The Lydian Baker (Marcus Corvinus Book 4) Read online

  I checked at the cookshop and found that my kids had come up trumps. An hour after I'd left, Harpalus had put up the shutters and headed in the rough direction of Acte, the high ground at the end of the Piraeus peninsula. It seemed that Smaragdus – if the guy he'd visited was Smaragdus – had a beach hut on the coast a few hundred yards to the north of Themistocles's Tomb. Bull’s-eye. I took the carriage as close as I could then told Lysias to wait and walked the rest.

  I spotted the hut right away, lying in the middle of a small cove at the head of a sandy beach. Jupiter knew why it was there; maybe some misanthrope had built it years back when places like that were fashionable, or it could've been some sort of clubhouse of the more disreputable kind that needed privacy. Now it was the usual blend of solidity and squalor that you saw all over town: a good stone base with a cheap modern superstructure and whatever would keep the rain off for a roof; in this case an old sail over a framework of planks. The place looked deserted, but there was a boat drawn up in the shallows opposite.

  I checked the knife against my wrist and went on over. Before I could knock, a guy came out holding a length of two-by-four like he meant to use it. I stepped back and spread my hands to show they were empty.

  'You're Smaragdus?' I said.

  'Who wants him?' Not the friendly type, that was sure. But if I was right he had reason.

  'My name's Corvinus. Marcus Valerius Corvinus. Your pal Harpalus probably said I was coming.'

  'That's right.' His eyes were still wary. 'He didn't give a name, though.'

  'He didn't get one.' I looked pointedly at the makeshift club. 'You want to put that down now we've been properly introduced, friend?'

  'Not just yet.' He hadn't left the shadow of the doorway, either. 'So. You're Helvius Priscus's agent? The son-in-law who lives in the City.'

  'Stepson,' I said.

  'Stepson.' He didn't smile, but he did lower the two-by-four. 'Sorry. My mistake.'

  'No problem.' 'Mistake', hell: it had been intentional, and he'd just checked me out; Smaragdus was no fool. What did surprise me, though, was that he spoke a good educated Greek. I'd never talked to Argaius, but I'd met Chrysoulla, and Cretan or not she was strictly Piraeus docklands bubblehead. This guy was another matter. 'Who's Eutyches, by the way?'

  If I'd thought the direct question might catch him off guard I was disappointed. His eyes flickered, but he took his time answering.

  'Just another customer.'

  'A "prospective customer"?'

  'Of course. Like your stepfather. You see, I believe in keeping my options open. Do you have any objections?'

  'None at all. It's good business practice.'

  'Exactly.' He stood aside. 'Come in. I'm sorry for the brusqueness of the welcome. I wasn't expecting you until later, and with Harpalus.'

  'Uh...you mind if we stay out here?' Just the thought of going inside that pile of rubble gave me claustrophobia, and I wouldn't have trusted it not to fall down on top of us. Also, outside I could see any trouble coming before it arrived.

  He shrugged and sat down with his back to the hut wall. 'Suit yourself.'

  I settled down against a convenient rock. 'So,' I said. 'Where's the Baker?'

  'Safe.'

  'Can I see it?'

  'Naturally. After we've talked.'

  I nodded; well, that was something, anyway. At least I was still in the game. 'Fair enough. But no quick sales, right? I'm no expert, and I'll want it looked at professionally before I put in a bid.'

  'By Melanthus of Abdera. Of course. That was understood from the beginning. Call this a preliminary viewing.'

  'And Eutyches? Does he get one of these as well, or has he had it already?'

  'Any arrangement involving Eutyches is my business, Corvinus. And I won't discuss one potential customer's affairs with another. It isn't ethical.'

  Jupiter! You'd think we were in one of the fancy South Porch law offices here! The guy was too cocky for my liking. He needed shaking up.

  'Speaking of ethics,' I said, 'one thing's bugged me from the start. Since I got Priscus's letter, in fact. If the Baker's legitimately yours and this is all above board then why the hole-in-corner stuff?'

  'I'm sorry.' His eyes flickered. 'I don't follow.'

  'Then try harder, pal. You could've lodged the statue with the City authorities and saved yourselves a headache. Not to mention a murder. You'd've had to pay commission, sure, but with what you'd be making off the deal you could afford it. So what stopped you?'

