Under Vesuvius(19)

“Is this where she came to bathe?” I asked.

“Yes,” Leto answered.

“Did you touch these clothes?”

“No, Praetor. Well, her cloak lay beside the dress. We used it to cover her.”

“Was it folded?” -

“Yes, sir.”

I could see the local dignitaries and even some of my own party were mystified by my questions. They probably would have hauled all the slaves down to the local lockup and questioned them under torture. Well, I had my own methods.

Then I saw a small cedar box on the marble flags at the edge of the pool. It was open, its contents a bronze scraper, a sponge, and a small flask. I picked up the flask and unstoppered it. It was scented bathing oil. I had just replaced the flask when a tormented wail came from the edge of the grove.

“Uh-oh,” Hermes said. “Sounds like Papa’s back.”

“Gorgo!” the old man screeched. “Where is my daughter?” Then he broke into deep sobs.

“Well,” I said, straightening beside the pool, “we might as well go talk to him.” We found the old priest weeping beside his daughter’s body. “Diocles, please accept my condolences. We are conducting an investigation and I am certain that we shall soon—”

Diocles wasn’t having any of it. He looked up, his expression of grief replaced by one of fury. “Investigation? Why in the name of all the gods is an investigation necessary?”

“Diocles, I—”

He shut me off again, pointing a trembling finger at Gaeto. “We all know what happened here! That slaver’s boy has been trying to force himself on my daughter for months! He tried again this night, and she fought him off and he killed her! I want him on the cross for this!”

“Diocles,” said Manius Silva, “let’s not jump to conclusions. Let us and the praetor do our duty. Gorgo may have surprised a runaway slave hiding in the grove and he slew her to prevent her raising a cry. There are still bandits in the hills; there are robbers.”

“Would robbers and bandits have left her jewels?” Diocles demanded scornfully. “It was Gelon! This is what happens when we allow slavers—”

“Enough, Diocles!” Norbanus said. “We share your grief, but this is an official matter now.”

“We’ll know soon enough,” I said. “Hermes?”

“Praetor?”

“Go rouse my lictors. Get them mounted, with their full regalia. Then you and Marcus take fresh horses and ride with the lictors and arrest Gelon, under my authority. Bring him back here.”

“Praetor!” Gaeto cried. “This is not just. You have no cause to do—”

I took him aside and said quietly, “I have plenty of cause, and justice has nothing to do with it. I’m arresting the boy for his own protection. Those people back at Norbanus’s house have spread word of this already. Everyone in the district will think Gelon is the murderer because he’s a slaver’s son and a foreigner, and he lives and acts like a visiting prince. There may be a mob assembling at your house right now. If my men can get there in time, I’ll keep him safe here, at the villa. You must not resist me in this.”

He nodded. “Of course, you are right. I will find the best lawyer in Campania.”

“With luck he may not need one, but if I were you, I’d look for one now.”

Something occurred to me. “Annius!” I shouted.

The steward scurried over. “Praetor?”

“Send me the villa’s horse master. Not the stable master but the riding master.”

“At once, Praetor.” He did not bother to express astonishment at this request. Things were happening too fast for poor Annius.

“As for you, Gaeto,” I went on, “I think you should lie low. At the very least, people are going to be hissing and throwing things at you. Keep your boy’s Numidian escort reined in. If one of them so much as points a javelin at a citizen, I’ll have the lot of them on the cross. Do you understand?”

He bowed. “It shall be as you say, Praetor. And, sir, whatever you can do—”

“Yes, yes, I’ll do what I can for the boy. For what it’s worth, I doubt that he did this, but my opinion isn’t what counts.”

I went back to the gathering by the grove. “Listen to me, everyone! General opinion seems to be that Gelon, son of Gaeto the Numidian, is the culprit here. That being the case, I am taking control of this matter as praetor peregrinus. I will hold the suspect under arrest while a trial is scheduled and his defense is prepared.”

“No need for that,” Norbanus said. “We have a perfectly good municipal lockup for felons.”