Publius looked surprised. ‘I expect you’re right. She had mentioned in a letter to her aunt that she had been given wedding shoes. I wondered at her neglecting to take care of them. If you don’t find Audelia by tomorrow, either at the stopping-place or at the private lodgings in Corinium, of course you must go and find this other house. And Ascus is the perfect man to take you there. He has been there before, so he knows where it is — and he will be known to them so they will let you in. And if you discover anything, he can bring us word at once. A single horseman can even ride by night, if he takes care.’
Ascus flashed a look of concentrated hate in my direction. Not surprisingly, I thought. The man had been riding since daybreak as it was, and was no doubt hoping for a well-earned rest, but my intervention meant that he would now have to set off again. Hardly a recipe for making friends. Yet I needed his co-operation.
I tried to think of some way I could repair the fault. ‘Revered Lavinius,’ I ventured, turning to my host who was looking furious at this whole affair. ‘Would you consent to send this horseman to the servants’ hall and have him given some refreshment there?’
Publius applauded this at once. ‘He will be in want of something, naturally — and a fresh horse as well if you can spare it, Lavinius my friend. Ascus can retrieve his own mount when he comes back here again. The creature that he came on will be tired by now. It must have covered many miles today and speed is essential if we hope to find my bride. The sun is in the west and there is much to do. Lavinius, I’m sure you have something in your stable that will serve.’
Another shrewd suggestion, I thought inwardly. That would certainly ensure that Ascus did return and not simply vanish when he had the chance. But Lavinius’s expression, which he directed straight at me, was now as venomous as the rider’s glance had been. He was clearly furious that he was asked to lend a horse. But he gave a curt nod to his slave, ‘See to it, page.’
‘Instantly, master.’ The boy set off at once. He was halfway to the door, when his owner called him back.
‘Not so quickly, you worthless son of a washerwoman. Wait till I have finished speaking or I will have you whipped. Take this horseman with you, and see that he is fed. And find out what has happened to that idle steward, too.’
‘At once, master,’ the young unfortunate replied. ‘This way, horseman,’ and he led Ascus out.
Lavinius opened the leather bag again and took the slippers out. ‘What should I do with these? Are they nefas — accursed — do you think?’
Publius took them from him and murmured with a smile, ‘But of course we must keep them till Audelia is returned. And the pavement-maker here is going to rescue her. Is that not so, Libertus?’
I gave a pallid smile. ‘I will do my best. But there is one thing that rather troubles me. If Audelia has been seized for ransom, why have we not heard? You would expect her captors to send us their demands. But there has been no word.’
‘If she was captured where the raeda stopped,’ Lavinius said, dismissively, turning back to the tray of dainties, ‘the kidnappers would scarcely have had time to contact us. They may, indeed, have simply let her go, when they discovered who their victim was. The penalties for laying hands upon a Vestal are so terrible, they may have wished to wash their hands of it. In that case, no doubt, she will come here soon enough.’ He picked out another tasty morsel of the cheese and popped it fastidiously into his mouth. ‘She is a woman of some determination in her way. It is even possible she has refused to tell the bandits where to send.’
I doubted this. Any kidnapper would have methods of compelling her to speak, methods which I did not care to think about.
But Publius was already saying, with a smile, ‘I know that you still believe that this is an accident — mere chance meeting with highway robbers on the road. But Libertus seems to think that this was all a plan, and the kidnappers were well aware of who she was. I trust that he is right. It would mean that they expect that we will ransom her, in which case we can hope she’s still alive.’ He turned to me. ‘Who do you suspect of planning this?’ he asked.
‘The person I would like to talk to is her maidservant,’ I hedged. ‘She was with the raeda when it got to the gates, and only disappeared when it had stopped. Yet it’s by no means certain that Audelia got that far. I’m quite convinced the missing slippers were taken from the box, either by the maidservant or by someone else. She could lead us to the truth, I am convinced of that.’
