A Roman Ransom by Rosemary Rowe Read Free Book Online Page B

take splendid care of his guests – and the under-floor heating would have been a treat. But now I suppose he will not need my help.’
    Junio stabbed another spoon of gruel at me. ‘You are a cynic, master. Your patron was genuinely concerned about your health. He would have had you up there two days ago and more, but the medicus arrived and said that you could not be moved. But I expect you’re right. Now that he’s let this Lallius fellow go, presumably he’ll get his wife and infant back, so you have lost your chance.’
    This time I did sit bolt upright. ‘He’s let Lallius go? Already? Dear gods! I thought at least he’d talk to me again before he rushed into anything like that. Junio, I’m afraid I fear the worst. He does not even know who he is dealing with. There could be more demands. He has no guarantee of anything, not even a firm promise of how and when they will be returned. Or has he had some message that I haven’t heard about?’
    ‘I don’t believe so, master.’ Junio looked instantly penitent. ‘I should have woken you. I wanted to – I know he really came here to try to talk to you – but when he heard that you were still asleep he changed his mind and insisted that I should leave you undisturbed.’
    ‘Marcus has been here again? Today?’
    ‘He looked in with the medicus a little while ago – on his way to the basilica, he said. Poor man. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all. He’d had the high priest of Jupiter up there half the night, and between them they’ve found a way to handle the matter. I was to tell you that. He’d decided to do what the abductors said, without appearing to. He was pretty shaken and extremely grim. I think he was unhappy at trifling with the law. You know how he always prides himself on being strictly just.’
    ‘So he is proposing to overrule the magistrate who presided at the preliminary court?’ I could hardly believe it. Junio was right. Marcus would have cut his own hand off rather than betray his role of trust – in any other circumstances but these.
    Junio shrugged. ‘Not that exactly. They’ve hit on some legal quibble which will allow him to dismiss the case. It is only a pretext. Something about the official sacrifice and the magistrate in question coming late and failing to observe some minor rite – crossing the threshold with his left foot first, or something of the kind. It’s the sort of thing that these days would ordinarily be ignored, but once the high priest has identified the lapse, it is enough to throw question on all proceedings for that day by making the magistrate unpropitious – “nefas”, as they say.’
    ‘So any decisions that he made that day can be annulled, without making Marcus seem to be personally involved, or drawing attention to any accused person in particular? I hope it works. It’s so unusual for courts to be annulled that people are bound to wonder why. If news of Julia’s abduction has already reached the town – as almost certainly it has, since Marcus had all the passers-by brought in and questioned – someone is certain to put two and two together in the end.’
    Junio clearly did not share my reservations. ‘Even if they do,’ he said, ‘they won’t be able to prove anything, not even who he wanted to set free. It isn’t fair, of course, because other offenders will get off as well and the magistrate will have to pay a fine. However, you must admit it does what was required. Not only will Lallius – among others – be released, but, because the formula itself has failed, he will be free from any legal charge, at least until Julia and Marcellinus are returned. Then, Marcus says, he’ll bring him in again, and those who helped him, too – on charges of conspiracy if nothing else – and Dis knows there’ll be no mercy for any of them then. Marcus will conduct the case himself.’
    ‘That is exactly what worries me,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t take a rune-reader to see that’s what