Against expectations, subject responded well to interview. Pleasant, affable, and helpful to our enquiry. Answered all questions put to him. (Interviewer unable to detect whether answers were honest.) Admitted father's 'rather carefree' business practices, denied own involvement in sale of contracts, claimed no knowledge of corruption. Suggested that trial charges were based on technical misunderstandings and exaggeration of minor errors; said witnesses were acting out of jealousy; declined to comment on the motives of the prosecution.

Gave statement that father's suicide was exactly that. Son was present in the bedroom shortly before death, dismissed by father. Denied that the poison used was hemlock, but believed that the cause of death was due to deliberate overdose of some medicine, obtained by father for the purpose of self-destruction (i.e. pills in sardonyx box). Thought medicine would probably have been purchased from family's herbalist, Euphanes [see below].

Calendar of events obtained from Negrinus runs: Rubirius Metellus senior convicted. One week later invoice for compensation arrives from prosecutor, Silius Italicus. One further week of consultation with Paccius Africa.n.u.s, defence lawyer, results in negative possibilities for evading payment. Simultaneously a clemency appeal to the Emperor is turned down. Metellus determines on suicide. Informs wife and son in morning; death occurs in afternoon; formal witnessing of the body in early evening. Funeral held next day. Will formally read to close family and friends, including the original witnesses, on afternoon of funeral.

Negrinus declined to give details of will. Appeared upset when asked.

Interview with Euphanes, herbalist (M.D.F.) Subject is a freedman of oriental origin, with usual physical traits of his profession: pallid, spotty, unhealthy looking. Sniffed throughout interview.

Euphanes regularly supplied herbs, spices and medicinal commodities to the Metellus household. Most were for the kitchen. Hemlock never supplied. Normal delivery would be alexanders, mustard seed, poppy seed, small quant.i.ties of long pepper, and Greek herbs (rosemary, thyme, cicely, catmint, wild savory). None of these is poisonous. Denied knowledge of Metellus senior's pills. Denied supplying them.

[Accountancy note: a small expense item for a gratuity arises from this interview.]

Approach to Verginius Laco, husband of Carina (Q. C. Justinus, for Falco and a.s.sociates) Subject refused to be interviewed, citing citizen's right to privacy.

Approach to Canidia.n.u.s Rufus, husband of Juliana (Q. C.J. for Falco a.s.soc) Subject refused to be interviewed. Door porter commented, citing filthy temper of subject.

[Item: a quadrans to porter.]

Interview with Claudius Tiasus, undertaker, of the Fifth Region (Aulus Camillus Aelia.n.u.s) Tiasus runs a busy professional firm, operating out of a street below the Embankment. They were hired to carry the body of Rubirius Metellus to the family tomb, a mausoleum on the Via Appia, which Tiasus described as a dank old shack with a mock pyramid on the roof. There they performed the usual obsequies. They had previously acted for the family on the death of the grandfather (died of old age, about five years ago).

Metellus Negrinus presided at cremation of his father, a.s.sisted by Canidia.n.u.s Rufus, a brother-in-law, together with another man, said to be a close friend of Negrinus. The body was burned, in accordance with custom, then its ashes gathered by the son and placed in an urn within the mausoleum (the urn was provided by the family, not purchased from Claudius Tiasus; it was a large green gla.s.s funerary jar, with a lid.) They had ordered the full ceremonials: a master of ceremonies, flutes and tubas, a procession of female mourners, men carrying the masks of ancestors, and satirical clowns abusing the memory of the dead man.

Interviewer was refused access to staff or attendants from the funeral. Attempt to gain communication was viewed as bad taste and scandalmongering; there was a loud hint that officers of the Watch would be called. Interviewer withdrew.

Interview with Biltis, a professional mourner (A.C.A.) Biltis is a specialist funeral mourner, available for hire. A large, slovenly woman of overbearing friendliness. At a 'chance' meeting in a bar engineered by A.C.A., she responded to tactful probing with the information that the Metellus event had been 'one for your memoirs'. First, Biltis said that Tiasus hates having to take on convicts, even though committing suicide had secured Metellus the right to a proper funeral. The public can be abusive in such cases, and it had been hard work persuading the family that Metellus' conviction made it a bad idea to have the bier displayed in the Forum. Then the undertakers' staff 'wet their loincloths' over the son's insistence that the script for the comedians must concentrate on personal traits of his father, while omitting all reference to the recent trial over his business practices. Although Tiasus had given the impression that this part of the funeral procession took place, Biltis said that it was omitted. This caused a huge upset with the chief mime, who lost his chance to show his mettle as a satirist - and lost his fee.

