He wrinkled his brow. "I remember that he tugged at it, and when I looked down, I saw it with my own eyes, held between two straps attached to my breastplate. I couldn't believe it! It can't have been there when I put on my armor this morning."

"Could someone besides Apollodorus have planted it on you, earlier in the day?"

He shook his head. "I don't see how. But if such a thing could be done without my knowledge, then who knows when it was done or by whom?"

I nodded. "That amphora of Falernian-where did it come from?"

"It was kept in storage on one of Caesar's ships in the harbor, along with his other personal belongings. This morning, quite early, he sent me to fetch it."

"Did anyone know in advance that he planned to drink from it today?"

"I don't think Caesar himself knew. He decided on a whim. He wanted to impress the queen."

"When you fetched this amphora, did you have any reason to believe it had been tampered with?"

"I don't think it had been touched since it was loaded into the ship. In fact, I had a hard time finding it; it was buried in a corner of the hold, behind a number of other items that were seized from Pompey's tent at Pharsalus-folding chairs, lamps, rugs, coverlets, and such. There was no sign that any of the cargo had been disturbed. And when I did find it, I dusted it off, made sure it was the Falernian Caesar had requested, and inspected the seal to see if it was intact; I checked that quite carefully. After that, the amphora was in my possession and never out of my sight. So, if you're wondering if someone knew in advance that Caesar would want to open that amphora today, and if that person somehow put poison in it before it was opened, you can dismiss such a notion. No one could conceivably have done such a thing… except perhaps myself."

"Meto! These walls may have ears. Don't say such a thing, even in jest."

"Why not? If a case is to be made against me, we might as well work out what my accusers will say. And it's true: The person who had the best, perhaps the only, opportunity to poison the amphora beforehand was me. But I didn't. No one did. The seal was intact."

"Seals can be tampered with."

He shook his head. "I understand that you want to consider all possibilities, Papa. But the chain of logic leads directly to the alabaster vial. The vial was there, it was empty, and we know it contained poison." He frowned. "What we don't know is when and how it was poured into the wine, and whether it was poured into the opened amphora, poisoning all the Falernian, or only into the cup that Cleopatra offered to Caesar and then compelled Zoe to taste. Either way, I don't see how it was done without any of us noticing. I broke the seal and opened the amphora myself; I poured the wine into the cup. I can't imagine how the poison could have been added to the amphora; unless, of course, I did it myself."

"Meto!"

"Sorry, Papa. But I did have the opportunity, and I don't see how anyone else could have done it without my knowledge."

"Then perhaps only the cup was poisoned. But when? Think back; let's see if we both remember the sequence of events in the same order. The queen told Merianis to fetch the golden cups. Merianis brought them. The queen showed one of them to Caesar, then held it while you filled it from the amphora. She then presented the cup to Caesar, but before he could drink, she called for the taster. Zoe came. The queen handed the golden cup to Merianis; Merianis poured a bit of the wine from the golden cup into the clay vessel that Zoe had brought with her; Zoe drank from the clay vessel, and quickly succumbed to the poison. Is that how you remember it, Meto?"

He nodded.

I frowned. "But what happened to the wine that remained in the golden cup?"

Meto thought. "Merianis was still holding the cup when Cleopatra went to Zoe. But then Cleopatra called for Merianis, and Merianis put the cup down and ran to her mistress. They talked for a while, too low for the rest of us to hear; then Merianis went to fetch Apollodorus."

"So Merianis put down the cup; but then what became of it?"

Meto shook his head. "It must have been gotten rid of at some point, to be sure no one drank from it. Yes, I remember now! It was after you left the island, Papa, with those men to escort you back to your room. The rest of us remained on the terrace. More men arrived shortly, the ones who brought me to this cell; but before that happened, the queen told Apollodorus to pour the wine from the cup back into the amphora-"

"Numa's balls! Now the whole amphora has been poisoned, whether it was poisoned before or not! The amphora should have been left untouched."

"Does it really matter, Papa?"

"Think, Meto! If only the wine in the golden cup was poisoned, and not the wine in the amphora, then we could prove that you didn't poison the amphora and that the poison must have been added to the cup at some later point-a cup that was never in your possession! But now we have no way of knowing if the amphora was previously poisoned or not, since it's surely poisoned now. This was done at the queen's behest?"

"Yes."

"And Caesar did nothing to stop it?"

"Caesar was busy questioning me at that moment. Neither of us took much notice of what was being done with the cup. But now that you ask me, I remember hearing Cleopatra say something about the cup being polluted, and that no one could ever drink from it again, and I remember seeing Apollodorus empty the cup into the amphora, out of the corner of my eye, so to speak."

"Was the amphora saved?"

He wrinkled his brow. "I suppose so. Yes, I remember seeing Apollodorus replace the cork stopper, after he emptied the cup, and at the same time I was led off, I think one of Caesar's men must have carried off the amphora; so I assume it's in Caesar's keeping. But as you say, we know already that it contains poison, if only because the wine in the cup was poured into it."

"You're right; I can't see how the amphora will be of any use to us. I can't see how any of this helps us." Especially, I thought, since all the circumstantial evidence points directly to your guilt, my son! "Still, it's unthinkable that a man of Caesar's experience and judgment should have stood by and allowed a vital piece of evidence, like the amphora, to become hopelessly tainted."

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, Papa, but Caesar doesn't do his best thinking when he's in the presence of the queen."

"Meto! Keep such thoughts to yourself."

"Does it really matter what I say, Papa, or think, or do? This will be the end of me. I didn't try to poison Caesar, but I shall nevertheless be punished for the crime. Perhaps it's fitting. I stood by and did nothing when that Gaulish boy who haunts my dreams was orphaned and made a slave. No, that's not true-I joined in the slaughter with my sword, and with my stylus I celebrated that slaughter by helping Caesar write his memoirs. Now I shall die for something I never did. Can you hear the gods laughing, Papa? I think the deities who hold sway over Egypt must be just as capricious and cunning as our own gods."

"No, Meto! You will not be punished for a crime you didn't commit."

"If it amuses the gods, if it pleases Caesar, and satisfies Queen Cleopatra-"

"No! I shall find the truth, Meto, and the truth shall save you."

He laughed without mirth and wiped a tear from his eye. "Ah, Papa, I have missed you!"

"And I have missed you, Meto."