Alfredus had more courage — or less imagination. He simply turned to face the follower. ‘Vesperion!’ I heard him cry. ‘You almost frightened us. Did you manage the business with the cart?’
The poor old steward was completely out of breath, but he managed to convey that the arrangements had been made, the mule was in a stall, and Maximus was safely on his way. He mentioned a sum which took my breath away.
Alfredus merely nodded. ‘I will see that it is done.’ He turned to me. ‘One more thing, citizen. What happened to the treasure and the furniture the brothers stole?’
‘I’ve been thinking about that. There’s no sign of it in Glevum, so it didn’t come this way. I fear that you may discover you’ve paid for it,’ I said. ‘I think you’ll find it is the furniture that Scipio thinks he’s bought — the things that were alleged to have been stored elsewhere — which I suppose, in a peculiar way, is true. I’m almost sure you’ll find an elaborate travelling carriage in the stables too. They must have put it somewhere, and that’s the likely place. And of course Egidius senior wanted me to think that he was going to drive away in it, though he didn’t actually mention carriages. I think he takes a strange delight in saying things which are nothing but the truth — but which give the wrong impression to the listener. Look, here’s the tavern — you can judge that for yourself.’ And without waiting for an answer I led the way inside.
I don’t care much for wine shops, and this one less than most. The floor was filthy and the wine vats, set into the counter, were rimed with sediment. One or two customers perched on wooden seats looked up blearily as we came in, but to my dismay there was no sign of anyone I recognised. But it was too late to escape. The owner, a toothless ancient with an aimless grim, came lurching over to accost us instantly.
‘Can I assist you, gentlemen?’
‘I was looking for a customer,’ Alfredus rescued me. ‘I missed him earlier. I believe he came in here. This citizen has seen him, and can describe him properly.’
‘Fellow in a patrician toga, with an enormous slave,’ I supplied, without much hope.
The owner drooped one rheumy eye into a wink. ‘Busy at the moment upstairs, citizen. Which one were you after? The young one or the older gentleman?’
‘They’re both here?’ I exclaimed. ‘I was not expecting that.’
‘Been here all the afternoon — young one first and then the other one. Hope they’re going to pay the poor girls properly!’
I turned to Alfredus and Vesperion. ‘You realise what this means? I knew that Cacus had been looking out of your warehouse window-space, but I didn’t realise what he was looking for. Of course, they were waiting for the young one to get back — and no doubt he’s the one that Junio saw with Cacus on the dock. That explains one mystery. I was sure that Commemoratus was the one who called at our workshop when Junio was there, but he insisted that he didn’t recognise the man. Of course he didn’t — it was the younger brother he glimpsed the second time.’
The taverna owner paid no attention to my words. ‘Now, gentlemen, what can I offer you? It’s been quite a day for us. We don’t have a lot of patrician visitors, but suddenly today we’ve had a run of them. Watered wine, or ale, or our own special brew …?’ He waved a hand at his disgusting wares.
Alfredus turned to me. ‘I think that if the other men have gone upstairs, we ought to go ourselves. We don’t want them realising that we’re here, and dropping out of windows while we’re loitering downstairs.’
‘Upstairs, gentlemen?’ The owner gave us a delighted leer. ‘I’m not sure if there’s space. Most of the rooms and girls are occupied. There’s only Livia …’ He put his fingers to his lips and gave a piercing whistle. There was a flurry on the staircase and Livia appeared — the plump and aging prostitute I’d noticed earlier. She’d taken off the toga and was wearing a stained tunic which did not enhance her charms. ‘You’ve got a vacant cubicle?’ he barked.
She was chewing on a stringy chicken bone, but she removed it from her mouth sufficiently to say, ‘Only the small one this end left.’
‘That will do nicely. We two will go upstairs and we’ll leave the slaves down here to guard the door,’ I told the astonished owner of the shop.
‘Here!’ he said loudly. ‘Two of you at once? There’s extra charge for that.’
‘It’s the room we’re after, not your mangy girls,’ I said. ‘We’ll go up there now. If there’s any problem, call the watch at once.’
‘Don’ need the watch,’ Livia said indistinctly, through a lump of chicken skin. She looked animated suddenly. ‘I got my soldier up there, though he’s half asleep. What’s this all about?’
‘We’ve come to get those purple-stripers who are here — they’re thieves and murderers.’
She stuffed the nibbled chicken inside her tunic top. ‘Blinking incomers — they think they own the place. Keep the proper customers away and won’t give a girl a quadrans for her time. What’s it worth to help you, citizen?’
I glanced at Alfredus Allius, who was looking dazed. ‘A sestertius says you get me in the room with them, another sestertius if we get them under guard.’
‘Done!’ She spat on her two palms and offered them to me. I realised this was a kind of contract, so I did the same with mine. She squeezed my fingers briefly and then leaned forward as if we were the only people in the room, saying softly, ‘It won’t be difficult. They’re in the big rooms round the corner at the back. They’ve sent the girls away into a single cubicle, and they’re sitting together in the other one, whispering, while the big slave’s standing in the doorway keeping watch. They think they can’t be heard but … come with me.’ She placed a chubby finger to her lips and led the way upstairs.
I was glad I’d not brought Minimus up here. It was a frowsty place, a row of little cubicles with ill-fitting doors with graphic illustration of the ‘skills’ available, and — judging by the one that Livia showed us to — nothing but a scruffy mattress and a bench within. Alfredus Allius had followed dutifully, but he was looking very uncomfortable indeed.
‘The others are just like this — round the other side. But put your ear here …’ Livia leant over against the wooden inner wall, as if to demonstrate.
I did as I was told. I could hear a muffled mumbling, but that was all. Any hopes of trapping the Egidius brothers in this way disappeared as quickly as they’d come. Alfredus Allius came to take my place, and then disaster struck. The bench-bed buckled and he tumbled to the floor, taking the outer door with him. He landed in the narrow passageway with a crash and an oath that rang across the dock.
The result was instant. I rushed out to help him, but he’d disturbed the house. There were shrieks and cries, and frightened faces peered from every door. The owner was already charging up the stairs and round the far corner came an enormous form. Cacus was standing on the landing watching me.
‘Great Dis,’ I heard him murmur. ‘It’s that citizen again.’
‘What is it, Cacus?’ It was Commemoratus, in his fancy cloak — utterly incongruous in this shabby place.
‘It’s Libertus, master. He must have followed us.’
‘Nonsense, Cacus. We saw him leave the quay.’ Commemoratus pushed the slave aside. ‘Dear Mercury, you’re right! It is the citizen. What are you doing here?’
‘Looking for the Egidius brothers,’ I said, evenly. ‘To accuse them of theft and of murdering several slaves they did not own. I’ve brought a curial magistrate to witness it.’ I gestured to the shadows at my feet, where Alfredus Allius was picking himself slowly from the floor.
Behind Commemoratus another man appeared. In this light it was difficult to see, but he was clearly younger — and as Festus had declared — his skin was pasty white. And he was burly — almost big enough to be a gatekeeper. But the wise woman was right — in his striped toga and elaborate cloak I would never have recognised the hunched amanuensis that I’d seen at work.
‘Citizen Libertus!’ His voice was dangerous. ‘I told my brother we should have killed you straight away. I’ve heard so much about you from your patron that I knew at once that you were dangerous. If we’d only run you over when we met you on the lane … But my brother wasn’t sure that it was you at all.’