Saturnalia

'Hush!' he remonstrated, gesturing to Lentullus. I fixed a straight glare on him. He must know I was assessing him. He must realise why. He had worked as my assistant for the past couple of years; he knew my methods. 'All right, Falco…' My gaze did not waver. 'I have not seen her.'

'Honest?' 'It's the truth.'

I believed him. All his family were straight. While I had known Justinus keep things to himself-his past liaison with Veleda being one-I had never known him tell direct lies. 'You will need to prove it to the world-so give, Quintus!'

'Settle down. We're partners, aren't we? There is no necessity totreat me like a suspect.' There was every need for it.

'Wrong, Quintus. And if you are fooling around with Veleda, ourassociation ends right now.'

He cursed quietly. Then he told me. 'I knew when she arrived in Italy. You were still in Greece… It was supposed to be kept quiet, but Hades, everyone in Rome was talking about it. When she was at that so-called safe house, I did try to get messages to her.'

I wanted to ask how, but first I needed to know ifI could trust him. So it was more important to know why. 'Were you hoping to take up where you two left off?'

Justinus looked sulky. 'There was nothing to take up.'

'I remember,' I said drily. 'I can still see you now, alleging that nothing had happened between you and Veleda, when every single one of us on that ship knew it was a load of rubbish.'

'The ship!' he reminded me. 'She gave us the bloody ship, Falco. She saved our lives by letting us escape down the river. Don't you think we owe her something in return?'

'What? Provide her with a ship to return her to Germany? No, it's too late, Quintus. Rutilius Gallicus has brought her here and she's stuck with her fate. We'll all have to live with it… How did you know about the safe house?'

'What?'

'I want to know, Quintus. How did you know where they had put her? Did she write and tell you?'

'She has never written to me, Falco. I don't even know if she can write. The Celts don't believe in writing things down; they commit important stories, facts, myths, histories to memory.'

'Spare me the cultural lecture!… Not much point Anacrites putting up a written notice to lure her in,' I commented, to lighten it.

'Not much point in anything he does.'

'How did you get on with him, when you were at his house?' 'Relations were cool.'

'Did he try to recruit you?'

'As a spy? Yes, he did. How do you know?'

'The snake tried it on with your brother in the past. What did you answer?'

'I said no, of course.'

'Happy fellow. So how did you know Veleda's whereabouts?' I reiterated.

Justinus at last capitulated, mildly enough. 'I know a man. Slight acquaintance, baths and gymnasium, nothing special. We nod to one another, but I wouldn't say I ever let him strigil my back… When everyone was speculating about Veleda, I happened to mutter that I had once met her. He must have been looking for somebody safe to confide in. He was bursting to share the secret with someone-Scaeva told me.'

I took a breath so hard it hurt. 'You know Scaeva?'

XLIII

'Gratianus Scaeva-brother of Drusilla Gratiana? Lived at the Quadrumatus villa? You know him, Quintus?'

'Only slightly.'

'Scaeva was passing messages for you?'

Justinus shrugged. 'He took letters from me. I got nothing back. Once he had given away where Veleda was, he lost his nerve fast. He was terrified of being found out. He wanted nothing more to do with me-but I kept seeking him out and insisting.'

'Did you want a reply from the priestess? Were you trying to resume your relationship?' Silence. 'Come on, lad. What were you playing at?'

'I don't really know.'

I believed that. 'Wonderful. Every mess in the world is caused by some idiot who can't make up his ridiculous mind about a woman who's not interested.'

I hit him with the information that Scaeva was dead. Quintus looked shocked. It could be genuine. I told him exactly how it had happened. Then I watched him work out the implications. 'Do you think Veleda hacked his head off?'

My brother-in-law blew out his cheeks. 'That's possible.' He had seen her amongst her tribal warriors, when they were baying for Roman blood; he knew that her place as a venerated leader depended on showing she was ruthless.

I liked the fact that he did not rush to defend her. Even so, his personal predicament was grim. Whatever assurances he gave, it looked as if he and the priestess had colluded.

'What can you tell me about Scaeva? This is urgent, Quintus.'

'I don't know much. Until recently I tried to avoid him. He was always snuffling and carrying on about his health. Well, that's unfair; he was fed up with it himself He complained that he seemed to have spent every Satumalia of his life lying sick on a couch.'

'Well, I'm afraid it won't happen this year.'

'No.' Justinus looked thoughtful. Perhaps he was considering the transience of life.

I now grilled him on how he came to think that Veleda might have been at the Temple of Diana tonight. His answer made things even more ghastly: according to him, in one of his unanswered letters, he himself suggested it as a place of refuge.

'What happened to those letters, Quintus?'

'I don't know.'

I hoped Veleda had destroyed them. If not, we had to find them. We had to retrieve and obliterate them. Another dirty task for me.

The thought crossed my mind that Gratianus Scaeva might have been killed because somebody discovered he was acting as an intermediary. If so, his punishment seemed vile. Still, the perpetrator may have deliberately set out to implicate Veleda. It was the kind of trick Anacrites might play.

'Right. Let's get it straight: Veleda comes to Rome. You think you owe her something for saving us. You offer help; Scaeva takes the letters; she does not reply.' She could have been carrying her reply along to Scaeva, the day Scaeva was killed. It was even possible Scaeva tried to wriggle out of taking her letter to Quintus, so that was why Veleda attacked Scaeva… Somehow I thought not. 'Even in two weeks of freedom she has not tried to contact you, apparently. So did you give up on her, Quintus?'

He looked vague, as if he could not accept that he and the priestess were past history.

'Look, you can't have seen Scaeva for over a fortnight. Scaeva has been dead all that time. Did anybody ever tell you Veleda had escaped?'

'Anacrites. At his house this week.'

'So tonight-you were just going to the temple on the off-chance of finding her?'

'Yes, but the moment I spotted the Praetorians, I went frantic. I thought they must know that Veleda was definitely inside-'

'And you know Ganna?'

'Never met the girl.' How many men had sworn that old lie to me?

Justinus saw me thinking it. 'Marcus, Lentullus and I had talked, today at Fountain Court. He told me about Ganna being brought to Rome with the priestess. When the guards pulled her out of hiding, I guessed who she was… What will happen to her?'

'I don't know. Your big sister went with her, if that helps.' Justinus looked relieved. I felt slightly less confident: Helena would do all she could, but Anacrites was a bitter, single-minded foe. Nonetheless, Quintus and I shared a momentary smile, as we thought of Helena defying him. The first time I met him, Helena and I had yet to become lovers and she was giving me all Hades of a time. Her brother and I had bonded quickly, both overshadowed by her fierce spirit, both adoring her eccentric resolution.

I felt exhausted. I said I had to go home to see if there was news of Helena. I put Justinus on parole to remain at the station house with Lentullus-to stay there whatever happened to the injured soldier overnight. He agreed the conditions. I was almost past caring.

Just as I left, he surprised me. I glanced back from the door, raising a weary arm in salutation. Then Justinus suddenly asked me, 'How is Claudia?'