Scandal takes a Holiday

Now listen!" He seemed helpless, but I was not intending to stay that close in case he wrenched free and took off some part of me. I think that you and your sidekick in the dirty Parthian dressing-gown are part of a racket to kidnap merchants" wives. Probably Damagoras runs the racket. Other people are looking into it, so you can take your chance with them. I want to know, and I want to know now, Cratidas, what happened to the scribe, Diocles?"

I don't know!"

Oh I bet you do! Was he investigating your ransom scam?" He made another negative gurgle. I lifted him up partially and banged his face against the table. As a favour to Gaius Baebius, I bashed him down really hard. If Cratidas was impressed that I could match him in brutality, he didn't show it. Where is he, Cratidas? What have you done with him?" I felt him tense for action. I was vulnerable, lying half on top of him, so I flew off him as he burst free. He spun around, teeth bared. We had fallen apart a couple of yards distant. He saw I had snatched his knife from the table. He was one blade down [though I reckoned he had others, and he had yet to discover what weaponry I carried. He hauled up the bench he had previously fallen off. People were taking notice of us now, though. Cratidas probably wanted to continue his stay here so he needed to calm the situation, or the nice people who were sitting under the pergolas would huffily ask the affable tavern landlord to evict him. He swung the bench around, about the height of my head, but then placed it back down. The fight was apparently over, not that I trusted him.

I don't know," he said, in that coarse voice with the rasping tone, what went on with the scribe. Damagoras toyed with him, but even he lost interest. You can find out where the man went or what he wanted for yourself, Falco!"

I will," I said. And then I'll be back, Cratidas." We omitted goodbyes. As I left the Aquarius I gave the bar-girl a sample of imperial coinage and my best smile. She knew I had not ordered any food or drink. So she accepted the money and returned the smile delightfully – then when I asked if she knew the name of the visitor in the dirty green robe who had come to see Cratidas, she told me. He was called Lygon. I had heard that name before. When I hit the street outside he was long gone, but that did not bother me. There was no need for me to tail him home. I already knew where Lygon lived – or at least, where he had lived until recently.

XXX

When I consulted Petronius, I thought he looked shifty. I had left a message at the station house; he called in at our apartment late that afternoon. I told him how I had identified Lygon, the same Lygon, I was sure, who had been named to us as the boyfriend of Pullia, young Zeno's mother. I had decided the Cilicians had placed her in the gatehouse room where we found her unconscious so that when they took a victim, Pullia could be their jailer until a ransom was paid.

Apparently the women seem confused after their ordeal. Bru

How do you know what Bru

So by chance, we stumbled on the racket, way back!" Petronius sucked his teeth in a

Missing it doesn't matter. Now we can break the ring."

I'd like to hold back on that, Marcus. We need to gather evidence."

When did evidence feature in a vigiles arrest?" I scoffed.

Don't be like that! We need to be certain." Prevarication had never been Petro's style. I guessed his motive, however.

We are waiting until the Fourth Cohort arrives in Ostia?"

End of the week," Petronius said briskly, unaware that Rubella had already told me. I mentioned that Rubella might accompany the detachment. I had to explain why. Petronius Longus told me what he thought of me. His dissertation was not pretty. Eager for action now, we reached an accommodation. I'll get you for this, Falco!"

Fine. In the meantime, old pal, what's our plan?"

We can take turns to watch the old gatehouse. We'll establish whether Lygon and the woman are still living there."

It's just around the corner from where I saw Lygon with Cratidas."

Yes, the gatehouse is ideally positioned." Petro had quickly thought it out. It's near the river, when they snatch victims from Portus. It's also centrally located if they take them in Ostia, and good for returning the women after ransom."

I thought our involvement that time would put them off the place."

Pullia may never have owned up to the others about what happened. Even if she did, once the gang saw we were not suspicious of her, why sacrifice a good location? So we can observe the place until the next time they bring a victim back there. Then it's arrest time." As always when I had made a neat co

Used to be?" I was sceptical. What happened? Did the town sprout wings and fly off into the puffy clouds? Sounds like an abstruse metaphor, in an Athenian satire." Petronius was gri

Of course you did," I answered. We want to be equipped, if one of our very advanced children starts asking cute questions about remote provinces."

