Perfiditas (27 page)

XXXIV

The temperature had dropped along with the light. It was half past nine. I hurried back and found my grandmother indoors, saying goodbye to half a dozen of her contemporaries.

‘Thank the gods, that’s the last of the oldies. Fancy a nightcap?’ She picked up a bottle of champagne from a bucket and two glasses and pulled me along to the small back office. There was some kind of dubious card game going on in the main sitting area off the atrium and rather too much flesh was emerging for her liking, she said. Best to leave them to it.

‘A successful day, don’t you think?’ She shucked off her sandals. They were gorgeous: silver with large pearls and semi-precious stones.

I emptied my glass in two gulps and was watching the drops clinging to the inside surface struggling to join and split from the others. Nothing stayed the same for more than a few moments.

‘Carina?’

‘Sorry, Nonna. Of course, a really good day.’ I set my glass down. ‘I think I’ll go up now. I’m tired.’ I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

‘Everything all right, darling? You look upset, not just tired.’ She scrutinised my face, looking for the least thing. I flushed, but didn’t reply.

‘Well, go and have a good night’s sleep. When they’ve all gone tomorrow, we’ll have a proper talk.’

When I reached our apartment, I was so wired I made busy work by taking time to clean off my make-up, moisturise, brush my teeth, unbraid my hair, brush it out, hang up my gown, put away my shoes. This was pure displacement to stop my furious brain and jangling nerves making connections. I made a hot milk drink, I rubbed my feet, I found a cooling eyemask which eventually irritated me so much I threw it on the floor. When I did fall asleep, all I saw were a pair of black eyes.

The hands were warm, stroking my neck, then my breasts, one across my stomach, the other over my hip, along the top of my thigh and gently into my groin. His warm masculine scent, slightly earthy, enveloped me. Warmth flowed through me, slowly building to heat. I wasn’t going to open my eyes. He held my wrists in his hand, pulled them over my head and entered me. I gave myself up to the glorious pleasure of sex. Conrad knew every inch of me intimately. He was as purposeful in ensuring we reached an explosive and mutual peak completion as he was in everything he did.

We lay together afterward, he nuzzling my ear, me hiding in the curve of his body. I could feel the tears trickling slowly across my cheeks.

‘Hey, what’s up?’

I sniffed.

‘You’ve been a little busy recently. You’ve led a successful operation, saved the world generally, and even survived Family Day. Our children are safe, Allegra made us so proud yesterday, and we’ve discovered a possible new recruit in the fearsome Lucy. Did I miss something?’ He smiled at me, but had a rallying tone in his voice.

I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.

He got out of the bed and came back a few minutes later with two steaming cups of tea. What a gift this drink was. No wonder the British had conquered half the world. I’d heard they’d given it up for soda and coffee these days. Bad move.

He settled back in the bed, plumped up the pillows, and encircled me with his arm. We sipped companionably in silence for a few minutes.

‘You have something fairly weighty to say – I can see that.’ He looked down at me and briefly touched the tip of my nose with his finger. ‘You’re worried about discussing it with me, so it doesn’t take a logics professor to see that you think I’ll react badly.’ He smiled gently and kissed the back of my hand. ‘I promise I’ll try to behave myself.’

I lay my head in that perfect place at the base of his neck and closed my eyes. It felt so warm and safe there.

‘After I came back from Apollodorus,’ I began, ‘you were very upset when you thought I loved him. Even after the rupture with him, I don’t think you liked it that I kept good memories of those times.’

‘Doing well so far,’ came a terse reply.

‘I’ve had to go undercover at other times, sometimes making new friendships, establishing myself in other environments. You’ve had to do the same. So why was it different with the Pulcheria operation?’

He didn’t say anything for a few moments. I didn’t know whether he was composing his thoughts or himself.

‘I hated the idea you might have been permanently attracted by the values, the way of life, as well as the man. I thought I’d lost you.’

I swallowed hard.

‘You’re not going to tell me he’s a DJ long-term sleeper,’ he said, ‘and one of the good guys, are you? Please not!’

‘No, no…of course not.’

‘Well, I never know with you.’

‘No, it’s a lot worse, if I’m right.’

