was visibly shaken, almost trembling, his voice weak. Slaves are always uneasy when there has been a murder in the house, and with good reason. If the victim is discovered to have been killed by one of them, every slave in the household is crucified.
'Let's go view the body,' I said. With the slave named Astyanax in the lead, we entered Apollo's sacred grove. There we found Hermes. Marcus and a couple of my other young men stood by with torches. Hermes was crouched by a still, white form and he straightened at our approach.
'We got here too late,' he reported. 'The whole household of the temple and most of the villa's were down here gawking. We ran them out of the grove, but it loqks as if people have been racing chariots here.'
Indeed, the ground was heavily trampled and fouled with sooty oil dripped from torches. Whatever evidence I might have found there was assuredly lost.
'Well,' I said, 'let's have a look at her.'
The body was covered with a white cloak and Hermes drew it back. Gorgo was still beautiful, but she had the pathetic look the dead always seem to have. She wore only jewelry: a fine Egyptian necklace, golden bracelets on her wrists, fine serpent armlets around her upper arms. She was stretched out with her legs together, her hands folded just below her breasts.
'Surely she wasn't found this way?' I said.
'The girls straightened her out and covered her,' Hermes said. 'They were about to carry her inside the temple when I stopped them.'
I beckoned and the girls came forward. 'Was she found on this spot?'
'Yes,' Leto said. 'We couldn't bear to leave her like-'
'It speaks well of your devotion that you were willing to touch her before the rites of purification were performed. But I need to know what she looked like when she was found.'
'She was sort of twisted up on the ground,' Leto said.
'I will show you,' said Charmian. She dropped to the ground and twisted her body, limbs scattered in a haphazard posture as if death came in mid-struggle. 'Like this.' She stood and brushed herself off.
'Marcus,' I said, 'lower your torch beside her head. Be careful not to singe her hair.' I bent close and examined her neck. There was a ligature mark, not as deep and livid as many I'd seen, but clear indication that she'd been throttled. Her eyes were not swollen and red as so often in strangulations, but her lips were bluish.
'Did you arrange her face as well as her body?' I asked the girls.
'We closed her eyes and shut her mouth,' Leto said in a tiny voice. 'It was just too ghastly.'
From somewhere I heard the sound of running water. I straightened and followed the sound. About twenty paces away a spring bubbled from an abrupt outcropping of rock. Here an artificial pool had been excavated and lined with marble, watched over by a pair of protective herms. Light steam rose from the water, along with the faintest whiff of sulfur. I stooped and dipped my fingers into the water, which was warm. It was an offshoot of the hot springs that had made Baiae such a popular resort. Next to the pool was a small, white heap: a woman's dress, neatly folded.
'Is this where she came to bathe?' I asked.
'Yes,' Leto answered.
'Did you touch these clothes?'
'No, Praetor. Well, her cloak lay beside the dress. We used it to cover her.'
'Was it folded?' -
'Yes, sir.'
I could see the local dignitaries and even some of my own party were mystified by my questions. They probably would have hauled all the slaves down to the local lockup and questioned them under torture. Well, I had my own methods.
Then I saw a small cedar box on the marble flags at the edge of the pool. It was open, its contents a bronze scraper, a sponge, and a small flask. I picked up the flask and unstoppered it. It was scented bathing oil. I had just replaced the flask when a tormented wail came from the edge of the grove.
'Uh-oh,' Hermes said. 'Sounds like Papa's back.'
'Gorgo!' the old man screeched. 'Where is my daughter?' Then he broke into deep sobs.
'Well,' I said, straightening beside the pool, 'we might as well go talk to him.' We found the old priest weeping beside his daughter's body. 'Diocles, please accept my condolences. We are conducting an investigation and I am certain that we shall soon-'
Diocles wasn't having any of it. He looked up, his expression of grief replaced by one of fury. 'Investigation? Why in the name of all the gods is an investigation necessary?'
'Diocles, I-'
He shut me off again, pointing a trembling finger at Gaeto. 'We all know what happened here! That slaver's boy has been trying to force himself on my daughter for months! He tried again this night, and she fought him off and he killed her! I want him on the cross for this!'
'Diocles,' said Manius Silva, 'let's not jump to conclusions. Let us and the praetor do our duty. Gorgo may have surprised a runaway slave hiding in the grove and he slew her to prevent her raising a cry. There are still bandits in the hills; there are robbers.'
'Would robbers and bandits have left her jewels?' Diocles demanded scornfully. 'It was Gelon! This is what happens when we allow slavers-'
'Enough, Diocles!' Norbanus said. 'We share your grief, but this is an official matter now.'
'We'll know soon enough,' I said. 'Hermes?'
'Praetor?'
'Go rouse my lictors. Get them mounted, with their full regalia. Then you and Marcus take fresh horses and ride with the lictors and arrest Gelon, under my authority. Bring him back here.'
'Praetor!' Gaeto cried. 'This is not just. You have no cause to do-'
I took him aside and said quietly, 'I have plenty of cause, and justice has nothing to do with it. I'm arresting the boy for his own protection. Those people back at Norbanus's house have spread word of this already. Everyone in the district will think Gelon is the murderer because he's a slaver's son and a foreigner, and he lives and acts like a visiting prince. There may be a mob assembling at your house right now. If my men can get there in time, I'll keep him safe here, at the villa. You must not resist me in this.'
He nodded. 'Of course, you are right. I will find the best lawyer in Campania.'
'With luck he may not need one, but if I were you, I'd look for one now.'
Something occurred to me. 'Annius!' I shouted.
The steward scurried over. 'Praetor?'
'Send me the villa's horse master. Not the stable master but the riding master.'
'At once, Praetor.' He did not bother to express astonishment at this request. Things were happening too fast for poor Annius.
'As for you, Gaeto,' I went on, 'I think you should lie low. At the very least, people are going to be hissing and throwing things at you. Keep your boy's Numidian escort reined in. If one of them so much as points a javelin at a citizen, I'll have the lot of them on the cross. Do you understand?'
He bowed. 'It shall be as you say, Praetor. And, sir, whatever you can do-'
'Yes, yes, I'll do what I can for the boy. For what it's worth, I doubt that he did this, but my opinion isn't what counts.'
I went back to the gathering by the grove. 'Listen to me, everyone! General opinion seems to be that Gelon, son of Gaeto the Numidian, is the culprit here. That being the case, I am taking control of this matter as
'No need for that,' Norbanus said. 'We have a perfectly good municipal lockup for felons.'
'I don't want to throw him into some flea-ridden pit with runaway slaves and bandits. He'll stay here. As for the rest of you-' I gazed around at the assembled notables '-I want you to return to your homes and duties. I am holding you responsible for the behavior of your fellow citizens. I want no mobs, no rioting, no rabble-rousers talking up wars two generations past. If there is disorder, I will not hesitate to call in soldiers to reestablish order. Am I understood?'
