Part 28 (1/2)

'Oh, mine are just horses, wine, men's talk, and women in their boudoirs getting undressed.' Helena raised her eyebrows and I thought it best to produce a rapid, lightly censored version of my time in Hispalis. She was not best pleased with the part about Selia, I could tell. Being an informer had taught me to recognise growling and grinding of teeth.

'Bad news, Falco.'

'I won't have that! I protest I'm innocent.'

'I think you made up the whole story.' She had guessed that I had pruned it. 'What a puzzle your dancer is! Is shethe killer? Is she seeking the killer for Laeta? Will her ravis.h.i.+ng figure distract you from your family loyalties? Will she beat you up again? Or will she just beat you at your own game?'

I tried not to wince as Helena moved to buff up certain lower regions that preferred softer treatment. 'Spare me the exotic ma.s.sage ... A procurator called Placidus has a dagger gash that proves what she wanted. Selia was not after my body, unless it was dead. I beat up her guards and captured them; they will stand trial before the proconsul on the basis of a report I've left with the vigiles about that night in Rome. I was supposed to stay - material witness - but I waved my pa.s.s from Laeta and pleaded urgent secret work.'

'Dry your own feet please,' said Helena. 'I'm too large to reach -'

'You're adorable. Better than a Syrian bodyslave -' 'When have you been cosseted by a bodyslave?'

'They fling themselves on me all the time. Beautiful girlswith terrific hands, and slinky boys with very longeyelashes ...'

Helena's chin came up. 'There's one more thing I haven't told you yet. The cook told me that while I was resting one day a woman came here looking for you.'

'Selia?' Was she pursuing me?

'It can't be,' Helena informed me coolly, drying her own hair. 'This one was here three days ago, Falco - when according to you, you were pinning the unclad Selia to a cosmetics table in Hispalis. I had not realised you were so sought-after.'

'Oh G.o.ds! You know what this means: I'm not just being beaten up by one female agent - Anacrites' special charmer wants her turn as well!'

I was so depressed that Helena relented. She kissed me, fairly gently. Then she took me by the hand again, and led me away on stumbling feet to bed.

LIV LIV.

Grief-stricken women seem to make beelines for informers. It must be our comforting manner.

'You have to help me!' wailed Claudia Rufina.

I was very tired. Normally I could mop tears, straighten a mourning veil, and stop hiccups by giving a sudden shock by way of loud noises, cold keys down the cleavage, or an unexpected pinch on the backside. Today I just sighed.

'Of course he will!' Helena soothed the distressed young lady. 'Marcus Didius is deeply sorry about what happened to Constans; he will help you if he can.'

I had been left to sleep in, but still felt like a half-stuffed cus.h.i.+on. After days in the saddle my spine, and all the parts attached to it, were on fire. I needed to be placed in the tender care of my trainer Glaucus and his fiendish ma.s.seur from Tarsus, but they were many hundreds of miles away in Rome, and a great deal of the distance between us was sea.

Worse, when I had crawled into the kitchen this morning the breakfast which the aged cook had lovingly prepared for me had been devoured by Quadratus. Of course the old dear rushed to bring me another plateful, but it was not the same. So let's be literal about this: my mood was absolutely foul.

I held up a hand like a masterful orator. Claudia Rufina fell silent, though Helena sniffed; she hated sham.

'Helena Justina is correct about the deep sympathy I feel towards you and your family. Nothing can mitigate the untimely death of a promising youth with the Empire at his feet.' And so much money, I thought. I was extremely tired. My mood was truly low.

'Thank you,' said Claudia, catching me out by responding with dignity.

'You are a sensible young woman and I believe you will respect frankness.' I was not normally this rough. I noticed Helena's eyebrows shoot up. Guilt increased my bad temper. 'Excuse me if this sounds harsh: I came to Hispania on a difficult mission. I received no a.s.sistance - no a.s.sistance at all - from the dignitaries of Corduba, including your own family. I have still to solve a murder in Rome, and write a long report on certain commercial matters here. I have to condense my efforts into far too little time, in order to be able to return to Italy before Helena Justina gives birth.' We all glanced at Helena; by now she looked so large it seemed likely we were expecting twins. 'Claudia Rufina, this is no moment for me to take on a private commission, especially when it's fairly clear we're discussing a very sad accident.'

'Besides which,' muttered Helena, 'Marcus has had his breakfast eaten by that young man of whom everyone thinks so highly.'

'Tiberius?' Claudia was looking down that unfortunate nose of hers. She still seemed drawn to the handsome and eligible quaestor - yet her expression had a closed look, as if her att.i.tude might be changing.

'Yes, Tiberius!' Helena's smile was like the benign glance of a sibyl just before she prophesied universal war.

'Oh,' said Claudia. Then she added in her serious way, 'I came in Grandfather's carriage. Would you like me to take Tiberius away?'

'That would be extremely kind,' Helena answered. 'You see, I am being frank too today.'

'It's no trouble,' replied Claudia quietly. 'I would like a chance to talk to him anyway.' That was when I started worrying about Claudia.

I was surveying our visitor more gently. She wore a dark veil, though she had it thrown around her casually as if a maid had persuaded her at the last minute. She had left the maid at home, travelling to see us set-faced and quite alone. Her gown was the blue one I had seen before, less neatly cinched in. Her hair was dressed as normal in a tight, plainstyle that emphasised the large shape of her nose. As a wealthy heiress she ought to be enjoying herself in elaborate funeral drapes pinned together with onyx jewellery. Instead she could be genuinely abstracted by grief.

'I think we'll send Tiberius home in our own carriage,' I disagreed.

Helena looked annoyed. She was dying to be rid of him. 'Marcus, Claudia Rufina said she wishes to speak to him.' 'What about, Claudia?' I asked crisply.

Claudia looked me straight in the eye. 'I want to ask him where he was when my brother died.'

I looked straight back. 'He was here. He is too badly hurt to ride. When he first took his fall, Helena Justina insisted that a doctor look at him. We know his injury is disabling.'

Claudia's eyes dropped. She looked miserable and confused. She did not think of asking us why anyone should doubt that Quadratus had been hurt, or why we had already taken trouble to work out for ourselves that he had an alibi. She might have an inkling of our own doubts about him, but she still shrank from the full implications.

Helena linked her hands on her stomach. 'Tell us why you came to see Marcus Didius.'

'He investigates,' Claudia declared with a proud tone. 'I wished to hire him to discover how Constans was killed.'

'Don't you believe what you have been told about it?' I asked.

Once again Claudia defied me with her stare. 'No, I don't.'

I ignored the drama. 'Does your grandfather know that you have come to me?'

'I can afford to pay you!'

'Then be businesslike and answer the question I asked.'

Claudia was growing up almost before our eyes. 'My grandfather would be furious. He forbids any discussion of what happened. So I didn't tell him I was coming here, or why.'

I quite liked her in this mood. She was young and spoiled, but she was taking the initiative. Helena hadnoticed my change of expression, and she was looking less critical. As gently as I could, I explained to the girl, 'Look - people come to me all the time claiming that their relatives have died in suspicious circ.u.mstances. They are usually wrong about it. Most people who die unnaturally have been killed by close members of their family, so I don't get asked for help because they're hiding the truth. When I am asked to investigate I almost always discover that the person died because their time was up, or in an honest accident.'

Claudia Rufina took a deep, slow breath. 'I understand.'