The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

currency. A man so inept, he hires his own informer to expose him.
    I made my way to the library and marched in on Decimus unannounced.
    "Surprise! A senator who collects not grubby Greek antiques but ingots engraved artistically by the government! You're in enough trouble, sir, why hire me as well?"
    He had a shifty expression for a moment, then he seemed to straighten up. I suppose a politician gets used to people calling him a liar.
    "Dangerous ground, Falco. When you calm down"
    I was perfectly calm. Furious, but lucid as glass.
    "Senator, the silver pig must be stolen; I don't rate you as a thief. For one thing," I sneered, "if you had gone to the trouble of stealing British silver, you would take much more care of your loot. What's your involvement?"
    "Official," he said, then had second thoughts. That was just as well, since I didn't believe him. "Semiofficial."
    I still didn't believe him. I choked back a laugh. "And semi corrupt
    He brushed my bluntness aside: "Falco, this has to be in confidence." The stale crust of this family's confidence was the last thing I welcomed. "The ingot was found after a scuffle in the street and handed in to the magistrate's office. I know the praetor for this Sector; he's a man I dine with and his nephew gave a posting to my son. We discussed the ingot, naturally."
    "Ah, just among friends!"
    Whatever he had done, to a man of his station I was being unacceptably rude. His patience surprised me. I watched him closely; he was just as intently observing me. I would suspect he wanted a favour, had he been a different class of man.
    "My daughter Helena took a letter to Britain we have relatives there. My brother-in-law is the British secretary of finance. I wrote to him"
    "All in the family; I see!" I scoffed again. I had forgotten how clannish these people can be: little pockets of reliable friends sewn into every province from Palestine to the Pillars of Hercules.
    "Falco, please! Gaius my brother-in-law conducted a skeleton audit. He discovered there had been a steady wastage from the British mines at least since the Year of the Four Emperors. Theft on a grand scale, Falco! Once we heard that, we wanted our evidence secure; my friend the praetor asked my help. Using Sosia Camillina's bank box was, I regret to say, my own bright idea."
    I told him our new hideout. He looked ill. Petro had taken the silver pig to Lenia's laundry. We would be banking it in her vat of bleaching pee.
    The senator made no comment on either our snaffling his exhibit or its pungent hiding place. What he offered me was much more dangerous.
    "Are you busy at the moment?" I was never busy. As an informer I was not that good. "Look Falco, are you interested in helping us? We can't trust the official machine. Someone must already have talked."
    "What about here?" I interrupted.
    "I never mentioned the ingot here. I took Sosia to bank it without telling her why, then forbade her to talk." He paused. "She's a good child." I gestured wry acknowledgement. "Falco,
    I admit we were careless before we grasped the implications, but if the praetor's organization leaks we can't take further risks. Your face seems to fit this job semi-official and semi-corrupt"
    Sarcastic old beggar! I realized the man had a quietly wicked streak. He was shrewder than he liked to appear. He certainly knew what preoccupied me. He ran one hand over that upright bush of hair, then said awkwardly:
    "I had a meeting today at the Palace. I can't say more than that, but with the Empire to reconstruct after Nero and the civil war those ingots are sorely needed by the Treasury. In our talks your name came up. I understand you had a brother My face really set. "Excuse me!" he exclaimed abruptly in that concerned way the occasional aristocrat has, which I never entirely trust. It was an apology; one I ignored. I would not have these people discussing my brother. "Well, would you want the job? My principal will honour your usual rates; I gather you inflated