But I was no mean horseman in my youth. I whispered to my mount and we caught up again. ‘Why did you search his luggage, councillor? Surely you should simply have sent it back to town?’
‘Because Alfredus Allius came and asked me to. I think that we had cause. We both have a lively interest in that gold.’ He looked away but could not hide a flush. ‘Besides, he brought a letter from the lady Silvia, requesting the same thing. I would do a great deal to oblige her, I have told you that. But enough of questioning. I did not kill her guardian — and there’s an end to it. Look ahead. We’re nearly at the town.’
Indeed I could already see the first memorials, and soon we were trotting past the humbler graves beside the road. I glanced towards the muddy suburb, just outside the gate, where I had my workshop and where Minimus no doubt awaited me. But for the moment, I had other things to do. I followed Bernadus through the city gate, and very shortly he led me down an alleyway and into the stable yard of his town residence.
It was not as grand as Marcus’s apartment, but it was quite impressive all the same. It was crammed in with several other houses in the street, but it was a proper building, owned from cellar to the sky, with a stable for two horses, and even a tiny courtyard garden at the rear with a painted shrine in it, a kitchen to one side and a few struggling clumps of lovage and sweet herbs around the walls.
Bernadus led me through this with a proprietorial air. ‘Not a very big place, but it qualifies,’ he said — meaning that it met the property requirements for election to public office in the town. ‘Come into the atrium — that’s where we’ll bring him to.’
He ushered me into the reception area. It wasn’t very large, and fairly sparsely furnished, but the table and two carved benches were of splendid quality, the wall-friezes were lively, and the mosaic floor — three half-dressed naiads wrestling with a snake — was competently done (even I had to acknowledge that). Bernadus waved a hand towards a bench.
‘Wait there for a moment, while I find a slave and you can direct him to the undertaker’s shop. I’ll have to go and find a servant, I’m afraid. There should have been someone on duty at the door, but they’re not expecting me and obviously they didn’t hear us come. I only keep a small staff here in any case, when we’re living at the villa.’ He marched through an inner door and disappeared from sight.
I looked at my surroundings but my thoughts were somewhere else. I was still mulling over that business in the woods. What kind of killer left half a corpse? What was the point of it? A dreadful warning to the rest of us? Surely the other bits could be no use to anyone? There must be a reason, if I could think of it. But try as I might, I could not fathom it.
And who could possibly have done it anyway? Not Lucius: he wasn’t present when Bernadus invited the party to his house, and so — without a messenger — he had no way of knowing where they were. Besides, ever since Genialis had failed to arrive in town, Lucius’s whereabouts could be accounted for — and by the most reliable of witnesses: myself and Marcus Septimus. And, presumably, Alfredus Allius today.
The same thing went for Silvia, of course, I realized with delight. I was reluctant to regard her as a suspect, anyway, but of course she had the most pressing motive of them all — she didn’t want to marry her unpleasant guardian. She had been at the villa, certainly — but if she was an alibi for Bernadus at that time, then he was equally an alibi for her. Besides, this did not seem to be a woman’s crime. Would she have the strength to carve a corpse in half? And when would she have the opportunity? A lady never left the house without a slave.
Alfredus Allius, then? That was possible. I had no very clear idea of where he’d been that day — and certainly he knew where Genialis was. That was something I should investigate.
I went on staring at the naiads stupidly. A niggling conviction was growing in my brain that there was something important that I’d missed. Surely there was some point that Adonisius had made, some detail that I hadn’t paid enough attention to? I shook my head. It was eluding me.
My thoughts were interrupted by the return of Bernadus, now in the company of an attractive maidservant. She dropped me a small curtsey.
‘Master says you’re going to show me where to go to fetch the people to arrange the funeral.’ She flashed me a shy smile. ‘And the kitchen’s sending up some fruit and wine for you. In the meantime, would you care to have us wash your hands? And your feet as well perhaps? There is water warming and I know you’ve been out in the snow.’
I found that I was blushing with embarrassment. I had entirely forgotten my peculiar boots — though I still had my mittens tucked inside my belt. I was trying to decide on the courteous response when Bernadus solved the problem by saying heartily, ‘He is very welcome to the wash of course, and no doubt he would be glad of some refreshment too, but he may prefer to keep his footwear on. His mule will be arriving very soon, and then he will be wanting to go out again.’
As he spoke a pair of pageboys came into the room, one bearing the promised water and a towel, the other carrying a little tray of treats. My hands were rinsed and patted gently dry (the pleasure of warmed water had never seemed so sweet) and the slave girl fussed around us, with dried plums and wine.
Bernadus waved her impatiently away. ‘Fetch your cloak. The citizen has other things to do. You are content to show her where to go, and call on Lucius?’
I had almost forgotten that I’d undertaken that, but I nodded. ‘I’ll do so very soon — though first I have a little business of my own.’
I had decided that I’d go back to the shop and talk to Minimus. He would be wondering where I was again. Besides, I had an errand that I wanted him to run. I had promised to report our grisly find to the town authorities, and my slave would be the perfect courier. I myself would go to Lucius — and very gladly too. It occurred to me that, like an idiot, I’d forgotten to ask him for those record scrolls. This would give me the opportunity to request them now — and when I saw Marcus, I’d have something to report even if I hadn’t solved the mystery.
So when the escort at last came lumbering along with a reluctant Arlina, I was glad enough to leave. I took the slave girl with me, pointed out the undertaker’s premises and — urging my ungainly mount along the slushy streets — made my way back to Minimus and the shop.
TWENTY-THREE
Minimus was delighted and surprised to see me come, and extremely flattered to be used as a courier. He found me my old writing tablet from the shelf and I scratched a short account of what I’d seen out in the woods, pointing out that there had been another corpse found near here recently left in a similar truncated state, then tied the tablet shut and sealed the knot with my seal stick and a blob of molten wax. I wanted this to be a formal document.
Minimus had bustled around with still more food and drink for me — including the remainder of the mead — and I must confess that I was glad of this more homely fare, but before I’d finished he had seized the writing block and was already heading for the door.
‘First to the garrison and then to the town watch. That’s right, Master?’
I told him that it was and that I’d see him back here at the workshop afterwards. ‘I’m going to return my boots and mittens to Lucius and ask him for some records to show Marcus later on. After that, I think I’ve accomplished what I can. We’ll take Arlina back to Cantalarius and have a day at home.’
‘So you know who was responsible for Genialis’s death? You can tell me, Master — I promise I won’t breathe a word to anybody else.’