The affair was characterised by more than usual frostiness between the family mourners. At one stage, the daughter Carina had had to be restrained by her husband Laco, after loudly accusing her brother and elder sister of killing the dead man. She left early, before the ashes were collected up.

In addition, Biltis volunteered that she thought the corpse 'smelt funny'. No further details.

Biltis is a free citizen and willing to give evidence if her expenses (travel and time off work) can be refunded.

[Note: modest gratuity has already been paid.]

Interview with L. Licinius Lutea, first husband of Saffia Donata (M.D. Falco) Subject discovered at Porticus of Gaius and Lucius, apparently after conducting business of some kind.

Marriage to Saffia occurred when she was seventeen and had lasted four years, after which divorce by mutual consent took place. There was one child, son Lucius, who lives with his mother but is seen regularly by Lutea. Lutea has not remarried. He remains on what he called spiffing good terms with Saffia; claims he helped her find a new home out of kindheartedness plus concern for welfare of his little son. (He had a previous marriage but no other children.) Denounced bad behaviour of Metelli; cited difficulties over removal of Saffia's chattels from their home: her personal bedding (wool mattress, sheet, down pillows, embroidered coverlet) was 'lost'. Lutea reckoned this was stolen to upset Saffia.

Asked if Saffia would pursue the issue, Lutea huffed that he himself had smoothed things over, being on very good terms with Metellus Negrinus.

Asked whether this did not cause complications, Lutea snorted 'why should it?' then left the Porticus at speed, citing a business meeting with his banker elsewhere in Rome.

[Note: Information from a known source at the Porticus is that Lutea's banker (Aufustius, see below) works from there, and was not 'elsewhere' but present in the upper gallery.]

Interview with Aufustius, a secure money-holder and loan provider (M.D.F.) Aufustius has known Licinius Lutea for the past decade. Declined to comment formally, on grounds of client confidentiality.

On being bought a morning drink and a pastry, Aufustius opened up and freely mentioned that his client has been through a period of instability lasting several years. Lutea just told Aufustius that morning that he hopes to see a revival in his financial standing as a result of some unspecified turn of luck.

Asked how he thought Lutea would have been able to negotiate with landlords on behalf of Saffia, if his own credit was tight, Aufustius lost his charm and helpfulness. Accused interviewer of libel. Offered the usual threats about persons who would know where to find him on a dark night, the interviewer left.

[Expense incurred for entertainment on this interview.]

Interview with Nothokleptes, a banker known to Falco and a.s.sociates (M. D. F.) Lutea's banker (Aufustius) is a well-known figure in the world of commerce, with a high-profile client base. Aufustius would wait patiently for a man in difficulties to recover, continuing to accept him as a customer; however, he would demand an a.s.surance that any insolvency was temporary. This a.s.surance would need to be detailed, eg proof of a coming inheritance.

An upsurge in his client's fortunes would be of clear advantage to Aufustius, so it is reckoned he must have good information about this if he believes Lutea's claim.

[Entertainment expense ditto.]

Interview with Servilius Donatus, father of Saffia Donata (M.D.F.) Elderly, bald, irascible cove with large family, all daughters. Seems obsessed with manipulating their dowries; groused against obligations on a family to provide settlements in order to secure daughters' marriages, and the subsequent burdens on family estates when dowry payments fall due. Raved against Metelli for bad management of the estates which comprised the dowry of his daughter Saffia. Continually harped on losses incurred to the capital as a result of Metellus senior's mismanagement, which Donatus claims was criminal negligence; Donatus wished to sue and is now considering an action against Negrinus. Special anxiety for financial losses that will affect Saffia's children by Negrinus, especially the unborn. Donatus has other grandchildren and cannot afford to take responsibility for any who are not paternally maintained.

