‘Let me speak in a cruder argot then – if this man avows the robbers did not take the silver, is that not what a criminal is bound to say – especially if he wishes to stop you looking for his loot?’

‘A good point – though I believe him. He was undoubtedly honest about seeing the bodies. The scene horrified him. He had the shakes even talking about it. So I do accept he legged it empty-handed, in shock.’

I thought about this. I was certain Roscius had taken part in violence before. Even killing might not be new to him, though perhaps serious damage to others was mainly inflicted by the enforcer, Gallo. Even if Roscius was present during fights, I bet he normally left any victim behind, on the street or in a bar, possibly with a lot of spilled blood, yet either still alive and crawling, or else abandoned merely unconscious: the way it was meant to happen in that street attack on Uncle Quintus.

Roscius could distance himself from that. What affected him with Aviola and Mucia was their nakedness and their agonised faces. The memory of their dead faces would stay in his mind for a long time.

I had not even seen them, yet his horror affected me.

I sat writing up a report to leave here at the office for Manlius Faustus.

While I was doing it, the slaves must have held an urgent conference. I did hear raised voices, reaching me in waves. I wrote more slowly, allowing them time.

At length, a guard knocked on the door and told me a deputation wanted to see me.

38

There were three of them: Amaranta, Libycus and Phaedrus.

I was not surprised to see Amaranta as a ringleader. She was a quicksilver hopeful, with years to enjoy ahead of her if she escaped this unscathed – and she had organising skills. Libycus, the other body slave, made a natural partner to her now. Phaedrus, who had not budged on his original story when I talked to him again, was unexpected.

Of those who did not come, the hard-drinking gardener and the man of all work – Diomedes and Amethystus – were bound to keep well out of anything tricky. Olympe was too young; Amaranta, being motherly, might even have told her to hang back. I would have expected Daphnus, so I wondered if there was unknown coolness between him and Phaedrus.

Chrysodorus surprised me by his absence, given that he was the only one to tackle me beforehand over the new evidence. Still, although philosophers reckon to address the issues of all mankind, most are loners and many are awkward socially. He may have upset the rest and been rejected as a co-commissioner. Or he may have pulled out in a huff.