Tullius’s face smoothed with understanding.“Too true, my friend.Every man has enemies, even me.A few of my fellow guards would gladly push me from the edge of this hill if it meant they were promoted ahead of me.As would a few of my cousins, to get to the money my mother left me.She was more well off than she let on, probably to keep the family from touching her for coin.”Tullius grinned briefly, then rubbed his nose, scattering droplets of rain.“I heard of the murder you speak of, but I don’t know much about it.Let me inquire, and then I will take you to the very spot.A magistrate will have written it down, embellished it into a loquacious report, and sent it to theprincepsin hope he will be noticed.”
I held up a hand.“Don’t if it will bring you trouble.”
“I cannot fathom how it would.I’ll nose into boring documents no one wants to read and send you word.I might come myself, when I’m off duty.”Tullius sketched me a salute.“I’ll be the toast of my barracks, to say I’m friends with Leonidas the Spartan.”
Tullius arrivedat our apartment that evening, late in the eleventh hour, before the sun set.He could take us, he said, to where Floriana had been struck down.
We walked quickly, Cassia behind us.I would rather she stay indoors, as the darkening streets were dangerous even for a Praetorian Guard and a former gladiator, but I hadn’t bothered to give her the order.I knew she’d only follow, and I’d rather have her next to me, where I could protect her, than hurrying after us in the twilight.
I assumed Tullius would take us to a place in the Subura, near Floriana’s house, but he led us north and west and around the Capitoline and the Theatre of Marcellus to the Porticus of Octavia.
The porticus, a memorial to Augustus’s sister, was a columned place offering shelter from the heat, rain, or Rome’s crowds.Tullius continued around the porticus to a path that ran alongside the Tiber and the bridge to the Insula.I’d taken this route when I’d run to fetch Marcianus from myludusthe day Floriana had been poisoned.The stench of the river grew stronger as we approached, carried by a breeze that scuttled the rain clouds.
Tullius halted in a spot where the path was overgrown, hidden from both the bridge and the buildings by a clump of trees and scrub.
“Here.”Tullius pointed dramatically.“This is where the body of Floriana was found, stabbed to death.”
Cassia came forward, tablet in hand.She made a quick sketch of the path and river, marking notes alongside the diagram.
“What’s she doing?”Tullius asked.“The vigiles already have their records … that’s how I found out about this place.”
Cassia opened her mouth to explain, but I cut in.“I told her to.”
Tullius looked curious, but shrugged and said no more.
There wasn’t much to see.The bushes where Floriana had fallen were broken.A few footprints marked the mud, but the rain had washed most of them away.The marks of sandals would tell us nothing—all of Rome wore such shoes.Cassia sketched them anyway, and I did not stop her.
Any blood had been washed away as well, either by the rain or a city worker.This spot was near public buildings, where important people might stroll on a sunny winter day, and the consuls would not want to upset their colleagues and clients with the reminder of a violent death.
I gazed along the river to the arched bridge where people hurried to or from the island in the Tiber, wanting to be indoors before it was fully dark.I also wanted to be indoors, not liking that someone in Rome wanted me dead.What was to say they wouldn’t strike down my companions with me?
“None would have seen the murder.”I turned from the river and studied the back of the theatre and the Porticus Octaviae.“The fog would obscure what happened, and that early, it still would have been dark.”A cold finger traced down my spine.This was the perfect place for an assassination.
“Why did Floriana comehere?”Cassia asked, her stylus busy.“She must have been summoned to meet her killer, or she asked him to meet her.”
Tullius considered this.“She knew him, you mean?I thought it was done by a robber—they’d be thick in the dark and the fog, happy to find a victim in their snare.”
“Odd weather for a morning stroll,” Cassia said.“And this spot is far from Floriana’s home.I would guess she had an assignation of some sort.”
“With a lover?”Tullius offered.
“She could bring a lover to her house,” I said.“Or meet him at his.”
“Asecretlover, then.”Tullius nodded with confidence.“One she didn’t want her women talking about.”
“Possibly.”Cassia’s tone said she did not believe this, but she made another note.
Tullius moved to my side.“We should go back.”
The sun was sinking behind the river, silhouetting the arches of an aqueduct on the hills beyond.Clouds that had lowered on the city all day broke, and a streak of golden light glittered on the river and the stones of the aqueduct.
The natural beauty did not negate our danger.This area would soon come alive with thieves, along with the desperate who trolled the river collecting flotsam or simply hunkered down on the Campus Martius to wait for stray wanderers.Floriana must have sorely wanted to meet with whoever killed her—she’d be canny enough to understand the peril of this lonely place.
I gestured for Tullius to lead the way back to the main road.Cassia lingered, still jotting notes, until I took her by the arm and steered her after Tullius.
A shadow flitted after us, or so I thought.I swung around, my knife at the ready, but I saw nothing, no one.The river rushed on, the breeze bringing only silence.
Tullius decided to stop at a wine bar and steady his nerves before heading back to his barracks.He invited me to drink with him, but I declined, and said good night.