I expect," Petronius mocked us gravely, Julia Junilla Laeitana can already recite all the rivers in Germania."

Germania Ulterior and Inferior," I assured him. Rhenus and all its tributaries, in order, north to south."

Should be south to north, Falco. Go with the flow, man."

I know, but I was holding the map upside down when I taught her. We are working on Germania Libera, but the little sweetheart is frightened by the thought of untamed barbarians. Julia was three; she still had problems reciting all her own names. I had been rather carried away when naming my firstborn. Helena waited quietly for Petro and me to stop fooling.

I think you will like this; it fits your theories. Soli was officially renamed a hundred years ago." She lifted her right hand, a characteristic gesture, freeing up the group of bracelets she wore on her forearm. They tinkled against one another as she twisted her wrist, unconscious of the movement. Soli, you crazy pair of jesters, is now called Pompeiopolis. Now, Marcus, isn't that where your old pirate comes from too?" We took it in, then both graciously applauded her. Helena had just provided our first link between the kidnappers and Damagoras. Inspired, Petronius and I took turns at watching the gatehouse.

You'll have to be careful," I warned him. What if the Soli group have already noticed you? You only live about two doors down. You've been sauntering right past their place almost every day." I'll take the night watch then," he volunteered. As a father of small children, that suited me. I could be telling bedtime stories, while Petro endured the drunks and caterwauling whores. We started straight away, and observed the place for the rest of the week. Lygon, a relaxed lover with a callous attitude, hardly ever bothered to visit his drab ladyfriend, though I spotted him once and Petro reported another sighting two nights later. Pullia was always there. My worst problem was avoiding her boy, the seven-year-old Zeno. He played in the street, looking bored. He had no toys, but threw stones, stared at passers-by, and kicked his sandals on the kerbstones. Pullia rarely went out, but sometimes she sent him on errands; at mealtimes she would call him indoors, shouting his name abrasively. He was no worse treated than some of my elder sisters" children, but his way of life meant there was a strong chance he would notice one of us, while we were lurking across the street on observation. He seemed an intelligent child, who would probably remember us. Someone did eventually spot me, though the way it happened was unexpected. It was my watch. Helena, with Favonia in her arms, was just bringing me a lunch basket. I had stationed myself almost opposite the old gatehouse. There was an empty block, perhaps earmarked to be an overflow forum. Sometimes a mad old woman brought crumbs to feed the birds, but they were a standoffish flock and she shuffled around keeping well away from me. There were two houses on the other side of the street where the occupants kept looking out as if they thought I was a prospective burglar. At least when they saw Helena with me, they could comfort themselves that I must just be dawdling in the hope of an adulterous liaison. It was a good excuse for us to cuddle in public, always a cheap thrill. Meanwhile Sosia Favonia practised toddling. The Ostians were not great humorists and disapproved of us canoodling. Fortunately our curly-haired child looked so sweet in her clean white tunic and tiny bead necklace, our behaviour was soon overlooked. We stopped being lewd and passed ourselves off as proud parents parading their infant. I did not believe in using my children as props in a disguise. My mother would have been furious. Helena's mother would have seized Favonia and sought sanctuary in the nearest temple. In my days as a lone informer, I had had other methods. Here, I would have sat against a pillar, huddled in dirty rags, except that Petronius had bagged this role of down-and-out for his observations at night. I had tried pretending to be an artist, but when I sat on a stool drawing townscapes in my note-tablet, the inevitable group of gawpers assembled behind me. They made it clear my sketching was awful. Several advised me to give up and get a proper job. It was not a situation where I could answer that I already had one, and ask if they knew Diocles. In the end, I assembled ropes and poles, with a bucket and some sponges, set up a barrier against the exterior of Privatus" house [which lay on one side of the open area, do