XXXV

A sweet-sour smell of stale humanity and alcohol was mixed with citrus astringent cleaning product battling its way through the atrium. Picking my way through people wandering aimlessly, nursing heads or sprawled still in the arms of Morpheus, I went to find Trebatia. Macro, hurrying along armed with a brush and bucket, pointed me down to the basement.

My lovely pool was full of bodies, jumping in from the sides, spraying water at each other, throwing inflatables about like hooligans. Scattered around the edges lay sodden towels, clothes, shoes and things I dreaded to identify. In the middle of it was Trebatia, supposedly my bodyguard. The noise was deafening.

‘Enough!’ I shouted in my best parade ground voice.

They looked up in surprise at the spoilsport. Trebatia made for the edge immediately, pulled herself out and stood at my side, dripping.

‘Sorry, ma’am.’

‘No problem, Trebatia. You have fifteen minutes to go get dressed and grab some food. We have a situation.’

I turned my angry attention to my rampant family. ‘Right, clean this pool up. I want it empty of bodies in one minute, trash removed, the inflatables down and drying, and all this crap on the poolside gone in ten.’

They looked at me open-mouthed.

‘Starting now.’

One or two smiles of bravado, but most made their way to steps or edges. Except for two.

‘If I have to come in and throw you and your brother out myself, Crispus Mitelus, you’ll be spending an uncomfortable few hours in the city emergency room.’

There was a feeble attempt at eye-staring from the two of them, but they surrendered after the minute was up. Maybe seeing me in my uniform they remembered what I did for a living. I stood there for five minutes, arms crossed, foot tapping now and again. I caught a few pulled faces as they walked past. When I pretended to look over imaginary glasses at them like Nonna did, it was remarkably effective: some of them actually scuttled out instead of walking. With the pump running at full, it would be clean and crystal clear again by the evening. Unlike the rest of my life.

Upstairs, Junia and Macro were running a buffet service for the massed hordes – there must have been nearly a hundred of them. Gods! Where had they all slept? I dove between two cousins, startling them, and grabbed a bacon roll – I was starving. Gulping down a mug of coffee, I scanned the room and spotted Trebatia, back in her uniform, and beckoned her over.

‘Have you had something to eat in this madhouse?’

‘Yes, thank you, ma’am. I’m sorry if I was negligent – they’re such a fun crowd. I didn’t know families could be like that.’ She sounded wistful. ‘Well, a bit wild, I suppose.’ She glanced at me.

‘Apology accepted. I’m sorry to have curtailed your fun, but we have to go back in.’

‘You have the floor.’

Conrad’s voice was neutral, but his eyes were still full of anger. I shuffled to my feet and described my findings to the others around the table. The banks of computers in the strategy room hummed, but the only screen alive was the situation board.

‘This is disappointing, of course,’ Somna said. ‘To be fair to Captain Mitela, there wasn’t a hint of this during all the interrogations. I have to conclude that none of the conspirators apart from Petronax and Superbus knew about this connection.’ She fixed her gaze on Conrad. ‘Obviously, Petronax is dead but, if you authorise it, Legate, we can use a chemical stimulant on Superbus to encourage him.’

Conrad tapped his fingers on the table, all four fingers moving together like a leaf-catcher.

‘What’s wrong with raiding the house and terminating this criminal?’ said Daniel. He looked down his nose out of half-closed eyes and smirked at me.

I folded my arms across my chest to stop myself marching over and slapping it off his face.

‘Legalities,’ said the adjutant. ‘We don’t have any proof. Look at it: we have four words from Superbus after a stressful interview carried out without a lawyer present.’

‘It was a perfectly legal procedure,’ I objected.

Lucius gave me such a cynical look. ‘Sure, the Families’ Code interview is fine as an admission of guilt for the conspiracy. I don’t see any argument with that, but in respect of this new development, Superbus made his remark
after
the formal interview was concluded, so it doesn’t count. Valeria’s conversation with you is circumstantial. If we
can
nail that down, it’s enough to send the scarabs in.’

‘For Mars’ sake, is that the best we can do? The scarabs!’ Daniel thumped the table with the flat of his hand.

Lucius shrugged.

‘Sepunia?’

‘I’ve started a search on this Cassia.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’ll have some results for you within an hour or two.’

‘Very well,’ Conrad said. ‘Captain Mitela will go with you and put el-fits together. Adjutant, send somebody to fetch Valeria Mitela in and another guard to stay with her children. I want everybody to have reread the operational reports when we reconvene in three hours. Dismissed.’

