is he?’
Junius? Dear Diana, she hadn’t even noticed he was missing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen him since yesterday morning… ‘He’s running an errand.’
‘Oh?’
Think! Think! ‘I asked him to return to the gig and search for my earring. Present from my late husband. Sentimental value. Very precious.’ Wasn’t it warm in here?
‘You appear to be wearing two at the moment.’
‘Silly me.’ Claudia patted one of the studs. ‘I had it all along.’ Junius, you low-down son-of-a-snake, I’ll roast your gizzard for this.
Sergius’ eyes narrowed. ‘Prefect, you will be investigating Claudia’s accident, won’t you?’
‘Naturally.’ Macer seemed less than pleased with the insinuation. ‘Perhaps you can tell us exactly what happened, Mistress Seferius?’
Claudia’s blood turned to steam just thinking about it. ‘We were,’ she pointed south, ‘about two and a half hours out of Tarsulae. The fog was thick, but with the road deserted, we were still making reasonable time when half-a-dozen riders came up, blasting on trumpets and banging drums. The mares bolted and—’
‘Talking of mares, Barea reports one missing from the stables. Do you know anything about that?’
Try Pallas, he probably ate it. ‘Are you accusing me of kidnapping a horse, Prefect?’
A titter ran round the room.
‘No, no, I think we’d have noticed. Are you able to describe your attackers?’
Am I! ‘One was bug-eyed, another had a birthmark on his face about here,’ she indicated her right cheekbone, ‘and a third had ginger hair.’
‘I congratulate your memory for faces, Mistress Seferius. You, sir, can you add anything to those descriptions?’
‘Me?’ The driver looked up sharply. ‘I didn’t hardly see them, not to speak of. Me mares was bucking like crazy and I could barely see the frigging road as it was.’
‘You’re not the lady’s regular driver?’
‘No, sir. I’m new at the stand.’
Macer tweaked the lace of his leather corselet. ‘Was there much damage to your rig?’
‘Complete write-off. One of me mares was killed outright, the other broke her neck and Master Pictor here helped me cut her throat, she—’
‘Didn’t anybody stop to render assistance?’
‘Like milady says, it’s only local traffic, innit? We didn’t see no one.’
‘Yet it was Mistress Seferius here—a noblewoman, no less—who set off alone to fetch help. Why didn’t her bodyguard go? Why, for that matter, didn’t you?’
The driver shuffled from one foot to the other. ‘Well, young Junius was out cold, see, and—’
‘Yes?’
‘Well—’
‘Yes?’
‘Milady said—’
‘For pity’s sake, man, what did milady say?’
‘Well, as I remember it were,’ he coughed and fixed his gaze on the painted satyrs high on the ceiling, ‘“For gods’ sake, driver, where do you think you’re sneaking off to? Can’t you see there’s a crisis?”’ He looked anxiously at the Prefect. ‘It were her sandal, see?’
Macer blinked. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘The red one. It fell off when me gig turned over. She said it were valuable and—well, that I should stay behind and look for it.’
‘Is that right, Mistress Seferius?’ The incredulity in the Prefect’s voice was insulting to the point of malice. ‘You insisted the driver hunt for your sandal while you went off barefoot to fetch help?’
Don’t be ridiculous. I always carry a spare pair. ‘The man’s arm was broken, the chances are he’d have passed out long before he’d climbed the slope. I don’t see where this is leading.’
Macer ignored the edge to her voice. ‘I am simply curious as to why a woman of substance should choose to travel an abandoned road with no servants and no luggage, and why she should pick my home town for her overnight stop.’
It is not your home town, though, is it? You’d no sooner live in Tarsulae than I would. Claudia delved into her wardrobe of smiles and came up with a
Junius? Dear Diana, she hadn’t even noticed he was missing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen him since yesterday morning… ‘He’s running an errand.’
‘Oh?’
Think! Think! ‘I asked him to return to the gig and search for my earring. Present from my late husband. Sentimental value. Very precious.’ Wasn’t it warm in here?
‘You appear to be wearing two at the moment.’
‘Silly me.’ Claudia patted one of the studs. ‘I had it all along.’ Junius, you low-down son-of-a-snake, I’ll roast your gizzard for this.
Sergius’ eyes narrowed. ‘Prefect, you will be investigating Claudia’s accident, won’t you?’
‘Naturally.’ Macer seemed less than pleased with the insinuation. ‘Perhaps you can tell us exactly what happened, Mistress Seferius?’
Claudia’s blood turned to steam just thinking about it. ‘We were,’ she pointed south, ‘about two and a half hours out of Tarsulae. The fog was thick, but with the road deserted, we were still making reasonable time when half-a-dozen riders came up, blasting on trumpets and banging drums. The mares bolted and—’
‘Talking of mares, Barea reports one missing from the stables. Do you know anything about that?’
Try Pallas, he probably ate it. ‘Are you accusing me of kidnapping a horse, Prefect?’
A titter ran round the room.
‘No, no, I think we’d have noticed. Are you able to describe your attackers?’
Am I! ‘One was bug-eyed, another had a birthmark on his face about here,’ she indicated her right cheekbone, ‘and a third had ginger hair.’
‘I congratulate your memory for faces, Mistress Seferius. You, sir, can you add anything to those descriptions?’
‘Me?’ The driver looked up sharply. ‘I didn’t hardly see them, not to speak of. Me mares was bucking like crazy and I could barely see the frigging road as it was.’
‘You’re not the lady’s regular driver?’
‘No, sir. I’m new at the stand.’
Macer tweaked the lace of his leather corselet. ‘Was there much damage to your rig?’
‘Complete write-off. One of me mares was killed outright, the other broke her neck and Master Pictor here helped me cut her throat, she—’
‘Didn’t anybody stop to render assistance?’
‘Like milady says, it’s only local traffic, innit? We didn’t see no one.’
‘Yet it was Mistress Seferius here—a noblewoman, no less—who set off alone to fetch help. Why didn’t her bodyguard go? Why, for that matter, didn’t you?’
The driver shuffled from one foot to the other. ‘Well, young Junius was out cold, see, and—’
‘Yes?’
‘Well—’
‘Yes?’
‘Milady said—’
‘For pity’s sake, man, what did milady say?’
‘Well, as I remember it were,’ he coughed and fixed his gaze on the painted satyrs high on the ceiling, ‘“For gods’ sake, driver, where do you think you’re sneaking off to? Can’t you see there’s a crisis?”’ He looked anxiously at the Prefect. ‘It were her sandal, see?’
Macer blinked. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘The red one. It fell off when me gig turned over. She said it were valuable and—well, that I should stay behind and look for it.’
‘Is that right, Mistress Seferius?’ The incredulity in the Prefect’s voice was insulting to the point of malice. ‘You insisted the driver hunt for your sandal while you went off barefoot to fetch help?’
Don’t be ridiculous. I always carry a spare pair. ‘The man’s arm was broken, the chances are he’d have passed out long before he’d climbed the slope. I don’t see where this is leading.’
Macer ignored the edge to her voice. ‘I am simply curious as to why a woman of substance should choose to travel an abandoned road with no servants and no luggage, and why she should pick my home town for her overnight stop.’
It is not your home town, though, is it? You’d no sooner live in Tarsulae than I would. Claudia delved into her wardrobe of smiles and came up with a
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