The Bull Slayer

CHAPTER Thirty-seven

If Pliny had slept little, Didymus looked like he had not slept at all. His eyes were red and there was a tremor in his one hand. His cheeks were covered with a day’s growth of beard and bits of straw clung to his clothes and hair. But his little mouth was set in a stubborn pout.

“This is an outrage. You Romans—”

“I know you’re uncomfortable,” Pliny cut him off. “Are you thirsty? Suetonius, pour our friend a cup of wine. We needn’t prolong this, you know. And you know I’m quite prepared to see you as the victim here. I don’t think you instigated any of this. I’d very much like to hear your side of it.”

Didymus waved the wine away. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I paid a visit to your bank this morning and what do you suppose I found? A tunnel, quite a well-made one, that runs under the street from your vault to a warehouse on the docks. My men and I searched it. There isn’t much in the warehouse at the moment, bales of cloth, innocent cargo. But in the tunnel we found a few of these.” Pliny held up a silver four drachma piece stamped with the emblem of Heraclea Pontica. “This is tax money, Didymus, conveyed to the warehouse in—I’m guessing, sacks of dried fruit? jars of oil?—and smuggled through that tunnel into your bank vault. Now, my friend, tell me why, tell me who was behind this. Help yourself while you still can.”

Behind Didymus’ back Suetonius raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He was hearing this for the first time.

“Tunnel? Oh, that. Been there for ages. I didn’t know where it went. You said a warehouse?”

Pliny lunged forward. “Stop this nonsense! I already know enough to convict you. Lying only makes it worse. You have one more chance to help yourself. Who dragged you into this mess?”

The little banker stared at the floor. When he looked up his face was white and wet with sweat. Pliny could smell the fear. “Balbus, of course. Who d’you think?” His lips twisted in a sneer.

Pliny leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Excellent! I’m glad you’re seeing reason at last. Now, if you would, tell me exactly how it worked.”

Didymus answered in a voice that was barely audible. “Four navy ships collect the money from the coastal cities—Heraclea, Sinope, Amisus, the others—and bring it here. One of those ship captains, I don’t know his name, was Balbus’ accomplice. Somewhere along the coast at night Balbus would meet him in a ship he owns and they’d transfer some of the money, disguising it, like you said, as innocent cargo and offload it at the warehouse, which Balbus also owns. The customs inspector never suspected anything or maybe he was bribed, I don’t know.”

“The crews of the two ships would have to know what was going on. No one talked?”

“They were paid not to.”

“The money chests are tallied at the treasury. Silvanus must have known about this then.”

“I don’t think so. When Balbus would make up the assessments every year he would levy, say, eight talents from Sinope and write that in his book, but he told the Sinopeans to pay nine talents. The extra talent he would divert; it’s like it never existed.”

Pliny exchanged a stunned look with Suetonius. The enormity of the thing was almost too much to take in. He would have to arrest all four captains and put them through whatever was necessary to find the guilty one.

“And how did you get involved in this?”

“Well, he needed someplace to keep the money, didn’t he? And a way to distribute it. I only did what he told me, I was nothing but his tool.”

“Distribute it to whom?”

Didymus shut his mouth tight and shook his head.

“Come now, you’ve told me this much. This is where the cult comes in, isn’t it? That’s where you two met. Who are the others, Didymus? What was the money used for? What has all this got to do with a barbarian sun god?”

The banker was silent.

“I can drag in everyone you’ve loaned money to and question them.”

“You think that would be wise, Governor?”

Pliny felt an urge to reach out and grab the little man by the throat and shake him. He took a deep breath and struggled to get himself under control. “It seems you’re more afraid of these Mithras worshippers—this Sun-Runner—than you are of me. I can protect you from them.”

“But you can’t!” The little man’s voice rose, the stump of his arm flailed the air. You’ll go home in a year or two. It doesn’t matter what happens to me but I have a wife and son who have to live here the rest of their lives. My son hopes to follow me in my business.” He was near tears.

Pliny held up his hands. “Yes, of course, I see that. You’ve gotten yourself in quite a fix, haven’t you? But let’s come back to Balbus. You had a falling out with him and you killed him.”

“I deny it and you have no proof.”

“Haven’t I?” Pliny sighed. He had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. “Suetonius, if you would, go out and bring in the witness, he’s waiting in the antechamber.”

Suetonius led Aulus in.

“You!” Didymus leapt off his stool, knocking it over. He spat and made the sign of the horns with his fingers.

“When we first spoke, I found it curious how you insisted that Balbus’ son wasn’t right in his head and saw things that weren’t there. What were you afraid he saw, Didymus? You and Glaucon murdering his father? Well, he did,” Pliny lied, “and he’ll testify to it in court.”

“Keep him away from me!”

Aulus blinked his eyes and began to sway; Pliny could see a seizure coming on. “Take the boy out, Suetonius,” he said quickly. “It’s enough.”

