Quintus and Claudia would rely on the slaves’ loyalty to them and their immediate family. As visitors, that might not extend to Faustus and me. Slaves were human. And we lived in a poisoned city, where a paranoid emperor had caused often-lethal mistrust.

Caution ruled.

Faustus and I stood up to leave. I felt a light touch of the aedile’s hand in the small of my back, guiding me to the colonnade. He had blown out his lamp, risking a stumble over some abandoned mop and bucket but enabling him to glide invisibly back to his guest room, assuming he could remember the way. He whispered goodnight and I did the same. At the end of the corridor I glanced back, but it was too dark to see him. I had no idea whether those grey eyes were surveying me. All he would have seen if he looked was a shadow and a faint pinpoint of light from my tiny oil lamp.

The discussion was worth having. It had eased my mind. Back in my room, I fell asleep in moments.

27

I was up very early, though had already missed Faustus and Aelianus. They went to see Cassius Scaurus at very first light. The vigiles do most of their work at night, while they are fire-watching, so the best time to catch any of them is at the end of the watch. Scaurus rarely went out with the foot patrols but he would have to be in his office when the men returned to base with prisoners and reports. He gathered in the human trash not only from his headquarters team, but the lads at the out-station up on the Aventine, which was my local.

As I poked around trying in vain to find someone to give me breakfast, I envisaged the scene at the station house this morning. Among the usual bunch of feckless householders who had left braziers burning unsafely and needed a pompous lecture on responsibility, Scaurus would be thrilled to find a hardened criminal who had been caught in the act. This signalled fun. He might not welcome a Daily Gazette report on the mugging of a senator in the Twelfth District, but he would love holding a villain from the Second Cohort’s patch. Scaurus could annoy the Second by retaining him for as long as he wanted, then when he grew bored with this simple entertainment he could shunt the fellow back to his opposite number, leaving his counterpart stuck with any tricky decisions and all the tiresome form-filling.

There was time before I was needed at the Esquiline. I decided I had to see it.

I could not find Dromo. None of the Camillus slaves would agree to wake up and take me, especially after all the excitement yesterday. Luckily it was early enough to hope no one dangerous was out on the streets. Never mind safety precautions, I could move faster on my own.