“I see.”Marcianus rubbed his thin hair.“But you fetched me when Floriana was ill.”
“I could have timed it so you would have arrived too late.I was unlucky that I calculated wrong.”
The corners of his mouth twitched.“Cassia thought of that, did she?”
Regulus had said it, but I didn’t want to talk about Regulus.I offered him a little shrug.
“Cassia has much intelligence, especially for one so young,” Marcianus said.“Treat her gently, Leonidas.”
I had no reason not to, but I was too unnerved to argue.“If others believe this, or try to prove I killed Floriana before I left for Ostia …” I firmed my mouth.“I’m not going back to the games.”
Marcianus gave me a conceding nod.“I understand.You are a good fighter, my friend, but I know your heart wasn’t in it.”
Aemil had expected me to kill men I’d helped train, fighters I’d grown to like and respect.Occasionally I’d faced a hated rival, but mostly my opponents were men I’d drunk with in companionship only days before.
I was unable to put such thoughts into words.“I won’t go back.”
Marcianus called up the stairs.“Marcia!”
She clattered back down after a moment, clean basin in hand.I’d never taken Marcia to bed, as my tastes did not run to women who were barely more than girls.The stolla she wore today covered her more than the gauzy piece hanging from one shoulder she’d donned when she’d worked at thelupinarius.This stolla was thick linen and covered her from neck to ankles.
She’d caught her thick brown hair in a tail at the back of her neck, exposing a fine-boned, pretty face, devoid of cosmetics.Marcia now looked like the daughter of a lower-class but respectable household instead of the youngest offering in a brothel.
“Leonidas wishes to speak to you,” Marcianus said.
Marcia set the basin on a table, her earlier hostility gone.She’d taken her change of circumstance easily, I could see, and regarded me serenely.
“Did anyone come to Floriana the day she was killed?”I asked her.“Why did she go out?Did you go with her?”
Marcia considered the questions without fear, though I sensed Marcianus hovering, ready to intercede if I upset her.
“No one came, not that day,” Marcia said.“Floriana rose as usual.She felt better after recovering from the poison but she was in a foul temper.I think someone visited her the night before.I was with customers, so I didn’t see who, but I heard her arguing.She can be hard on the regulars, especially if they don’t pay, but this was different from her egging someone to give what they owed.She was yelling, and she sounded furious.”
“Or afraid?”Marcianus suggested.“Sometimes when people are scared, they’re more aggressive.”
Marcia pursed her lips.“Possibly.Floriana was going on about something she was supposed to do, but didn’t because she’d been sick.But like I say, I didn’t see who she was with.I did hear snatches of what she yelled though.I told you, it’s off.” Marcia imitated Floriana’s reedy screech well.“It’s too late.We missed him.”
“Him?”Marcianus asked.“That’s interesting.”
“Did you hear anything else?”Without a name or knowing who Floriana argued with, I did not see how the information helped much.
“I’m afraid not.By the time I was finished, she was alone and moving the customers through.”
Floriana’s often had a rapid turnover—men indulged in quick pleasure and were gone.I was unusual in that I stayed most of a night, and with the same woman.Aemil had paid extra for that.I wondered if Floriana’s heirs, whoever they might be, would try to collect what I owed for my last two nights with Lucia.I owed it fairly, and it would be unusual for them not to try to gather in all debts.
“The morning of Floriana’s death,” I went on.“What did she do?”
“She got up and went out, saying she had errands,” Marcia answered calmly.“Lucia went with her.”
“Did she?”I hadn’t heard this from Lucia.“Then she must have seen …” No wonder she’d been terrified and wanted to flee.
Marcia shook her head.“Lucia came back home alone.She’d gone her own way to do some shopping and separated from Floriana.Later, a vigile brought us the news that Floriana had been found when the fog lifted.”
Her serenity faded.Floriana had been a hard woman, but she’d been the only family Marcia had known.
Marcianus put a comforting hand on her shoulder.“Never mind.You’re safe here.”
“Everyone’s gone now,” Marcia said sadly.“Lucia started screaming when the vigile announced Floriana’s death.She said we were all in danger, and we had to run.The others scattered.I didn’t know where to go, so I fled here.”
