'Because he was on the take? Don't go coy on me. I don't want a dangerous commitment from you - I just need to understand how it worked. You knew about the corruption, I imagine?'

Verontius winked. 'Oh no!'

'Liar.'

'I have to live, Marcus. But I'm a small player.'

'You never gave evidence at the father's trial?'

'Hardly ever encountered the father. He dealt with the mighty consortiums. For the trial, I had too little to tell about that. But I was approached!' He was proud to have been considered. 'Approached by whom?'

'One of your lot.'

'Mine?'

'An informer came scouting, just before the trial.'

'But you chose to keep quiet to protect yourself'

'To protect a way of life, Marcus! Listen, road construction and maintenance is a specialist business. We operate in traditional ways, ways that go back centuries.'

'That old apology for cheating practices! What informer was it?'

'Don't remember.'

'Don't try too hard, you might wear out your brain -'

'Said he was called Procreus.'

'Never heard of him. What would you have told him, if he had bribed you enough?'

'Nothing.'

'Really?' I knew enough about Verontius to obtain a second version. 'Ever see that slave girl with the intriguing entablature you used to be so friendly with? What a pretty caryatid. Very architectural!'

He shuddered. She was somehow connected to his squid-peddling - that moonlight work Allia never seemed to notice, despite the smell. So my threat was about the secret money he earned, as well as his fishy playmate. Verontius still fooled around with the girl, and he knew I knew. 'O griddled goat's goolies, Marcus my son! I'm at home here -'

'So you are, Verontius old boy! Let's get the men's talk over before Allia comes back, shall we?'

It was not often I had the beautiful pleasure of extortion from a relative. Life was good for an hour. Allia came home to find Verontius a crumpled ghost of himself By then he had confided this: the road contractors' guild always carried out background checks on new officials. Prior to his arrival in post, Negrinus had been a worry to them. He had come from his earlier position, as quaestor, with a reputation for resisting sweeteners. The road contractors were expecting this but straight away it became apparent that the father was on hand, not just open to persuasion, but insisting on it.

'Money?'

'Oh grow up, Marcus! What else? You know, there was a funny atmosphere. At first we thought,' Verontius confided, 'they had had a bust-up.'

'It looks as if the father turned against the son. Negrinus has been left out of the will -'

'Not the impression we got. They were never at odds with each other. The father gave the orders; the son followed through - but there were no fights. Something had shaken them; they were like men who had just walked away from an earthquake. The shock left them operating very much as a team, a team in frantic need of cash.'

'Failed investment? Disaster at a property? You don't know what?'

'Enquiries failed to dig it out.'

'Your guild uses the wrong people!' I grinned, but stopped it quickly. The contractors' guild members are worse than virulent headlice. I didn't want their trade. 'So Negrinus came into his aedile post at just the right moment, and they wrung it dry?'

'Correct.'

'Any idea why Silius Italicus picked on them for it?'

Verontius shrugged. 'He must have been desperate for cash too.' My brother-in-law gave me a sickly leer. 'But then he's an informer, so that figures!'

Luckily for him, that was the moment we heard my sister Allia struggling to work her latch-lifter. I let her into her house; she and I glared at one another in our customary fashion; I left.

I went back to see the archivist who had the will.

'Can I see that will you fetched out this morning again? Is there an original date on it?'

There had been a date when it was first sealed. When it was opened and resealed, that old date was efficiently blanked out. I tore my hair.

There was more frustration awaiting me. I went to see Negrinus at his sister's house that evening. I arrived at Rubiria Carina's home in the usual state for an informer. I was tired, depressed, struggling to make any headway on the case - and ready to chuck it all in. I should have done so. Negrinus had found himself an extra defence lawyer. I could not believe it. Birdy had let himself be preyed on by the lax fathead of an a.s.sistant who had worked for Silius: Honorius.

XX.

NEGRINUS WAS sitting with his sister in her elegant white saloon. The room was one of understated luxury. The furniture seemed plain, but its fittings were gilt. Gold Doric columns held lamps that burned with the finest oil. A single exquisite half-size Aphrodite adorned a hemispherical niche. The husband, Verginius Laco, must own an enviable portfolio of estates.

