More Than Honor by Carol Ashby

Author:Carol Ashby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cerrillo Press

Outside the entrance to the dining room, Titianus removed his armor. It might not be what kept her cool toward him, but why take the risk? When he stepped into the room, brother and sister were there with Septimus, but Kaeso was already playing with Pompeia.

With a wave and a curl of his fingers, Septimus called him to a game at the second table. Without a word, Titianus settled into the chair opposite his cousin. But while he fingered his game piece as Septimus made the first move, his eyes were drawn from the board to her.

She talked very little while they played, but the change of opponent was still a disappointment. More so than he expected. He scanned the couches and found no sign of the lyre. If Manius didn’t join them at the table and get Pompeia talking so he could join their conversation, the whole evening might be disappointing.

“So, what progress did you make today?” Septimus played his next piece.

“It was my second day tracking down those who helped fight the fire.”

“Any good leads?”

“None remembered seeing anything odd before the fire started.”

Pompeia had turned in her chair and watched him instead of Kaeso’s next move. A definite improvement, even if her eyes didn’t bestow a warm welcome. “Nothing at all?”

“The vigiles drafted someone to help carry water who didn’t live in the neighborhood, but he was familiar with it. He lied about his name and where he worked, so he was probably doing something wrong before the aquarius pulled him into the bucket brigade. But whether that had anything to do with the murder and arson or another crime, I don’t know.”

Kaeso tapped her hand, and she played another piece before turning back to Titianus. “What are you going to do next?”

“I’m telling you this because it seems tied to your father’s murder, but it doesn’t go further than us.”

She nodded as his finger pointed to each of them in turn.

“The hairline of the man Theo saw and that of a slave who took something from the library of the murdered man…the descriptions match. So, someone is a freedman or higher passing himself off sometimes as a slave, or a slave is pretending to be a citizen, which is a crime in itself. The slave at Lupus’s estate presented authorization to reclaim borrowed writings that bore the signet mark of Rufinus.”

She inhaled sharply, and her eyes widened. “The father of Gaius Rufinus?”

“Yes. Tomorrow I start checking into a list of freedmen of the Rufinus familia. Someone with access to a Rufinus signet got into the Lupus library and maybe into the strongbox where I found forgeries like what your father described.”

A quick glance at her brother caught Kaeso and Septimus exchanging satisfied smiles. He wanted to smile himself. He might be only days away from getting justice for Lenaeus.

“I know what he left there. I don’t know what he took out of the library. Before I go further, I need to talk with the men who would know the Rufinus signet well enough to make a copy that could fool Lupus’s steward.

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