Ruso rolled the dice across the worn surface of Candidus’s desk. He rolled them a second time. Then he picked them up, examined each of them, and rolled them one by one before handing them to Valens. “You try.”
The legs of the table creaked as Valens shifted sideways to make space. The dice rattled across the ink-stained wood several times. Finally he selected one and tipped it back and forth in his palm. “This one’s weighted,” he said. “Six nearly every time.”
Ruso said, “He could have made enemies.”
“Silvanus says he was in debt to couple of people. Nothing major, but they didn’t expect to see their money back.”
“Anyone who owed money to him?”
“Nobody who would admit to it.”
Which was not the same thing at all. “Thanks anyway. You’d better get back to Magnis.”
“I’ll keep my ears open. Oh, and I’d steer clear of Pertinax for a while. He’s not impressed with having visits from three doctors in one morning. Especially when none of them will give him any crutches. And now somebody’s told him there’s a dead body in the emperor’s wall.”
“Oh, gods above. Who told him that?”
“I’ve no idea. You’ve heard it too?”
Ruso shook his head. “Unbelievable,” he said. The tale had reached a patient who had not left his bed for days. If this was sabotage, it was even more effective than its perpetrator could have hoped.
“You don’t think it might belong to your clerk?”
“I don’t think it exists,” said Ruso. He had once been in trouble for failing to obey Accius’s orders back in Eboracum and he was not going to make the same mistake again. Especially after the fiasco of the search. “I’m going to write to Albanus today and tell him his nephew’s deserted.”
“I thought you’d decided his disappearance was highly suspicious and he ought to be here collecting hens?”
“He probably acted on impulse,” said Ruso. “He’d already managed to seriously annoy people here, including me.”
Valens looked disappointed. “I was hoping this might turn into one of your escapades. Finding a body and going around accusing people of murdering it.”
“I haven’t found a body. Nobody has.”
Valens scrutinized him for a moment. “Pity,” he said. “You’ve been so much more entertaining since you met Tilla and adopted the native tendency to overdramatize.”
“I’m not the one who’s overdramatizing,” Ruso pointed out. “You are. Candidus is absent without leave. I’d imagine he’s either lazing in the baths at Coria, or he’s bought himself a trip south on an empty supply vehicle.”
“If you say so. I won’t tell Albanus it might have been you who drove him to it.”
“It wasn’t! Would you run away because I shouted at you?”
Valens slid down from the table. “Ah, but I would know you didn’t mean it.”
Chapter 19
The chilly eastern breeze that had blown the rain away was now plucking at the tents and flapping the bedraggled standards. The queue had curled itself around the back of the medical tent in search of shelter.
As soon as Ruso arrived, a bandy-legged man stepped out of the line and pushed to the front amidst much complaining. His reply of “I’m not sick!” did nothing to pacify his competitors.
Ruso addressed the rest of the queue. “I’ll just have a quick word with . . . ?”
“Lucius, sir.”
“With Lucius here. I can see he’s keen to get back to work.” As the queue avenged itself with jeers and some questioning of whether Lucius knew what work was, he led the man under the shelter of the examination area.
“Two things to tell you, sir. I was supposed to be sharing cook duty with Perky the other night, only he never turned up at the tent and nobody’s seen him since.”
“Didn’t anyone question it?”
“Only me, sir. There’s always people coming and going. But nobody can remember seeing him after that, and I heard they’ve found a body in the wall.”
“Take no notice,” Ruso assured him. “It’s nonsense. I’m only chasing Candidus as a favor because his uncle’s a friend of mine. If you see him, tell him to report to me before he gets himself into real trouble. What was the other thing?”
“A mate of mine called Olennius wants to hand something in to you, sir. He’s on stone-laying duties up at the wall. Shall I tell him to come and find you tonight?”
“No,” said Ruso. “I’ll go and see him when I’ve finished here.”