  He took his time answering; not that he was rattled – a smart cookie like Smaragdus would've expected the question – but like he was wondering how best to explain two times two to an idiot.

  'Athenian officials are funny people,' he said at last. 'They like proper documentation. A provenance guarantee, past ownership history, everything cut, dried and legal. You know the sort of thing.'

  'Sure I do. And it sounds like a reasonable attitude to me, friend. In fact, I'd go along with it one hundred per cent, and so would my stepfather.'

  'I see.' He paused. 'Then I may as well admit to you now that I haven't got any documentation for the Baker whatsoever.'

  Gods! Well, he was frank enough, I'd give him that. 'Is that so, now?'

  'That is so.'

  'In that case you mind telling me what you have got? Besides the statue itself, of course.'

  'Not at all. I have a story.'

  I laughed. Well, I'd give the guy full marks for nerve, anyway. Con merchants weren't usually so up-front, or so obvious. 'Then it'll have to be some story, pal. Because if the statue's hot then whether it's genuine or not we won't touch it with a ten foot pole.'

  'Oh, the Baker isn't stolen. At least, Aragaius and I didn't do the stealing.'

  'Hey, great! That makes all the difference.' I made to get up. Obviously I was wasting my time here: Priscus wouldn't okay any deal made along these lines, I knew that now. Obsessive the guy might be, but he was down-the-line straight. 'Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'll see you around.'

  'Wait a moment.' Smaragdus hadn't moved. 'Listen to the story, at least. Have you ever heard of the Tolosan treasure?'

  'No.'

  'How about Brennus?'

  'Brennus I know. He was the Gaul who invaded Greece and plundered Delphi.' Slowly, I sat down again: scam or not, this sounded interesting. 'About three hundred years back, right?'

  'Correct. When the southern Greek states rallied and drove him out Brennus took the Delphic treasures north. On the way the Gauls ran foul of the Thessalians and Brennus was killed; but some of his men got back home, and they took the best of the treasures with them. Including Croesus's Lydian dedications.'

  'You're going in the wrong direction, pal,' I said. 'Gaul's west of here. And it's a long way from the Piraeus.'

  'There's more.' Smaragdus didn't bat an eyelid. 'That's only the first part of the story. The second involves a Roman, Quintus Servilius Caepio. You've heard of him?'

  I was getting seriously interested now. 'You have the ball, friend,’ I said. ‘You run with it.'

  'Caepio was one of your provincial governors about a century back. He fought a war against a tribe called the Tectosages in southern Gaul. He took their main town, a place called Tolosa, and when he sacked it he found a treasure cache in one of the local temples. The cache was part of Brennus's Delphic spoils, and it included the Baker.'

  'Carry on.'

  'Caepio packed the treasure up and sent it to Marseilles with the rest of the booty from the war for transshipment to Rome. Or at least that was what he said he'd done with it.'

  Uh-huh; this was beginning to make sense. In fact, knowing the way governors' minds work, I could've written the next part myself. 'And you're saying he didn't, right?'

  'The treasure never arrived. Even your Roman senate was suspicious. When Caepio botched his next season's campaign and lost an important battle they took the opportunity to deprive him of his command and had him accused of expropriation. The case never came o
ff because Caepio fled to Smyrna, where he died a pauper.'

  'Is that so, now?' I tried to sound more unimpressed than I felt. The whole thing might be pure moonshine, sure, but the names rang true and it felt real. Too real for fudging. 'So what had happened to the gold?'

  'The official story stops there, Corvinus. But you see the implications, of course.'

  'Sure.' If the guy had died broke they were obvious. In the days before Augustus was around to put the screws on, profiteering governors who managed to squirrel their loot away abroad were set up for life, even if the Roman senate did kick them out of Italy. And rich exiles don't die paupers. 'Caepio went to Smyrna. His treasure didn't.'

  'Right.' Smaragdus paused. 'So now we come to the part of the story you have to take on trust, because it isn't in the records and with Argaius dead I'm the only person who knows it. What had happened was that Caepio had packed the Tolosan treasure – including the Baker – in sealed crates and sent it privately to Asia on board a Greek-owned merchantmen. The ship was the Amphitrite, her captain was a man called Polybus and the mate and co-owner was Phrixus. Polybus was Argaius's great-great-grandfather. Phrixus was mine.'

