“Leave her be, Leonidas.She has suffered enough.”
I thumped the doorframe in frustration, sending a flake of red paint from the lintel drifting down to rest on my tunic.
“Whatever Lucia told you, tell Marcianus,” I said to Marcia.“He can decide whether I need to know.”
Marcianus scowled at me.“She is an innocent girl, and helped me save Floriana’s life.She’d not have done that if she’d put Floriana into that state in the first place.”
“We don’t believe she did,” Cassia said.“She is being loyal to Lucia.”She switched her gaze to Marcia.“It is important we speak to her.Do you know where she is?”
“No.”The answer held a ring of triumph.“I have no idea where Lucia ran off to.”
Cassia pinned Marcia with her scrutinizing stare, then nodded and adjusted her cloak.“Thank you.We will leave you alone now.”
She strode past me out the door, as though expecting that I’d follow.If Marcianus hadn’t been so angry with me for frightening Marcia, I suspect he might have laughed.
“I believe she told the truth.”Cassia spoke with conviction as we made our way along the crowded street toward the Circus Maximus.“About not knowing where Lucia is, I mean.”
“Marcia saw her, though,” I growled.
“If she confesses to Nonus Marcianus, he might tell us.”
“Possibly not.He’s protective of her.”I admired him for that, but at the moment, his loyalty exasperated me.
“Yes, but Marcianus likes you.If he wants to keep you from being arrested, he will tell us.In the meantime, it would be best if you found Lucia yourself.”
I studied the streams of people walking down the hill to the valley of the Circus Maximus.We passed a bathhouse with a continuous flow of men and women entering, ready to spend their afternoon washing and relaxing.
“How do I search for one woman in all this?”I swept my arm across the view.“Especially a woman who does not want to be found.”
“You have known her for some years, haven’t you?”Cassia asked in a reasonable tone.“Where would she hide?”
I had no idea.I tramped along, my large body breaking a path in the crowd, Cassia following in the wake I created.
Or, perhaps I did know.Lucia had rarely left Floriana’s, but she’d spoken of walking in the gardens of the Baths of Agrippa.There, she’d wrap herself in her palla and stroll anonymously among the pruned trees and shrubbery.
“There is one place,” I admitted.“She spoke about it to me.”
“It is a start.Shall we go there now?”
I doubted Lucia would be in the gardens simply because I wanted her to be.She’d need to eat and find a place to sleep every night—attendants herded people out of the bath complex at the end of the day, so she would not be camping there.
But, as Cassia indicated, it would be a place to begin instead of walking up and down the streets of the city, checking every cloaked woman until I found her.
I took a street that skirted the long side of the Circus and emerged near the river in the shadow of the Palatine Hill.From there we took the path that followed the Tiber past the place Floriana had been struck down, and northward through the Campus Flaminius.
It was a lengthy walk, and Cassia flagged by the time we reached the baths.A wind had sprung up, cold with winter, smoke and steam from the huge bath complex thick in the air.
Agrippa, the close friend of Augustus, had set up these massive public baths, which I’d used many times in my life.Theluduslay a short distance across the river and Aemil had paid the small fee, so I often retreated here after a tiring day of training.
We strolled in past a tall marble statue of a man set high on a pedestal.Cassia gazed at the statue in amazement and then, when she could tear her attention from it, peered eagerly through the rotunda to the library full of scrolls.
“I’ve heard of this place.”Her whisper echoed in the cavernous hall.“I’ve always wanted to come.The statue at the entrance is by Lysippus.A true Lysippus, not a copy.”
I didn’t know who Lysippus was, but Cassia’s awe told me he was a famed artist.
The vaulted halls were filled with people talking, arguing, debating, laughing.Men and women diverged into the changing rooms, but they would merge again in the baths.Floors of marble and terra cotta led to bathing rooms and the gymnasium.We took the route to the gardens.
“I understand why Lucia made this her retreat,” Cassia said in admiration as we emerged into the green space.The garden held colonnaded walks, with benches in niches, trees and greenery, and statues peeking out here and there.“Marcus Agrippa had great vision, was very keen on civic works.”
