Part 34 (1/2)

'I can live with that. What are you doing here?' I demanded again.

Perella pursed her mouth and looked sorrowful. I was still trying to reconcile in my mind that this dumpy fright in her frumpish wrappings was a highly efficient agent - not just a damsel in a short dancing frock who listened in at dinners to earn herself a few denarii, but a woman who worked alone for weeks on end, who travelled, and who 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 Sella dead. I recognised your pictogram too - Valentinus had one on his apartment door ... I gather you share my sceptical att.i.tude to Laeta?'

Perella hunched her shoulders. She was choosing her words carefully. The result was a colourful character appraisal, the kind he would not want to have read to the Emperor at birthday bonus time: 'Lutes 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 realised he was stirring the Pot so actively, but the word is he wants toget 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 rosters will contain ample s.p.a.ces. 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 favour?' 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 ongrounds of unspeakable misdemeanours 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 realise.'

'You mean the n.o.ble 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.'

LXV LXV.

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-cla.s.s 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 governors.h.i.+p 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 thoseneeded 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.'

'So you agree with me. That's it?'

'I think Laeta might be toying with even more elaborate plans. For one thing, I can't see him staying happy with Attractus as prime mover in the cartel. This probably explains why he hired me to expose the conspiracy: he specifically complained about Attractus getting above himself. So let's a.s.sume what he really wants from me is to remove Attractus. But what then happens to the cartel?'