Read Online Departures by Harry Turtledove - Free Book Online Page B

anything?” Kleandros asked.
    “Nothing. Maybe Jupiter did kill him.”
    Kleandros’ one-word reply was rude in the extreme. Tero managed an answering grin, but it was strained. His eyes kept going back to the blood-spattered wall. In the middle of the spatters was a ragged hole. “What’s this?” he said.
    “How should I know?” Kleandros said. “Maybe Eprius used to keep a tapestry nailed there and was clumsy taking it down.”
    “I don’t think so. I’ve been here more than once, and I don’t remember any wall hangings.” Tero took a knife from his belt and chipped away at the plaster, enlarging the hole. At its bottom was a little button of metal. No, not a button, a flower, for as Tero dug it out he saw that little petals of lead had peeled back from a brass base. Never in all his years had he seen anything like it. He tossed it up and down, up and down, whistling tunelessly.
    “Give me that!” Kleandros said, grabbing it out of the air. He examined it curiously. “What is it, anyway?”
    “I was hoping you could tell me.”
    “I couldn’t begin to, any more than I could begin to tell you what killed Eprius.”
    Something almost clicked in Tero’s mind, but the thought would not come clear. “Say that again!” he demanded.
    Kleandros repeated.
    He had it. “Look,” he said, “where did we find this strange thing?”
    “Is this your day to do Sokrates? Very well, best one, I’ll play along. We found this strange thing in a hole in the wall.”
    “And what was all around the hole in the wall?”
    “Clodius Eprius’ brains.”
    “Very good. Bear with me one more time. How did Clodius Eprius’ brains get there?”
    “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be standing here pretending to be Euthyphron,” Kleandros snapped. “I’ve seen a fair number of dead men, but never one like this.” He looked at the piece of metal in his hand, and his voice grew musing. “And I’ve never seen anything like this, either. You think the one had something to do with the other, don’t you?”
    Tero nodded. “If you could somehow make that thing go fast enough, it would make a respectable hole—it didn’t make a bad hole in the wall, you know.”
    “So it didn’t. It probably used to have a tip shaped more like an arrowhead, too; that lead is soft, and it would get smashed down when it hit. See what a brilliant pair we are. We only have one problem left: how in Zeus’ holy name does the little hunk of metal get moving so fast?”
    “Two problems,” Tero corrected. “Once you get the little piece of metal moving, why do you use it to blow out Clodius Eprius’ brains?”
    “Robbery, perhaps.”
    “Maybe. Titus should know if anything is missing. Until he can figure that out, I think I’m going home and back to bed. Wait a moment; what’s this?” Almost out of sight under one of the couches was a small leather bag. Tero stooped to pick it up and exclaimed in surprise. It was far heavier than he’d expected. He knew of only two things combining so much weight with so little bulk, lead and— He opened the bag, and aurei flooded into his hand.
    “So much for robbery,” Kleandros said, looking over his shoulder. The images of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius looked mutely back, answering none of the questions the two men would have put to them. The only time Tero had ever held so much gold at once was when he’d gotten his mustering-out bonus on leaving his legion.
    He looked up to find Kleandros still studying the coins, a puzzled expression on his face. “What now?” Tero asked.
    It was the doctor’s turn to have trouble putting what he saw into words. “Does anything strike you as odd about this money?” he said at last.
    “Only that no robber in his right mind would leave it lying under a couch.”
    “Apart from that, I mean. Is there anything wrong about the money itself?”
    “An aureus is an aureus,” Tero shrugged. “The only thing wrong with them is that I see them too