He shook his head. 'I understand that you want to consider all possibilities, Papa. But the chain of logic leads directly to the alabaster vial. The vial was there, it was empty, and we know it contained poison.' He frowned. 'What we don't know is when and how it was poured into the wine, and whether it was poured into the opened amphora, poisoning all the Falernian, or only into the cup that Cleopatra offered to Caesar and then compelled Zoe to taste. Either way, I don't see how it was done without any of us noticing. I broke the seal and opened the amphora myself; I poured the wine into the cup. I can't imagine how the poison could have been added to the amphora; unless, of course, I did it myself.'
'Meto!'
'Sorry, Papa. But I did have the opportunity, and I don't see how anyone else could have done it without my knowledge.'
'Then perhaps only the cup was poisoned. But when? Think back; let's see if we both remember the sequence of events in the same order. The queen told Merianis to fetch the golden cups. Merianis brought them. The queen showed one of them to Caesar, then held it while you filled it from the amphora. She then presented the cup to Caesar, but before he could drink, she called for the taster. Zoe came. The queen handed the golden cup to Merianis; Merianis poured a bit of the wine from the golden cup into the clay vessel that Zoe had brought with her; Zoe drank from the clay vessel, and quickly succumbed to the poison. Is that how you remember it, Meto?'
He nodded.
I frowned. 'But what happened to the wine that remained in the golden cup?'
Meto thought. 'Merianis was still holding the cup when Cleopatra went to Zoe. But then Cleopatra called for Merianis, and Merianis put the cup down and ran to her mistress. They talked for a while, too low for the rest of us to hear; then Merianis went to fetch Apollodorus.'
'So Merianis put down the cup; but then what became of it?'
Meto shook his head. 'It must have been gotten rid of at some point, to be sure no one drank from it. Yes, I remember now! It was after you left the island, Papa, with those men to escort you back to your room. The rest of us remained on the terrace. More men arrived shortly, the ones who brought me to this cell; but before that happened, the queen told Apollodorus to pour the wine from the cup back into the amphora-'
'Numa's balls! Now the whole amphora has been poisoned, whether it was poisoned before or not! The amphora should have been left untouched.'
'Does it really matter, Papa?'
'Think, Meto! If only the wine in the golden cup was poisoned, and not the wine in the amphora, then we could prove that you didn't poison the amphora and that the poison must have been added to the cup at some later point-a cup that was never in your possession! But now we have no way of knowing if the amphora was previously poisoned or not, since it's surely poisoned now. This was done at the queen's behest?'
'Yes.'
'And Caesar did nothing to stop it?'
'Caesar was busy questioning me at that moment. Neither of us took much notice of what was being done with the cup. But now that you ask me, I remember hearing Cleopatra say something about the cup being polluted, and that no one could ever drink from it again, and I remember seeing Apollodorus empty the cup into the amphora, out of the corner of my eye, so to speak.'
'Was the amphora saved?'
He wrinkled his brow. 'I suppose so. Yes, I remember seeing Apollodorus replace the cork stopper, after he emptied the cup, and at the same time I was led off, I think one of Caesar's men must have carried off the amphora; so I assume it's in Caesar's keeping. But as you say, we know already that it contains poison, if only because the wine in the cup was poured into it.'
'You're right; I can't see how the amphora will be of any use to us. I can't see how any of this helps us.' Especially, I thought, since all the circumstantial evidence points directly to your guilt, my son! 'Still, it's unthinkable that a man of Caesar's experience and judgment should have stood by and allowed a vital piece of evidence, like the amphora, to become hopelessly tainted.'
'Perhaps you haven't noticed, Papa, but Caesar doesn't do his best thinking when he's in the presence of the queen.'
'Meto! Keep such thoughts to yourself.'
'Does it really matter what I say, Papa, or think, or do? This will be the end of me. I didn't try to poison Caesar, but I shall nevertheless be punished for the crime. Perhaps it's fitting. I stood by and did nothing when that Gaulish boy who haunts my dreams was orphaned and made a slave. No, that's not true-I joined in the slaughter with my sword, and with my stylus I celebrated that slaughter by helping Caesar write his memoirs. Now I shall die for something I never did. Can you hear the gods laughing, Papa? I think the deities who hold sway over Egypt must be just as capricious and cunning as our own gods.'
'No, Meto! You will not be punished for a crime you didn't commit.'
'If it amuses the gods, if it pleases Caesar, and satisfies Queen Cleopatra-'
'No! I shall find the truth, Meto, and the truth shall save you.'
He laughed without mirth and wiped a tear from his eye. 'Ah, Papa, I have missed you!'
'And I have missed you, Meto.'
CHAPTER XXIII
'You understand that I allow this only because Caesar requests it.' The queen sat upon her throne in the reception room on the island of Antirrhodus, looking down her nose at me. When I had visited her earlier that day, accompanied by Merianis, I had been admitted informally into her presence; the atmosphere of this second visit was very different. The marble floor was hard against my knees, and I felt a distinct chill in the room, even though the afternoon sun shone brightly outside. 'Apollodorus and Merianis are my subjects. You have no right to interrogate them.'
'The word interrogation implies hostile intent, Your Majesty. I ask only to speak to them. I wish only to establish the truth-'
'The truth is self-evident, Gordianus-called-Finder. For reasons known only to himself, your son sought to poison someone earlier today-perhaps Caesar, perhaps me, perhaps both of us. If you want the truth, interrogate him.'
'I've questioned Meto already, Your Majesty. But only by questioning all who were present can I establish the exact sequence of events-'
'Enough! I've told you already that I shall allow this, but only because Caesar himself has asked me to indulge you. Whom would you speak to first?'
'Merianis, I think.'
'Very well. Go to the terrace outside. You'll find her there.' Merianis was leaning against the low railing, gazing at the skyline of the city across the water. She turned at my approach. Gone was the cheerful expression I had come to take for granted. Her face was troubled. 'Is it true what they say?'
'What do you mean, Merianis?'
'The army under Achillas is on its way to the city. It could arrive in a matter of hours.'
'So Caesar tells me.'
'Things are coming to a head, then. There'll be no more of this dancing about. Caesar will have to choose between them. Then we shall see a great deal of dying.'
'Caesar's choice would be to see the king and queen reconciled, without bloodshed. He still seems to believe that's possible.'
She looked at me for a long moment, then lowered her eyes. 'This isn't what you've come to talk about.'
'No. I want to understand what happened this morning.'
'You were there. You saw. You heard.'
'You were there, as well, Merianis. What did you see? What did you hear?'
She turned her gaze back to the city. 'I'm sorry about your son, Gordianus.'
'Why be sorry for him, if you believe he tried to poison the queen?'
