See Delphi and Die

"Right! What do you need from us?'

I tried it on. "Decent accommodation, a scribe who can write ciphers and a string of steady mules. Most urgently, a fast line of communication back to Rome.'

"Weekly reports to the Emperor?'

Weekly trinket-dispatch to my children. Best not worry a quaestor with these facts of life. He had enough impending anxiety. "First, I need to sit down with you, Aquillius. You must give me a detailed debrief on this unholy balls-up on the Valeria Ventidia case.'

The quaestor went pale. I turned the screw. "Can you put a stop on travel for the group involved, please? I want to grill these people. I can go to them, or they can be brought here, whichever is easier logistically.'

I had thought logistics would be a new concept. Aquillius surprised me. "We've got them ready for you in Corinth,' he a

Dealing with the Palace was normally a trial. But sometimes it could work in my favour. Claudius Laeta had made Aquillius believe I was Vespasian's best agent.

Having my suspects pe

"Thanks for rounding them up. Can I take it that the governor positively wants the case sorted?'

"No,' replied Aquillius, unapologetically. "He wants to ship them right back to Italy. Prove one of them did the murder, please, so we can be rid of the lot. We hate these culture tourists, Falco. Amateurs bumbling about, causing trouble abroad.

"Causing you work?' I suggested mildly.

"You have no idea how much!'

It seemed best to pin Aquillius down. Otherwise, whenever I tried to discuss anything, he would be "in an important meeting'. So I stuck him with an immediate case review.

"Just a few quick details,' I promised insincerely. "No need to call for a note-taker… You were there at Olympia when Valeria Ventidia was killed?'

"Perils of the job!' He gri

on an advance site visit. We like to show the standard. Let people know that Rome is in charge.' Have five days of sport and believe they were working…

"The governor will attend the Games?'

"Yes, he takes on a lot of official duties. That would be. handing over bribes to the priests, munching ci

"It's a hard life, representing Rome abroad.'

"It is, Falco!'

"So you had gone on a recce, but you found yourself stuck with the trouble?'

"I think I handled it.'

I made no comment. "What were your findings? I know the girl was discovered by slaves in the skamma very early in the morning, then carried to the party's tent by her hysterical husband.'

"They had marital problems. They were known to have quarrelled the previous day.

"Was that a one-off, or routine?'

"It had happened throughout the trip. Their relationship was volatile; they often had heated exchanges.'

"Was the last quarrel special?'

"Who knows?'

"Subject?'

"People told me it was all about sex. Mind you,' said Aquillius, playing the man of the world, "sex is what most tourists have on their minds most of the time.' I raised my eyebrows in gentle enquiry. "They have all read up on the love lives of the gods. Then they start looking for personal experience. We have a terrible time at temples,' he informed me bitterly.

"Ah, the legendary Corinth temple prostitutes!'

"No, no; the pros are never any trouble. Well, they've been at it for centuries.'

"So what's the problem?' Informers have heard most things, but I felt wary.

"Travellers want thrills. We've caught them bribing priests to let them lurk in sanctuaries after dark, so they can breathlessly wait for a sensual experience with a "god. – it's usually the priest himself, of course. Priests will screw anything… We regularly have to peel

masturbating male visitors off cult statues, especially if it's a beautiful sculpture.'

"Appalling!'

"You said it.' Aquillius looked genuinely disgusted. "Maintaining good relations with the locals is bloody hard when Roman visitors have no sense of shame. Still, none of the drooling here is quite as bad as they get with the Aphrodite of Cnidus – " The Aphrodite of Cnidus, a masterpiece by Praxiteles, had been the first fully nude statue of a goddess ever made and was still revered as sculptural perfection; I had seen Nero's copy in Rome and agreed with that. Aquillius was still ranting. "Mind you, from what I've heard, the Cnidians ask for all they get, not least by charging extra to go through a special gate for a viewing of their Aphrodite's exquisite backside…'

The worldliness was a veneer. Aquillius seemed uncomfortable with his own salacious stories. He would not be the first virgin sent abroad for his country, who then grew up fast.

"So, quaestor – has Seven Sights Travel been accused of lewd midnight love trysts and temple desecration?'

"Not on this trip,' said Aquillius.

"Then let's get back to basics – What were your conclusions about the Valeria Ventidia murder?'

"I told you that. the husband did it.'

I gazed at him. "Any proof?'

"Most likely candidate.'

I gazed at him some more.

"Falco, look, most of the others liked the girl. None of them stood to gain from bashing her head in with a discus.

"A jumping weight.'

"What's the difference?' Not much if you were the victim, dead. But her friends and family, wanting answers, deserved accuracy. "The husband denied it, naturally.'

"You interviewed the others?'

"A sample.' That would be a small sample. It would not surprise me if Aquillius just asked the tour leader, Phineus. Phineus would have passed him off with whatever story suited Seven Sights.

"When was she missed?'

"When people settled down for the night. Then the husband went out, ostensibly to look for her.' I saw no reason for "ostensibly'; looking for her seemed a good reaction, quarrel or no quarrel. Aquillius took a harder line. "I reckon he found her – maybe in the arms of her lover – and that was when he killed her.'

"What was his answer to that charge?'

"Oh he claimed he never saw her.'

"And you were unable to find anyone who saw them together at the palaestra the night Valeria died?'

"Right.'

"The first real witnesses were next morning, when he found her dead?'

"Yes, that was tough. We had to let him go. This is a Roman province, Falco. We do have standards!'

Not high enough standards for me, however.

"What was your take on Milo of Dodona?' I asked, giving nothing away.

"Who's he?'

"A friend of the girl, apparently.'

"Silly cow! Milo was never mentioned.'

"Maybe nobody knew. Maybe Milo was Valeria's special little secret.' I left Aquillius to work out any relevance. "Now tell me about the other dead girl – Marcella Caesia.'

"The one with the bloody awful father?' The quaestor groaned. Caesius must have really made a nuisance of himself, though Aquillius had only heard about it. "Before I came to Greece.'