The Princess and the Pirates(78)

“Roughly nine hundred sesterces in staters, drachmae, darii, minae, and some sort of Arabian silver coin I’ve never seen before. Six rings, one of them set with a small emerald, two strings of pearls, and a jewel-hilted dagger.”

“Oh, let me see the pearls!” She pretended to study them in the dimness. “Isn’t Flavia the most wonderfully vulgar woman? A Coan gown! You could see that she rouged her nipples!”

“Never glanced in that direction.”

“Liar. But Cleopatra was right. She is loads of fun. She’s promised to show me the town tomorrow. Will that be all right?”

I thought about it. “Tomorrow morning and afternoon, fine. But be back well before nightfall. After tomorrow, you had better stay away from her.”

“Why?”

“Because I am going to have to arrest her husband soon.”

“Really? On what charges?”

“I’m not sure about all of them. And I am sure that he’s not alone, so I can’t proceed precipitately. When dealing with a conspiracy, you know, it is always a bad idea to attack it piecemeal. You should try to bag everyone at once.”

“That makes sense.”

Back at the naval base I tipped the bearers and sent them back to the house of the late governor. Milo, minus his showy toga, joined us in the triclinium, where Julia made extravagant use of candles and lamps so she could examine her new pearls. I sent Hermes to fetch Ariston.

“How are the men shaping up?” I asked Milo.

“I have them under control. We’ll have a viable force when the time comes to smash these bandits. First, we have to get rid of their colleagues here in Paphos.”

“We’ll be ready to start that soon,” I told him.

“Good. I want to seize Harmodias’s account books, but I don’t want to tip him off too soon.”

“I should have done it as soon as I took command here,” I admitted.

“Just as well you didn’t. You’d’ve had your throat cut before you went out on your first patrol.”

“So Harmodias is in with them?” Julia said.

“Certainly,” Milo answered. “It wasn’t that so much had been taken by Pompey’s agents for the war in Gaul. It was that everything wasn’t seized. It’s my guess that only the larger ships and their gear and the war engines were taken, maybe some of the arms. But it was the paint that first roused my suspicions.”

“I should have seen it,” I said, “as soon as that woman on the island said their ships were ‘the same color as the sea’. They have no use for Roman naval colors, have they? They don’t want their ships bright and showy.”

“Same with the naptha and the rams,” he said. “Pirates don’t want to sink or burn ships; they want to take them intact. The arms that were left behind are a mixture of types and nationalities unsuitable for the legions. Most of the pirates probably already had their own arms, so Harmodias didn’t have to strip his arsenal bare. Easy enough to claim that Pompey seized it all to send to Caesar. Who’s going to call them to account?”

Hermes arrived with Ariston.

“Have a seat,” I told the ex-pirate.

He sat. “Are we going out on another late-night scout?”

“Not this time,” I said. “Describe for Titus Milo the ship we saw out there at Gabinius’s estate.”

“A penteconter: typical pirate craft, favored by smugglers, too. It’s light, fast, draws little water, and can go into almost any creek or inlet. Rides low, hard to see. Can’t go head-to-head with a trireme, not enough men or power. If there’s to be fighting, three or four penteconter skippers can gang up on a bigger ship.”

“And this one was riding high in the water,” I said.

“Looked like it to me, but I didn’t get as close as you did. Looked like it was wallowing a bit, too.”

“At Gabinius’s estate, they took on cargo. Might it have been frankincense?”

He frowned and thought. “Doesn’t make sense. Any sort of incense is a light-weight cargo. Even if he was going to pack his hold with it, he’d’ve come ballasted. It’s unsafe making any sort of crossing with too little weight in the hold. Whatever he picked up, it was heavy enough to make the ship stable for the voyage to wherever they took it.

“That was my own thought,” I said, “but I don’t trust my knowledge of nautical matters. Titus, Cyprus produces in abundance one very heavy product: copper.”

“So why is Gabinius stockpiling copper in his house and smuggling it out?” he mused. “It’s a legitimate trade.”

“Good question. But we know already that there are a number of people involved in this matter. Spurius said, ‘Your business isn’t just with me and you know it.’ I am certain that Nobilior the banker is one of them. But who are the others?”