‘So what do you want here?’
Instead of answering, I took out the marked coin. ‘Aulus Mettius said to show you this.’
He took it, looked at it and slipped it into his belt-pouch. ‘And?’ he said.
‘Search me, pal. That’s all there is to it. Only the implication was you knew something about the burning down of the wool store six months ago.’
He looked wary. Then he nodded abruptly and tossed the rest of the bread away. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘We’ll go inside.’
I followed him into the big shed in the corner of the yard where the hay and straw for the horses were kept. He sat down on one of the bales, and I sat opposite.
‘Now,’ he said. ‘Let’s get something clear before we start. This is a favour, right? I owe Mettius one, never mind for what, and for some reason he’s calling it in. The favour’s to him, and you’re not involved. No comeback, no follow-up, no extras. It ends here, and when you leave I don’t know you from fucking Romulus and I never saw you before in my life. Agreed?’
‘Sure,’ I said.
‘So. You have the ball. Ask away.’
‘You transported the missing wool for Marcus Manlius, right?’ I said.
He scowled, then grinned. ‘You’re not as green as you’re cabbage-looking, are you, Roman? Yeah, I did. And brought in the bales of rags that replaced it. Took me quite a while, I can tell you.’
‘You start the fire as well?’
‘Nah, wasn’t my job. And I was taking enough risks for what that bastard was paying me already. He got one of his own men to do that.’
‘So where did it go? The wool, I mean?’
‘To a wholesale merchant in Aricia, name of Gnaeus Pompeius.’ He sniggered. ‘Yeah, like the old general. No relation, though, and no “Magnus” tacked on the end. Would’ve been a joke if there had been, because he was a little runt of a guy I could’ve snapped in half with one hand. Big man locally, mind. He’d an empty warehouse on the edge of the town, and I just dropped the loads off there. What happened to it after that I don’t know, but no doubt Manlius and him were doing nicely out of the deal. Now. That’s all I can tell you.’
‘What’s Mettius got against Marcus Manlius? Specifically, I mean.’ Yeah, sure, he’d told me he was giving me Ulpius’s name out of pure altruism, but like I said I’ve never trusted suspect characters who provide unsolicited information gratis. The chances were that he had an axe to grind somewhere or other, and it’d be interesting to know what it was.
Ulpius shrugged. ‘You’d have to ask him that yourself, although I’d be surprised if you got a straight answer. Oh, sure, Manlius’s father was the aedile on the bench when he was relegated ten years back, and maybe that’s enough. It would be for me. But Mettius is a strange cove. Me, I’m in it for the money, pure and simple, I’m not ashamed to admit the fact. I’ve got a wife and kids to keep, and the carting business doesn’t bring in much. Mettius, well, he comes from a good family, so money’s not a problem and never has been. He’s crooked as they come and can lie to beat the band, sure, but if you ask me he does it out of pure devilment, just for the fun of it. He’s always been wild. And he can’t stand these pricks in the senate. Not that I blame him there. They’re all a pack of chancers.’ He stood up. ‘Right. That’s your lot. All there is, all you get. You tell Mettius when you see him the debt’s paid.’
‘I’ll do that,’ I said. ‘Thanks a lot.’
I left the yard and started up towards the centre. I hadn’t gone far when the old instinct kicked in again and I turned round.
Shit. The persistent freedman. Only this time he wasn’t trying to hide, or to avoid me. He kept on coming.
Well, I was safe enough: we were still in Bovillae, after all, on a public street, and there were plenty of people around. I waited for him to catch up.
‘OK, pal,’ I said when he had. ‘What’s this all about?’
‘I’m taking you to see the boss,’ he said.
I didn’t have to ask who the boss was, not any more, because now he was close up I’d placed him. He’d been at Caesius’s funeral, in the market square, carrying a bundle of rods. Manlius’s rod man, or one of them.
‘Is that so, now?’ I said. ‘Care to tell me why?’
Instead of answering, his hand gripped my arm. I shook it off, grabbed it with both of mine, and bent the thumb back as far as it would go. He grunted and froze, his eyes wide.
‘OK,’ I said quietly. ‘Public place, right? Not somewhere to cause any trouble, is it? Now you be nice and in return I won’t break your fucking thumb. Deal?’
‘Deal,’ he said, through gritted teeth.
‘Fine. That’s better.’ I let go.
‘Look.’ He was rubbing his hand. ‘I was only to tail you, right? See where you went.’
‘OK. You were doing that. So what’s changed the rules?’ He said nothing. ‘Suit yourself, friend, I’ll answer for you. I’ve been sniffing around the old wool store, I talked to Sextus Garganius, and I’ve just been to Marcus Ulpius’s place. Tick three boxes. That’s at least one too many for your boss’s peace of mind. So now you’ve decided that Manlius will want to have an urgent word with me about the wool store business in person, yes?’ Still nothing. ‘Come on, you bastard! You know damn well what’s going on! If Manlius used one of his own men to set the fire — which he did — then it isn’t hard to guess who picked the lucky number.’ He gawped at me, and I sighed; rod men as a profession don’t need to be too bright, sure, but this one couldn’t even manage a glimmer. And most of the size wasn’t muscle but flab. Heaven help the empire. ‘Fair enough, forget it, sunshine. I’d’ve been calling on Manlius soon in any case. Off we go.’
It wasn’t far: on the main drag again, and only a couple of hundred yards centre-side of Caesius’s place. My none-too-friendly rod man nodded to the door slave sitting outside, who opened the door for us, and we went in. The major-domo met us in the atrium.
‘Boss around, Flavus?’ Rod said.
The major-domo was looking at me with obvious curiosity. ‘Yes, he is,’ he said. ‘In the study, with Sextus Canidius.’
‘You want to tell him I’ve got Valerius Corvinus here? He’ll know what it’s about.’
The major-domo gave me another curious look and went out.
‘You don’t need to stay, pal, if you’ve got other things to do,’ I said. ‘I can take it from here. I’m a big boy now. I don’t need nannying.’
‘The boss’ll want me to deliver you personally, so I’m delivering you personally.’
Well, you couldn’t argue with that; stark in its simplicity, and offering no room for interpretation. We waited in silence until the major-domo came back.
‘This way, sir, please,’ he said to me.
I followed him through to the study, with Rod tagging along behind. Manlius and Canidius were sitting on stools at a small table neatly stacked with various items of paperwork and wax tablets. They looked up as I came in, their faces expressionless.
‘He’s just been talking to Ulpius, sir,’ Rod said to Manlius. ‘I thought you might want a word.’
‘All right, Decimus. Well done, you can go.’ Manlius waited until the door had shut behind him. ‘Good afternoon, Valerius Corvinus.’
There was another stool by the desk. I pulled it up and sat down.
‘Interrupting something, am I?’ I said.
‘Just some everyday administrative matters. They’ll keep.’ He was watching me carefully.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Do you want to do the talking or shall I?’ Silence. I crossed my legs. ‘Fine. The wool store business was a scam from the start. Canidius here, as quaestor, made sure you got the contract when it fell unexpectedly vacant. Technically that should’ve been illegal, since you were and are a serving aedile, but you’ve got the senate in your pocket and it went through on the nod. You squared the night watchman Sextus Garganius and had a crooked carter by the name of Marcus Ulpius switch most of the bales for rags and take the wool over to Aricia where it was sold on by a guy called Gnaeus Pompeius, presumably splitting the proceeds between you. Then, to cover the theft, you staged a fire set by the tame gorilla who brought me here. Decimus, wasn’t it?’ I paused for a response that didn’t come. ‘How am I doing?’