First thing next morning I was off to the vigiles station house. Petronius was not there. In fact, no one much was around. I addressed myself first to the clerk. He told me Brunnus was out somewhere. At the time I took that for a good omen. Ignoring cries of protest from the arsonists and thieves who would have to wait longer to be freed on bail, I extracted Virtus [the clerk's name, I discovered] and drew him to the open courtyard where nobody would overhear.

You'll know this," I complimented him. You're the only one here I can rely on to be up to date with case-work

Stop buffing the bronze, Falco. What's the score?"

Kidnap." Virtus shook his head. He turned to go back to his duties. I grabbed his arm. I told him there had been several victims, and I thought some at least had made vigiles reports. Virtus assumed the vague expression clerks do so well. Maybe the snatches occurred months ago when the last cohort were here."

Which preceded the Sixth?"

I forget. The Fourth? No, the Fourth are due to replace us next week. They are Petronius" unit."

I'm well aware of that," I said. But it's an ongoing crime, and you're a permanent clerk. Don't mess me about. Now the kidnappers apply frighteners, but people do get angry when their shock dies down. Victims have been here, and somebody has interviewed them." Virtus wavered. There's only one place these records may be, Falco." I produced a sweetener. Sometimes clerks tell me secrets because they like my approach; sometimes they hate their bosses and are glad to cause trouble. For Virtus, his job would be endangered if he talked [he protested, therefore a bribe was essential. I paid him. I liked him, and I reckoned it would be worth while. He was still nervous. We walked to the end of the exercise yard, and right into the shrine. It honoured the Imperial Cult. Indoors, we were shadowed by busts of the current Emperor, flanked by his sons, Titus and Domitian Caesar, along with older heads of Claudius, who first brought the vigiles to Ostia, and even the disgraced Nero. That was quite enough witnesses. I made sure no one else was lurking. Now I was nervous too. The way Virtus and I had entered must look suspicious. Anyone who had seen the two of us skulk up the portico and nip in here would imagine we were planning indecent acts. Sodomy was not my sin, and the Fourth Cohort would have known that, but to the Sixth I was an unknown quantity. I had just handed over money to a public slave, then led him to a murky place. Such an act might ruin my reputation, and since this was a shrine, there could be a blasphemy charge.

Get on with it, Virtus." Anxious to flee, Virtus muttered, It may be in the Illyrian file." I groaned. Just when I had done enough research to master a Cilician angle, here came another provincial bundle of trouble. Illyria, in Dalmatia, is much closer to Italy but yet another rocky coast, also full of inlets and islands, also harbouring a nest of pirates in every cove where fishing fails to bring in enough money.

What's with Illyrians, Virtus?"

We keep a set of notebooks that gets passed to each new officer at cohort handovers. Don't ask what's in it."

You don't know?"

It's top secret, Falco." Not the straight answer to my question. This vigiles clerk was falling back on tricks of bureaucracy. I always thought it was a dead subject. Just because it comes with a high security category, doesn't mean the case is live He was waffling.

Case, or cases?"

Can't say. There is another set of notes just like it, on Florius." Florius was the gangster Petronius was pursuing as his special subject.

Florius is irrelevant. You're telling me another secret bunch of notes relates to someone with an Illyrian background. Is there a special navy contact on this issue? I had the impression Caninus only covers Cilicia."

No, it's the same. Caninus."

You sure about that, Virtus?"

Every time a new detachment arrives, Caninus makes contact with their officer. Brunnus, for instance, had to be told to give Caninus special respect."

Who told Brunnus?"

I did. It's my job to brief the officers on sensitive issues."

So who told you Caninus was sensitive?"

He did."

Caninus instructs you, tell any new officer. I'm an important secret contact? But you don't know what secret issues you are briefing them about?" Virtus laughed. So what? I'm a clerk. I do that all the time." I failed to find it funny. How can I get to see the Illyrian notes?"

Not possible, Falco."

More cash help you?"

Still not possible," said Virtus, with regret. Brunnus slept with the Illyrian notes under his pillow last night. Don't ask me why he suddenly took an interest." I guessed our party with Caninus had aroused his curiosity. Today he's gone off with the tablet in his satchel. I suppose he is chasing up the old cases… Problem, Falco?" asked Virtus, innocently.

It's a little inconvenient."

If you don't want Brunnus to know that you have an interest…"

Yes?"

Don't you want to know what I can offer?"

If you swindle me, you'll regret it. But I've reached my limit, cash wise. So just tell me." Virtus demurred. I got tough. He submitted. No officer wrote out his own case notes, however confidential. If a clerk was preparing a top secret report which would have a long forward timeline, that is, notes that would eventually be handed on to other cohorts, the officer would want them to look good. So the clerk would draft out a rough version, then rewrite it neatly. Unless the officer was extremely efficient and demanded to see the rough copy being destroyed, then naturally if the case was exciting the clerk preserved his rough copy.

If I liked you enough," said Virtus, I could show you my drafts." What a bastard. He had known all along that he could give me what I wanted. An hour later I was happy, as I clutched my own note-tablet. I had cribbed several names of complainants, some with addresses in Ostia at the time, though they had probably moved on by now. I had dates of abductions. A couple had happened in the Sixth's term of duty, but there were others before. It looked as if only one captive was ever held at any time. That might be to lessen the risk, or there might only be one safe house available. All the reported abductions were of women. On return to their husbands they never knew where they had been held, and they seemed very confused. In most cases the husbands paid up at once; they were all carrying large amounts of cash for business purposes. Sometimes the wife had been snatched immediately after the husband had arranged the sale of a large cargo, at the very moment when he was flush. Each time the clerk's notes said that now the distressed family were either leaving Ostia for Rome, or leaving the country. If Brunnus had gone out today to double-check their Ostian lodgings, he would have little luck; judging by the couple I talked to, Banno and Aline, nobody stuck around. Perhaps the kidnappers actually ordered the victims to leave. Those who complained to the vigiles had been brave. They were trying to protect others from sharing their anguish. Helpfully, Brunnus had had his thoughts summarised. He calcu lated that there were several people involved in the abductions and holding the prisoners. All were shadowy so far. Brunnus suggested the victims might be drugged to ensure they would not recognise anyone. One of the captors could write. Husbands were always contacted by letter. One significant lead came out of these notes. there was a go between. All the husbands had dealt with a mediator, a man they found very sinister. He asked them to meet him at a bar, different each time; there was no regular venue. He would be a stranger to the barkeeper, or so all the barkeepers claimed afterwards. He was very persuasive. He convinced the husbands he only wanted to help, and at the time they somehow believed he was just a generous third party. The contact letters [which he always took back from them] would tell the husbands to ask the barman for The Illyrian." The Illyrian stuck to his line that he had been brought in to act as an intermediary. He implied he was a neutral, respectable businessman doing victims a good turn. He warned that the actual kidnappers were dangerous, and that the husbands must avoid upsetting them, lest the missing women were harmed. His advice was. pay up, do it quickly, and don't cause trouble. Once this was agreed, he took delivery of the ransom. He dispatched his runner, a young boy, to tell the kidnappers he had the cash, kept the husband talking for a while, then suddenly sent him back to his lodgings, where as promised he would find his wife. No husband ever stopped to watch where the Illyrian vanished to.