Carina looked very much like her sister Juliana. Birdy must take after their father; he was completely different. Unlike Negrinus with his light colouring, sharp-cut nose and diffident, almost studious face, this young woman was dark-haired, wide-cheeked and had a direct stare. Her mother's confidence glared out of her, though I could see why people called her nice to know. She was quiet in manner. Just as fashionable as Juliana, she copied the ladies of the imperial court in dress, hairstyle and jewellery. It was all more expensive than Helena would think necessary for an evening at home.

Helena had not come with me; the children were playing up. I could have used her calming influence.

'This is Honorius,' our client told me proudly. 'He wants to plead my case.

I managed not to snort: why in the name of Olympus had Birdy taken on a spy from the viper's nest of his enemies? I caught Rubiria Carina's eye; she gave nothing away. But she was tellingly silent. An intelligent woman. Fond of Birdy, perhaps.

I sat back on the couch where I had been placed to be irritated and insulted. I let Honorius explain himself.

He still looked about eighteen, but told me he was twenty-five. Only child; father deceased; making a career for himself in law. He could use a good bout of army discipline to toughen him up - but a week of the recruits' training regime would send him weeping home to Mother. He did not mention his mother, but I could see her handiwork in his buffed shoes and beautifully braided tunic. I bet her poor old eyes were failing after st.i.tching on those purple bands and neck-rings. I bet that signet ring had belonged to his dead father, and perhaps the old belt too. He must have come in his toga, which now lay folded over a couch back, as though the house slaves had not taken it away because they hoped to be rid of him rapidly. If he had managed to annoy them, he would annoy a court too.

'I have walked out on Silius.'

He was faintly pink. He thought he knew what I was thinking. I continued to watch him in silence, letting him worry.

In fact I was thinking that I could see why Silius Italicus had taken Honorius into partnership. He was good looking. Slightly gaunt, and the thick crinkled hair was too short, but women would go for the decent body and the eyes. He would fill out one day - but he would always be half a foot too short. I reckoned his judgment was suspect too, but most people never see past handsome bones and self-confidence. He would get by, and get by easily. Could he do the work? I withheld judgment.

The purple tunic bands confirmed he was of senatorial rank. Probably the dead father had left the family too poor to enable the son to try for the cursus honorum. For that he would have needed backers too. The official route of quaestor, aedile, praetor and consul might be closed to him, yet he had status and education, and an underlying sureness of purpose. Walking out on Silius must have stiffened him up. Where I had once thought him virginal, I now felt he might keep a mistress somewhere, some petulant, expensive piece whom he visited for vigorous but short-lived s.e.x while the adoring mother believed he had gone to play handball at the gym. Then he would buy the mistress silver bracelets, and the mother flowers.

'Why have you left Silius?' I asked.

'We quarrelled over ethics.'

'After four years in practice with him, isn't that a bit late?'

Honorius learned fast. He copied me and held his peace.

Negrinus burst in, eager to set me straight: 'Honorius has watched Silius and Paccius combining against our family - particularly against me. He knows it is an injustice. His conscience is aroused.'

'He knows,' Rubiria Carina told me pointedly, 'that my brother will not find anyone else qualified or willing to take on his case.'

'So you will do it?' I smiled at Honorius. 'Highly commendable! And you should make quite a name for yourself...' I paused. This young man was after the money, just as we were. He must have been badly disappointed to find Falco and a.s.sociates were already handling the case. 'Sorry to be blunt, but I wonder if Silius deliberately stirred up your sense of outrage, knowing that in court you would be easy meat?'

Now Honorius went pale. If he had not thought of this himself, he managed to disguise the fact. He made out he was mature enough to know all Silius was capable of. 'I shall have to prove him wrong, Falco.'

'How?'

'Without being immodest -'

'Be truthful.'

'I am a decent advocate.' Somehow he made himself sound very modest.

'Are you? Oh face facts, man! You have attended your princ.i.p.al at some high-profile, highly political pleadings. You have spoken for him sometimes; I saw you in the Metellus corruption case.' Honorius had been handling minor evidence; he was competent, but the stuff was routine. 'I also know this: you are slapdash back in the office, you look to me as if you want to be a playboy, and the worst thing is - if you really came here out of idealism, that is not what we need. Your motive is naive. You're dangerous. We don't want a luminous conscience; we need someone to kick b.a.l.l.s!'