Publius nodded. ‘If they knew about the slippers, they knew she was to wed.’ He frowned. ‘Although it was never publicly announced. It was to be a sensational surprise when I announced our betrothal at the games. Your idea, I think, Lavinius.’
I’d already wondered whose suggestion it had been. But all I said was, ‘And it seems that someone also knew her route and when she would be passing. Which suggests it must be somebody she knows?’
Lavinius snorted in his cup, derisively. ‘Well, it wasn’t one of us, if that is what you are trying to suggest. Publius and I were at the birthday feast, and Cyra and the house-slaves have been here all the time — and there are dozens of witnesses to that.’
Publius paused in the act of sampling the wine. He was looking troubled. ‘Besides, if it were a member of the family, Audelia would recognize her captors, wouldn’t she? That would be no use.’
I shook my head. ‘I am not sure that is true. Cyra told me, when I first arrived, that she had not seen Audelia since she was a child — and I expect the same is true of most of her other relatives unless for some reason they visited the shrine. She has been in seclusion at the hearth since she was young and Vestal Virgins have no portraits made.’ I turned to Lavinius. ‘But if she was kidnapped — and we can’t be sure she was — we must find somebody who knew her face. You were her agent as I understand. Have you, for instance, seen her recently?’
‘How dare you, citizen?’ Lavinius’s face was black with rage. ‘I have been as tolerant as possible. But this whole suggestion is preposterous. Am I to be questioned by a mere mosaicist?’
I stood my ground. ‘Respected citizen, I was not accusing you. I simply need a description of Audelia.’ I said it meekly, but I enjoyed the chance to add, ‘How else am I going to look for her?’
‘He is right again you know, Lavinius.’ Publius motioned to the slave to pass the grapes and cheese. He took a handful. ‘And I can’t help him. I’ve never seen the bride.’
Lavinius looked from Publius to me and back again. ‘Oh, very well,’ he grumbled. ‘I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not very much. I’ve only met her once. She is of slightly more than middling height and fairly slim — as to more than that, I really cannot say. Her face was half-covered with a Vestal veil, of course, since she was not acting as a priestess at the time and was in public in the presence of a male, though I have the impression that her hair was fair.’
‘But you have met her? Was that recently?’
‘I have been in constant touch with her, of course, but in fact we only met a moon or so ago. I went to Londinium on private business and saw her — with a chaperone — to discuss affairs, mostly with regard to her retirement from the hearth. Of course, men aren’t permitted right inside the shrine, we had to make arrangements to meet outside in the court. But I’d recognize her voice, and I’m sure that she’d know me.’ He downed his wine as if he wished to swallow me, as well. ‘I can’t accept your theory, that this was deliberate. There were rebels in the woods a moon or two ago, and they take random hostages to build their coffers up. There is your solution, if I am any judge. Besides, Audelia stayed only with relatives and friends throughout her journey from the shrine. You surely don’t suggest that one of us — her family — has kidnapped her for gain?’ He took another cube of cheese and bit it thoughtfully. ‘We would be the ones to pay the ransom fee! Not even you would think that we extort things from ourselves?’
It was clear that the cheeseboard was not going to come to me, though I was hungry now. I’d had nothing but a sour grape or two and a tiny portion of sacrificial beef since I left home at dawn. I began to wish I’d gone with Ascus to the slave-quarters. I got stiffly to my feet.
‘Lavinius, I am trying to assist. Not all members of your family are as rich as you. I understand that there are poor relations elsewhere in Britannia who were not invited to the wedding feast. They might be happy to extort a price. Not personally, of course. A man may plot a crime and arrange for someone else to carry out the deed. And as to demanding money from yourselves — did I not hear Publius say that he was prepared to offer a reward or pay a ransom for Audelia’s safe return? That’s not family money.’
Publius surprised me. ‘But I’d pay it, willingly. I have experienced this sort of thing before. My second wife in Rome was captured on the road — I had sent her to my country villa to escape the plague — and, you may be interested to know, it was a full day before they got in touch. I think they wished me to be so desperate that I
