Germanicus

'Not at all. The pleasure was mine. I'm sorry our first meeting has been so short.'

'That's okay. I know how it is.'

We shook hands, and he took my arm and led me to the door. The secretary looked up.

'Bion,' Lamia said, 'Valerius Corvinus needs a house urgently. Get the details, will you? Quickly, there's a good fellow.'

'Yes, sir. Certainly, sir.'

'Very nice to have met you, Corvinus. My apologies again.'

Lamia disappeared back inside his office and closed the door. I breathed a mental sigh of relief. The secretary turned to me and smiled. Obviously I'd gone up a notch, even with the brusqueness; but like I said, the Syrian governor's a busy man, so maybe even that hadn't been unusual. 'Now, sir,' he said. 'If you could just tell me where you can be contacted.'

'You know the Two Cedars guest house? Philotimus's place?'

'Of course.' He reached for a pad and made a note. 'On the Daphne road.'

'Right.' Someone was coming up the stairs: a big guy in army uniform. I nodded to him. He gave me a sharp look, then sat down on one of the benches with his helmet under his arm. Not one of life's natural socialisers, evidently. 'That's where we're staying. Philotimus will pass on any messages.'

'Good. That seems quite in order, Valerius Corvinus.' He made another note on his pad. 'I'll send a messenger as soon as something comes up. Have a nice day, sir.'

'Yeah, you too, pal.' I turned away, trying to remember where the nearest wine shop was. The governor's Laodicean had been welcome, but after that minor grilling I needed the rest of the jug.

The gorilla in uniform was on his feet again. The secretary smiled at him.

'You're a little early, Legate,' he said, 'but I think the governor is free now if you'd like to go straight in.'

The big guy ignored him. He was staring at me like I'd just pissed on his lunch. Legate. Oh, Jupiter! Coincidences like this I could do without. No wonder Lamia had wanted shot of me so fast. I knew what was coming. I just knew. And there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it.

23

Rufus didn't go for me after all. It was a close-run thing, though, and I suspect the only thing stopping him was the fact that there were only two inches of wood between us and the governor. The Roman imperial system doesn't encourage brawling on its home ground.

'Your name's Corvinus?' he said slowly. 'Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus?'

'Yeah. Yeah, that's me. All four of them.' I sat back against the desk, but I was still holding myself ready and my heart was thudding in my chest. 'You want an autograph?'

'Legate…' The secretary was on his feet now, and looking worried as helclass="underline" secretarial skills don't include dealing with homicidally-inclined gorillas who also happen to command a quarter of Rome's army between Egypt and the Black Sea.

Rufus ignored him. 'Is Perilla here with you?'

'I don't think that's any of your business, friend,' I said quietly.

'Legate, please…!'

'You're lucky, Corvinus. Very lucky.' The eyes were still boring into me like hot wires into cheese. 'We can't talk properly now. But I'm glad we've met, and it won't be the last time. Understand?'

'Sure.'

'Good. I look forward to it.' He turned his back on me, moved towards the governor's door and raised his hand to knock.

'Hey, Rufus!' I said.

He paused. I thought he'd answer or at least turn round but he did neither, just waited.

'You understand something too, pal,’ I said. ‘Perilla got the divorce because you're a bastard. A twenty-four carat, thoroughgoing bastard. As far as she's concerned — as far as both of us are concerned — you don't exist. You go anywhere near her and I'll kill you. Okay?'

The fist came down. Inside the office Lamia shouted: 'Come in!' Rufus opened the door and went through. He didn't look back.

When I got home the lady had found us a house to rent.

'It's lovely, Marcus.' Her face was one big smile. 'Very central, in Epiphania. And such marvellous grounds.'

'Yeah?' I sat down in the chair opposite — we were out in the garden under the trellised vine — and waved to the girl with the ankles. She grinned at me and hurried off for the Chian. 'Epiphania, eh? Nice neighbourhood.'

It was: Epiphania was in what the locals called the New Town on the hill slopes to the east of the city. Big villas, big gardens, big bank balances. We'd taken it in on the sedan-chair ride which was part of Zoilus's package tour.

'Beautiful.' Perilla was still beaming. 'And the rent is so cheap you wouldn't believe.'

Sure I would, especially with her doing the dickering. 'Don't tell me. Philotimus has another cousin in the real estate business.'

'No, the owner's one of Uncle Cotta's friends. He has to go to Corinth unexpectedly and he was simply going to leave it empty until he got back. We won't have to worry about staff, either. They're included.'

'Hey, great!' I leaned over and kissed her.'So when do we move in?'

'The day after tomorrow.'

'Fine.' My wine arrived. Lovely ankles. Beautiful. I poured a cup and drank it down. 'I could get a taste for this stuff, you know that?'

'Really?' Perilla watched the girl's retreating back and sipped at her own cup of fruit juice. 'So how was your day?'

'Not bad. The governor's a nice guy. We had quite a chat.' I didn't even think of telling Perilla I'd met her ex: it would only worry her. It worried the hell out of me. 'Which reminds me. Lamia offered to help with accommodation. I'll send one of the lads to say he needn't bother.'

'We'd better let Gratianus know as well.'

'Hell. I'd forgotten him!' Gratianus was the skivvy we'd left behind with the baggage at Seleucia. Mind you, he was probably having the time of his life: I'd been generous with expenses and some of the docklands girls looked like they'd rattle their bangles just for the promise of a free drink. Nice bangles, too. 'Hey, incidentally, I found out Marsus is deputy governor.'

'Marsus?'

'Vibius Marsus. You remember? Piso's sidekick?'

'Oh, yes. The poet.'

'What?'

'He writes poetry, dear. Only in an amateur sense, of course.' I detected the barest sniff. Perilla's a poet herself, and she's pretty hot by all accounts; but then with a stepfather like Ovidius Naso you couldn't expect anything else. 'He comes from a very literary family. He wrote an ode for Mother once. Mind you, he was very young at the time.'

I set down my wine cup slowly. 'Perilla, are you saying you know this guy personally?'

'No, not really. Certainly not well enough to trade on the acquaintance. He was a friend of Mother's. But that was years ago.'

I kept my voice calm. 'Why the hell didn't you mention this before?'

'Because he's sure to have forgotten all about me. I was only a child at the time.'

Jupiter give me patience or strike me dead! Didn't the woman have any idea how these things worked? I waved for the girl with the ankles. She came over.

'Your father about?' I said.

'He's inside, lord. You want to see him?'

'Yeah. Oh, and Theano…'

'Yes, lord?'

'Have another jug cooling, yeah?'

She smiled. 'Yes, lord.'

I turned back to Perilla. 'You may not know it, lady, but I've been cudgelling what few brains I've got all morning thinking about how I can corner Marsus in private, and you had the answer all the time.'

'But surely if he's the deputy governor all you have to do is make an appointment.'

'In private, Perilla! Lamia's suspicious enough already. I may've persuaded him that I'm just a spoilt young smartass with more money than sense…'

'You mean you aren't?'

'…but the guy's no fool. So I need to go carefully.'

'Which is where I come in, I suppose.'

'Of course it is.'

'But Marcus…'