"It was a bad moment, Maia-have a cushion, dear-don't blame him for being offhand."

"Oh, I don't. It just seems he deals more easily with my children than with me."

"You should worry if he can only deal with you through your children."

"Yes. Well, that's me-a mother!" Maia's crisp retort echoed around the enclosed garden. Her voice dropped. "That is the only way anyone expects to treat me."

"There speaks a noble matron." It sounded as if Aelia Camilla had smiled sadly. "Once we have the children… Of course, for a bride with her first husband at least there is a period when you deal with each other as adults. You never quite lose that."

Aelia Camilla had a batch of children now; there was at least one set of twins. Maia must have done some arithmetic, because she demanded quizzically, "Your first baby was a long time coming, wasn't she?"

"Flavia. Yes. We waited a few years to be blessed with Flavia."

"And you never knew why…"

"It seemed inexplicable," Aelia Camilla agreed. Something was going on here.

"So, were you making sure that you wanted to have them?" My sister could be so blunt it was rude.

To my surprise, the procurator's wife took it well. "Maia Favonia, don't accuse me of devious practices!" She sounded amused.

"Oh, I don't!" Maia was also laughing. "Though I am wondering, does Gaius Flavius know?"

"You won't expect me to answer that." Aelia Camilla was a clever woman. Her polite manner made her seem stuffy, though I had always thought it was a front. She was after all sister to Helena's father, and Decimus was a man I liked. His diffidence also hid a sharp intelligence. Brought up in our family, Maia had cruder social skills: nosiness, insults, accusations, rants, and that old favorite, flouncing off in a huff.

"So what about you?" the procurator's wife inquired directly. "Your eldest-"

"My eldest died." Like most bereaved mothers, Maia never forgot and she had never quite recovered from it. "I suppose that's why I felt so much for the situation with Petronius… I was pregnant when I married. I was very young. Too young. Well caught out."

They were silent for a while. A paragraph mark in the conversation.

"So now you have four, and you are widowed," Aelia Camilla summed up. "Your children are not helpless. I think you have a choice. You could be independent-make time for yourself in the way that you missed as a young girl. You are so attractive, you are surrounded by men who want to take you over-but, Maia, it's not for them to choose."

"Ditch them all, you mean?" Maia laughed. I was beginning to realize that after Famia died she must have been very lonely. He was useless in many ways, but he had a large presence. Since he was gone, even Helena had probably not talked to Maia like this. Ma might have given her good advice, but what girl listens to her mother over men? "Norbanus is very attentive," mused my sister. Impossible to tell whether she was pleased by that.

"Will you visit his villa?"

"I haven't decided."

"You could take my husband's riverboat." Maia must have looked puzzled, for Aelia Camilla added pointedly, "Then if you wanted to leave, you would have your own transport."

"Ah! I'm still not sure whether to go, but thanks… There have been others hovering. I got into a serious mess once, back at home." I heard Maia's voice cloud. She was talking about Anacrites.

Aelia Camilla gave no hint of understanding that this was a reference to Maia being stalked by the Chief Spy. She could well know about it. I was under no illusions. Anyone of my rank arriving in a new province would be preceded by an intelligence brief. For all I knew, Anacrites himself had contributed to mine. My sister, having attracted his vindictiveness, must also be a special-category traveler.

Aelia Camilla was now talking about her husband. "Gaius and I experienced problems at one time. I don't say we were publicly estranged, but I was very unhappy for a period."

"It doesn't show now," said Maia. "You were a long way from home?"

"Yes, and I felt a very great void between us."

"So what happened?"

"The usual-Gaius stayed out too much."

"What-bars, or the Games?"

"Well, I knew there were neither available."

"Oh, he said it was work!" Maia, chortling, knew all about that from Famia.

"Genuine." Aelia Camilla was loyal. "He had to travel long distances, sourcing precious minerals."

"How did you solve it? I gather you did solve it?"

"Drastically. I forced him to see that the problem existed: I said I wanted a divorce."

"That was a risk! Hilaris did not?"

"No. And I did not, Maia. Our marriage had been arranged for us by relatives, but it was right. We were in love. Sometimes more, sometimes less; but you feel it, don't you? When it is right."

"So what are you telling me, Camilla?"

"It made me believe that you should speak out. You cannot trust a man to face up to things, you know. Maia, you could lose him before you even start. There is too much to lose if you drift, thinking everybody understands one another."

A wicked note entered my sister's voice. "Are you talking about Norbanus Murena?"

Aelia Camilla chuckled. "No," she said. "Someone else-and you know it."

Maia did not ask her who she meant.

XXX

The Norbanus harpist joined them. His twanging would have drowned out their conversation anyway, but they both stopped the gossip. They would certainly not discuss Norbanus Murena; anyone else male was also off-limits. If the tunesmith was meant to carry back news to his master, this shrewd pair had his measure. He was spoiling their fun too.

Helena arrived soon afterward. I heard her dump a chair amid the garden party. Annoyance could be detected in the angry scratch of its legs.

"Where's our boy?" scoffed Maia immediately "I thought you were guarding my brother all day!"

"He found a friend."

"Anyone we know?"

Helena made no answer.

I waited awhile, then stood up. The others had their backs to me, but Helena looked up and saw me as I yawned and waved, making it plain I had been there on the balcony for hours. Perhaps she would feel guilty for doubting me. Perhaps not.

I went to our room and she joined me almost instantly. Nothing uncomfortable was said, and I quickly narrated all that Chloris had told me.

"I've acquired a witness, but one I can't use. Still, if she will make a formal statement, Frontinus may be prodded to make arrests. Maybe if word leaks out that the culprits are in custody, other people will feel safe enough to come forward."

"King Togidubnus will want to know what that quarrel in the bar was about."

"I need to know that myself. If Pyro and Splice just pretend they had an argument about a wine bill, that's not enough. I want to tie the Verovolcus killing to extortion. Then Frontinus can stamp on the racket."

Helena frowned. "Frontinus will support you, won't he?"

"Yes, though don't forget his initial reaction was to gloss over the problem. I have to prove beyond doubt what is going on."

"And Petronius is working on the same lines?"

"He is-but Frontinus must not know. If he finds out, Petro will be in hot water."

"You two!" she scoffed. "Why can neither of you ever do anything the easy way?"

I grinned. "Come here."

"Don't mess about, Falco." She sounded like me, coping with Chloris.

"No, come here." I got hold of her. She was too interested in the Verovolcus story to resist. I held her nose to nose. We were peaceful with each other now. "I love you very much, you know."

"Don't change the subject," said Helena Justina sternly, but by then I was kissing her.

I took my time. O reader, go and peruse a very long philosophical scroll for an hour. You damn well don't need to know about this.