  I sat back. Shit. It worked, sure it did. If the guy was shooting a line it was one of the best I'd ever heard. 'And your great-great-grandpas pirated Caepio's crates for him, right?'

  'Yes.' Smaragdus nodded. 'Not that that was the original intention. They didn't know what they were carrying until the Amphitrite ran into a storm off Sicily, when the crates broke loose and one split open.'

  'Whereupon temptation proved too much. And they'd know that when he found out Caepio would be in no position to squeal.' Yeah; I'd go for this. It was beautiful. And, like Smaragdus said, far enough back to make the moral aspects academic now. To Romans, at least. I doubted that even Priscus would object too much, not with something like the Baker at stake. 'Carry on, pal. This is fascinating.'

  'The Amphitrite was Piraeus based. Polybus and Phrixus sailed back here and put in to the east of the town at a spot called Thieves' Cove.' Yeah. Plausible again: I knew Thieves' Cove, a small bay two or three miles up from the harbour. Ever since the Piraeus has been in existence it's been a popular place for smugglers: Greek skippers don't like paying port dues any more than Roman ones do. 'Then they and their crew hid the treasure in a cave. The agreement was that everyone would have a share.'

  'Very democratic.' I was ahead of him again. 'Only Polybus and Phrixus had other ideas, right?'

  Smaragdus hesitated; maybe the guy even blushed a little. 'I'm not defending them, Corvinus. I'm simply telling you what happened.'

  'Yeah.' Well, that was fair enough: you couldn't choose your family. We had a skeleton or two in our own cupboard that I'd hesitate to blow the dust off in front of strangers, and some of the old Valerii Messallae had been guilty of things a hell of a lot worse than theft and murder. 'Sorry. Carry on, friend.'

  'As you say, Polybus and Phrixus had other ideas. Once the treasure was safely hidden they knifed the other three men, stove in one of the Amphitrite's planks and scuttled her. When they got back to the Piraeus they claimed they'd been shipwrecked on the last stretch.'

  'Losing Caepio's crates and their own crew in the process.' Yeah. 'So the guys ended up with an excuse for not delivering the goods and the treasure split two ways instead of five. Neat.' I grinned. 'There's only one problem.'

  'Oh?' He gave me a sharp look. 'And what's that?'

  'A crate or two of gold bullion is a lot of gravy, pal, and splashing gravy around gets you noticed. Especially if you claim to have just lost a cargo belonging to a Roman governor.'

  'Polybus and Phrixus weren't fools. They knew if they suddenly started spending money – a lot of money – the authorities would become suspicious. So they agreed to draw on the treasure bit by bit, as and when necessary. Nothing too much, but enough to allow them to live comfortably. You understand?'

  'Yeah.' I nodded slowly: Chrysoulla's claim that the Baker was a family heirloom was beginning to look more plausible than I'd thought. 'In effect what they'd got was a private bank in the hills, right?'

  'Exactly. Only they were family men, and the bank was to be a family bank. Sensibly used, there was enough gold to last for generations.'

  'So how come it didn't?' That much was obvious: I'd seen Argaius's house, and I'd seen where Smaragdus hung out. They weren't what you'd expect of guys whose families had had a century's access to their own gold mine, careful or not.

  'Simple.' Smaragdus smiled. 'Because about twenty years later something happened which ruined everything.'

  Twenty years. I frowned. Shit, history wasn't my strong point, especially Greek history. Twenty years from a hundred would just about bring us up to...

  I'd got it now. 'The Sullan siege.'

  He nodded. 'The Sullan siege. Twenty years after Polybus and Phrixus had hidden the gold Mithridates of Pontus declared war on Rome, Greece supported him, and your man Sulla was sent out. The Piraeus was besieged. As a result, Polybus and Phrixus were cut off from the treasure. They'd told their sons where the cave was, but their sons were too young yet to be trusted. The siege brought plague, and Phrixus, his son and Polybus's son died. Polybus was executed later in the reprisals.'

  Again, it fitted: the guy had all the answers, that I had to admit. The Sullan siege and its aftermath had practically killed the Piraeus. Like I said, a hundred years later it still hadn't recovered.

  'Unlucky. And no one had thought to leave a map, right?'

