‘He jerked our string. We did everything he wanted. It is a compliment, really,’ Petronius decided, with grim mirth. ‘Marcus, a villain of unbelievable duplicity entrusted us with his schemes. We should feel proud he believes in us so much!’

‘I am proud of the work. We put four criminals out of action, after they had preyed on a community for decades. That is what we do with our lives, Lucius, and it is commendable.’

Quintus and Aulus Camillus had been listening with tense expressions. I stood up. I paced the room a few times, before telling them. ‘For Petronius and me, the work is not yet finished. I wanted you two to hear all this. Now I want you to go away and leave us to it. Preserve your knowledge of these facts, as curators of the truth. I need you to know, in case the rest goes wrong.’

‘The rest?’ demanded Quintus quickly.

‘Don’t do it!’ muttered Aulus. ‘Going after him is far too dangerous. Leave it, Falco. My father tried, but Titus spoke up for the spy. At the Palace they believe he is good at his job. The official decision has been made: Anacrites is too valuable to remove.’

‘I expected that. Hence this council.’

I looked around the room: Helena; her brothers; my sister; our adopted daughter; Petronius; me. A close, closed circle, all of us touched in some way by the spy’s past actions, all threatened by his future schemes.

‘Helena?’

Helena glanced at Albia, then Maia. ‘What do we all think?’

‘Leave him—and it will only grow worse,’ prophesied Maia darkly.

‘He claimed he can do anything he wants,’ added Albia. ‘I argued that he is accountable to the Emperor—but he told me emperors will come and go. He stays. He answers only to history.’

‘Hubris!’ Helena retorted, as if charging Anacrites in person. ‘Self-centred aggrandisement—an insult to the gods. What will the gods do about it?’ she then wondered. Her dark brown eyes inevitably sought mine.

‘Send Nemesis to deal with him,’ I answered.

62

There were two stages: the search and the action. I may have implied to my loved ones there would be one other element beforehand: mature consideration. But Petronius and I dispensed with that.

Our division of labour was simple. We both reconnoitred the chosen location for the deed, convinced ourselves no one would bother us there, surveyed escape routes. We identified a dump site. We knew it would work; I had used it once before. Petro was bringing swords and a crowbar for the manhole. I had to find the spy.