‘You found out that your father was going to the dinner through one of his household?’
‘Yes. Penelope.’ He exchanged an amused glance with Tarquitia. ‘Faithful Penelope. She was one of Mother’s maids. Pleasant little thing, a bit mousey but quite good-looking in her way. We stayed in touch after I left, and she kept me informed about what was going on. Of course, after the divorce, all that stopped, but by that time it didn’t really matter.’
‘So if your father didn’t make a habit of furkling pushy dancing girls’ — that got me a glare from Tarquitia, but I ignored it — ‘how did you manage to hook him?’
‘Oh, that was all my lovely girl’s doing.’ He hugged her. ‘She’s a smart little thing, Corvinus. But of course you know that. If she’d been pushy, like you say, thrown herself at him literally, he’d’ve run a mile. No, she made it look like a complete accident, and she was most apologetic and embarrassed. Weren’t you, lover?’ He kissed her again. ‘The suggestion that the girls stay on after finishing their act, naturally, came from my father’s friend, and she went to Dad’s couch straight away. With suitable modesty and reluctance, I might add.’ Beside him, Tarquitia giggled and buried her face in her wine cup. ‘And despite what the friend and the other girl were getting up to on the other couch, there was absolutely no funny business.’
‘We talked,’ Tarquitia said. ‘He wanted to know about my family. I told him my father lived in Padua, where he made cheap jewellery, but he was losing his sight and I’d come to Rome so I could make enough to support him. Complete hogwash, of course; the closest my father ever got to being blind was blind drunk, and we haven’t been in touch for years, but Lucius lapped it up. When the evening ended he said he wanted to see me again, and that was it.’
‘Did you ever sleep with him?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes. Not often, though. Like Hellenus — Marcus — told you, he found the whole sexual thing a bit beneath his dignity. But he thought I’d expect it, so he did it. Tried his best to, anyway.’ She frowned. ‘Corvinus, Lucius was a nice man. A very nice man indeed; the kindest and most generous I’ve ever met. I told you that before, and I meant it. Don’t go away thinking I didn’t see it, or that I wasn’t grateful.’
‘Certainly not,’ I said. ‘Perish the thought.’
That got me another glare.
‘So, anyway,’ Hellenus said, ‘here we are. Project successfully completed and, I should point out, perfectly within the law. Like Tarquitia said, we’re not greedy, either of us. Tarquitia’s sold this place back to my brother for, in effect, the difference between my third of the estate and a full half share, which is, admittedly, on the pricey side, but we had him over a barrel and he would’ve paid far more to remove the embarrassment. Hence’ — he raised his cup — ‘the celebration, because she’s just signed the contract. She has, of course, as the owner, although the money will come to me; the only reason I’m here is that I wouldn’t have missed for worlds the look on Lucius’s face when he saw us together. The other properties my father gave her — sold her, rather — well, they’ll be hers as they already are absolutely. She’s certainly earned them, and as far as I’m concerned they’re just the icing on the cake. Call it an advance wedding present.’
‘What about Otillius?’ I turned to Tarquitia. ‘By the way, I promised him that when I saw you again I’d tell you he’s willing to have you back. There, that’s done.’
She laughed. ‘Oh, I finished with poor Titus long ago,’ she said. ‘What I ever saw in that brute, let alone why I married him, I don’t know.’ (‘Beefcake,’ Hellenus murmured, grinning, and she elbowed him in the ribs.) ‘But I repeat, we’re not greedy. If he agrees to a divorce, I’ll make over Lucius’s bequest to him in toto. The whole fifty thousand. We don’t really need it, after all, Marcus and me, we have plenty to keep us going, and believe me, Corvinus, he will jump at it.’
Yeah, he probably would. And, to my mind, he’d be getting the best of the deal. Still, it was sad.
‘So what happens now?’ I said.
‘I told you.’ Hellenus took a swallow of wine. ‘We travel, and we do it in style. Athens, Pergamum, Alexandria, the complete eastern tour, as soon as the shipping lanes open again in spring. Everything should be settled by then. I may even buy a yacht. Hiring is so middle class, and bunking down in a cargo ship isn’t to be thought of.’
‘Yeah, well.’ I turned to go; I wanted out before I threw up. ‘Good luck to you both.’
‘Corvinus!’ He called me back. ‘Just remember, we’ve only taken what’s due to us. Tarquitia made the old man happier in his final months than he had been for years. And I reckon as an artist I’ve made a bigger contribution to society and human happiness than my brother ever did, or ever will. I deserve my share. And I’ll make better use of it than he ever could.’
‘Right,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you around.’
And I left.
So. That was done, at least for the time being. It was a long hike to the Quirinal, where Longinus hung out, practically the other side of Rome, but I could shorten things by crossing the river on one of the little ferry-boats that plied for hire level with the top end of the Janiculan and then cutting through Mars Field. At least the weather was good, cold but dry, with only a few drifting clouds to remind me that Jupiter was only holding off for the present.
As far as the actual murder was concerned, I had to admit that the home team wasn’t doing so well; in fact, we’d hit a stone wall. Oh, sure, with the Tarquitia/Hellenus side of things stitched up — or at least looking that way for now — we’d made some progress, but not all that much. Me, I still fancied Surdinus Junior as the killer; certainly he’d got by far the best motive, in fact he was practically the only person who had a motive at alclass="underline" pace Perilla, I couldn’t really see old Gallio as a criminal mastermind out to save the family inheritance at the cost of its current prime representative. Still, time would show. Or maybe — and this was the bummer — it wouldn’t. Not unless we could get a lead on Cilix’s scarface freedman.
Assuming, of course, that he was the actual perp after all, and hadn’t just been after Surdinus’s game-birds …
Bugger.
Longinus, despite what I’d said to Perilla, I didn’t hold out too much hope for. Yeah, well, he could’ve had a motive in line with the one I’d given him, but the chances that he’d done the deed, or had it done for him, rather, were pretty slim. It’d have to be fast work, for a start, if he’d only been back in Rome for half a month or so, and from Secundus’s description of him he didn’t seem the killing type. Still, he was all that was on offer currently, and I couldn’t turn my nose up at him.
I made my way across the Saepta to the old Sanqualis Gate and onto High Path. Near the Shrine of Mars, Secundus had said, the Armilustrum. A quick stop at a corner baker’s shop selling sesame twists and poppy-seed pastries to get final directions plus a much-needed late-morning snack, and I found the house itself.
Very nice, which was par for the area. Own grounds, surrounding wall, gateposts with sphinxes on the top. We were talking serious money here; evidently this branch of the Cassii had taken up the slack in the three generations since the Cassius Longinus had blotted the family copybook. Although, in all probability, the family themselves wouldn’t see it that way, and the villains of the tale would be old Julius and his parvenu successors. The fact that Great Grandfather Gaius had gone down the tubes of history at Philippi fighting against the guy who would later become the Divine Augustus wouldn’t make him, to them, any less of a hero. Quite the reverse.