happened when Metellus died.' Laco shrugged. He wanted to see what I knew. `At first I was told that your wife refused to go to lunch that day – but she says she was not invited.'
`No.'
`Neither of you?'
`I was not close to Metellus. I would have gone if my wife did.'
I did not feel this man would lie. Yet although we had been told he and Carina stayed aloof, now I knew he had been operating on behalf of the Metellus family.
`Did you see Rubirius Metellus just before he died?'
‘No.’
`Did you see Negrinus?'
`No.'
`There is a suggestion that he was away.'
`I cannot answer for his movements.'
`I'll ask him. It is important.' Laco looked surprised. `Laco, if he was away, someone else poisoned his father and Birdy has an alibi.'
At once Laco retracted: `He may have travelled to Lanuvium. It was around the time of the suicide.'
`It was definitely not suicide. Rubirius Metellus collapsed in his garden, not in his bed – and I know that was about three days before the body was paraded for the witnesses.'
Had he known this? Laco gave nothing away. He was reclining on a reading couch, where he now simply linked his hands and looked thoughtful. He had long, almost elderly fingers. With thinning hair and an old-fashioned expression he seemed too mature to be the father of three young children, though this was common enough among the senatorial class. Both he and Carina gave the impression they were content in their marriage. They were comfortable in their domesticity – and so they should be. Theirs was domesticity with battalions of slaves, and gold finials on the furniture. I had called here more than once, and not seen the same slave twice.
Nor had I heard any music, been charmed by a vase of flowers on a side table, seen a scroll lying half-read, nor caught advanced scents of dinner. This was a cold house. It had a cold, unemotional master – and yet, he allowed his wife to give sanctuary to a brother who was implicated in a corruption scandal and now charged with parricide.
`Don't ask me what really went on, because I don't know – but I will find out. I sympathise with your position.' I spoke levelly. It seemed best to show restraint. `Your wife's family must have become an embarrassment.'
`My wife and I,' replied Laco, `live with the troubles of her family as stoically as we can.'
`That's generous! Do you know who their banker is?'
I had abruptly changed the subject, but Laco did not seem startled. 'Aufustius.'
`Same as Licinius Lutea! What do you think of Lutea?' Laco shrugged. `Not your type? A bit of an entrepreneur, I gather… Tell me,' I sprang on him, `what happened two years ago?'
Verginius Laco made no reply.
`The Metelli were happy and prosperous,' I pointed out. `Then they became desperate financially and something tore them apart. I think it had to do with Metellus and his partiality for Saffia Donata. Legally that was incest, of course. I can see why it is being shuffled under a mattress, so to speak…' Laco simply let me speculate. `You have been helping to keep this great secret. When the clown Spindex discovered it, you undertook his dismissal.' Laco did not deny my claim. `That was dangerous. Deprived of his fee, the clown might have sought public revenge.'
`No,' said Laco patiently. `I paid him off, Falco.' He was not stupid. Of all the people on this case, I reckoned him the most intelligent. In his way, he was being quite open. I formed a picture of him coolly dealing with Spindex on behalf of the rest of the family – though I sensed it had needed his own money.
`You paid him well?'
He nodded, wryly. I was right about the cash.
`Spindex is dead.' I passed on the news conversationally. `Strangled. I don't imagine you organised that, so there must be someone else with an interest in guarding the Metellus secret.'
Verginius Laco made no comment.
`Someone else knows, Laco. Spindex had a source. It may even have been his source who silenced him. I'll find the source eventually. Now it's a murder hunt, the vigiles are on it.'
Still nothing.
`I understand your position, Laco. You know the story, but you are a man of honour. You stand aside, except when you can give practical help. Maybe when you do act, it is to protect your wife. I suspect you disapprove of the way the family are handling matters. I think, if it was your choice, you would tell me the secret and have done.'
For a moment I felt Laco was about to say something.
But he did not.
XXXIV
T HAT NIGHT we reviewed the case thoroughly. Time was short. We decided to opt for a trial of Calpurnia Cara now, and hope to discover more evidence as we went along. This was dangerous. I did realise that – though at the time I failed to grasp just how dangerous it would be for me personally.
`You have no direct evidence to link Calpurnia with the killing,' Helena pointed out. `This will not be easy. She is not a woman to confess.'
`Trials are not decided by evidence, but arguments,' said Honorius, playing the expert. `All we have to do is suggest strenuously that Calpurnia did it.'
`And I thought you were an idealist! Can this be why most people hold the law in contempt?' I asked him.
The two Camilli, who were with us for this case review, sniggered. `We still have to persuade a jury that she did it,' said Justinus.
`Careful!' exclaimed his brother. `Clear guilt in the accused only gets prosecutors a worse name – for indulging in the profit motive when they make charges.' Aelianus' new satirical mode was alarming.
`Well look at us!' I was angry at us myself `We have ganged up on this woman, we are conspiring to accuse her – and we targeted her in order to make money. If the jury decides to despise us, we may yet lose votes.'
`We are saving Metellus Negrinus,' Honorius objected.
`By making him live with the knowledge that his father slept with his wife and his mother killed his father?' Helena was unimpressed.
`What we need,' Honorius fretted, `is not just a violent dose of poison – that usually convicts women, for some reason – but to be able to say Calpurnia used spells.'
`All she did was sell her jewellery and consult a fortune-teller,' I said. `Plenty of women do that.'
Honorius threw back his arms above his head and let out a wild cry. 'Aah! What fortune telling? Tell me! A bonus! Magic practices? Astrologers? We've got her then! Falco, this is the most important evidence we could have.'
I recoiled from his excitement. `Maybe she just wanted to know her own future?'
`Never mind what she wanted,' Honorius said, his teeth clenched. `The court will know what to think – and it's entirely in our favour.'
I handed out queries for investigation. I would try to interrogate the banker, Aufustius. I took Justinus to help. Aelianus was to ride down the Via Appia, find the Metellus monument, and check any memorial to Metellus senior. Helena volunteered to attempt entry at Saffia Donata's apartment. Honorius would try to track down the horoscope-seller, Olympia.
First thing, however, we obtained an appointment with the praetor. Work must have been slack; he saw us within a couple of hours, the same day. We made our denunciation of Calpurnia. He was unimpressed. We mentioned the will. We alluded to Saffia and incestuous adultery. We said Calpurnia was angry. We said she used a fortune-teller. We emphasised that her husband died days before she had said he did; we claimed that she had