Has no views on Metellus senior's suicide, though showed strong reaction to mention of corruption charge. Deep distaste for anyone selling contracts and offices. Old-fashioned att.i.tude to ethics in public service. Capable of lengthy, unscripted tirade about slipping standards nowadays, with wild arm gestures and impersonation of hungry hippopotamus in full attack mode.

Blanked questions about Lutea. Treated Lutea's relationship with Saffia as past history. Went deaf when asked about Lutea's finding of lodgings and current situation between the pair. Spoke lovingly of infant grandson Lucius.

Notes on information from a female source who wishes to remain anonymous (A. C. Aelia.n.u.s) A contact with inside knowledge gave background on the Metellus family.

The parents were always pushy. The two daughters were shunted into good marriages at a very early age and have had problems resisting interference by Calpurnia Cara. Carina's husband, Laco, is thought to have put his foot down, causing strain in family relationships. Carina and Laco do not attend family gatherings such as birthdays and Saturnalia.

Elevation of Metellus Negrinus to the Senate was achieved with much manoeuvring; while not illegal, the degree of open electioneering by his father and grandfather (now dead) was felt to be unsuitable. Negrinus was only elected as aedile by the skin of his teeth; his chances of a praetorship later were thought to be low, even before the corruption case. Retaining his post as aedile after the trial may have been sanctioned because there are only a few months left in his term; it would be unfair to require another candidate to take on the office for so short a time. He may have benefited from of the Emperor's personal interest too; Vespasian may wish to minimise any failure of public confidence which might follow a formal dismissal of an office-holder.

A person in high places has revealed to our source, in absolute confidence, that the will of Rubirius Metellus contained 'unthinkable surprises'.

[Note: Falco and a.s.sociates are not free to divulge the nature or ident.i.ty of this source or that of the person who advised our source on the will. However, we can a.s.sure our client that the material is impeccable.]

Interview with Rhoemetalces, an apothecary on the Via Praenestina (M.D. Falco) Rhoemetalces, an expensive remedy-vendor of Cilician extraction, sells pills and potions from a discreet booth near the station house of the Second Cohort of Vigiles. This is within walking distance of the Metellus home. With the co-operation of the Second Cohort, Rhoemetalces was approached, in company with the vigiles officer who controls licences and secret lists in that district. After a short discussion of the terms under which he is permitted to sell goods, Rhoemetalces admitted that he had sold pills, presumably those in the sardonyx box which was subsequently seen at the bedside of Metellus senior.

The pills had been purchased, not by Metellus, his wife or his staff, but 'on behalf of her poor troubled father', by the elder daughter, Rubiria Juliana. She said her father was proposing an honourable suicide and wished for a rapid end. The apothecary claims it was against his better judgement to comply, but he felt that if he refused she would simply go to some other pract.i.tioner. He therefore a.s.sisted Juliana, in order to ensure that the deceased was not sold some slow and painful concoction by charlatans or ignorant druggists who would take advantage of the family's turmoil. He sold Juliana seeds of corn c.o.c.kle, a noxious plant commonly found in wheat fields. If the small black seeds are ingested with other food, corn c.o.c.kle is fatal within an hour.

Juliana then claimed she was anxious to save her father from his intended course. She wondered if there was a way he could be made to think he was killing himself, but would remain unharmed if - as she believed he would - he changed his mind. Rhoemetalces therefore persuaded her to buy (at enormous expense) pills which were contained within a coating of real gold. We are informed that this is a current fashion among wealthy invalids; the gold is said to increase the beneficial effects of the medicine. Besides, it hides any disgusting taste.

Rhoemetalces, revealing a secret of his trade, declared that he has no faith in such pills (though he sells them on request). He is convinced goldplated pills simply pa.s.s through the patient's gut undissolved. He told Juliana the effects should be harmless, and to safeguard himself further, he offered to provide gold pills which contained only flour dust. However, Juliana said she feared that her father, a suspicious man by nature, would suspect deception and cut open a pill to check its contents. So corn c.o.c.kle was included. But in the professional opinion of Rhoemetalces, the pills were safe and it is by some unique and terrible accident that Metellus was killed.