'Now look, Falco -'

'No. You listen. You propose taking on some wary old wolves - these are devious, manipulating chancers. You are too inexperienced and you are too straight!'

'There has to be a place for believers in justice,' Negrinus pleaded with me, as if he had overheard Aulus and Quintus last night.

'Too right! I believe in it myself. That's why, if you are innocent, I don't want to see you destroyed by an inadequate defence.'

'That's insulting,' Honorius said tightly.

'Well, you insulted me. Falco and a.s.sociates have taken on this man. We at least are an established team. You were an apprentice. You sweep in like some high-priced G.o.d, offering Negrinus redemption after no research into the evidence -'

'There is no evidence,' Honorius retorted, more warmly. 'That is precisely what disgusts me. I heard Silius and Paccius both admit they cannot prove that Metellus Negrinus directly took any action against his father. They say he administered hemlock, but they don't know how or when. They intend to win not with proofs but with arguments.'

I was not surprised. 'That's obvious. Blacken his character, make leering suggestions, and rely on the fact that if he is innocent, he won't have any idea what really happened - so he can't fight back. We can all imagine their arguments.' I took a big breath. 'So you defend in the case. You will have to produce better ones.'

'Not me,' said Honorius. 'Us.'

'No.'

'Yes, Falco. I need you. I need you to find out what we can produce in reb.u.t.tal. Silius has people working on it constantly. I don't have his network. I admit it frankly -'

'And how will you pay me?'

He looked shy. 'When we win.'

'If!' Both Honorius and Negrinus were waiting for my reaction. 'I can't answer you. I shall have to consult my a.s.sociates.'

'There is no time, Falco.'

'All right.' I could take decisions. 'But we will not work for you.' Honorius ran a hand through that short hair in exasperation. I cut him off. 'Equal status. We'll work with you. That's the deal. No fees, but fair shares if we win.' Before he could argue I went straight into my plan. 'Tomorrow you and I will attend the pre-trial. The praetor will set the trial date, allowing time for enquiries. This is the tactic: we let the other side ask for the longest investigation delay they want. We shall not dispute it.'

Honorius leapt up. 'Falco, it's customary to -'

'To cut it short, to hamper the prosecution. Well we need investigation time ourselves. Now when they all think that's sorted, we'll throw in a surprise: we shall ask for the case to be heard not in the Senate - to which Negrinus is ent.i.tled - but in the murders court.'

Honorius was bright. I was probably right that he was useless, but he could take a point fast. 'You mean the full Senate will view me as a jumped-up boy, backed by a low-grade team, people they all despise. But in the special murders court, the judge will be keen to enjoy himself- and Silius and Paccius won't have trained him to their ways.'

I said nothing for a moment. 'Something like that.'

I watched Honorius evaluate my comments. He had stood for too long in the shadow of Silius Italicus and was fretting for more independence. He clearly enjoyed planning and making decisions. That was fine - if his decisions were the right ones. 'If Negrinus didn't kill his father, someone else did - and you intend us to discover who.' Light dawned. 'And in the delay before Birdy comes to trial - we shall go in and prosecute the real killer!'

Rubiria Carina leaned forwards attentively. 'But who is it?'

I gazed at her for a moment then stated the obvious: 'Well, your sister has been tried for it and acquitted, your brother is to be tried shortly but we say he's innocent - face it, lady: that only leaves you!'

XXI.

IT WAS brutal. There was a shocked silence.

As they all began to react, I held up a hand. Looking from the brother to the sister, I addressed them quietly: 'Time to get things straight, please. If you want my team to work with you, you have to trust us and work with us. There are very big unanswered questions. Please stop dodging them. Rubiria Carina, if we were as heartless as Paccius and Silius, then you really would be the next target. You were estranged from your family, and you are known to have made loud accusations against family members at your father's funeral. Either you tell me what that was about, or I walk.'

Negrinus began to interrupt.

'The same goes for you,' I snapped. 'You make mysterious p.r.o.nouncements. You clearly keep things back. Now it's time for honesty.' I half turned to Honorius. 'Don't you agree?'

Honorius agreed.

'Right.' I was terse. 'Honorius and I are going to pop out to use your domestic facilities. You two had better confer. If you decide to co-operate, I want to discuss your family background - and I want full details of your father's will.'

I jerked my head to Honorius, who meekly followed me from the room.