Read Online Medicus by Ruth Downie - Free Book Online
Authors: Ruth Downie
Tags: Fiction, Historical fiction, General, Historical, Rome, Mystery & Detective, History, Mystery Fiction, Ancient, Murder, Physicians, Murder - Investigation, Rome - History - Empire; 30 B.C.-476 A.D
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bed, hah!" chortled the one-legged man for the benefit of anyone who had missed it the first time, and lurched off down the street.
Ruso sat down again. For reasons he could not articulate, he wanted to see the dead girl's name removed from that wall.
The painter fetched a cloth out of the box and cleaned the word SAUFEIA and the scrubbed patch next to it. Then he stepped back and surveyed the rest of the wall.
Ruso stepped across to join him. "You need to take that name off, not clean it up."
The painter squinted at the wall. "Mariamne Bites. That'd better go too." He stepped forward again and rubbed at the words, which had been scratched on with charcoal. "Keeping me busy, this lot are. Can't keep the staff, see?"
He bent over the box and lifted a brush. He paused to finger a silver charm in the form of a phallus which was slung around his throat, then, with one stroke, he reduced Saufeia's name to a red shadow showing through the white.
"Bad luck, having that up there," he observed. "Might as well finish off the other one too."
"Other one?"
"The one that run off with the sailor." He reached up and obliterated the faint outline of ASELLINA with a fresh brushstroke of white paint. "She won't be back."
"I think I've met somebody who knew her," said Ruso. It had not occurred to him that the porter's missing girlfriend might have worked in a place like this.
The man grinned. " 'Round here, you'll have met quite a few."
Asellina had probably weighed the offers of several admirers, and the luckless porter had not been at the top of the list.
The painter stepped back and squinted at the wall. "Looks a bit patchy, don't it? I told 'em the whole lot wants doing again, but her inside won't part with the money Knew that Saufeia, then, did you?"
"No."
"Something funny going on there. I reckon she had a premonition."
Ruso, who spent much of his professional life battling against superstition, could not resist asking, "Why?"
"I never took much notice at the time, but she stuck her head 'round the door while I was working, took one look, and said in that posh voice of hers, 'You've spelt me wrong.' I'd gone and put two f's in, see? So I went to put it right and she said, 'You really needn't bother; I shan't be here much longer.' "
The man touched the charm again, then recharged the brush and ran it across the wall again. In its wake, Saufeia's name, correctly spelled with one "f," grew fainter still. "Course, I changed it anyway," he said. "I like to do a proper job." He put the brush back in the pot. "Might as well not have bothered."
He picked up the red brush. "Here's something to cheer the lads up." In the space where MARIAMNE BITES could still faintly be read, he sketched out in large letters the words NEW COOK.
"Merula says I got to put it in big letters," he explained, "So everybody knows. She don't want a bad name after them oysters."
"She's sacked the old cook?" said Ruso.
"Packed her off to the dealer. Lucky that doctor didn't drop dead, or they'd all be facing the inquisitors."
"How many people were ill?"
"Just the one," replied the painter, frowning with concentration as he led the brush down the first stroke of the "N." "That were lucky, weren't it?"
"Not for the doctor."
"That's what they're saying," agreed the painter. "Peculiar, like, just him and no one else. Anyway, won't happen again. New cook, see?"
10
I T HAD BEEN a day where everything was more complicated than it should have been. When he reached the baths Ruso found he was the wrong sex and had to wait outside ("Women only till the sixth hour, sir—it is on the door, sir . . .") This afternoon a signaler who had been sent to have a head cut stitched turned out to have tripped on something he hadn't seen. Alerted by the young man's reluctance to meet his gaze, Ruso had insisted on checking his eyesight after the wound was treated. Within seconds he had discovered not only the advancing shadow of cataract in both eyes, but some inkling of
Ruso sat down again. For reasons he could not articulate, he wanted to see the dead girl's name removed from that wall.
The painter fetched a cloth out of the box and cleaned the word SAUFEIA and the scrubbed patch next to it. Then he stepped back and surveyed the rest of the wall.
Ruso stepped across to join him. "You need to take that name off, not clean it up."
The painter squinted at the wall. "Mariamne Bites. That'd better go too." He stepped forward again and rubbed at the words, which had been scratched on with charcoal. "Keeping me busy, this lot are. Can't keep the staff, see?"
He bent over the box and lifted a brush. He paused to finger a silver charm in the form of a phallus which was slung around his throat, then, with one stroke, he reduced Saufeia's name to a red shadow showing through the white.
"Bad luck, having that up there," he observed. "Might as well finish off the other one too."
"Other one?"
"The one that run off with the sailor." He reached up and obliterated the faint outline of ASELLINA with a fresh brushstroke of white paint. "She won't be back."
"I think I've met somebody who knew her," said Ruso. It had not occurred to him that the porter's missing girlfriend might have worked in a place like this.
The man grinned. " 'Round here, you'll have met quite a few."
Asellina had probably weighed the offers of several admirers, and the luckless porter had not been at the top of the list.
The painter stepped back and squinted at the wall. "Looks a bit patchy, don't it? I told 'em the whole lot wants doing again, but her inside won't part with the money Knew that Saufeia, then, did you?"
"No."
"Something funny going on there. I reckon she had a premonition."
Ruso, who spent much of his professional life battling against superstition, could not resist asking, "Why?"
"I never took much notice at the time, but she stuck her head 'round the door while I was working, took one look, and said in that posh voice of hers, 'You've spelt me wrong.' I'd gone and put two f's in, see? So I went to put it right and she said, 'You really needn't bother; I shan't be here much longer.' "
The man touched the charm again, then recharged the brush and ran it across the wall again. In its wake, Saufeia's name, correctly spelled with one "f," grew fainter still. "Course, I changed it anyway," he said. "I like to do a proper job." He put the brush back in the pot. "Might as well not have bothered."
He picked up the red brush. "Here's something to cheer the lads up." In the space where MARIAMNE BITES could still faintly be read, he sketched out in large letters the words NEW COOK.
"Merula says I got to put it in big letters," he explained, "So everybody knows. She don't want a bad name after them oysters."
"She's sacked the old cook?" said Ruso.
"Packed her off to the dealer. Lucky that doctor didn't drop dead, or they'd all be facing the inquisitors."
"How many people were ill?"
"Just the one," replied the painter, frowning with concentration as he led the brush down the first stroke of the "N." "That were lucky, weren't it?"
"Not for the doctor."
"That's what they're saying," agreed the painter. "Peculiar, like, just him and no one else. Anyway, won't happen again. New cook, see?"
10
I T HAD BEEN a day where everything was more complicated than it should have been. When he reached the baths Ruso found he was the wrong sex and had to wait outside ("Women only till the sixth hour, sir—it is on the door, sir . . .") This afternoon a signaler who had been sent to have a head cut stitched turned out to have tripped on something he hadn't seen. Alerted by the young man's reluctance to meet his gaze, Ruso had insisted on checking his eyesight after the wound was treated. Within seconds he had discovered not only the advancing shadow of cataract in both eyes, but some inkling of
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