Now we stood closer, I saw she had a smooth face with fine, light-coloured hair. She peered slightly, as if she was short-sighted. Hermes’ angry denunciations had implied a hard-faced hag, a woman who would look worn by a hard life – or simply a hard nature. But Simplicia looked almost young for her age.

‘Valerius Aviola’s wife was Mucia Lucilia, who died with him,’ I pointed out severely. ‘You will be Galla Simplicia. Why don’t you sit here –’ I indicated the chairs I had put out when I interviewed Polycarpus. Myla had never removed them, of course. ‘You can recover from any emotional upset, while I fetch my writing equipment. Since you are here, let’s run through some questions I need to ask you.’

‘Should I have somebody with me?’ I thought her alarm was put on.

‘This is not a court.’ I steered her to the less comfortable seat. She ended up with an old folding x-stool; I wondered if she remembered it from her marriage. ‘I want to establish a few facts. Woman to woman,’ I cooed falsely. If she really had been involved in foul play, the last thing she wanted was an intimate exchange.

It took no time to gather up a note tablet and stylus in my room, but when I went back Galla Simplicia was already on her feet again, thinking to escape. She had dithered too long. I raised my eyebrows, as if failure to cooperate would count against her. She dropped back into her seat.

I took the more comfortable wicker chair. ‘Shall I ask Myla to bring refreshments?’

‘I don’t think so!’ I spotted an underlying dryness in Simplicia’s tone.

‘You’re right; she verges on useless. It beats me why people keep such girls, but I suppose when they have been in a house for a long time they are tolerated by default.’

My companion said nothing, though the ends of her mouth tightened.

On further inspection, Galla Simplicia must be forty, or closing fast. She was a type, proved by her wearing strappy sandals that just fell short of those beloved by the easy girls under the arches of the Circus Maximus. She indulged in time-consuming manicures, facials and hair-procedures. As well as too many finger-rings, she wore a complex gold necklace with a pendant of big Indian pearls, the kind that women with little-girl voices can extract from weak-willed men. She liked the good things in life; she knew where and how to obtain them. She continued to squeeze money from Aviola after he divorced her, but his marrying Mucia would finally have put a stop to it.

Galla would have hated that.