Tiberia was aware of him too. She jumped like a hare. She scuttled for the courtyard entrance. Polystratus swept a low bow as she passed him. Tiberia pressed herself against the far wall of the gatehouse, then ran faster as if she knew just what was coming. Polystratus straightened up abruptly, and patted her behind, grinning.
Tiberia stopped in her tracks and turned right around."Don't do that again, ever!' With set shoulders, she stalked off, no longer running.
Phineus had seen what happened. He said something that we could not hear. Polystratus must have retorted with an obscenity. Next moment, Phineus was yelling at him. Polystratus shrugged and turned away. Phineus flew at him and jumped him.
"Whey-hey!' Aulus and I set off towards the fight.
Marcella Naevia was right, we saw that now. they were both pankration contestants. It was ugly. Once they set to, any move was permissible. You cannot bite in pankration, but neither possessed front teeth and sucking is not disallowed. Otherwise, they wrestled, punched, stamped, kicked, squeezed, heaved each other upside down, threw each other, elbowed, kneed, and chopped. Phineus had both weight and bulk; Polystratus must have been one of the lighter, speedier fighters. Despite his paunch, he danced and shifted his feet nimbly, angling for a quick jerk off balance. Each took the punishment as if he felt no pain.
Whatever was going on, the partners had now seriously fallen out.
A crowd gathered quickly. Chefs, flowergirls, musicians, travellers all emerged from the inn, pushing and shoving for a viewpoint. Young Glaucus had found himself a long wand from somewhere; he tried to intervene like a judge. It was useless. Helena wriggled through the press to my side.
"When someone said there was a fight, I assumed it was you!'
"Such faith.'
We let them have their head for a time, hoping that would tire them. Eventually Aulus, Glaucus, and I moved in."Come on now. Break it up, you two!'
We jumped back. It was too dangerous.
Then, suddenly, the antagonists became aware of the spectators. Phineus broke first. He growled, a short irritated noise like an obstreperous lion. Polystratus was thoroughly worked up, but took the point reluctantly. Still tense, they stopped fighting. They made a few feints, all pretence but with an undercurrent. Then they shook hands, smiled at the crowd slyly and toothlessly, and strode off into the inn with their arms around each other's shoulders.
"Old sparring partners!' Phineus called back at us.
Polystratus gripped him, rather too hard, it seemed to me."Still testing each other, after all the years!'
"I don't think so,' murmured Young Glaucus to me."I don't think that was a bout for best of three throws, Falco. I have never seen such dirty tricks.'
"No. They both meant to kill if they could.'
Then as we all prepared to enter the inn for the party, Glaucus exclaimed with a little too much excitement. 'Let the Games begin!'
LXII
During our absence, the scene in the courtyard had changed for the better.
As the company flowed back indoors, we could see everyone was several drinks further along. The atmosphere had warmed up. Wreaths and garlands had been applied to curls and bald heads, then had listed, or slipped well down over one eye. Skirts had gaped open and the gaps had stayed unnoticed. Tight shoes had been tossed off.
A welcome blast of cooking smells greeted us. Spices sizzled in hot oil; steaming pots of broth wafted hints of delights to come. Overseeing the kitchen was Minas, who boomed encouragement to all. Red-faced from the cooking fires, he winked at me as I passed him, and whispered,"I have guards standing ready. Once the villain is identified, he goes straight to the Areopagus.' For an instant I glimpsed the true lawyer in him."It is a long while since I conducted a murder trial.' He was planning to enjoy it.
A whirl of guests swept between us. Next moment Minas was extolling the wine he had brought. From the numbers of amphorae now lined up against a wall, it seemed drink was available to us in naval quantities.
Helena grabbed her brother by the hand and pulled him temporarily from the melee."Now you take care, for once. Here is what I found for you in Plato's Symposium. It was agreed that drinking was not to be the order of the day, but that they were all to drink only so much as they pleased.
Aulus eyed her askance."Is my sister tipsy?'
"Hardly got going yet,' I said, shaking my head sadly.
My mind was on other things. Slipping away from them, I followed Phineus. He had been accosted by Cleonyma. I missed the start of their exchange, but overheard her saying,"So he will keep doing what he does, and you will keep on after him!'
"Your husband was a sad loss,' Phineus told her, in a patronising tone. He had noticed me and was desperate to shut her up.
"Oh he was!' hissed Cleonyma."He was a fine man, who should not have died before his time.' Her voice acquired real venom. You stink, Phineus!
She turned away, disgusted. Then Phineus fixed his main attention on Polystratus nearby, who had been watching. Phineus walked right up to him and once more muttered angrily. He seemed to be warning Polystratus about me. This time they were acting up, to look good. Phineus pointedly slapped his partner on both cheeks. It looked playful. It sounded painful. Phineus then let go, and jokingly straightened the ornamented neck of his partner's party tunic. It was the long dark red garment Polystratus had worn when he came to our house on the Aventine, the one that looked as if a theatrical king should wear it. Close to, there were worn threads, but from a distance it would impress strangers.
Polystratus laughed and walked off. I moved in and stopped Phineus, grabbing him by the upper arm. He had more muscles than I would have expected, had I not known about the pankration. I kept my voice low."Let me tell you what this looks like, Phineus.'
"Don't bother, Falco.'
"Cleonymus and Cleonyma suspected the truth, didn't they?' I remembered my conversation with Cleonymus on our walk up to Acrocorinth."He gave me a strong hint, if only I had recognised it earlier. he told me he wished that Cleonyma had bashed Polystratus. Other people have spoken out too. The picture builds slowly – but it begins to appear. I think your old crony has been threatening your business by unacceptable behaviour. I think you waste a lot of effort trying to deter him, Phineus. In short, I think Polystratus is a killer -and you know it!'
"You're seeing things that don't exist, Falco. Go to an eye doctor.'
"Your partner killed Valeria. He is the so-called expensively dressed man who killed Cleonymus. You sent him to Delphi, then you had second thoughts. You feared he might harm Statianus, so you escaped from custody and ran off after him. Perhaps you went to Delphi, but you arrived too late. By then they were in Lebadeia, Phineus – where Polystratus committed yet another murder.'
"Such a good story,' Phineus crooned offensively."But not a hint of proof, is there?'
"I won't give up.'
"You don't even have a corpse, Falco.'
"The gods only know what Polystratus did with Statianus. But if we
ever find any trace of that poor man – anything at all – your days of covering up will be over.'
I did not wait for Phineus to turn away from me; I left him. His contemptuous laugh behind me seemed to have a hollow ring. I hoped so.
My companions were gesturing me back to our table. We squashed up together on two couches. At a more refined dinner, each of these would serve for a solo male guest, but this party broke the rules in many ways. We had women and girls among us, for one thing. Minas kept making a point of this, carolling that he had invited all, as a gesture to Roman custom. His own womenfolk were trapped at home, presumably. Minas made a ghastly joke about our women possessing all the social skills of natural hetaerae; he gushingly praised them as dancers, singers, and conversationalists. To us it was embarrassing and, being frank Roman women, they derided him fairly openly.