Rhoemetalces is currently in custody with the vigiles, who are explaining to him their professional view that the 'unique accident' was directly caused by Rhoemetalces supplying poisonous pills. [Accountancy note: no gratuity necessary to the apothecary, but there will be a substantial expense item relating to a payment into the vigiles' fund for widows and orphans.]

Reappraisal of Rubiria Juliana (M. Didius Falco and Q. Camillus Justinus) Interview conducted in the presence of Canidia.n.u.s Rufus A formal application was made to Canidia.n.u.s Rufus to interview his wife on a very serious matter, the nature of which was hinted. Rufus agreed, subject to his being present as her head of household, a request which was immediately granted. Rubiria Juliana was allowed two hours to compose herself, then interviewed at her home. M.D.F. directed the questioning; Q.C.J. took notes.

[Note: it is believed that the informer Paccius Africa.n.u.s was present in the Rufus house during the interview, though this was not mentioned by the subjects. He was observed entering just before the interviewers, and was later seen leaving.]

Rubiria Juliana is a fine-boned, fashionable woman, pale and purselipped. She spoke very quietly, though without hesitation. Her husband, previously described to us as unpleasant, paced edgily about the room. He did not sit near, rea.s.sure or comfort his wife, as might have been expected. For most of the time he remained silent, allowing Juliana to speak for herself. The interviewers felt he expected her to get herself out of any trouble.

Juliana confirmed the facts as relayed by the apothecary Rhoemetalces. Her father had known that she had bought pills before, for various female ailments. He asked her to obtain a reliable poison for his intended suicide. Juliana had argued with him, and although she obeyed his request, she wanted to save him if he did change his mind. She was certain he would.

Juliana gave details of the suicide. The family had eaten a last lunch together, all except the younger daughter Carina, who had refused to attend. Metellus then retired to his bedroom. Juliana and her mother were present in the room when Metellus senior took one of the pills. He had previously talked with his son Negrinus, alone, but Negrinus had been sent outside when the women were called in. Asked why this was, Juliana said her brother was very upset by what their father wanted to do.

Metellus lay on his bed, waiting for the end. Juliana and Calpurnia Cara stayed with him for about half an hour, at which point he sat up suddenly and, as Juliana had feared, decided he did not after all want to kill himself. Calpurnia abused him for a coward, in the manner of the most stalwart matrons of old Roman history, then rushed from the room.

Juliana quietly told her father that the gold-plated pills should pa.s.s safely through him, and was thanked by Metellus for saving his life. Unhappily, within a very short time Metellus did collapse and die. It appeared that the apothecary is wrong; the gold does dissolve, in this instance causing the death of Metellus, even though by that time he did not wish to kill himself.

Conclusion It is the view of Falco and a.s.sociates that the death of Rubirius Metellus should not rightly be cla.s.sified as suicide. He had expressed to his wife and daughter a clear wish to remain alive.

His daughter Juliana provided him with the poisonous corn c.o.c.kle pills, but this was on the basis that she believed them to be safe. Although Metellus voluntarily took one of the pills, Juliana would have come emptyhanded from the apothecary, but for being told that gold-plating would render the pills harmless.

Expert opinion is needed on whether a charge can be laid against Rhoemetalces for murder, as a result of giving false professional advice.

Should such a charge fail, it is the view of Falco and a.s.sociates that Rubirius Metellus died by accident.

IX.

'PURE GOLD pills?'

Silius Italicus had received our careful report with all the thanks and all the applause we hoped for. As men about the Forum, we expected none. Just as well.

I let him rave.

'And what's this try-on, Falco? - your substantial donation to the vigiles' widows and orphans fund will obviously all be drunk by the Second Cohort at a better-than-usual Saturnalia knees-up this year!' Even for a man experienced in court rhetoric, the long, irate sentence left him winded.

If the orphans' fund was all he could find to carp about, we were well landed on the jetty. Of course the fund was a fiction, but he knew the form. The vigiles do have a fund; they look after their own - but that's the point: they keep outsiders out of it. They want the grateful widows to save their thanks for the right people - their late husbands' colleagues. Some are good-looking girls who, being paupers, have to give their thanks in kind, poor dears. Much better to keep it in the family.