  'No. Or if so it was lost when Sulla's army burned the town. The two eldest grandsons – our grandfathers – knew of the cave's existence, but they didn't know where it was. They searched the coast around Thieves' Cove for years without success. The two families have been looking for the treasure ever since.'

  The jigsaw in my head came together. 'And then you found it.'

  'We found it. Or part of it, anyway. Two months ago we discovered a cave that had been closed off by a rock fall. We cleared the entrance and' – he spread his hands – 'there was the Baker.'

  'Only the Baker? What about the rest of the treasure?'

  'Most of it was gone, where I don't know, nor did my grandfather or Argaius's. Perhaps Polybus and Phrixus had moved it elsewhere for safety without passing the information on; perhaps that part of the family history was lost. Oh, there are a few bits and pieces, but the Baker's the plum.' He looked me in the eye. 'And it's genuine. No tricks, believe me.'

  Okay. I was convinced, I admitted it. 'I believe you,' I said. 'So. End of story. You've got a customer, pal. A potential customer, anyway. You want to show me this cave of yours now?'

  Smaragdus got to his feet. 'Yes. Of course. Why not? The boat's ready and waiting.'

  9.

  The boat...

  Boats and me have never got on, especially small ones, and in a bad light you could've mistaken Smaragdus's for a corn-skip. I cast my best nautical eye over it and decided that the odds on Poseidon scuttling us before we got half way were too high for comfort. And that even if he didn't, I'd be wishing he would. It was time for some negotiation.

  'We're headed for Thieves' Cove, right?' I said.

  'Not quite.' Smaragdus frowned. 'To one of the bays close by.'

  'Whatever. Then I'll tell you what, pal. You carry on over in this sow- sickener here, and me and Lysias will take the carriage round the main harbour and meet you there, okay?'

  'No deal, Corvinus.' The frown deepened. 'That would take twice as long, you'd have to walk from the town gate and even then without my help you'd never find the place. The wind's perfect, too.'

  Bugger. Yeah, well, the guy was right, certainly about the distance involved, and as far as winds were concerned I was prepared to take his word on trust. Mind you, of the four elements wind wasn't exactly the one that was worrying me. Also, we were close enough to the boat now for me to get a good hard look at what I'd be letting myself in for, and the sight wasn't exactly cheering: beached or not, you could've washed your
smalls in the spillage, if it had been cleaner. I didn't think all these little pinholes in the planking had been put there for decoration, either.

  'Okay, pal. You're the boss.' I swallowed and sent up a quick prayer to Neptune. 'You...ah...you're sure this gutbucket's safe?'

  He gave me a look like I'd just cast aspersions on his grandmother.

  'The Alcyone? Of course she is. I've had her for years.'

  That I'd believe. I didn't know much about changes in boat design, but if he'd told me Polybus and Phrixus had towed this particular specimen behind them all the way from Marseilles I wouldn't have blinked. In fact, scratch that: the thing looked like it could've dated back to Deucalion's flood.

  'Yeah,' I said. 'Yeah, I can see you have. That's just my problem.'

  Taking a boat trip on the Gulf voluntarily was one thing; coming back the same way was something else. I might be stupid, but I wasn't crazy. While Smaragdus bailed the Alcyone out and got her afloat I went round to where I'd left the carriage and told Lysias to meet me at the Aphrodisian Gate. When I got back Smaragdus was already aboard.

  'Hurry up,' he said. 'There's nothing to be nervous about.'

  'Sure there isn't.' I waded out and pulled myself over the side. The boat bucked like a frightened horse. I wished I had a cup of wine to keep Poseidon sweet, but it looked like I'd just have to hope that the old guy was in a good mood and had a soft spot for Romans. 'Only I just had breakfast and I'd like to keep it that way, you know?'

  'You're not a sailor, then?' He was grinning.

  'Full marks for observation.' I got myself settled. 'You win the nuts.'

  'Relax. I told you, you're perfectly safe. I do this all the time.'

  He swung the yard round and took the steering oar. The wind caught the sail and we heeled over on our beam. Greece shifted...

  'Shit!' I sat down quickly and grabbed for the side. 'Uh...maybe I should warn you now. I swim like a brick.'

  'There's a coincidence. That makes two of us.'