he was going on a surprise tour of the Corduba mines. The procurator whose job was to look after them, and who was probably perfectly competent since he had been appointed by Vespasian, would not be too happy at an unannounced official visit. Nor was I, come to that.
Our trip to the estate was not entirely fruitless. I sensed that the staff there had almost been expecting me. They were surly and clearly nervous, and eventually one of them told me they had just been about to send over to fetch me from the Camillus farm when I turned up anyway. Somebody had left a message on the Quinctius premises, a message personally addressed to me. I could tell from the slaves' expressions I was not going to like it, even before they led me and Marius to the stable where this mysterious missive had been scrawled on a hitching post.
All it said was
Lying on the straw below the drawing was the dancing girl called Selia. She was dressed in outdoor clothes, including a wide-brimmed traveling hat tied on over her own loosely knotted brown hair. She was dead. Her skin felt cold, though her limbs were still limp. She had been killed quickly and neatly by pressure to the neck. It was clearly carried out from behind before she realized what was happening. She had been lying here for a few hours. Unless Quadratus had sneaked back unobserved, the killing certainly happened after he had left for the mines. I could not believe he did it. The method was too professional.
If somebody was killing agents who had worked for Laeta, that could well mean they would now try to kill me.
Even before I explained what had just happened at the Quinctius estate, Helena Justina had lost the idyllic tenderness she displayed towards me earlier. She was cool. I did not blame her but I could have coped better with solicitude. We were in the garden again. I had hardly even started to discuss what I planned to do next, but we were close to quarreling. 'Not the mines, Falco!'
'Just think of it as a tour of the local industry.'
'That's what you were going to say, I suppose-had Marius Optatus not told me the whole truth before you could stop him!' 'I don't lie to you.'
'You hold things back-if you believe you can get away with it!'
'I'm a man, Helena. I have to try. I tell myself I'm protecting you.'
'You're annoying me,' she snarled.
I said nothing. Pleasing honesty had failed: time to keep quiet. 'Marcus, I'm in an impossible position now! I don't want you to go-but I don't want you to stay with me unwillingly, just because of my condition; I won't be made an excuse. You'd never forgive me afterwards-maybe I wouldn't forgive myself! Besides, I know just how badly you feel about the mines. You suffered all the torments of Hades once in a silver mine; it's too much for you to volunteer again.'
'I won't be digging for ore again. All I need to do is to apprehend Quadratus and haul him back to face a trial. But you're right. I'm not irreplaceable. Someone else can go.'
Helena frowned. 'You think anyone else will bungle it.'
'I don't care.'
'Of course you care. And I care too!'
Helena's passionate belief in justice was one of the reasons I first fell for her. Single-minded girls are always dangerous. A man can float along for years being cynical and flippant, then some fierce tyrant (who happens to have the advantages of a sweet mind, a delicious expression and a body that is crying out to be entwined with his) sneaks under his defenses; next thing he finds himself taking a stand on some issue he would once have crept away from, simply to impress the girl.
'I am about to be a father. That is my sole priority.'
'Oh Didius Falco, you have so many priorities you need an abacus to count them. You always did. You always will.'
'Wrong. You're going home, Helena-and I'm staying with you.
'Wrong yourself. You have to finish your work.' She had made up her mind now. 'I hate it, but that's the only way. You know I can't bear to see you nobly pretending not to fidget, while all the time you're in agony because the bastard has got away.'
'I will not break my promise to you.'
'I release you from it-temporarily. Marcus, I don't complain. You never pretended to be other than you are, and I never dreamed of reforming you. I love your persistence, though you know how hard it is for me just now… Go and find him, and arrest him. Then dear gods, Marcus-' There were tears she could not resist. 'Please promise that as fast as you can you will come back to me.'
Tomorrow was the Nones of May. I could still remember clearly that hot night last August in Palmyra which was probably when our baby was conceived. May was only six days old. The child might not be born until the end of the month. I told myself there was still just time to do it all. I told Helena, and hugged her. While she tried not to cry so much that I wouldn't endure it, I in turn kept her close against me so she would not see the gaunt expression on my own face.
I was starting to hate this garden. Helena must have stayed here when we went over to the Quinctius place, as if she was worried that just moving indoors might start the pains again and cause the birth to begin. Her anxiety only increased mine.
While I had been absent Aelia Annaea had kindly kept Helena company. She was still here. When Marius Optatus foolishly created a crisis by confessing that he thought I was now intending to ride after Quadratus, Aelia had quickly drawn him off the scene for a walk in the orchard while Helena tore me to shreds. Aelia seemed to be waiting around to give us the support of a friend when we reached our decision.
Now she walked back to us, leaving Marius. He mooned in the background, as if he had been given definite orders to wait. Aelia Annaea was quiet, but brisk. Owning a gold mine gives a woman distinct confidence. I liked her, perhaps almost as much as Helena did.
She drew up a folding chair, left from our polite afternoon with Claudia. Smiling, she surveyed our present mood. 'So everything is settled.'
I scowled unhappily. 'Are you asking us, or telling us?'
Helena dried her eyes. 'Careful, Aelia. Marcus hates bossy women.'
'That must be why he lives with one!' Rich widows can be very provocative. I had suffered clients like this- before I learned to turn them down. She grinned at me. 'Well I have come to offer suggestions, that is all.'
Helena and I both gazed at Aelia; we must have looked pretty wan-faced.
'Marcus Didius has to find Tiberius.' Even now from habit Aelia retained the informal use of his name. 'Helena, if you intend returning to Rome, I think you should start out gently straightaway. I have been discussing this with Marius, and I'm going to talk to Claudia. Claudia is very unhappy at home. I think she would like to accept your kind invitation to visit Rome.'
'I haven't actually asked her-'
'No, but I will! It will be hard to leave her grandparents so soon after her brother's death, but if she waits she'll never go. The excuse will be that she is accompanying you, Helena; you will obviously need help on the journey. So!' Aelia Annaea was direct and well organized. 'While Falco goes after the fugitive, you can travel very slowly by road. I'm going to come with you myself as far as the Tarraconensis coast. Claudia will be with us too. We shall take my carriage, which is spacious and comfortable, and I will return in it afterwards. This fellow-' She indicated me- 'can ride after us as soon as he is ready, then take you home by sea.
Helena looked troubled. 'Marcus may have to attend a court case.'
'No,' I said. 'If there's a court case it will be in Rome.'
There were special arrangements for senators-elect. Quadratus would have to be taken back home. There were probably even more interesting arrangements when two different branches of government service had concerned themselves with the crimes. Those arrangements probably featured provisions for silencing me.
'So!' Aelia Annaea exclaimed again brightly. 'What do you think?'
I took and kissed her hand. 'We think you're wonderful.'
