For a moment I felt Laco was about to say something.

But he did not.

XXXIV

T HAT NIGHT we reviewed the case thoroughly. Time was short. We decided to opt for a trial of Calpurnia Cara now, and hope to discover more evidence as we went along. This was dangerous. I did realise that – though at the time I failed to grasp just how dangerous it would be for me personally.

`You have no direct evidence to link Calpurnia with the killing,' Helena pointed out. `This will not be easy. She is not a woman to confess.'

`Trials are not decided by evidence, but arguments,' said Honorius, playing the expert. `All we have to do is suggest strenuously that Calpurnia did it.'

`And I thought you were an idealist! Can this be why most people hold the law in contempt?' I asked him.

The two Camilli, who were with us for this case review, sniggered. `We still have to persuade a jury that she did it,' said Justinus.

`Careful!' exclaimed his brother. `Clear guilt in the accused only gets prosecutors a worse name – for indulging in the profit motive when they make charges.' Aelianus' new satirical mode was alarming.

`Well look at us!' I was angry at us myself `We have ganged up on this woman, we are conspiring to accuse her – and we targeted her in order to make money. If the jury decides to despise us, we may yet lose votes.'

`We are saving Metellus Negrinus,' Honorius objected.

`By making him live with the knowledge that his father slept with his wife and his mother killed his father?' Helena was unimpressed.

`What we need,' Honorius fretted, `is not just a violent dose of poison – that usually convicts women, for some reason – but to be able to say Calpurnia used spells.'

`All she did was sell her jewellery and consult a fortune-teller,' I said. `Plenty of women do that.'

Honorius threw back his arms above his head and let out a wild cry. 'Aah! What fortune telling? Tell me! A bonus! Magic practices? Astrologers? We've got her then! Falco, this is the most important evidence we could have.'

I recoiled from his excitement. `Maybe she just wanted to know her own future?'

`Never mind what she wanted,' Honorius said, his teeth clenched. `The court will know what to think – and it's entirely in our favour.'

I handed out queries for investigation. I would try to interrogate the banker, Aufustius. I took Justinus to help. Aelianus was to ride down the Via Appia, find the Metellus monument, and check any memorial to Metellus senior. Helena volunteered to attempt entry at Saffia Donata's apartment. Honorius would try to track down the horoscope-seller, Olympia.

First thing, however, we obtained an appointment with the praetor. Work must have been slack; he saw us within a couple of hours, the same day. We made our denunciation of Calpurnia. He was unimpressed. We mentioned the will. We alluded to Saffia and incestuous adultery. We said Calpurnia was angry. We said she used a fortune-teller. We emphasised that her husband died days before she had said he did; we claimed that she had now burned Saffia's coverlet to hide the evidence.

`It seems a hygienic precaution,' the praetor objected. He had fastened on the least important aspect, naturally.

`The precaution had been omitted for a whole three months, sir,' I pointed out. `Calpurnia Cara only ordered the destruction of the coverlet once I had seen it.'

`Oh well. We cannot have a Roman matron, a mother of three children I notice, being a bad housewife,' grinned the praetor. This was a snob who believed a woman should work in wool and keep the home, earning that sweet lie, `She never quarrelled' on her epitaph; the swine probably kept three mistresses and stinted his wife on her food budget. No question, he was allowing us more leeway with a case against a woman than he would tolerate in a case against a man. He fixed a date for a pre-trial where Calpurnia could hear our evidence, and we rushed off to gather some.

Justinus and I took the banker Aufustius to lunch.

He was cautious and defensive, but then people were constantly complaining about his interest charges and pursuing him for loans. Nobody ever treated him, because his clients all thought his fees were steep enough and they did not want to look extravagant. Giving him lunch was a cheap investment. He was delighted with a plate of grilled fish and a wine chaser.

He told us the Metelli had been a well-set-up family until a few years ago; then he realised they had eaten into their reserves and were spending prolifically.

`A thought strikes me,' Justinus mused. `After they lost the corruption trial, Silius told us his compensation as the accuser was assessed at a million and a quarter sesterces. Isn't the going rate about a quarter of the condemned man's estate?'

`It is.' Aufustius nodded. `The figure was based on their Census return.'

`That was two years ago then.' I had been involved with the Census – a pleasant commission, and lucrative. `Most people tried to undervalue their worth to avoid taxes. As a banker, you would know!' Aufustius sucked a fishbone and gave nothing away. `In order to put Negrinus into the Senate the family had to have a million's worth of land – that's just to qualify. Election expenses would have been substantially more,' I pointed out. `Nowadays these folk are at rock bottom. So where did it all go, Aufustius?'

`People do lose everything,' the banker sighed.

`True.' Justinus refilled a beaker for Aufustius. We toasted our guest, but then put down our cups. Justinus listed possible disasters: `Volcanoes, earthquakes, ships that sink in storms, seedy confidence tricksters who run off with the deed boxes…'

`Their cash went down to zero,' Aufustius said. `I assumed it was the trial.' I told him they had not paid the compensation yet. He looked puzzled.

`What about their landed estate?' Justinus asked him.

`I don't see that side. Well, except for the income. Rents and product revenues seem to have dried up. Maybe they have sold the land.'

`Who would know?'

`They had a land agent, a freedman, last I heard. What's his name… Julius Alexander.'

Justinus sat up slightly. `Lives in Lanuvium?'

`Yes. That's where they came from originally.' Interesting.

Justinus looked annoyed. `I didn't connect him directly. Why is he called Julius, not Metellus?'

`Julia was the grandmother. She must have freed him. The rest seem very fond of him.'

`Ever met him?'

`No.'

`I was impressed.' Justinus swallowed wine. `He was organised, pleasant, good to deal with. I would think if he runs an estate, he runs it well.'

`During the son's tenure of his aedileship, did you see any of the bribes?' I asked Aufustius.

`No comment.'

`Oh go on.'

`Well, I wouldn't tell you if I had – but I never did. I was very surprised to hear about the case. I had no idea all that backhanding went on. I can't even guess where they stashed away the "gifts". It makes no sense to me. All the time, their bankboxes here were debouching coins like flood-water running off a mountainside.'

Justinus asked the waiter to refresh our bread basket. We sat in silence while he went behind the counter and returned.

With the new crunchy rolls we changed the subject. `What's the history with Lutea?'

`This is not to be repeated, right, Falco?' Oh no. Only in court. `I don't know what he's up to, but he thinks he's riding high. I haven't seen much coming in yet, though he keeps promising. This is a change for Lutea, understand. He knows how to bluff socially, but he was once on the verge of bankruptcy. His debts made me feel faint. I couldn't bear to tot up the damage. He and Saffia were a promiscuous couple!'

`What?' It was my turn to be startled, though with other people's sex lives, you should be prepared for anything. `Lewd practices?'