A DYING LIGHT IN CORDUBA

when she felt like it mercilessly ended lives.

'What's going on, Perella?'

'Did you know Valentinus?' she asked.

As her voice took a lower note, I felt a chill. For a second I was back in the Second Cohort's fire engine house, with Valentinus swinging stiffly in a hammock and that gruesome bucket beneath his head to catch his blood. 'Hardly. I met him once, at that dinner; I really missed my chance to talk to him. The second time I saw him he was dead.'

'He was a nice lad.'

'He seemed so to me.'

'We had worked together a few times. Anacrites had us both on the Baetican case. It was all mine to begin with, but Quinctius Attractus must have twigged that we were on to him, and he arranged for me to be pushed out by that girl. So Valentinus had to do duty that night instead of me. When he was killed, I decided to follow up. I owed him that. Well, Anacrites too. He does his job in his own way-and it's better than the alternative.'

'Claudius Laeta?'

Perella let her eyes narrow. 'Obviously I have to watch my step, Falco-I know you're thick with him.'

'He paid my fare, but I'm not in his pocket.'

'You're independent normally?'

'Freelance. Like Valentinus. That's why I wasn't weeping when I found Selia dead. I recognized your pictogram too-Valentinus had one on his apartment door… I gather you share my skeptical attitude to Laeta?'

Perella hunched her shoulders. She was choosing her words carefully. The result was a colorful character appraisal, the kind he would not want to have read to the Emperor at birthday bonus time: 'Laeta's a cheating, dabbling, double-dealing, swindling jumped-up clerk.'

'A gem of the secretariat,' I agreed with a smile.

'It was Laeta who told Quinctius Attractus I was keeping an eye on the Society; I'm pretty sure of it. You know what's going on among the palace bureaux?'

'Laeta wants to discredit Anacrites. I hadn't realized he was stirring the pot so actively, but the word is he wants to get the spy network disbanded so he can take over. The hidden power in the Empire. The watcher we love to fear.'

'You could get a job with him, Falco.'

'So could you,' I retorted. 'Decent operatives never lack work. There are too many duds out there messing up chances; the new work rotas will contain ample spaces. Laeta would welcome both of us. But do we want to embrace his slimy charms, Perella? It's still our choice.'

'I'll probably stick with the dog I know.'

'If he survives. And if his section survives too.'

'Ah well.'

'I'll work for myself as usual.'

'Well we both know where we are, then!' she smirked. 'Oh yes. Under a tree in a wood in Baetica without a lunch basket.'

'You're a misery, Falco.'

We seemed to be talking frankly-not that I trusted her any more as a result. Nor did I expect Perella to trust me.

'If I level with you, Falco, can I expect the same favor?' I screwed out a half-hearted shrug. 'I came to Baetica for two reasons,' she announced. 'I wanted to see Selia get it-but most of all, I'm going to sort this cartel nonsense and get the solution marked up as a credit to the spies' network.'

'Outwit Laeta?'

'And you too, if you're on his side, Falco.'

'Oh I was sent to block the cartel too; I think it's a dead duck now.' I gave her a far from modest grin. 'I dropped a few suggestions in a few relevant ears, so I'm taking credit for suppressing it!'

Perella frowned. 'You'd do better to take a laxative!'

'Too late. Give up. It's fixed. Now there's just young Quadratus. He's crazy and out of control-just the right material for the Palace to use in its cover-up of the real mess. What Rome needs is a juicy patrician scandal to fill up the Daily Gazette; that's always good for taking the heat off the government. Putting Quadratus out of action on grounds of unspeakable misdemeanors caused by foolish youth allows the big men to escape with their pride intact.'

Perella scoffed quietly. 'There is a problem I don't think you realize.'

'You mean the noble Quadratus belongs to a rich and ancient family? Do you think he'll dodge the indictment?'

'Who knows? I mean, the cartel was never just a scheme set up by a few notables in Baetica for their personal gain,' Perella said.

I thought she was referring to Attractus. He certainly wanted to rule far more than the cartel. Then I stayed quiet. Something in her tone was far too ominous. 'Laeta wants the cartel too, Falco.'

'Laeta does? Well I discovered a reason for that. He's suggesting to the oil producers that he intends the industry to become state controlled. Attractus is trying to bribe him into keeping quiet.'

'I thought Laeta had another plan,' Perella mused. 'Oh if the oil market comes under state control, he certainly wants to be the man in charge-who creams off the golden froth for himself.'

'It wouldn't surprise me. First he would have to persuade the Emperor to take over the industry and provide state funds for running it.'

'I can think of a way he would manage that.' Perella was enjoying her superior knowledge.

'All right, you've lost me.' I could be frank. I was dying with curiosity.

'Laeta really wants the oil market cornered; he wants it for the Emperor.'

SIXTY-FIVE

I gulped discreetly. Immediately she said it I could see there might be an appeal. Yes, Vespasian wanted to go down in history as an honest servant of the state. But yes too, he was notoriously personally mean.

He came from a middle-class family, Sabine farmers turned tax collectors: hardworking intelligent folk on their way up-but with never enough money to run on fair terms with the old patrician families. He and his elder brother had clawed their way through the Senate to the highest posts, always in comparative poverty, always having to mortgage last year's gains in order to move on to the next magistracy. When Vespasian, having made it to consul somehow, was awarded the governorship of Africa, his brother had been compelled to fund him-and while he was there in his exalted position, Vespasian became a legend: for what? For acquiring a monopoly in the supply of salted fish…

Why should he change? He inherited empty coffers from Nero. He had the new man's zeal to make his mark. Grabbing the market in a staple commodity could still be the Emperor's dream. He ruled the Empire now, but he was just as short of funds for the business of government and probably just as eager for cash in hand himself.

'There could be various ways this would work for Laeta,' I suggested slowly. 'The most basic is the one I mentioned-a local cartel is set up, stage-managed by Attractus, and Laeta agrees that the state will allow it to exist provided he gets a large personal bribe. The next stage, more sophisticated, is that he exerts even more pressure; he says the cartel will only be allowed to continue if the Emperor gets a huge percentage of the profits.'

'That's what I thought,' said Perella. 'Both of those needed Anacrites wiped out. He was trying to stop the cartel.'

'Such a simple soul! Wiping out Anacrites has an additional bonus for Laeta: he can then take over the spies' network.'