The priest gazed helplessly at the smoking shards of Hercules' stricken house. Sparks on the inner walls still raced up cracks in the lining cement. He did not want to distress himself surveying the damage while Petro and I were watching him.
'I must write to his brother…'
'Don't do that!' I ordered him coldly. 'The Emperor will inform Curtius Gordianus himself.'
The priest began moving off so I prepared to follow. I nodded to Petro, who jerked his head back, annoyed at me for rushing away. I thumped his arm, then clambered out after the black-bearded fellow.
Emerging, we passed an excitable figure who worked for Anacrites; he was so busy making his own presence felt he missed us going by. When I glanced behind he was harassing Petro. Petronius Longus planted his large feet apart and just listened with the faraway look of a tired man who badly needs a drink, planning in advance whether to have half an amphora of his usual crimson rot-gut and a terrible night's sleep, or to broach the delightful Setinum he has been nursing along at the back of a shelf… The spy was getting nowhere. Peaceful insolence is a speciality of the Aventine watch.
As the priest set off homewards I skipped along too.
'Did Curtius Longinus arrive back in Rome tonight?' He nodded in silence. Shock had settled on him now; he did not want to talk. His mind was preoccupied but his legs walked automatically with long muscular strides; it took energy to keep up without losing my dignity. 'So he had no chance to meet anyone?' He shook his head.
I waited. He had second thoughts. 'He was called out from dinner to speak to somebody he knew.'
'See who it was?'
'No. He was only away for a moment. I suppose,' decided the priest, who was so pleased with his powers of deduction that he managed to slow down, 'Longinus put off their meeting until later tonight!'
'Here at your Temple! Seems likely. How do you know the mystery person was a man?'
'My servant told Curtius Longinus his visitor's name.'
I breathed a gentle prayer of thanks to Hercules. 'Help yourself and your Temple; tell me…'
We stopped on a corner by a fountain that glugged from the private orifices of a melancholy river god.
'How would it help?' fretted the priest.
'When our gracious new Emperor plans his civic rebuilding programme. Rededicating temples gives an Emperor a good name!'
'I understood that the Treasury was struggling for cash-'
'Not for long. Vespasian's father was a tax collector; he has extortion in the blood.'
He had taken out his doorkey. 'You seem fairly free with the Emperor's unearned income!' he commented. 'Who are you?'
'The name's Didius Falco; I act for the Palace-'
'Ho!' He perked up to insult me. 'Why's an intelligent, good-natured son of Rome involved in such shady work?'
'That's what I ask myself! So tell me,' I nudged him again, 'who was this man Longinus knew?'
'Someone called Barnabas,' said the priest.
IX
It was dark now, but since I knew he worked late I wore out more boot leather traipsing back to see Vespasian again.
I waited while he shooed out the flyswatters and winefixers who never expect to remain in an audience while anything interesting occurs. Then I waited again, while the high-handed secretarial types got their marching orders too.
Once alone, we both relaxed. I stretched out on an imperial reading couch and gazed at the vaulted ceiling twenty feet above. This room was faced with dark green Brescia panels, divided by pilasters in creamy travertine. The wall sconces were gilt; all shaped like clams; all lit. I was brought up in dark houses where the rafters grazed my curls; looming spaces in elegant colour schemes have made me feel uneasy ever since. I lay on the couch as if I was nervous my body would leave an unpleasant mark on its silk.
The Emperor leaned on one great elbow, scrunching apples. His square, tanned face had that crag of a nose and jolly uptilted chin you see on the coins, with the laughter lines around his eyes. What the average denarius fails to reveal is that Vespasian Augustus had discovered one good source of light relief in me.
'Well, Falco?' He frowned at his fruit. It looked a four-cornered, floury job probably from his own Sabine estate; he never paid for anything he could grow himself.
'Caesar, I'd hate the bog savages to get a good name, but for a really sweet apple Britain beats the world!'
Vespasian had a military career in Britain, which had taken a distinctly glorious turn. My British career was twenty years later, and not glorious at all. Someone like Anacrites was bound to have told him that.
For a moment the old man paused, as if my mentioning the small, crisp russets of Britain that explode on the tongue with such unexpected sweetness had struck old chords. If I had not hated Britain so badly, I might have felt a homesick pang myself.
'What happened at the Temple?'
'Bad news I'm afraid, sir. Curtius Longinus is dead. Luckily for him, cremation is the fashion for Roman funerals nowadays.' The Emperor groaned and pounded his reading couch with a great fist. 'Sir, there's a contract bonus for naming your opponents. Does that include finding the maniac who's frittering them?'
'No,' he said. He knew that was a serious blow to me.
'All the Empire admires Caesar's graciousness!'
'Don't be sarcastic,' he growled menacingly.
In some ways we two were ill-assorted. Vespasian Caesar was an up-country senator from a down-market family, but a traditional aristocrat. I was an outspoken, introverted rough-neck with an Aventine accent and no sense of respect. The fact we could work together successfully was a typical Roman paradox.
While he absorbed my news with an angry frown I took advantage of the lull to report the full story.
'Sir, the missing freedman I told you about had heard Longinus was in Rome. I'm certain they met. It looks as if the freedman caused the fire. Did Anacrites manage to track him down in the Transtiberina?'
'No. The freedman had packed his bags and broken camp. When he lit this fire he must have already been prepared to do a flit. That's clear premeditation. What's he playing at, Falco?'
'Either a crazy campaign of vengeance for his patron's death in jail-or some more dangerous development.'
'You mean, either Barnabas blamed Longinus for having Pertinax killed-or Longinus had to be silenced before he saw me tomorrow because of something he might say?
'No, sir. The man I dropped in the Great Sewer for you this morning probably arranged that.'
'So what could Longinus have had to tell me?'
'I don't know. Perhaps his brother can enlighten us.'
The big man brooded glumly. 'Falco, why do I gain the impression that the moment we bury one conspiracy, a new one crawls to light?'
'I suspect because one has.'
'I'm not the type to waste my time running in fear of assassins.'
'No, sir.'
He grunted. 'I need you for something, Falco,' he offered. 'This reflects very badly on my administration-I want people to know I send for them in good faith! It's unsafe to invite the other Curtius brother to Rome, but someone had better get down there fast to warn him. There's not much involved. Carry him my condolences. Remember he is a Senator; they are an old family, of good standing. Just tell him what happened, put him on his guard, then ask him to write to me-'
'A messenger boy! Caesar,
