Free The Germanicus Mosaic by Rosemary Rowe Page B

about what is in their testaments, in order to win favours while they are alive. I hear Marcus and the governor are named as substitutes. There may be others, too. Of course, we shall not know for sure until the will is opened and read publicly in the forum.’
    ‘You realise,’ I said, ‘that you have just attributed to Andretha a motive for wishing his master dead? A pension and freedom.’
    ‘Andretha?’ That was a new idea, I was sure. ‘He’s a peculiar man. I suppose it’s possible. He’s got a mania about buying his freedom. He worked for a younger man before, you see, and was arranging to do it, but the youth died of a fever and Crassus bought him instead. Andretha still talks about saving his slave-price and buying his release – but now, I suppose, he will not have to. It has turned him into a hoarder, though. Crassus used to torment him by fining him for misdemeanours. Parting with a few sesterces was more painful to Andretha than the lash, I believe. Every fine delayed his freedom a little further.’
    I nodded. A slave, particularly a chief slave, might hope to receive an
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or two from departing guests – assuming that Crassus’ gambling friends were more generous than he was. All the same, it would take a long time to save up those ‘few sesterces’. Every fine would sting. This was presumably the ‘subtle method’ that Paulus had talked of. But speaking of Andretha reminded me. ‘And what about Daedalus?’ I said. ‘What kind of man was he? He was promised freedom even without the will. Why would he run away?’
    ‘He was a strange man, too. Oh, he was clever – knew how to flatter, how to laugh at the right time, how to find out people’s weaknesses. But—’ Aulus got up sharply. ‘Why are you asking me this, citizen? Facts I can give you, but who knows a man’s motives? I am a spy, not a soothsayer.’ He towered over me.
    I stood my ground. Like Daedalus, I knew how to flatter. ‘You have sharp eyes, gatekeeper. I value your impressions. If I am to find Daedalus, I must know what kind of a man he was. Could he have done this murder? If Crassus had suddenly denied him freedom, say?’
    Aulus took a step backwards and began looking at his sandals, with the air of a great philosopher. ‘I have asked myself that. I don’t know the answer, citizen. I do not believe so, murder was not his weapon. But people will stoop to almost anything, for a price.’
    An interesting sentiment. ‘And Daedalus had his price?’ I asked.
    There was a pause. ‘Oh yes, he had his price.’
    ‘And what was that? Money? Freedom?’
    No answer.
    I waited. At last he raised his head and looked at me. He was a big, brutish man, but he would not last a minute, I thought, in front of a hostile magistrate. No one had even threatened to torture him.
    He sat down again, avoiding my eyes. ‘I suppose, power. Freedom and money perhaps, but most of all power. I don’t think he would murder for revenge. One can have very little power over the dead.’
    ‘But in exchange for power?’
    He looked at me then. ‘He might do anything.’ He leaned forward, leering excitedly. ‘I see what you are thinking, citizen. Those soldiers at the gate . . .’
    It was not exactly what I was thinking, but I said, ‘Go on.’
    ‘Suppose Daedalus was paid to murder Crassus? Bribed by some high official perhaps, or offered a lucrative post – that would explain everything. If Crassus was plotting against the empire, as Marcus thinks, he would have powerful enemies. Men with the money to offer Daedalus anything.’ He smiled triumphantly, seizing my arm again. ‘If you prove this, citizen, do not forget that it was me who reported those soldiers at the gate.’
    ‘Or “soldier”,’ I said. ‘One each time.’
    ‘Yes,’ Aulus agreed, ‘but there might have been others behind the scenes. They were centurions, after all. They could have had a military gig, for instance, to bring the body back unseen.’
    ‘Of course,’