The Silver Pigs Read Online Free Page B

Rome.
    He inspected it gently.
    "May I ask where you obtained this?"
    "Off the arm of a decorative party I rescued yesterday from two thieving hulks."
    Ts she hurt?"
    "No, sir."
    He had heavy eyebrows above decently spaced eyes that looked at me directly. His hair bristled straight up from his head even though it was not particularly short, giving him a cheerful, boyish look. I saw him brace himself to ask what I wanted. I put on my helpful face.
    "Senator, would you like me to bring her back?"
    "What are your terms?"
    "Any idea who took her, sir?"
    "None." If I had realized he was lying, I should have admired the brisk way the man spoke. As it was, I liked his insistence. Your terms please?"
    "Just professional curiosity. I've tucked her away somewhere safe. I'm a private informer. A watch captain called Petronius Longus in the Thirteenth will vouch for me"
    He reached for his ink pot and made some notes across the corner of a letter he had been reading. I liked that too. He intended to check.
    I suggested, without pressure, that if he was grateful he might hire me to help. He looked thoughtful. I outlined my rates, adding something for his rank since it would all take slightly longer if I had to keep calling him "sir'. He showed some reluctance, which I reckoned was because he did not want me hanging round the girl, but eventually we agreed I would advise him on household security and keep an ear to the ground about the kidnappers.
    "You may be right about keeping Sosia Camillina out of sight," he said. "Is your hideout respectable?"
    "Supervised by my own mother, sir!" True: she scoured my rooms regularly for evidence of loose women. Sometimes she found it, sometimes I hustled them out in time.
    This senator was no idiot. He decided someone had to come back with me to make sure the wench was safe. I advised him against that. I had seen some greasy meatballs in the cook shop opposite, watching visitors to his home. There was nothing to say they were connected with Sosia, they could have been casual burglars who had picked an unlucky day to size up a future break-in. Since he was walking me round his property anyway, we went to look.
    On the front door they had a sound wooden lock with a six inch, three-toothed iron rotary key, plus four brass bolts, an inspection grille with a natty little slider, and a great holm oak beam inside to sling across on two well-bedded cradles at night. The door porter lived in a cubbyhole at the side.
    "Adequate?" remarked the senator.
    I gave him a long look, including the dozy sprite they used as a doorman the slack-mouthed strip of wind who had let Sosia's abductors walk in.
    "Oh yes, sir! A wonderful system, so let me offer some advice: use it!" I could see he took the point.
    I made him peer through the grille to inspect the two loafers in the cook shop
    "Those peepers saw me come. I'll hop out over your back wall; give me a chance to survey the rear of the house. Send a slave to the local lockup and get them arrested for causing a breach of the peace."
    "But they are not"
    "They will be," I told him. "When the praetor's posse starts arresting them."
    He was persuaded. The leaders of the Empire are so easily led.
    The senator spoke to his doorman, who looked annoyed but mbled off on the errand. I made Camillus Verus show me his upstairs accommodation, then when we came down ten minutes later I looked out again and saw the two loafers from the cook shop with their arms up their backs, being marched off down the street by a brisk group of soldiers.
    Reassuring to discover that when a citizen of substance complains to a magistrate the response is so prompt!
    With all that cast iron work on the front door, at the back they had seven different entrances to the garden, with nary a decent lock among them. The kitchen door opened when I tried my own home latch-lifter. None of the windows had bars. A balcony around the upper storey offered access to the entire house. Their elegant smoky blue dining