Family Commitments (Marcus Corvinus Book 20) by David Wishart

Author:David Wishart [Wishart, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

14

I went back over to the Pincian early next morning, hopefully for the last time barring the unlikely possibility of Eutacticus suffering a bout of remorseful guilt and blowing the lid off of the case for me after all, as he undoubtedly could have done. He was in his garden again, feeding the eels; I just hoped the meatball ingredients weren’t my Asinian Gardens pal’s late associate.

I held up the kid-skin bag. If I’d expected the guy to clutch his forehead and reel back in stunned and joyful amazement it didn’t happen; instead, he gave me what amounted to a disinterested glance, picked up another meatball and tossed it into the pool.

‘You’ve brought it, then,’ he said. Pleased, sure, but not a smidgeon of surprise.

‘Yeah.’ I undid the laces and took the necklace out. ‘All yours.’

He handed the plate of meatballs to one of the waiting slaves, dipped his fingers in the proffered bowl of water another of them was holding, and dried them on a towel.

‘So the slave finally saw sense,’ he said. He took the necklace from me and held it up to inspect it. In bright sunlight, the effect was even more impressive.

‘Ah...not altogether. He’s still missing. He must’ve come round last night and pitched it over our wall at the back of the house.’

‘Yes, he did.’ He returned the necklace to the bag and re-tied the drawstrings. ‘An hour before midnight, or thereabouts’

‘What?’ I gaped at him. ‘You knew?’

‘Of course I fucking knew! What would you expect? I told you, I had men watching all the time, front and back. Not even a cat could’ve come within twenty yards of your place without me knowing.’

‘But you didn’t take him yourself? Damon, I mean.’

‘No. No, I didn’t. The lads had their instructions – fresh instructions, in the light of our new deal.’

‘That was good of you.’

He scowled. ‘Listen, Corvinus. When I make a bargain I play fair. They were told to watch but not interfere if there was no need, which in the event there wasn’t. When they saw your pal Damon toss a package over the wall they left him alone.’

‘They didn’t follow him back to wherever he’d come from, by any chance? Just in case it wasn’t the necklace?’

That got me a long and very cold stare: evidently not a good question.

‘I’d say that was none of your business,’ Eutacticus said quietly.

Uh-oh. ‘Right. Right,’ I said.

‘I told you: so long as I get what’s owing the slave’s safe from me. He wasn’t harmed and he won’t be, but that’s as far as the bargain goes.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s just that I’d, uh, really, really have liked a word with Damon myself. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of–?’

‘No.’ That came out flat. ‘I told you. No help, none. Not in this, and that’s final.’

Bugger! Still, it’d been worth a try. And at least now I knew that someone knew where Damon was holed up, even if he wasn’t telling.

‘Fair enough,’ I said. ‘I’ll be on my way, then.

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