Ah, well. You win some, you lose some. And there might be another opportunity later.
‘While we’re on the subject of your mates,’ I said easily, ‘I was at a dinner party yesterday evening with a couple more of them. At the palace. We sat together, as it happens.’
‘Really. How splendid for you.’
‘Yeah. Tiberius Claudius and Annius Vinicianus.’
Was that another flicker? ‘Claudius, I know very well,’ he said. ‘We’ve been close friends for years, and of course I owe what political career I once had to the good graces of his mother, the Lady Antonia. But Vinicianus … no, you’ve misunderstood, Corvinus. I certainly know the gentleman, and we’ve sat together at dinner parties at the palace ourselves, but I wouldn’t count him a positive friend. Only an acquaintance.’
‘Uh-huh. These, uh, dinners at the palace. Your wife’d be there, wouldn’t she? The emperor’s erstwhile sister-in-law?’
‘Yes, of course.’ He’d coloured slightly. ‘What has that got to do with anything?’
‘Not a lot. I’d just heard that the emperor was sweet on her for a while, that’s all.’
I thought Asiaticus was going to hit me. Even Papinius looked startled.
‘My marital circumstances, Corvinus,’ he said through gritted teeth, ‘are no bloody concern of yours. Now if your only remaining business is to waste everyone’s time by making snide remarks, I’d suggest that you leave.’
I glanced at Papinius, but he was still obviously obeying instructions and keeping out of things. Well, under the circumstances there wasn’t much more I could do in any case.
‘Fine, pal,’ I said. ‘We didn’t get round to the subject of Arrecinus Clemens, mind. Your boss, Papinius, the joint Prefect of Praetorians. Not that it matters much, I’ve got enough to be going on with at present.’ Both of them were staring at me now. Papinius’s mouth was slightly open. ‘Me, I’d like to see this thing wrapped up by the start of the Palatine Games, but we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed, right?’
‘What did you say?’ Asiaticus whispered. His face had gone grey.
I gave him a sunny smile. ‘Just some nonsense of Naevia Postuma’s,’ I said. ‘You know she talks to Alexander? The Alexander, I mean. Well, seemingly she — or he, rather — thinks it’s some sort of key date. Nonsense, like I say, but I’d rather keep the old girl happy.’ I turned. ‘Well, thanks for all your help, gentlemen. It’s been most … illuminating.’
I left. I could feel their eyes boring into my back all the way to the front door. Cages duly rattled, with a vengeance.
I just hoped I hadn’t shaken the bars too hard, that was all.
‘Marcus, you absolute fool!’ Perilla snapped when I told her how the interview had gone. ‘You’ve put yourself in terrible danger!’
‘Yeah, well, maybe I did get a bit carried away, but-’
‘Don’t you realize? If you’re right, which you probably are, those men are on the verge of staging a coup d’état. They can’t take risks, and they are not going to balk at killing anyone they even suspect might prevent them succeeding!’ She was sitting up on her couch and glaring at me. ‘You bloody, bloody idiot!’
‘Perilla, look, there’re only seven days to go to the Games. If that’s when it’s going to happen-’
‘You cannot help the emperor by getting yourself killed. And frankly I can’t see why you should even risk it. You admit he’s a monster, or rapidly becoming one, and that Rome would be better off without him.’
‘True, but-’
‘Holy Mother Juno, you don’t even like the man! You haven’t even got that excuse!’
I sighed. ‘Perilla, we’ve been through this already. I told you: liking or whatever has nothing to do with it. Murder is murder, and treason’s treason. Gaius is the emperor, and he’s a human being.’ I held my hand up as she opened her mouth. ‘OK. The jury’s out on that last one, I admit, but still. I can’t just sit back twiddling my thumbs and let it happen. Not when there’s a chance I can stop it.’
‘Very well. Take your chances. Go to him and tell him what you know. At least then it’ll be out of your hands, and it may well save your life.’
‘Don’t be melodramatic.’
‘I am not being melodramatic, Marcus! I’m being … bloody … realistic!’
Jupiter! I took a deep breath and tried to speak calmly.
‘I can’t do that,’ I said. ‘I keep telling you, I don’t actually know anything. Not for absolute sure. That’s the problem.’
‘Very well. Tell him what you think you know. It’s better than nothing, and as you say you’re running out of time.’
Fair point. More than fair: I couldn’t spend the next seven days faffing around in the hope that something would magically pop up, only to have Gaius murdered at the end of them. I sighed again.
‘Yeah. Maybe you’re right,’ I said. ‘I’ll go round to the palace first thing tomorrow morning. You happy now?’
She sniffed. ‘Not especially. In fact, not at all, really, but I suppose it’s the best I can expect under the circumstances. So. What have we got? What’s the theory, at least?’
‘That there’s a conspiracy to assassinate Gaius during the Palatine Games. That the earlier conspiracy was a blind, constructed by the conspirators to distract Gaius’s and his man Felix’s attention from the real one a couple of months later and have them drop their guard. That …’ I stopped. ‘Shit!’
‘What is it?’
‘They’d need an agent provocateur. Someone party to the real conspiracy but involved — on the surface of things, anyway — with the fake one. And someone who, when the time came, would blow the whistle to Gaius and have the whole boiling rolled up.’
‘Valerius Asiaticus. Yes, we know.’
‘Uh-uh.’ I shook my head. ‘Not him. Oh, sure, he’s involved in the real conspiracy up to his neck, no arguments. But if he had been the whistle-blower, either Felix or Gaius himself would’ve told me in so many words. Besides, Gaius obviously despises the man.’
‘Very well, then. Who?’
‘Anicius Cerialis.’
‘What? Marcus, that is just silly! Cerialis was an agent provocateur, certainly, but he was working for …’ She stopped, and her eyes widened as her brain caught up. ‘Oh.’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Right. It had to be him. He was playing it three ways. The dupes in the first conspiracy — Graecinus and so on — thought he was with them right up until he sold them down the river to Gaius, which was how Gaius — or Felix, anyway — thought he’d arranged things. Only Cerialis wasn’t working for Gaius either; he was working for his pals in the real conspiracy, or acting on their instructions, anyway. My bet is that that’s why Surdinus died. Whether or not he was one of the dupes I don’t know; he may’ve been, because like a lot of them he was a starry-eyed idealist at heart. In any case, he found out somehow — or suspected, at least — that Cerialis was playing it two ways. Knowing he was working for Gaius would’ve been bad enough, but my guess is that he’d cut the corner and discovered he was with Asiaticus and his mates.’
‘Why so?’
‘Lady, we’ve been through this before, remember? Because if Surdinus had only discovered he was a double, Gaius — Felix, whoever — could’ve cut his losses and rolled the conspiracy up there and then. Like he did when I shoved my oar in. Inconvenient and scrappy, sure, and it’d offend Felix’s passion for neatness, but not the end of the world, because most if not all of the conspirators were known names already. Only if Surdinus were to tell Gaius that Cerialis was hobnobbing with someone outside the net, and that person was involved in the real conspiracy-’
‘It might well be blown in its turn.’ Panic attack forgotten; the lady was looking quite excited. Thrill of the chase; it happened every time. ‘Cerialis couldn’t take that risk. Marcus, that is brilliant!’