Sejanus

19

By the time I got back home Marcina had been in touch. Lippillus had woken up.

'Thank the gods!' I said when Bathyllus told me. 'First thing tomorrow morning you buy the biggest ram you can find and send it round to the temple of Asclepius with my compliments. Okay, little guy?' Junia Torquata would've been proud of me. Instant conversion. But if Asclepius had swung this then he deserved more than just a thank you.

'Yes, sir.' Bathyllus was beaming all over his face. 'Although I don't think Asclepius is fond of rams.'

'Yeah? What, then?'

'Cocks, sir.'

Ah, well. To each his own. 'Whatever. A pair. Five. Do it, little guy, but make sure they're the best you can get.'

'Isn't it marvellous news, Marcus?' Perilla appeared from the direction of the dining room. She was radiant.

'Yeah, the old guy certainly worked his fillet off for us.' I hugged her and planted a smacker dead centre between nose and chin. 'When did it happen?'

'About an hour after you left. Latinius came round to tell us.'

'He…uh…he say what he was doing at the time? Lippillus, I mean?' It didn't much matter now, of course, with Ganymede — Crito — part of history's glowing pageant, but I was curious.

'No, he didn't.' Perilla had turned icy. 'And Marcus, if you even think of bothering either him or Marcina with…'

'Okay. Okay.' I held up my hands, one of which was occupied with the cup of Setinian Bathyllus had poured for me. 'Just a thought. Forget it.'

'Damn right I'll forget it!' Jupiter, but the lady was peeved! 'If it wasn't that he'd asked for you specially I'd…'

'He asked for me? Really?'

'Marcina did mention it. But she also said that although you'll be welcome in the morning one word out of place and she will personally murder you. And frankly, Corvinus, if she doesn't then I will.'

I swallowed. 'Point taken, lady. No crime, not a whisper. You have my solemn pledge.'

'Good.' Her voice thawed. 'Sarpedon is delighted. He says the chances for recovery now are much better.'

Hey, great! If the old misery-guts was actually showing a bit of optimism then Lippillus was really out of the woods. I drained the cup and got Bathyllus to pour me another.

'So.' Perilla straightened her mantle. 'How did you get on at the Latin Gate?'

'I found the guy who did it. He's dead.'

Her eyes widened. 'Oh, Marcus!'

'Nothing to do with me. Or not much, anyway. It was an accident.' I told her the story. 'So now I've got two more names to add to the list. Rubrius Fabatus and Crito.' There was that itch again. Who the hell had I been talking to recently who'd mentioned a Crito..?

'Do they mean anything to you?' Perilla made room for me on the couch. I lay down and put my free arm round her shoulders.

'Uh-uh. Fabatus is obviously rich enough to have a villa outside the city boundaries, but he's just a name. At the moment, anyway. Crito, now…' Shit, where had I heard that name? Or was I imagining things? I shrugged. 'Ah, forget it. It doesn't matter. I'm just glad Lippillus is going to be okay.'

'He isn't, yet.' She snuggled against me.

'Oh yes, he is. Asclepius has got his cocks, or he will have tomorrow. He wouldn't back out of the deal now.'

'Marcus, I'm not sure you should be flippant about these things.'

'Who's being flippant? It's good old Roman practice. Contract fulfilled, both sides. Even a Greek god like Asclepius has to understand basic business etiquette if he wants to stay solvent this side of Corinth. Speaking of which,' I kissed her, 'bed. I've had a long day.'

'What has bed got to do with contracts?'

'Nothing, so far as I know. It's what's called an anacoluthon.'

Perilla was laughing. 'Corvinus, that's nonsense! That isn't an anacoluthon! An anacoluthon is…'

I never did find out what an anacoluthon was; but by the time we'd come up for air it didn't seem all that important.

Lippillus still looked like death warmed up, but at least he was awake and sensible.

'Hey, Corvinus!' he said as I edged cautiously round the bedroom door. His voice was barely a whisper. 'Thanks for coming.'

The room was pretty crowded already. Sarpedon was there, but he'd finished doing whatever doctors do for recovering patients; I could see he'd left some evil-looking mixture in a cup by the bed. And Marcina, of course, had followed me in. No sharp instrument at the ready, as far as I could tell, but if I broke my promise she'd probably use her bare hands.

At least she looked like she'd had a night's sleep, and if she hadn't been exactly friendly when she answered the door the temperature was a whisker or two above freezing. Maybe I'd come through this after all. If so, then it was more than I deserved.

'How's things, pal?' I eased myself on to the stool next to the bed.

Lippillus gripped my arm. 'Marcus, listen! The man you're after is called Crito. He's head slave to Rubrius Fabatus, who's got a suburban villa down the Latin Road just before the Asinaria crossroads.'

'There.' That was Marcina, and sounding jaundiced as hell; but she wasn't talking to me. 'Are you happy now?'

'Yeah. Yeah, I'm happy.' Lippillus's lips barely moved. That long speech must've taken a lot of his energy. 'You got all that, Marcus?'

'Sure,' I said softly. 'Don't worry, pal. I already found him. The bastard won't be swinging iron bars around any more, ever.'

