The Gods Help Those by Albert A Bell

Author:Albert A Bell [Bell, Albert A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Judaism & Roman religious beliefs, murder mystery, Roman family & romantic relationships, historical fiction, Pliny the Younger
ISBN: 9781564748218
Publisher: Perseverance Press
Published: 2018-09-17T05:00:00+00:00

“Get those two women hiding in the taberna,” the leader of this unit of the vigiles told a couple of his men.

“They’re with us,” I said. “They were sitting at a table with us when this woman was stabbed. They have no part in this.” I couldn’t let them search Aurora and find her knife.

“If you would bother to look down,” Berenice said at my feet, “you would find that no one has been stabbed.” She turned over so she was on her back. “Is that maniac gone? Is it safe for me to get up?”

I knelt beside her. “Are you all right?”

“I believe so. If one of you gentlemen would be kind enough to help me up, we’ll find out.”

Tacitus and I each gave her a hand and pulled her up. She dusted herself off and straightened her gown.

“I don’t understand,” I said in absolute amazement. “How did you—”

Berenice took my hand and placed it on her side. I felt something hard under her gown. “It’s a linen cuirass,” she said. “Alexander the Macedonian and his men used them. Titus made me wear one whenever I went out in public. He knew how much people hated me. It’s more flexible than bronze and just as effective against a blade. But if I get knocked down, it’s difficult to get up without some help because it’s rather stiff.”

The captain of the vigiles looked confused. “So no one was stabbed?”

“Oh, someone tried to stab me,” Berenice said. She pulled at her gown until we could see the hole the assailant’s knife had made. “But, as you can see, he did no damage.”

Tacitus smoothed the gown out so we could see where the blade had gone in and would have entered her back. “That’s about where your son was stabbed.”

By now Aurora and Julia had joined us.

“Do you think it was the same person?” I asked.

“I would say so,” Tacitus said, “or someone using the same technique.”

Malachi stepped out from the shadows cast by torches mounted in the sconces on the front of the synagogue. “That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

I turned to the captain of the vigiles. “I don’t think we need your help any longer. And you can release these people. They’ve done nothing. Thank you for being so prompt.”

Aurora cleared her throat. “My lord, I need to talk—”

“Just a moment,” I said.

“May I have your name, sir,” he said, “for my report?”

Tacitus, who prefers to carry his own money pouch, took it from under his tunic and gave him enough coins to distribute among his unit and an aureus for himself. “Nothing serious happened here. A few people got knocked down, but no one was injured, so I don’t think you’ll need to make a report,”

The captain touched his helmet in a salute. “No, sir, I guess not. Makes it that much easier for me. All right, men, let’s go.”

When the vigiles were out of sight, I turned to Malachi. “Is there somewhere in particular you’d

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