‘Here, drink this.’

I saw Sepunia’s hand through the crook of my elbow. I lifted my head off my hands and gave her a weak smile as the arabica smell wafted towards me.

‘Lifesaver. Thanks.’

‘You must be feeling quite depressed at the moment. Hellish, probably.’ She laid her hand on my upper arm and pressed lightly. ‘It’ll work out – don’t worry.’

I’d spent two hours compiling el-fits of Cassia and Apollodorus. Sepunia had dredged all her sources and was only waiting for the Censor’s office to come back. They worked at their own pace. Their investigators’ branch was notoriously close.

One of Sepunia’s staffers came in, glanced at me, then spoke to his chief.

‘Message from Lieutenant Longina in IS, ma’am. Valeria Mitela is here and requests support from the head of her family.’ He coughed and glanced again at me.

‘We’re finished here until the tax people deign to reply, so Captain Mitela is released.’

Longina greeted me and took me along to Interview 1, the “friendly” interview room where I’d questioned Aidan several weeks ago. It seemed like several years ago now. Valeria was perched on the edge of a plain green couch, opposite Porteus and Somna. She looked very nervous, one hand playing with the fingers of the other. A mug of brown liquid and plate of untouched cookies were on the coffee table in front of her. She looked up as we entered, and jumped up as she recognised me. She clung to me as we exchanged kisses.

‘Carina—’ Her hand fluttered.

‘I know. I’m here now. It’s okay.’ I nodded at Somna and Porteus and pulled Valeria back onto the couch. ‘Have they explained what’s happening? Do you understand why you’re here?’

She nodded. ‘I want to help, of course, but I don’t know how.’ Poor woman. She was a food technologist. She probably didn’t even have a parking fine on her record.

‘Well, I can’t ask you anything during the interview, but I can explain things and protect your interests and rights. When they ask you a question, just answer it straightforwardly. Take your time. If you think of anything afterward, don’t worry. Just say it, even if it’s trivial.’ I smiled at her. ‘Or even sounds stupid.’ I looked at Somna. ‘Have you begun yet, Colonel?’

‘Only to take ID details.’

‘Play it back, please.’

She was right, but I wanted to be sure.

Valeria repeated what she’d told me, pretty much word for word. She was a scientist and precise. By the end, she was calmer, and her voice had steadied. Somna thanked her formally and asked me to take Valeria upstairs to do the el-fit. I left her working at it with one of Sepunia’s experts.

Sepunia looked up as I returned to her office. She didn’t say anything but handed me three printouts with the Censor’s seal. I read them through in silence and handed them back. I took several deep breaths before I spoke.

‘I didn’t like her then and I still don’t. Have these people never heard of the joint watch protocols?’

Sepunia’s desktop peeped. Report meeting in ten minutes. I took a moment to go see how Valeria was doing. I dropped my hand on her shoulder.

‘I’ve done my best, Carina,’ she said. Her eyes looked strained, the result of staring intently at a screen without a break.

It was good. Too good.

I arrived at the strategy room a few minutes early. Fausta was tapping on the transparent board setting it up to enter data as the meeting progressed. I went over to her, but didn’t have time to say anything before the door opened. For once in his life, Daniel arrived early.

‘Huh! Trust the girl blunder to be first here. Trying to make up for your massive error of judgement?’

‘This is not an appropriate time for personal remarks,’ I said, fixing him with a solid stare.

‘Well, your mistake was personal as well as gross.’

Warmth flushed up my neck into my face despite all my efforts to calm it by breathing deeply and slowly. I took my place at the table. He sat opposite and grinned at my discomfort. How could he have turned like this? Life was full of disappointments, and he was one of them. Sepunia was next and sat by me, pushing some printouts at me. We stood as Conrad, Lucius and Somna appeared. Conrad looked grim and began without preliminaries.

‘There is no doubt Apollodorus was Superbus’s visitor that night.’ He glanced at me. ‘I can personally confirm both el-fits are accurate.’ He held his hand up at the murmuring. ‘Before we jump in heavy-booted, we need to develop our process.’ He nodded to Fausta who was hovering ready, her fingers at the starting point.

‘Sepunia, please.’

