It's official bollocks, then."

Ah well, Falco, now you're being political!" We all laughed. Mind you, since some of us were strangers to each other we did it cautiously.

None of this was helping me find Diocles. My restlessness communicated itself to Petro. He rolled suddenly, and stared at Caninus. Brunnus said you were a pirate specialist. If they don't exist officially, how come?"

That's the navy," said the sea biscuit, looking coy.

What are you doing here in Ostia?" I made the query as light as possible. He was a long way from Cilicia, if Cilicia was the pirates' heartland.

Goodwill mission."

With three triremes?" Caninus looked surprised. I let him wonder how I knew. It was hardly a secret. Anyone who wandered around Portus could have seen them and counted them. Never a warship when you want one, then a whole bunch turn up," he grinned.

For a shore exercise?" Petronius, a typical vigiles man, wanted to know what was being arranged by other units in the patch he currently occupied.

We just flit about from port to port and shout the Emperor's name. When the high-ups decide we deserve shore leave, they let us come here and join the squash docking at Portus. We're showing the standard to foreign traders."

You haven't chased some pirate ship ashore?" Petro demanded.

Jupiter no. We don't want ugly scenes on the Emperor's doorstep." Until the conversation became political, Caninus had spoken with heat and passion. Now he was blustering in cliches. I did not believe the change was caused by drink; he had shown himself impervious to wine. He was hiding something. I'll be straight," I said. I was too tipsy for anything complicated. I was hoping you could explain why a scribe who writes notorious sections of the Daily Gazette would have contacted a man who is reckoned to have been a pirate."

Why don't you ask him?"

Sorry; I thought I had explained that. The scribe has disappeared." Perhaps a change darkened Caninus" face. You think he's been captured? Well, you know how they used to work it in the old days. if pirates had taken a prisoner who was worth something, a note would be brought to people who knew him, by an intermediary, naming a very large ransom."

You think that's possible?" It had never occurred to me that Diocles might have been taken by pirates. In fact, I disbelieved it.

Of course not," said Caninus drily. Ransoming captives is history. We have the Pax Rornana now. Lawlessness only exists outside the boundaries of the Empire. Anyway," he added, almost sneering, a scribe would not be worth much, would he?" It was what he knew that might have been important, though I did not trust Caninus enough to say it. So someone must have bopped my scribe on the head and buried him under a floor after a tavern brawl."

All you have to do is find out where he used to drink," Caninus agreed, as if to an amateur. Then bring a chisel to lift the floorboards. He won't have been writing about pirates," Caninus assured me; he sounded far too bland. Your scribe can contact as many Cilicians as he likes, but now they are loyal Roman citizens. The scribe is bound to say that. The Daily Gazette is a government mouthpiece. He is supposed to enhance the glint of the Pax Romana." True. Infamia would be allowed to publish, however, if he was reporting that the glorious Pax Romana had come under threat. Had it? Did that explain Caninus? Was that why this expert, working in what he implied was a defunct area, had berthed at Portus with his three triremes? There was no point in me asking. Caninus would waffle all night about what had happened a hundred years ago. He had no intention of telling us what was happening this week. I glanced at Petronius. We had our own situation to contend with. If we descended any further into tonight's debauchery, Petro and I would both be under threat, from Maia and Helena. Somehow we had to encourage our tedious guests to go home. Tomorrow would be soon enough to think up excuses for Privatus about the depletion in his wine supplies, which was far more than the laws of hospitality would support. Tonight we had to get rid of the men who drank it. Believe me, the rest of the party was laborious. In the end the sea biscuit left first. He departed with a fairly full amphora of Rhodian red on his shoulder. The steward, good fellow, had ensured that as the joy continued, the quality and cost of the drink diminished, to limit the damage. His last choice was appropriate. Rhodes had been one of the historic venues for the piracy Pompey stamped out. Rhodian red is a passable table wine which travels; that's because this tangy island vintage is traditionally cut with seawater. Brunnus was harder to shift than Caninus. When his contact left, he slithered from his couch to the marble floor; Petro and I were beyond lifting him. Slaves appeared, however, which made me think they were used to clearing up after lengthy dinners. I also guessed they had been eavesdropping.

Caninus slurred Brunnus, desperate to communicate. My contact."

Yes, he's excellent," I assured him. I was sitting on the edge of my dining couch, unwilling to exert myself lest the results were volcanic.

Man of few words…" Petro nius was still capable of wit.

Lot of misleading ones," Brunnus spluttered, as a couple of large slaves gathered him together and made ready to remove him. I don't trust him, I've decided. Solo artist. Absolutely not sharing. Absolutely not liaising. Absolutely." Brunnus fell silent at that point, absolutely drunk. I stayed with Petronius. We slept there in the dining room, unable to move.

shall omit what was said in my household next morning.

Let us pass swiftly to luncheon [which I did not eat, then on into the turgid afternoon. I spent some of it lying down with my eyes closed, on the floor, out of sight behind a baggage chest. I struggled upright when Aulus returned from a trip to Portus with information that he had found a ship to take him to Athens, and other news. As a member of Falco and Associates he was trained to keep his eyes and ears peeled. I had taught him to stay alert in commercial quarters, in case he was beaten up or robbed. I did not want his mother, a forceful woman, to blame me if anything ever happened while he was working for me.

There was something going on, Falco." Aulus could spot interesting situations; in his snooty way, he was a nosy swine. My ship's captain was having a real upset." One of my daughters pushed by him, so she could stare at her unusually withdrawn papa. Don't bother him," Helena admonished coolly [aiming the barb at me. He is poorly today. Your father has been ridiculous."

Ridiculous! Julia Junilla lisped her first multi-syllable ecstatically. She was three, and all woman.

Ridiculous," repeated Aulus, with awe. A hot night, Falco?"

Even you would have thought so."

Oh I wouldn't have dared join in. In case you wondered," he grinned. I fetched Helena home."

Thanks," I croaked.

Junia offered to accompany me," Helena remarked coolly. Ajax would have protected us. But Gaius Baebius needed her. Junia is nursing him full time. He has been badly laid up since your jaunt to the seaside."

He's feigning."

No, Gaius has had to take sick leave. He wants you to look out for the man who attacked him, so he can claim compensation for his injuries."

He won't get it. The thug was brutish, but if it goes to court I'll have to say that Gaius Baebius asked for everything he got."

Unfair, Marcus. You just hate him because he's a public servant." I hated him because he was an idiot. His stupidity at the villa was dangerously real, my love. You're talking as if Gaius will never work again. Has the customs service lost its star?"