Read Online Furies by D. L. Johnstone - Free Book Online

through the opening. The other man roared in laughter.
    Aculeo scowled and left the stoa. He spotted a familiar looking man in the purple-bordered toga of a nobleman in conversation with one of the priests just outside the sanctuary. Marcus Aquillius Capito the younger, Aculeo mused. The youngest son of the senior and very wealthy Marcus Aquillius Capito the elder, he’d been shipped to Alexandria two years back to gain experience in public office. That had been at the apex of Sejanus’ tyranny, of course, when a man never knew which end of the sword he might end up on. Aculeo recalled Capito as being a fairly typical young noble, bright, eloquent, arrogant, not to mention painfully ambitious. Still, they’d gotten along well enough in the few social meetings they’d had. What’s he doing here?
    “Capito,” Aculeo called, hand raised in greeting.
    Capito looked over and gave a puzzled smile. “An odd place to run into you, Aculeo,” he said, coming over to greet him. A retinue of four Roman soldiers followed, keeping only a few steps away.
    “Are they with you?” Aculeo asked.
    The other man offered a sphinx-like smile. “ My personal guard. I’m Junior Magistrate now.”
    “Oh? Very impressive.”
    “Well father’s pleased at least. What about you? Why are you here?”
    “I’m looking for a woman who’s gone missing. I heard a dead woman had been discovered here this morning and came in case it was her.”
    “And?”
    “She’s not the one I’m looking for,” Aculeo said.
    Capito considered the dead woman thoughtfully.  “A street porne perhaps, or a runaway slave.”
    “The she-wolves often try to bring their men here at night,” a priest said as he looked down at the corpse with a look of revulsion. “Fornicating in the shadows, defiling the sanctuary.”
    “So what does a City Magistrate care about a dead porne?” Aculeo asked, ignoring the priest.
    Capito gazed over Aculeo’s shoulder. “That’s why.” An obese priest clad in a pure white tunic and silk scarlet himation was waddling towards them, face flushed with anger, half a dozen priests in his wake.
    “Why is the whore still here?” the High Priest seethed. “The desecration continues every moment her blood pollutes our sanctuary!”
    “My deepest sympathies for this terrible outrage to the temple, Eminence,” Capito said.
    “Your sympathy,” the other man spat. “What do you intend to do about it, Magistrate?”
    “I’ll be leading the investigation of course.”
    “Well get on with it. You can start by getting the body out of here!”
    “Of course, Eminence ,” Capito said calmly.
    “I’m sure the potential impact of the desecration on the temple’s daily revenue has nothing to do with his dismay,” Aculeo said as they watched the priests walk back to their private offices. The rainstorm began in earnest then, fat, warm drops splashing down around them through the open roof of the temple.
    “If she’d been murdered in the street it would have caused little issue,” Capito said as he and Aculeo moved towards a sheltered part of the sanctuary. “But here in the Sarapeion … well it’s another matter altogether.”
    “Very thoughtless of her,” Aculeo said.
    Two temple priests approached Capito. “This is him,” the older priest said, pushing forward the other man. He looked barely out of his boyhood, his chin covered with a wispy beard. “The acolyte Leto. He was on duty here last night.”
    The youth looked down at his feet, avoiding their gaze. “So? What happened here last night?” Capito asked.
    “A supplicant came to the temple very late,” Leto said, biting his lower lip.
    Not surprising, Aculeo thought. Worshippers came from around the world to the temple seeking healing for whatever it was that afflicted them – sleeping in the sanctuary overnight in order to receive instructive dreams from Sarapis, or even paying the priests to dream on their behalf.
    “And?” Capito said impatiently.
    “I