by authors of celebratory odes. During the Games, philosophers and panegyrists would hang around there like midges. We had even dodged a few during our own visit. "Valeria was a literary type?'

"Valeria was just bloody bored!' Minucia muttered hoarsely. "We all were, Falco. There is nothing for women at Olympia – well not unless you're a girl in the leisure industry; they make as much in the five nights of the Games as they can in a year!' I did wonder briefly if Minucia had special knowledge of this service industry.

"Had you been to Olympia before, Minucia?'

"Amaranthus gave me that awful pleasure once. He's athletics mad.' He looked proud of it. Minucia carried on bitterly. "The Games were on – well, never again! The tent city was full of fire-eaters and floozies, drunks, acrobats, puppeteers doing lewd shows – and the bloody poets were the worst. You couldn't go out without stepping on some seedy hack, spewing hexameters!' We all looked sympathetic, to allow Minucia to settle down. She was still remembering. "There was even a bloody man trying to sell off a goat with two heads.'

I sat up. "I know that goat! I nearly bought him once.'

"No, you didn't.' Helena smiled dreamily. "You wanted to buy one whose head was on backwards.'

"He was called Alexander, because he was great.'

"At Palmyra. But, darling, he only had one head.'

A silence fell. Nobody could decide whether we were being serious. I brooded to myself about the goat, and my lost chance to become a travelling sideshow at festivals.

"Valeria should have learned her lesson. She had been to one recital with us,' Cleonyma told me. For all her flamboyant outward style, she took a grave interest in the girl's fate. "We all went, to fill in an hour,

the afternoon before. Phineus laid it on; he told us the orator would be really good. We soon learned better! The horrible fellow called himself the New Pindar, but his odes were old tripe.'

"If Valeria went to the palaestra to hear Milo's poet, why has nothing ever been made of that?'

Again there was an awkward silence. This time it was Cleonymus who filled me in. "What the girls don't want to tell you, is that this Milo of Dodona came to the tent the next morning. He appeared not to know that Valeria had died – and we thought that was genuine. He was complaining that he had waited outside the palaestra for her, but she never came.'

"You believed his story?'

Helena leaned forwards. "If Milo killed Valeria, why draw attention to himself, Marcus?'

"We thought he was a big stupid mutt who just wanted a statue of himself as a champion,' Cleonyma said. "We sent him packing. There was no reason Valeria's husband had to be upset any more than he already was.'

Cleonymus agreed. "Statianus was in serious trouble, and we wanted to protect him. Bad enough him being accused by the quaestor, when we thought he was innocent. The locals were all prattling about Valeria's low morals – which again was unjust. She was a silly girl, and she should have sent the wrestler packing. But we did not think she'd slept with him, or ever intended to. So, why bring Milo into it?'

Helena asked them, "Was the quarrel she had with Statianus on the last evening over Milo?'

"We think it may have been,' murmured Cleonyma. "She told him she was going to listen to the poet, and at Milo's invitation. Statianus – understandably – refused her permission.'

"He should have tied her to a bloody tent pole to make sure!' Amaranthus scolded.

I said I disapproved of subjugating wives in most circumstances – but I agreed that this would have saved Valeria's life. To myself I was wondering whether, if Valeria had stayed at the tent that night, the killer would have found himself another woman to prey upon. Was it purely coincidence that he had killed one who was travelling with Seven Sights? "Were there any other groups visiting Olympia off season, by the way?'

"You are joking!' scoffed Amaranthus. "Anyone with sense is going next year.' His voice expressed longing and Minucia glared at him balefully.

"So people in this party were unhappy with your itinerary, at that point?'

"Unhappy. as muck, Falco,' Cleonymus told me. "Most of us had expected the Games, on Seven Sights' say-so – and we were livid.'

Amaranthus joined in. "Phineus keeps muttering promises for next year, but he's a cheapskate. He took us to Olympia now, when it was quiet, to save on costs.'

"Exactly!' snapped Cleonymus. "He could have put us up at the main guesthouse, or got us into that villa of Nero's – very nice! But dear Phineus chose to cramp us in tents, because he got them for nothing. All along, it's been the same. Our food has been appalling, the donkeys have been mangy, the drivers are shite – when he provides any – and now we've ended up stuck here, only one grade down from being thrown into jail on trumped-up charges.'

"And still some people think that Phineus is wonderful?' I asked drily.

"We're captives,' Amaranthus groaned. "People are scared they will never get back to Italy if they complain.'

Both couples seemed to feel that they had said too much now. After a few more neutral comments, they became restless so I let them go. They departed, the men seeking out a good souvenir-seller Phineus had told them about; they joked that they hoped he was better than the awful orator their tour guide had recommended at Olympia. The women scuttled on a quest for a public convenience that would not flood.

This left Helena and me, with the trio who were patiently waiting. Helvia, and her two male companions. We went across to them, pulled up seats, and although we all laughed because by now it was unnecessary, we introduced ourselves.