Terra Incognita

69

Back at the house next to the brewery, Ruso informed Ness that as a legionary officer he was ordering her mistress to talk to him.

“My mistress is not in the army.”

“Tell her it’s about stolen jewelry and withholding evidence from a murder inquiry.”

Moments later, Aemilia appeared. She had taken out the curling rags. Her eyes were wide with alarm and fresh paint beneath the unnaturally springy hair. “I didn’t know it was stolen!” she began. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Can I come inside? You won’t want to discuss this on the doorstep.”

Aemilia glanced over her shoulder at Ness, and then stepped back to allow him in. Ness ushered them both into a small room painted dark red and crammed with furniture. Ruso sat on an overstuffed couch that had been polished into slipperiness, and Aemilia seated herself in a wicker chair on the far side of a flotilla of small tables. Ruso wondered whether Rianorix had woven that chair.

She said, “About yesterday. You called at a bad time. I was upset.”

He said, “I know. I’m not worried about who the ring belonged to, but I have to ask you some questions. It’s very important for Rianorix’s sake that we find out exactly what happened on the night Felix died. You saw Felix that night, didn’t you?”

Her fingers strayed toward her mouth. “Yes.”

“Did he come here, or did you meet somewhere else?”

Her voice was very small. “He came here.”

“Do you know if anyone else saw him? Anyone hanging around, or visiting the house? Gambax from the infirmary does business with your father, doesn’t he?”

“Not that night. There were no visitors.” She ran a hand through the artificial curls. A long pin dropped out and landed in her lap. She picked it up and twirled it between thumb and finger. “He said we would get married,” she said.

Ruso tried to think of something comforting to say. Instead all he could come up with was, “Who do you think killed him, Aemilia?”

There was an audible click as she bit through a fingernail. “I never meant all this to happen.”

“I don’t think Rianorix did either. He was only asking him for money.”

She frowned. “For money?”

“For five cows.”

“Then it was all lies,” she said flatly. “Everything he said was a lie.”

Ruso waited, not sure which of the men she was talking about.

“I have tried to tell myself Felix meant what he said,” she continued, “even though it was not his ring. But that is the honor price. He must have told Rianorix he would never marry me.”

“I’m sorry,” said Ruso, ashamed of having upset the girl and still no further forward in the hunt for the murderer.

She said, “Rianorix was asking the proper compensation to the family for a broken promise of marriage.”

Ruso leaned back. The back of the couch creaked under his weight. He wondered if Felix had grasped the importance of what was being asked of him. “What if that compensation was refused?”

“I don’t know. My uncle used to say that in the old days the Druids brought justice. I suppose they would ask the man’s people to pay.” She looked at Ruso helplessly. “But the Druids are gone, and Felix’s tribe is across the sea. The army wouldn’t pay us, would they?”

“No.”

Her chin rose. “Then he got the punishment he deserved,” she said. “I must tell Rianorix I am sorry.”

“Who killed Felix, Aemilia?”

She picked up the hairpin and a comb. “The Stag Man,” she said. “Now, would you like to know where to find my cousin?”