Excuse me if I sound cynical. I am shocked at such goings-on, but this is what I was told by my best friend Petronius. He is a compa.s.sionate man who in his time has looked after quite a few bereaved vigiles' families. Mind you, that was before he started looking after my bereaved sister. Well, it had better be.

'I apologise for the gilded poison pastilles, Silius, but these are the facts we turned up. I put all this to you as a good-quality proof- and it's backed up by creditable witnesses. Trust me: a ludicrous story carries weight. Anything too feasible tends to be a web of lies.'

'Liars always concoct a probable story,' agreed Justinus, standing at my back.

'A mad explanation like this would be stupid - if it weren't true,' his brother added piously. As these two burbled, Silius looked even more irritated, but he soon subsided. He just wanted to be rid of us.

'I cannot take a man called Rhoemetalces before the praetor! I'd be laughed out of court.'

'With luck, you won't have to go to court. The praetor should be able to rule on this evidence from his warm and cosy office,' I declared. 'You know how to get justice -' I was none too sure of that. 'You should walk out with an edict in your favour the same day.'

Now Silius looked annoyed that I was teaching him legal procedure. He must think me a b.u.mpkin, but I knew about praetors' edicts. Each year's new praetor issues a revised version of the civil code, with minor refinements where the law has not been working. When problems are brought before him during the year, he decides which 'formula' for redress from the time-honoured code will fit the problem; if necessary he issues an adjusted formula. The praetor's p.r.o.nouncements are not supposed to be new law, just clarifications to meet modern times.

I did think it unlikely any wimp of a praetor nowadays would dare to make a judgment in this sticky case. It was a criminal issue, not civil, for one thing. But you have to bluff.

'Rhoemetalces,' Justinus a.s.sured Silius in his most serious and most patrician voice, 'is an old-established, very respectable Cilician name.

He was romancing. Silius suspected it, and I was certain. I had seen the lousy pill-producer.

'Don't give me that.' Silius was no fool either. 'The apothecary will be a sinister ex-slave who probably poisoned his master in the recent past as a means of gaining his freedom - and with a forged will!' he added viciously.

'Luckily,' I teased, 'we will be producing him in a murder case, not testing him before the Board of Citizenship.'

Even Silius was beginning to be seduced by our wry sense of humour. His eyes narrowed. 'What's he like, this druggist?'

'Looks successful,' I said. 'Works out of the usual booth. Sits there with a wicker chair and a footstool, surrounded by piles of medicine blocks which he cuts up as required by customers. He seems well respected in his trade. He owns some up-to-date equipment - a pill machine, where he pushes in the paste, then it comes out extruded into strips and he slices off individual dosages -'

'Yes, yes...' Silius had no time for technical marvels. More importantly, he could see we would not give up. 'Oh Hades. I cannot be bothered to haggle with you rogues. The story hangs together consistently.' As soon as he said this, I could see its glaring holes. Silius seemed to have a sight problem, luckily. 'Thanks for the work. Submit your bill. We'll call it quits.'

That may have sounded as though we had seen the last of Silius and the Metelli. Somehow, I doubted it.

X.

IT WAS the off season for law. New cases have to be brought by the last day of September which was eight weeks gone, so even if Silius decided to take up our suggestions, he was too late. Autumn pa.s.sed. We sent in our bill. This time Silius proved slow in paying it. That gave me an opportunity to train the two Camilli in techniques for squeezing stubborn debtors. Since at our level of informing it was a frequent occupation, I viewed this more as work experience than the annoyance it might have been. We had the money by Saturnalia.

By then we had re-established our presence in Rome. Clients were sluggish, but we knew there would be plenty as soon as the cries of 'lo Saturnalia' died down. As always, that time of unrestricted relaxation and large family gatherings had brought out the worst in people. Marriages were breaking up on every street. As soon as Ja.n.u.s let in the New Year in a screaming gale, we would be offered missing persons to trace after violent fights with unknown a.s.sailants who were disguised in fancy dress (but who looked like that snotty swine from the bakery). Upset employees would hand us evidence of malpractice by employers whose Saturnalia gifts had been too miserly. Festive wax tapers had burned down homes, with the loss of crucial doc.u.ments. Houses left empty had been broken into and stripped of their artworks. Could we recover the loot? The wrong people had been kissed in dark corners, only to be spied on by spouses who now wanted not only divorce, but also their rights (in the form of the family shop). Children had been abused by uncles and stepfathers during the ghost stories. Could we blackmail the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and stop it? Drunks had never come home. Slaves playing king-for-the-day acquired too much of a taste for role-swapping and locked crazy old masters and mistresses in cupboards while they took over the house permanently. Lonely recluses had died unnoticed, so their cadavers were now smelling out their apartments. Once long-lost offspring were found and lured back to arrange burials, a hunt would start for missing fortunes that had long ago been whisked away by swindlers, then there would be work hunting down the swindlers, then the swindlers would swear their innocence and want their names cleared - and so on.