'He's dead?'

I nodded. 'Came off second best in an argument with a cart.'

Lippilus's lips twitched. 'That's that, then,' he whispered. 'One more thing. Fabatus is a friend of Sejanus's. Minor league, but maybe…'

'Decimus, that's enough!' Marcina snapped. 'You are not going to tire yourself out over nothing! And Corvinus, I want you to leave, please. Now.'

'I agree, sir.' Sarpedon had been watching us, frowning slightly. His tone might be more polite than Marcina's, but he wasn't taking any prisoners either. 'I recommended that you be sent for because the patient was fretting. Now I think it would be advisable for you to go. In fact, I insist on it.'

'Okay.' I stood up. 'No arguments. And I'm sorry, Marcina. This wasn't my idea.'

She didn't answer. I turned back to Lippillus.

'Take it easy, right, pal?' I said. 'And don't worry, everything's under control.'

His hand lifted, but his eyes were already closing. I slipped out.

Sarpedon came with me. And Marcina, which was more of a surprise. She shut the door quietly behind her.

'Corvinus, wait a moment, please.' She laid a hand on my arm. 'I've got something more to say to you.'

Uh-oh. I waited while she saw Sarpedon out. Then she turned to face me.

'I want to apologise,' she said.

'Uh…pardon?'

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 'I know that Decimus was hurt directly because of you. But I also know how…single-minded he can be at times when he thinks he ought to get involved in something. And you've helped a great deal, especially with Sarpedon. Decimus would have died if it hadn't been for him.'

'Marcina, it was the least I could do. It's nothing, believe me.'

'No.' She shook her head sharply. 'It is not nothing! I hate to think what all this cost…'

'Jupiter, Marcina!'

'…but the least I can do is be grateful. I am, Marcus. Very.'

'Yeah, well, you don't have to be. Like you said, it was my fault.'

'You would've done the same if he'd been hurt on a Watch case, wouldn't you?'

This was getting embarrassing. I wished now I'd left with Sarpedon. 'Yeah, but…'

She cut me short. 'That's my reason for apologising. I was angry, naturally. I'm still angry, with both you and Decimus. But that's not to say I can't see things in perspective. Decimus is very lucky to have you as a friend. As am I.' She tried a smile, the first one I'd seen on her face since the attack. 'There, now. That's over, and I'm glad.'

I smiled back. 'You and me both.'

The smile widened. She even laughed. 'Quite. But do leave Decimus alone, please. For a few days, anyway. Although you may be able to keep off touchy subjects I doubt if he can.'

I felt the black mood that had been pressing down on me for days lift. Not altogether, but enough.

'Don't worry, lady,' I said. 'You'll get no hassle from me.'

I left, whistling.

So. Crito's master Rubrius Fabatus was a friend of Sejanus's. Well, that didn't come as a surprise, but it was nice to know it for certain. I walked along Racetrack Road towards the Publician Incline. Another glorious day: spring was definitely in the air, and it looked like being a good Spring Festival. I turned round, but there was still no sign of Felix and Lamprus. Maybe their boss, whoever he was, had called them off, but I doubted it.

Lippillus had said that Fabatus was minor league, and that made sense. Sejanus wouldn't've risked a direct connection, not in the strong-arm department. But it meant that I had to prove another link in the chain if I wanted to tie him in with what was going on, and I had to go careful while I did it. There wasn't much point in barging in on Fabatus and accusing him to his face, because with Crito safely dead he'd simply deny everything and run straight back to tell tales to his boss. Which wouldn't do me much good at all. There had to be a better way.

Okay. So just exactly what was I after here? I'd got a long-dead Julian plot involving laundered money from the east being used to finance a smear campaign against the Wart at home. Sejanus had been party to that as the Wart's agent, first setting the Julians up and then knocking them down in the Wart's interests. Also — and crucially for me — in his own, because with the top Julians gone or discredited he was a prime contender for the immediate succession and he could use his growing prestige to build up the political support he needed. Even where that support worked against the emperor's — and the empire’s — best interests. It was this second side that I had to concentrate on, because I'd bet a gold piece to a poke in the eye that it was the side the Wart didn't know about. If I could get enough evidence to show Tiberius where his deputy's true loyalties lay, and that they posed a threat to Rome, then I had a fighting chance of toppling the guy. The problem would be separating that off from the legitimate stuff.

I wasn't just whistling at the wind, I knew that. There was the Germanicus case, for a start. The Wart hadn't known the whole story there, that I knew for certain. And since I'd been back in Rome Sejanus had done his best to make sure I didn't dig any deeper into his affairs than I had already. Celsus had known something, sure. He'd pointed me at Marius, who hadn't figured at all in the Julian scam up to now except for that double-finesse with the botched treason charge; and Celsus had died as a direct result. Then there was Felix and his pet hulk, and the business with Sabinus. That angle I still had to work out, but it was important. Sure it was.

The dirt was there waiting to be dug, just under the surface. All I had to do was recognise it for what it was.

There was a hot pie seller on Racetrack Corner. I bought a meat pasty from him and bit on it as I turned up the Incline for home.

Fabatus. How the hell was I to handle Fabatus?