With that, he dismissed us. Piso turned sothat his back was to the prosecution and spoke in a low tone thatonly Scribonius and I could hear.
"I'm going to have to leave you to your owndevices, I'm afraid, Prefect. There's something that I need toattend to, given what you told me." He gave me a grin that was sofull of boyish enthusiasm that it was hard not to smile back."Because I plan on making our time very, very interesting."
As usual, Diocles had prepared well,bringing a loaf of bread, a small jug of oil, and a head of cheese,which we tore into as we sat talking over what had happened.
"I thought your head was going to burst,"Scribonius said as he munched on some bread.
"So did I," I admitted. "I suppose it's agood thing I'm not wearing my sword."
"For everyone," Diocles added fervently,prompting a laugh.
"I always wondered where you were skulkingoff to at night," Scribonius taunted. "I didn't know I should havebeen jealous."
He was, and is, the only man, with thepossible exception of Vibius in the early days, that could havesaid that and not been beaten to death, but I still hit him in thearm, hard.
"Juno's cunnus, I was only joking,"he complained, rubbing his arm as he glared at me.
"So was I." I grinned at him, making surethat he saw I had a mouthful of cheese. "Otherwise, you'd bedead."
He replied with only a shake of his head,returning to his meal.
"What do you think Piso is up to?" I askedmy cleverer companions.
Scribonius considered, his jaws continuingto work on his bread, and even I could see that it caused him somepain to do so.
Finally, he said, "I'm not completely sure,but if it has anything to do with what you caught, that can onlyhelp us."
I was about to make what I thought would bea clever retort about his use of the word "us," but I quicklyrealized that I would be shaming myself by making light of whatScribonius was risking for me.
Instead, I turned to Diocles. "And? What doyou think?"
Like Scribonius, I caught him with his mouthfull, but he did not otherwise hesitate, helped by Scribonius goingfirst, no doubt.
"I agree with Master Scribonius," hereplied. "I think he's finding a way to use Lucullus' referral toall these supposed conversations where you kept talking about howyou knew that Primus was acting without orders. How?" He shrugged."I have no idea."
"Fat lot of help you two are," I groused,but I was of a similar mind.
Finally, a slave announced that the recesswas over. We stood, wiping the crumbs from our fronts, but I hadmore of a problem, because they were sticking to the light coat ofoil on my cuirass.
"I knew there would be a problem with this,"Diocles grumbled as he wiped them off with a rag, which onlysmeared the finish.
With a curse, he spent the next severalheartbeats frantically buffing my cuirass while I glared down athim.
"If you knew this was going to be a problem,then why did you do it?" I demanded.
"I didn't know that it was going to bebecause you ate like a pig," he retorted, then stepped back toinspect me.
Clearly pleased, he nodded his head, thenheld his arm out in the direction of the door back into theconference room. I refrained from smacking the back of his head andmade my way back to the Tribunal. A few moments later, Pisoreturned as well.
"Well, Prefect." His tone was so cheerfulthat it was hard not to feel an edge of excitement. "Are you readyto destroy the state's case?"
Somewhat to my surprise, Piso did notimmediately call Lucullus, choosing instead to focus on thestatement of Primus. That was when the mystery of the purpose ofthe second man was solved, because when Piso announced his intent,Sulpicianus turned to look at the man next to him.
"This is Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus. He hasbeen sent here by the senior Consul Marcus Claudius MarcellusAeserninus and the Senate of Rome as the designated representativefor the state in this matter. He has been fully informed of thecircumstances of the interrogation of Marcus Primus, and willanswer any questions posed by Tribune Piso," Sulpicianusannounced.
I glanced over at Piso, not knowing if thiswas something that was allowed, but he did not seem perturbed inthe slightest, so I supposed it was accepted practice. The manLentulus stood, gathering his toga and walking to the chair, withall the haughty assurance and disdain for his surroundings thatseemed to be as natural to them as breathing, his proud Roman nosetilted at just the proper degree, the folds of his toga arrangedperfectly over his left arm. Even if he had not been on the otherside, I would have detested the man. Once seated, he sat facingaway from the Tribunes, which I thought was significant, given thatit was the opposite of Lucullus' posture during his testimony.Still, I could not discount that it was just natural for him toface the man who would be doing the questioning. He barely deignedto look in my direction, keeping his gaze on Piso, sending thesignal that he was only willing to engage with those he consideredhis equal. He looked about ten years older than Piso; there werejust a few touches of gray in his black, very curly hair. Mosttelling, at least to me, was the paleness of his skin, the signthat he had not spent time out in the elements like I had, or themore martial of his peers who actually went on campaign instead ofreclining on a couch while having his slaves attend to his everyneed. Piso's head was bent over a wax tablet for a moment, then hestraightened up and gave Lentulus a bright smile.
"Thank you, Gnaeus Lentulus, for appearinghere at this Tribunal," he began.
Lentulus accepted this with a nod of hishead that I suppose was intended to give a regal touch to hisperson.
"I am merely doing my duty to Rome, TribunePiso," he said modestly, and I was struck by how high-pitched hisvoice was, sounding perilously close to that of a woman.
"As are we all," Piso agreed. "IncludingPrefect Pullus. Actually," he turned to look down at me as heraised
