“You making a bet?” One of the bet takers appeared in front of me, a heavily bearded man.
Over the din I said, “No, I’m here to see a man about a bear. His name’s Egesis. Do you know him?”
The bet taker jerked his head to the left. “Over there. The one with the scar on his forehead. You can’t miss him. But listen here, mate, if you go causing trouble, or you interfere with the fight, the boys here’ll tear your balls off.”
“Right. Got it.”
I edged my way left, careful not to cause trouble, but keeping a hand over the threatened parts, just in case.
I was so busy looking for a scar on a forehead that I walked straight into a young man.
“I’m sorry!” I said to him. “I was looking for-Diotima!”
“Shhh!” she hissed. “Don’t shout it out!”
I lowered my voice and looked around to make sure no one had heard us. “What are you doing here?”
“If you think I’m letting you go after a killer without me, you can think again,” she said.
She was wearing a full-length chiton, but in a man’s style, not a woman’s. And it had been carefully smeared with dirt. The chiton covered her arms to the wrists and legs to the ankles. No one would see her smooth woman’s skin. She’d tied the belt loosely to hide her hips. Over the chiton she wore a cloak of the type used by itinerants to shield them from the weather, which would have been reasonable outdoors at midday, but indoors at midnight was of questionable sanity. She’d needed the deep hood of the cloak, though, to hide her long hair and womanly features. The overall effect was ridiculous.
I said, “Diotima. Women aren’t allowed here. You have to go.”
“I’m staying.”
“It’s not safe for you. When they find out you’re a woman-”
“I’ll make sure they don’t. The longer we stand here arguing, the more likely someone is to notice, don’t you think?”
“No. I’m your future husband. That makes me responsible for your safety, and I say go.”
“I’ll think about my own safety, thanks very much.”
“Diotima, I said go now.”
“No.”
She was so dogmatically unreasonable, I was becoming angry. “I hope you don’t think you can disobey me when we’re married!”
“Relax, Nico,” she said, cool as could be. “Everyone thinks I’m a man.”
“There’s a distinct lack of stubble.”
“I know. I tried cutting a fake beard using old rabbit skin, but it looked like something furry had died on my face. It doesn’t matter. I’ll pass as a young man.”
“What happened to your breasts?” Diotima was well endowed, but somehow her best feature-not counting her personality, of course-had disappeared.
Diotima grimaced. “A tight band of material, and believe me, it hurts.”
“You better keep your voice low. Or better yet, don’t say anything at all.”
Diotima stared at the heaving mass of men’s backs. “What are they doing?” she asked.
“It’s a cockfight.”
“Do I want to know about cockfights?”
“They tie spurs to the feet of cocks that fight each other, and bet on the winner.”
“You mean, the one that survives?”
“Yes.”
“Those poor chickens!”
“They’re cocks.”
“I don’t care. Nico, you have to save those chickens.”
I thought back to what the bet taker had said: that if I interrupted the fight, they’d cut off my balls.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Diotima. Anyway, what do you care? I’ve seen you sacrifice animals at the temple, by your own hand even.”
“That’s different, Nico,” she said in a superior tone. “A sacrifice is dedicated to the gods; it’s a sacred rite that binds the higher powers to us. What those men are doing is unholy; they’re letting animals rip each other apart for their amusement. It’s disgusting.”
“Well, you’re the one who insists on walking into men’s places. If you didn’t come here, you wouldn’t know about it. You could always leave.”
“Where’s Egesis?” she changed the subject.
I sighed. “I’m told he’s this way.” I took her by the hand, then thought better of it and let go. Instead I led her around the ring.
The bet taker was telling the truth. Egesis was hard to miss. He had a jagged scar across his forehead that was red and puckered. He looked like an ugly character.
Diotima quietly walked up behind him. I stopped in front.
I said, “Is your name Egesis?”
“Yeah. So what?” He tried to look around me, to see the cockfight that was about to start.
I continued on a firm note. “Your bear is responsible for the brutal death of a child. Pray to whatever gods you hold dear, Egesis, because the jury will have no mercy when those girls’ fathers sue you.”
After this fine verbal assault, Egesis looked at me blearily, as if he couldn’t care less, and said, “Who in Hades are you?”
“Nicolaos, son of Sophroniscus, and your bear-”
“Yeah, yeah. I heard it the first time. I ain’t got no bear. He was stolen.”
“Stolen? Are you sure?”
Egesis held his arms wide apart. “Why don’t you search me for the murder weapon?”
I was fairly sure Egesis didn’t have a bear on him.
“You staked him somewhere outside the city,” I said.
“Nope,” Egesis said. “If I did, he wouldn’t be there when I got back.”
Somehow that sounded depressingly reasonable. My shoulders slumped. His voice and his utter lack of reaction or fear were enough to tell me we had the wrong man. That made me notice the scar all the more.
“What happened to your head?”
“I was kissed by the Furies,” he said in a tired voice.
He certainly looked it. But I knew from the way he spoke that it was his stock answer.
“Oh. Sorry about that.”
“I’m used to it. You say my bear killed a couple of kids?”
“One, at least. Maybe another.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Why not?”
“ ’Cause he’s a tame creature, for all that he’s damn near the size of a house. Sure, he’d kill if you poked him hard enough, but that’s like anyone, you know? Do you know where he is?” he said hopefully.
“Sorry, no.”
He spat in disgust, narrowly missing my foot. “Curse it, I was hoping someone might have him.”
“So it’s true, you did lose a bear?”
“Yeah. I’ve been doing the rounds, you know? I go from town to town. The bear does tricks while I collect coins.” He shrugged. “It’s a living. If you can call it that. I don’t make much, and most of what I do goes to feeding the bear. Maybe I’m better off without the big bastard.”
I guessed that Egesis cut a few purses while he was at it, but I wasn’t about to suggest that; I needed this man’s help.
“How do you catch a bear?”
“With a goat. You tie the goat to a stake and wait downwind, with men and a lot of nets. When the bear comes for the goat, well, then it gets exciting.”
“What’s the bear’s name?” Diotima spoke in a low, gruff voice, but she couldn’t maintain it and it rose to a high pitch.
Egesis turned to look at her. “Who’s he?”
“A friend of mine. Ignore him. His voice is still breaking, and to tell you the truth, he’s something of a village idiot. Never does what he’s told.”
Diotima stabbed me to death with her eyes.
Egesis spat in the dirt. “I’ve known a few men like that myself.”
“The name of the bear?”
“I just call him Bear.”
“Original.”
“Look, it’s a bear. It doesn’t care what I call him.”
“Did Bear get away at Brauron?”
“Yeah. Straight after the show.” Egesis scratched vigorously beneath his tunic. He slept rough, beside a bear; he was probably covered in lice.
“I still don’t know how the animal did it,” he said, and scratched hard. “I chained him every night. He never got out before, but when I woke, he was gone. The collar just lay there empty. It wasn’t broken. It was like he’d undone it.” Egesis shrugged. “Maybe he learned one trick too many, but what I reckon is, someone took him. I reckon only a human could’ve undone that lock.”