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What choice do we have?" demanded Mutatus. None. The race is fixed. Somebody's got Diocles; the outcome is a dead cert." Mutatus covered the games. As a sports commentator he made swift assess ments, then perhaps thought about it afterwards while other people were howling that he was a complete idiot.
Kidnappers work by trading on their victims" inexperience," I told him. They want you to be so scared for Diocles, you follow their instructions exactly. You two have never been in this situation before, and it fills you with consternation. But I am thinking it through. For one thing, they claim they have had Diocles ever since he disappeared, having transported him to Sardinia. Is this credible?"
It sounds like a cover-up." Helena reinforced my argument. Some opportunist has seized on the fact that people are looking for Diocles, and is hoping to cash in." I agreed. Someone has just heard that Sardinia is full of bandits, and they decided that would sound good. When people go missing, especially when there is high profile anxiety about their fate, such nonsense happens."
Cranks, maniacs and confidence tricksters are drawn to a tragedy," Helena told the scribes. Families who lose loved ones in unexplained circumstances can be horribly exploited."
That is why I have to advise you whether to take this demand seriously," I said. Frankly, I am doubtful."
You don't want us to pay the money?" asked Mutatus.
I don't."
But we brought the money with us!" This kind of illogical reasoning would be joy to a ransom gang or to any kind of exploiter. I realised that the cash must be sitting in the large chest beneath the cloak upon which the two scribes had laid out their lunch. Perhaps they thought robbers would fail to look under their tablecloth. Most likely, the daft pair had given absolutely no thought to security. I told them to take their loot for safe keeping in the vaults of one of the Forum temples. To be sure, tell them you are depositing imperial funds." I paused. Does the Emperor know about all this?" They looked shifty. Eventually Holconius admitted with a lofty wave of the hand, In view of the circumstances, and the need for secrecy, we were granted funds by the cashier in the Chief Spy's office." I drew breath sharply. I take it Anacrites is still at his holiday villa?" They both looked surprised at the familiarity with which I spoke of him. He will be livid when he knows that you two have siphoned off his petty cash."
It's more than petty cash…" Holconius blushed. We told them you had authorised it."
You told them a lie then," I replied quietly, keeping my temper. Helena covered her eyes with her hand, despairing. Anacrites had always posed a threat against me that frightened her. This was asking for more trouble. You owe the Chief Spy a confession, and me an apology. Your action will gravely damage my relationship with Anacrites Nothing could damage it. We had no relationship. He and I were permanently out to get one another. These two ni
Show me the ransom note now, please."
We left it in Rome." Upset by my attitude, Mutatus tried bluffing.
Holconius offered it to me. Let's be sensible, shall we?" They produced the document. I read it and gave it back to them. They seemed surprised I did so. That was the difference between scribes and informers. Scribes wanted to keep everything for their archives. I was used to learning the crucial parts of correspondence, then ditching the evidence. [Or replacing it exactly as I had found it in the owner's ivory scroll box, so he or she never knew that I had read it..] This was a waxed tablet, written in Latin, legible but not produced by a secretary. It said the usual. we've got him, you want him back; give us the money, or Diocles dies. The arrangements were in the letter. There was no mention of any Illyrian. The scribes were to leave the cash at a drop site. It was in Portus Augusti, an establishment named the Damson Flower. I was able to inform them that their venue was close to a bar called the Dolphin, and that I thought it was probably a brothel. Helena looked impressed by my local knowledge. The scribes simply looked shocked.
This is a confidence trick," I assured them. If you give them the money, you will lose it and never see Diocles."
They will kill him even if we pay?"
They won't kill him, because they don't have him." We had covered this already, but Holconius and Mutatus simply had not heard me. Look, I wish I could say my investigation will lead to me finding him drinking with a maudlin face in some port-side bar. All I have learned so far leads me to dread his fate, though in my opinion, he has not been kidnapped."
You think he is dead already?" Holconius was blunt.
It seems a possibility. Maybe he has ended his own life, suicide for personal reasons after suffering depression. But there are other alternatives, some of which involve people and stories he may have wanted to write in the Gazette. I asked this before, but I will ask you again, was there any particular scandal that Diocles told you he intended to cover?" The scribes shook their heads. I warned them again not to pay the ransom. They thanked me for coming to give them this sound advice. They had not the slightest intention of following it. They forgot, I had had many clients before. I knew the signs.
XLV
As Helena and I were going out, we met Rubella and Petronius coming in. We all stopped to confer on the doorstep of the lodging house.
It's a swindle," I a
We'll see you there!" breezed Rubella, in a jovial mood.
Do you know where it is?"
Falco, if you can get it out of a couple of scribes, we damn well can too." Rubella paused, and became less jocular. So what about the missing man? Could he have been kidnapped?"
It's possible."
Who would take a prisoner and hold him for two or three months, without contact?" Petro asked. The story is illogical. What do you think?" he then asked me.
One. Diocles could have topped himself while in some mental crisis over a dead aunt, his only relative. Two. he upset Damagoras, a likely suspect. Or three. something bad happened because Diocles held a grudge against some members of the builders" guild, more suspicious bastards." Petro and Rubella cheered up at three, delighted to have their fire fighting rivals implicated.
What's the betting?" Rubella demanded.
Honestly, I don't know."
Typical informer!" Helena looked defensive, then asked Rubella, How did you know the scribes lived here?"
Oh we have ears everywhere, young lady!" Petronius was more open. They arrived in Ostia in a big carriage, clearly carrying a chest of gold, and at the Rome Gate they stopped to ask directions to a good lodging house." I groaned. So the whole of Ostia knows they have something to steal? The money box is in their room; help yourselves before somebody else does. I advised them to stash the cash at the Temple of the Capitoline Triad."
We'll recommend the Temple of Rome and Augustus," scoffed Rubella. That should confuse the stylus-pushers nicely." The two vigiles officers were going upstairs, no doubt to repeat the conversation Helena and I had just held there. We parted in light hearted mood. We were all fired up because at last we could make progress. Whether we caught the real kidnap gang or some other chancers, at least now there was an opening for action.
Oh by the way," Rubella called back to me. That silly girl, Posidonius" daughter, came to plead for the body to bury. I allowed her to have it." I was amazed he had been so gracious to Rhodope, but I knew why. it saved the vigiles having to dispose of Theopompus themselves. I said she had to hold a decent Roman funeral at a quiet local necropolis, not some damned great pirate feast on the beach, and she is to let me know in advance where and when the ceremony is." I gave him a light salute. See you there as well then!" Rubella had paused again. Two steps above him on a flight of stairs, Petronius watched us. Petro knew what was coming. Another thing, Falco, she let slip a curious fact. Theopompus was not one of the Cilicians. He was an Illyrian." I raised my eyebrows. Not the one who acts as an intermediary; his description is quite different… So, Rubella, what does this mean?"