Free Ten for Dying (John the Lord Chamberlain Mysteries) by Mary Reed, Eric Mayer Page B

and wiped his fingers on his tunic. “But now I have work to do.”

Chapter Fourteen
    Less than an hour later Felix was cursing the narrowness of the alley behind his house.
    He hadn’t driven a donkey cart since he’d left the family farm in Germania to join the legions. He might have felt a pang of nostalgia under different circumstances, ones that didn’t involve secretly disposing of a strangled corpse. The cart’s wooden sides scraped brick walls as he urged the donkey through semi-liquid drifts of discarded vegetables and other slippery detritus better not investigated in the dark, or for that matter in such light as straggled down into the narrow way even in daytime. The stubborn beast refused to follow a straight line. Apparently donkeys were much stupider than they used to be.
    Felix would have slung the body across the back of one of his horses but he feared drawing attention. Lying in the bottom of the cart, wrapped in a blanket, the corpse would pass for a sack of grain if anyone took any notice. Or so he hoped.
    He kept expecting a contingent of urban watch to materialize in the alley mouth to block his way. When he had managed to maneuver the cart out of the alley and the wheels rattled over the street cobbles he began to feel easier. The further he could get from the house the better.
    His relief lasted only a short time until he discovered the cart was too wide to be driven through the slit between the buildings opposite the mouth of the alley. He would have to travel in more public places than he had planned in order to reach the seawall, where his burden could be tossed into the water to become a plaything for Poseidon’s children, as Anastasia had delicately put it.
    He had left her behind. If she wanted to betray him this was her chance. He’d know whether she was loyal or not when he got back.
    His house was located on a side street off the Mese, conveniently near to the Great Palace and not far from the water. Tugging clumsily at the reins, he convinced the donkey to turn down the thoroughfare. The beast continued to plod slowly but erratically, veering from side to side. Torches outside shops shut for the night intermittently illuminated the street. A gust of wind blew grit into Felix’s face. Moon-silvered clouds raced through the sky.
    The cart rolled into an oblong of light spilling from a doorway.
    “Felix! Stop!”
    What the voice stopped was Felix’s heart. Discovered? Already?
    He raised his whip, ready to urge his reluctant animal forward, then he saw a familiar figure reeling out of the tavern, one Felix too often frequented. Or had until he met Anastasia.
    “Felix, my friend, come and share a cup with me! How long has it been since we’ve saluted Bacchus together? You’ve been away as long as Odysseus.”
    “I regret I’m off on urgent official business, Bato.”
    To Felix’s chagrin the donkey decided to halt dead in its tracks, allowing Bato to stroll over to the side of the cart and lie against it.
    “Official business, is it? That’s why you’re taking the imperial carriage?” Bato looked bleary-eyed into the cart.
    “It’s a matter that calls for discretion.”
    “Ah.” Bato exhaled pungently, leering up at Felix. “You are off to see a lady, aren’t you? Come my friend, are we not men? There is no need for prevarication. You have fallen under Circe’s spell.”
    “Mithra!” Felix muttered under his breath. “I admit it,” he said loudly, “I’m on way to visit a woman, who is waiting impatiently.”
    Bato made no effort to push himself away from the cart. Instead he banged the side. “And with such a conveyance? Do you expect to be so exhausted you’ll have to be carted home?”
    “Hardly. I just decided to…to show her how things were back in Germania when I was growing up.”
    Bato ignored his excuse. “I have it. You’re going to pretend to be bringing the cart back after repairing it, so her husband will be misled if he hears of your