uniform item had dropped to the floor, perhaps during the murder, plus a stool that stood by the rickety bedhead. On the stool I saw one of Flora's stained wooden trays with a full pitcher and a winecup that had been knocked on its side. The rich liquid gleam of the red wine in the pitcher mocked the dried and caking bloodstains everywhere else.
Military kit had been neatly stowed at the foot of the bed. To reach it meant passing close by the dead soldier, whose remains lay half sprawled on the bed. I knew Petro and his men had managed to search the kit. I, with an indictment hanging over me, had to get there and do likewise.
The man's boots were lying just under the bed; I stumbled over one of them and barely avoided contact with the corpse. I gagged, managed to recover myself, then carried on.
His boots were off; he must have been going to bed, in bed, or getting up. Someone else might have been joining him under the blanket for social reasons, but in my opinion an intruder did this. Censorinus was not dressed for company. Soldiers put their boots on before they answer a knock at the door. Soldiers always want to be able to kick out if they hate your face.
Anyway, there was only one winecup on the tray.
The rest of his stuff, as Petronius had said, appeared to be complete. I had seen it all before when I helped Censorinus pack to leave my mother's house. Sword, dagger and belt; helmet; vine staff; knapsack of the usual small tools; spare red tunic and underwear. As he was on leave, he was not carrying spears or a shield. An old mansio bill was the only document. (From the Via Appia out on the Campagna, a place I knew.)
The weapons were all stowed tidily. It confirmed my theory that he was caught completely off guard. He must have been attacked unexpectedly, making no attempt to reach his gear and defend himself. He must have died after the first ferocious blow.
Had he been robbed? At Mother's he had kept his financial arrangements from me. I could see an arm-purse on him now, unopened; that alone would not have held enough funds for his journey to Rome. The mattress looked as if somebody had pulled it askew looking for money, but that could have been Petronius. Until the body was removed there was no scope to investigate the bed properly. Censorinus would have to be lifted off first. I was desperate-but not that desperate.
With the room in such a sorry condition, I was not prepared to ferret under floorboards either. There were practical problems. I was short of time, minus a jemmy, and unable to make noise. Petro would probably come back to do it. Better for him to find anything that was there.
I tried to memorise everything so I could brood on it later. Later, something that meant nothing now might suddenly make sense.
Averting my gaze, I eased my way past the body and escaped.
I had to fight for self-control before I replaced the ropes, and when I turned round from doing that a figure standing in the gloom below frightened the wits out of me.
'Epimandos!'
We stared at one another. Even with the length of the stairs between us, I could see he looked petrified.
I descended slowly until I reached him; the horror from above came after me, fingering my neck.
He was standing in my way. He was carrying a whole earthenware pot of oysters, holding it in the crook of his arm quite easily; years of heaving great food containers from the fire to their counter-holes had given him muscle.
'Forget it, I lost my appetite.'
'Do you know who did it?' he burst out in a frightened whisper.
'I know it wasn't me!'
'No,' Epimandos said. He was high in customer loyalty.
I would have preferred time to recover, but while we were out there in the kitchen, away from other eyes and ears, I asked him about the night the soldier died. 'I told the watch captain all that.'
'You're very public-spirited. Now tell me.'
'The same as I told Petronius?'
'Only if it's true! After Censorinus and I had had our little disagreement, when did he reappear?'
'He came back in the evening.'
'By himself?'
'Yes.'
'You sure of that?'
Epimandos had been sure until I asked him; insisting he thought about it frightened him into doubts. His eyes moved rapidly as he quavered, 'He was alone when he had supper here anyway.'
'Did he stay in afterwards?'
'Yes.'
'Drinking?'
'He went upstairs.'
'Did he say anything?'
'Like what?' demanded the waiter suspiciously.
'Anything at all?'
'No.'
'Did anyone come to see him afterwards?'
'Not that I saw.'
'Were you busy that night?'
'Well: More than the Valerian was.' That meant normal trade.
'That evening, could anyone have gone indoors past you without you noticing?'
'It's possible.' With the tight internal arrangements, front entry would be difficult for anyone avoiding notice. But the waiter could never watch the back end of the caupona, which we locals used as our private way out if we saw debt-collectors approaching down the street. Sharp bailiffs and their bully-boys came in that way.
'Did you go out on any errands?'
'No. It was pouring with rain.'
'Were you working all night?'
'Till we closed.'
'Do you sleep here?' Epimandos nodded reluctantly. 'Show me where.'
He had a cabin on one side of the kitchen. It was a dreary burrow. The occupant slept perched on a ledge with a straw pillow and a sludge-coloured coverlet. I noted few personal possessions-just an amulet on a nail and a woollen cap. I remembered my brother had given him the amulet, probably as a pledge for an unpaid bill.
He ought to have heard anyone who got in after he closed the caupona, whether they forced the sliding doors at the front or secretly used the back entrance. But there were five empty amphorae lolling on their points against one wall: knocking back the ends of them must be the waiter's perk. I guessed he normally turned into bed dead drunk, a habit that might well be known by local villains. That night he could have been in such a stupor he failed to hear the violent struggle overhead.
'So did you notice any odd noises that night?'
'No, Falco.' He sounded pretty definite. Such certainty worried me.
'Are you telling me the truth?'
'Of course!'
'Yes, of course you are:' Did I believe him, though?
Customers were shouting for attention. Epimandos edged towards the main area of the shop, eager to get away from me.
Suddenly I sprang on him: 'Who found the body? Was it you?'
'No, the owner, going up to get his rent:'
So there was an owner! I was so surprised I let the waiter slip away to face the raillery in the bar.
After a moment I let myself out through the back way: a slatted stable door on rusty pins that led to an alley full of dead fish-pickle jars and olive-oil flagons. There were about fifteen years of empties, lurking below a corresponding smell.
Anyone like me who had been coming here for half a lifetime would have known about this unsecured,