‘As the legate says, we have confirmed IDs on Apollodorus and Cassia. I was considerably taken aback by the Censor’s office admission that Cassia was a long-term undercover investigator. We had no idea. They should, of course, have advised us via the joint watch protocols.’ She looked down at her el-pad. ‘I strongly recommend a liaison meeting without delay.’

‘Stupid bastards,’ said Lucius. ‘What did you make of her, Carina?’

I glanced at him. He smiled like he still wanted to know me.

‘Cold and heartless. And snotty. I would hate to be a subject of her investigation. I had very little to do with her, to be honest.’

‘Sounds like a normal investigator, then.’

But I hadn’t seen past her outward manner. I studied the table. How could I have been so blind?

‘Well, according to their report,’ Sepunia added, ‘Cassia is one of their top investigators. She didn’t find any trace of evasion or misconduct. Everything had been filed, submitted or recorded right up to last month by their administrator.’

I smiled to myself. Hermina was too efficient, and too proud, to make any mistake there.

‘What’s so funny?’ Daniel asked, frowning at me. ‘You’re a bit too pleased she found nothing. Didn’t want to erode your share of the profits, eh?’

‘Daniel,’ said Lucius.

‘Sir?’

‘Shut up.’

Sepunia coughed. ‘I can’t find any match for Apollodorus. His image is not on the PopBase, there is no record of his presence under his name. No DNA, no fingerprints, no optical scan, voiceprint, health record. Nothing. So I assumed he was operating under an alias. Using the el-fits and the information from Carina’s report about the French immigrant side of his family and the mother coming from Castra Lucilla, I ran a probability analysis and got nowhere.’ She grimaced. ‘Well, 27.2% which is statistically equivalent to nil.’

‘But that’s well below the minimum of 40%,’ Conrad said.

‘Indeed. My conclusion is that PopBase has been, er, amended by a highly skilled hacker.’

‘Are you sure?’

She looked back at Conrad with her steady green gaze. ‘Yes.’

Nobody could speak. Apart from our own system, PopBase was the most protected digital asset in the Imperium. The only sound was Fausta’s long lacquered fingernails scratching as she updated the situation board. I glanced over at her, more to reassure her than anything. She stared back, pink blotches on her cheeks, and I knew.

Crap.

‘Very well,’ Conrad said, his tone clipped. ‘We send the DJ scarabs in to arrest Apollodorus. Light back-up on standby, please, Daniel. We can hold him for questioning, take some biological data and find out who he really is.’ A red border surrounded Apollodorus’s image in the centre of the board. The interconnecting lines sprang into life, connecting to me and Flavius. Once you’d said or thought something, it seemed obvious afterwards. The truth glared out at me.

‘Even if it proves innocent, which I doubt, we can’t have people like him unrecorded. Sepunia, liaise with Interior about their leak in PopBase. Somna, leave Superbus where he is. I’ll speak to him myself. Dismissed.’

I stood up with the others, pushed my chair up to the table. I felt remote from the whole surreal meeting. Strange, nobody had worried about Apollodorus before – a pragmatic acceptance that there
were
people in Roma Nova who weren’t pure and innocent. We owed a huge debt to Apollodorus. Maybe Conrad had forgotten he owed his life to him.

‘Carina. A moment.’

Conrad’s voice was as remote as I felt.

We watched the others file out. Fausta switched the backlights off, logged out and went to follow. As she passed by me, I stopped her with my hand on her arm. She glanced up at my face then dropped her gaze as quickly.

‘Well done. We’ll talk in the morning.’

Her face was tight, but she nodded. When she’d closed the door, Conrad waved his hand towards the table.

‘Sit down.’

He sat beside me, but tilted his chair at an angle.

‘I didn’t want to do this in front of the others, especially bloody Daniel. Jupiter, if Lucius hadn’t got there before me, I’d have taken him out and thumped him.’ He looked over at the blank strategy board. ‘I’m sorry, but you’re off the case. It’s standard procedure. I don’t have a choice.’

‘Don’t you?’

‘No, and you know it.’

The way he looked at me – through me – I knew the delicate personal links we’d been rebuilding had been severed in one cut. I suppose I was lucky I wasn’t being thrown out.

He shot a look at me then studied the table. His mouth was drawn in a tight grim line. Crap, there was more.