We had plenty to do. Since dear Aulus and Quintus, my patrician a.s.sistants, thought such stuff was beneath them, I was doing it. It was beneath me, too, but I had been an informer through some desperate times and I had not learned to say no.

It had been the first Saturnalia when Julia Junilla was old enough to take an interest. Helena and I had our work cut out ensuring that she stayed awake when her grandparents came calling, or running after her when she s.n.a.t.c.hed her darling little cousins' presents and insisted they were her own. Sosia Favonia, our baby, went down with some frightening sickness, which parents soon learn is inevitable at festivals; it comes to nothing as soon as you are both utterly worn out with panic, but you suffer first. Few doctors were answering their doors, even if patients were successfully rushed to them through the crowded streets. Who wants to hand their tiny baby to a medico who is falling down drunk? I tried the nearest, but when he threw up on me I just carried her home. Favonia could vomit all over my holiday tunic. She didn't need him giving her ideas.

After seven days the torture ended. Saturnalia, I mean. Favonia recovered in five.

Then Julia caught whatever Favonia had had, after which naturally Helena was stricken with it. We had a British girl living with us, who looked after the children, but she collapsed too. Albia had led a troubled life and was normally withdrawn; now she also felt terribly ill in a strange, enormous city where everyone had gone mad for a week. We were responsible for placing her in this nightmare. Helena dragged herself out of bed to comfort the poor girl, while I curled up on a couch in my office with the little ones, until I was rescued by Petronius.

My old friend Petro was escaping from the noise at the house he now shared with my sister Maia. Most of the racket was not caused by rowdy children, but by my mother and other sisters telling Maia she always made bad choices with men. The rest of the rumpus was Maia losing her temper and yelling back. Sometimes my father would be lurking on the sidelines; Maia helped with his business so he reckoned he could irritate Petro by appearing at every possible awkward moment and eavesdropping. Petronius, who until then had always thought I was hard on Pa, now understood why the sight of his grey curls and sly grin could make any sensible man climb out of a back window and leave town for three days.

He and I went to a bar. It was closed. We tried another, but it was full of the relics of riotous behaviour. I had had enough of that, looking after my sick children. The third bar was clean but still had the rioters; when they started being cheerful and friendly, we left. The only place where we could be morose was the Fourth Cohort's station house. Not for the first time, we ended up there. After seven long days and even longer nights of dousing fires caused by sheer stupidity, and then dealing with rapes, stabbings, and persons who had snapped and turned into maniacs, the vigiles were in a grim mood. That suited us fine.

'Nightmare!' Petronius uttered.

'You could have stayed single,' I reminded him. His wife, Arria Silvia, had divorced him and for a short while he had enjoyed his freedom.

'So could you!'

'Unfortunately, I loved the girl.'

It would have been good to hear Petro a.s.sure me that he loved my sister - but he was pushed to the limit and only growled angrily.

We would have been sharing a drink but we had forgotten to bring any. He leaned back against a wall, with his eyes closed. I stayed quiet. A few months beforehand, he had lost two of his daughters. Petronilla, the survivor, had been brought up to Rome to spend Saturnalia with her father. The child was taking life hard. So was her father. Enduring bereavement among the festivities had been grim; the fun and games that were always arranged by Maia's thriving brood were not the best solution for anyone. What choice was there, though? It would have been a desperate week for Petronilla alone with her mother.

'I thought I would never get through this month,' Petro admitted to me. I said nothing. He rarely broke into confidences. 'G.o.ds, I hate festivals!'