Pliny looked severely at Didymus. “I would rather have spared you both this confrontation. Now tell me what Balbus did to you that drove you to kill him.”

“He beat me! Me, a one-armed man! Called me a thief, a Greekling, he spat on me! They all looked down on me, those high-and-mighty ones, but where would they have been without me?”

“Why did Balbus beat you?”

“The whore, Sophronia! I’d had reverses, I couldn’t pay her back. How was I to know she was Balbus’ mistress, that some of the money was his? He said he’d have me expelled from the—the worship. Said they’d find another banker. Not likely! The Roman bully, me a one-armed man— ” Didymus was working himself into a fury, red-faced with tears streaming down his cheeks, his one fist clenched white. He spewed a string of curses that was remarkable for its variety and inventiveness. Suetonius, who was contemplating a monograph on Greek terms of abuse, hoped the shorthand writer was getting it all down.

Pliny waited patiently until the banker had worn himself out and sat gasping for breath, beyond speech. “You really must take a little wine, my friend. I understand perfectly how you must have felt. Insufferable the way they treated you. Let us just clear up a few details. You intercepted Balbus on his way to the cave. How did you persuade Glaucon to help you? I don’t have the impression that he was much interested either in business or in foreign religions.”

“He resented his brother Theron always treating him like a half-wit. He wanted to handle money, lots of it, prove himself, even if it was secret. It was me that brought him into the worship, so he had to respect me. And then he actually started to believe it all. He was afraid Lord Mithras would take away his eternal life for killing one of his devotees.”

“But you didn’t believe that?”

Didymus shrugged.

“So you were able to persuade Glaucon to help you kill Balbus.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. It was an accident. I just wanted to talk to him, beg him not to get me expelled from the worship and give me a little more time to repay his whore. I was afraid to go to his house where I wouldn’t be welcome so I decided to meet him on the path. I only brought Glaucon along for protection in case he started to hit me again. I didn’t know he would have the idiot boy with him. We hid ourselves in the bushes beside the path and we heard them quarreling, the boy whining and pleading. He tried to run away and Balbus ran after him and knocked him to the ground and they struggled. We stepped out and I called him by name. He jumped up and spun around, his forehead bloody where the boy must have hit him. He screamed like some animal and charged at us. I thought he had lost his mind. But Glaucon tackled him and wrestled him to the ground and held him in a headlock. Balbus thrashed about and then suddenly he went limp. When we realized he was dead we were in a panic, especially Glaucon. He kept crying that he’d killed a devotee of the god and Mithras would deny him his eternal life up among the stars. Well, there was nothing to do but hide the body. We dragged it from the path and threw it down a gulley and covered it as best we could. I wanted to do the same with the boy, he looked dead enough, but Glaucon wouldn’t touch him because he’s cursed and I couldn’t manage it alone with my one arm, so we just left him there.”

“What did you do then?”

“Went on to the cave. The others all wondered what was delaying the procurator, especially since he had sent word to the Father only the day before that he was bringing his son for initiation. Finally, we went ahead with our service and the sacred meal afterward. I kept my eye on Glaucon all the time. I was terrified he would break down and confess. He didn’t, but I had no confidence he could hold out for long. I knew then I would have to get rid of him.”

“So you sent him a present of poisoned honey dates. Where did you get the poison?”

Didymus shrugged. “I keep it for poisoning the rats.”

“And then you killed Barzanes, the Father, when you learned we’d talked to him.”

“No, I never! I swear to you. If someone has killed him it wasn’t me.”

“Then who do you think killed him?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you have a suspicion, don’t you?” Didymus shook his head violently. “Could it have been this Sun-Runner? Who is the Sun-Runner, Didymus? You’ve told us this much, tell it all.”

“You think I want my family burned up like Barzanes!”

“Poor man, you really are more afraid of your accomplices than you are of me. Rest assured, Didymus, sooner or later I will find them out, with your help or without it.”

“But I have helped you all I can. You said if I confessed I’d be helping myself. Was that just Roman lies? What will happen to me now?”

Pliny made a temple of his fingers and rested his chin. “There’s death, Didymus, and then there’s death. I can spare your family the ignominy of a crucifixion. I can omit confiscating your property. You can’t expect more than that.”

“Can’t I?” The little man was on his feet, spittle flying from his lips. “Will you have me strangled in the dungeon? That’s a nice example of Roman justice! Or will you put me on trial and have it all come out, how your procurator has looted the province for two years? I’m sure your emperor will congratulate you for that!”

“Lictors!” Pliny shouted. Suddenly, he couldn’t bear the sight of this man. Galeo and two others who had been waiting in the antechamber rushed in. “Get him out of here!”

Suetonius crossed the room and put a hand on Pliny’s shoulder, easing him back in his chair. He could feel his chief trembling.