SHADOWS IN BRONZE

atrium, looking badly shaken, while Pertinax was bellowing at her from the landing above. She ran out straight past the porter. Pertinax rushed after her, but at the street door he changed his mind.

'Did he see something?'

'The lady was talking to a senator outside. The senator could see she was upset; he helped her into her chair, urging the bearers to hurry-'

'Did he go with her?'

'Yes. Pertinax hung in the doorway, muttering, until he saw them leave together, then he made off too-'

My first thought was that the senator must have been Helena's father, but I learned differently almost at once. Violent knocks announced Milo, the dog-taming steward.

'Falco-at last!' Milo gasped, out of breath despite his fitness. 'I've been looking for you everywhere-Gordianus wants you at our house urgently-'

We wheeled out of the Pertinax house. Gordianus also had a mansion on the Quirinal; on the way Milo told me that the Chief Priest had brought himself to Rome, still out for vengeance from his brother's murderer. Since the Quirinal was such a respectable district, after last night's sticky heat Gordianus had risked an unattended morning stroll. He had spotted Pertinax; followed him; watched Helena arrive; then saw her rush out. All Milo could tell me was that immediately afterwards Gordianus himself took her home.

'You mean to his house?'

'No. To hers-'

I stopped dead.

'When his own, with all his servants, was only three blocks away? He, a senator, walked all across the city to the Capena Gate? Why the urgency? Why was the lady so distressed? Was she ill? Was she hurt?' Milo had not been told. We were within sight of the street where he said Gordianus lived, but I exclaimed, 'No, this is bad news, Milo! Tell your master I shall come and see him later-'

'Falco! Where are you rushing off to?'

'The Capena Gate!'

LXXXIV

That nightmare journey all across Rome took another hour.

I planned the best route I could round the southern side of the Palatine, though it meant clambering through the grounds of Nero's Golden House. The Golden House was in limbo-too extravagant for the Flavians-so I found a whole convention of surveyors crowding the lake area trying to decide what our respectable new Emperor should do with it. Vespasian himself had a grand idea that this prime site should be returned to the people, the Flavians' gift to Rome for all posterity… So here were the designers, about to wish on us a fifteen-year construction site for their new city amphitheatre. The last thing I wanted as I struggled to reach the Camillus house was having my way impeded by a swarm of dreary architects in peculiar-coloured tunics, planning yet another forgettable Imperial monument. It strikes me the happy Roman mortar mixer who developed the use of concrete has a lot to answer for.

At last I reached the peace of the Capena Gate. As usual, the door porter refused to let me in.

I argued; he shrugged. He looked like a king and I felt like a lout. He stood inside; I stayed out on the step.

By then I was so hot after my gallop, and so anxious, that I grabbled the young pervert by the front of his tunic, then flung him against the doorpost and banged my way in. Falco: ever ready with the subtle touch.

'If you know what's good for you, sonny, you'll learn to recognize the friends of the house!'

A sharp female voice demanded what the commotion was. I was whisked into a reception room, face to face with the noble Julia Justa, the Senator's highly irritated wife.

'I apologize for breaking in,' I said tersely. 'There seems no other way I can pay my respects-'

Helena Justina's mother and I had failed to strike up a friendship. What I found most unnerving (since, to put it bluntly, her mother did not like me) was that where Helena had inherited expressions and intonations from her father, her looks came from her mother's side. It was always odd to see the same intelligent eyes as hers viewing me so differently.

I noticed that Julia Justa, who was a well-dressed, well-mannered woman, with a face that had benefited from the best oils and cosmetics a millionaire's wife could buy, looked pale and strained today She also appeared to have some problem deciding what to say to me.

'If,' began Helena's mother slowly, 'you are visiting my daughter-'

'Look-I heard something that disturbed me; is Helena all right?'

'Not entirely.' We were both standing. The room seemed incredibly stuffy; I was finding it hard to breathe. 'Helena has lost the child she was expecting,' her mother said. Then she regarded me with a pinched expression, uncertain what to expect from me-yet certain it would be something she did not like.

It was quite unacceptable to turn my back on the wife of a senator in her own home, but I took a swift interest in a dolphin statuette that served as a lamp. I never like other people seeing my emotions until I have inspected them for myself.

The dolphin was a slick little clown, but my silence was worrying him. I returned my formal attention to the Senator's wife.

'So, Didius Falco! What have you to say about this?'

'More than you think.' My voice sounded tinny, as if I had spoken into a metal vase. 'I'll say it to Helena. May I see her?'

'Not at present.'

She wanted me out of the house. Good manners and a bad conscience both dictated a speedy departure. I never had much truck with good manners: I decided not to shift.

'Julia Justa, will you tell Helena I am here?'

'I cannot, Falco-the doctor has given her a strong sleeping draught.'

I said in that case I had no wish to inconvenience anyone, but unless Julia Justa vividly objected I would wait.

Her mother agreed. She could probably see that if they put me out of doors I would only cause speculation among their noble neighbours by lurking out in the street like a seedy creditor.

•

I waited three hours. They forgot I was there.

Eventually, the door opened.

'Falco!' Helena's mother surveyed me, startled at my sticking power. 'Somebody should have seen to you-'

'Nothing I wanted, thanks.'

'Helena is still asleep.'

'I can wait.'

At my grim tone, Julia Justa came further into the room. I answered her curious gaze with a hard, bitter stare of my own.

'Madam, was today's event an accident of nature, or did your doctor give your daughter something to help things along?'

The lady considered me with Helena's own angrily perturbed dark eyes. 'If you know my daughter, you know the answer to that!'

'I do know your daughter; she is extremely sensible. I also know Helena Justina would not be the first unmarried mother who had a solution to her predicament wished on her!'

'Insulting her family will not help you to find out!'