I came to myself with a start.The young man in my grip wasn’t a Thracian gladiator ready to stab me in the heart, or aprovacaturbattling me to the death.
He was one of the vigiles who swarmed Rome at night, on the lookout for fire, which was always a grave danger.They used their power to bully their way into houses as he had apparently bullied his way into mine.
“No fires here,” I said in a hard voice.The only flame came from an oil lamp, which Cassia had just lit.
The vigile gulped.“Well, I saw a flare.Thought there could be danger.Made the wine merchant open the door downstairs.”
“And you’ve checked.Found that all is well.”
“Yes.”
I began to release him then looked him over sharply.“You were at Floriana’s.Outside her house, when she was sick.”
The young man jolted, his face taking on a greenish tinge.“So?It’s on my patch.”
A large patch, if it stretched from the Subura to the lower slopes of the Quirinal.I didn’t know exactly how the vigiles divided up their duties, so he could be telling the truth, but I remained skeptical.
I shook him.“It was midmorning when I saw you.”
“I was on my way home.Interested, wasn’t I?”
His voice held defiance, but his terror was real.I couldn’t be certain whether that fear came from guilt at Floriana’s poisoning and death, or because a large man had him by the throat.
I eased my grip and allowed his feet to touch the floor, but I kept hold of the sword and steered him toward the open door.
“If we have a fear about fire, we’ll summon you.”
As the vigile teetered on the edge of the stairs, I let him go.He flailed then caught his balance and started downward.
“Wait.”
He peered back at me in concern.I handed him the sword, hilt first.
The vigile grabbed it from me.I watched him debate whether to try to go at me with it then decide departing was the wisest course.He clattered down the steps, his boots noisy on the wood, then he was gone.The outer door slammed, and a breeze wafted up the stairs.
I moved a shutter at the balcony and walked out into the cold night.The lane was quiet, no sound but the fast retreating footsteps of the vigile.Wagons clattered by on the Vicus Longinus not far away, but none ventured down this road.
“He didn’t see a light.”Cassia stepped beside me.“I put it out hours ago.”
I nodded grimly.“He came to see what we were doing.”
“Out of curiosity?”Cassia let the question hang.
“Maybe.”I ran my hand over my head.“Tomorrow, I will visit Priscus again.”
I led the way inside and reset the shutters in place.
“Good,” Cassia said as I led the way inside and reset the shutter in place.“I worry for him.Priscus is a kind man, for apaterfamilias.If not … perceptive.”
“I like him,” I said.
“As do I.The servants told me as we journeyed back that no one knows who kidnapped Decimus, including Decimus himself, or why.The thought is that the sailors were out-of-work mercenaries hired to snatch him.If Priscus knows who hired them, he’s not saying.”
“Is he afraid someone will do it again if he tells?”I settled the final shutter in its slot.Our tiny lamp, in the shape of a woman holding a bowl, flickered in the darkness, the flame glowing on Cassia’s face.
“Possibly,” she mused.“I wonder why he hasn’t taken Decimus off to a country villa to be protected by his own guards.Priscus has little reason to stay in Rome.He has clients who help look after his wife’s business interests.I imagine he’d be happier puttering around an estate garden.”
If I had my own villa, I would sit in the sunshine every day, or walk along the shaded ambulatory, and learn to garden.I’d bring Cassia, and she could sing her complex ancient ballads beside a trickling fountain.
