'Papa, stop him! He'll kill the poor slave!' cried Eco.
'As well he might, but not before we find out what he knows,' I said. 'All right, Meto, enough. Enough.!' Holding my hands before my face, I managed to intervene and grab Meto's arm as he raised it to deliver another blow. He fought against me for a moment, then clumsily transferred the poker to his other hand, as if he meant to go on beating Congrio, but Eco was able to wrest the weapon from him, and I was able to hold his arms at his sides long enough for him to gain control of himself. Congrio, meanwhile, lay blubbering and gasping on the floor.
'Torture him, Papa! Make him talk!' snarled Meto.
'Yes, I will if I have to.' I turned towards Congrio, intending to deliver the hardest kick I could manage, but the sight he presented was so pathetic I refrained.
'Please, Master, don't hurt me!' he wept, and when Meto moved menacingly towards him he shrieked. 'I know nothing!'
'Liar!' I couldn't resist kicking him then. His squealing reaction gave me a taste of Meto's joy. 'liar! I know about you already. You'll be lucky if I let you live after what you've done. Now tell me what's become of Diana, or by Jupiter I'll torture you until you do!'
Congrio was very forthcoming after that
'We mustn't give ourselves away too soon,' I cautioned Meto and Eco as we guided our horses off the Cassian Way. Belbo was also with us, along with ten other slaves, most of them burly strong-armers whom Eco had brought when he came up from Rome, and all of them armed with daggers. Ahead of us, mosdy hidden beyond a copse, was the little farmhouse. A plume of smoke rose from the house, which meant that our quarry was probably still about and had not fled to Rome or elsewhere. Diana, I prayed, was also within the house, but the thought of how we might find her caused my chest to tighten and made my stomach twist into knots.
'Since you were already here yesterday asking questions, Eco, perhaps they won't be too surprised to see you again. The important thing is to get inside, and then to move very quickly.'
'Don't worry, Papa, we talked about all this before we left the house,' said Meto. 'We know what to do.'
In the copse, hidden by the dense, naked branches, the slaves dismounted and tied their horses. Meto, Eco, and I rode on alone. It was the quiet hour after midday, and no one was stirring outside. When we reached the house we dismounted and Eco rapped on the door. An old slave woman with silver hair opened it, 'Ah, you,' she said, recognizing Eco, then squinting past him to scrutinize Meto and me.
'My father and brother, just returned from a long journey,' Eco said. "They've come to ask about my sister, as I did. For their own satisfaction, you understand.'
The slave woman nodded uncertainly. 'Ah, yes. Well, let me go and tell—'
'Eco, is that you again?' crooned a familiar voice from within. A dim figure appeared inside the dark house and approached us. 'Oh, my dear boy, I wish I had news for you, but I fear that nothing — oh, and your father as well. And Meto, wearing an awful bandage!' she said, stepping into the light of the doorway, pushing a handful of frazzled red hair from her face.
‘Yes, Claudia, we've come to ask for your help,' I said.
"Then poor Diana is still missing?'
'Yes.'
'Oh, dear, and I had so hoped that she would turn up at your house before darkness fell last night. You must be so terribly worried.' 'We are.'
'Especially Bethesda. I've never known a mother's joys myself, nor a mother's sorrows, but she must be utterly distraught! But I'm afraid I have nothing new to tell you. I had my slaves scour the property, just as you asked, Eco, but they found no trace. If you wish, you could send over some of your own slaves to search — just to satisfy yourselves. I can understand that,'
'You would allow that, Claudia?'
'Of course.'
'Would you let us search inside your stable and your outbuildings?'
'If you wish. I don't see how she could have got inside any of those places without my slaves knowing, or how she could stay unseen, unless she's intentionally hiding for some reason — but search if you wish.'
'And would you let us search even inside your house, Claudia?' Her mask slipped a bit. 'Well…'
'In your private rooms, in your bedroom, for instance? In places no outsider would ordinarily see?'
'I'm not sure what you mean, Gordianus. The child could hardly be in my house without my knowing it, could she?'
'No, I don't imagine she could.'
For an instant her eyes grew hard and glittering, then Claudia drew her brows together and pressed her mouth into a sweetly indulgent pout. 'Oh, Gordianus, how distraught you must be to be talking like this. Certainly, search wherever you wish! Do it right now, to set your mind at ease, so that you can get on with your searching elsewhere.'
'We shall,' I said, and as swiftly and smoothly as I could, as if I were taking her in my arms to kiss her neck, I spun her around and put my dagger to her throat. She opened her mouth and distended her throat to make a noise, but cringed at the touch of the sharp blade and choked instead. I pulled her out of the house into the cold sunlight, while Meto ran inside and Eco called for the slaves.
We met no resistance. The elderly door slave screamed in alarm, and Claudia's slaves came running, some with daggers or clubs, but when they saw their mistress's predicament they drew back and watched dumbly as my men ransacked the stable and the wine press, the tool sheds and the slave quarters, and then searched the house.
'You're making a horrible mistake,' said Claudia.
"The horrible mistake will be yours if you've done anything to harm her,' snapped Eco, running into the house to join the others in the search.
'The child is not here.'
'But she was brought here,' I said. 'It's no use lying, Claudia. Congrio has betrayed you. Go ahead, stamp your foot and struggle; if you cut your throat it'll be your own fault.'
She growled, and I felt the vibration of her throat against the blade. 'It has nothing to do with me if your cook has been lying to you!'
'Not a lie but the truth, Claudia. Yesterday you sent one of your men to my house, a kitchen slave, ostensibly there to trade some of your goods for mine, something that happens all the time, something so common that no one even notices the man coming and going. But in reality he was there to plot your next design with Congrio, something that's happened several times before. According to Congrio, your latest scheme has something to do with poison. That was too much for Congrio and he wanted nothing to do with it, or so he claims, and so your man proceeded to argue with him. No one else was in the kitchen, Eco was out of the house and Bethesda was napping, so they spoke freely in hushed voices, until they suddenly looked down to find that Diana had been standing no less than a foot away, listening to them for who knows how long.
"They panicked. Congrio stuffed her mouth with a rag and they wound her in a long cloth. Your man had arrived with a handcart They carried her outside and managed to fit her inside it and tie her down, and then he left as quickly as he could. My watchman claims he saw the man leave, but I think he's lying to keep from being punished, unless he's deaf and half-blind; even bound and with her mouth stuffed, I imagine Diana must have been able to make some noise and to shake the cart Even so, the man got away without anyone's noticing. My slaves hardly even remembered his being there, he's become such a regular visitor. Your agent, Claudia, conspiring with my cook! So you see, I know the truth, or enough to have tracked Diana to your door. Now where is she?'
'Ask Congrio,' she cried. 'The lying slave! Don't you see he's done something unspeakable with your little girl and won’t admit it? Instead he makes up this ludicrous story. How dare you suspect me?'
'How dare you go on lying!' I said, barely able to keep from drawing the blade across her throat.
'If you think she's here, then find her. Go on, search to your heart's content. Your daughter is not here. You'll find nothing, I tell you.'
I suddenly realized that she must be telling the truth. Diana had been brought here, of that I had no doubt, but had she remained here? No, Claudia was too clever and cautious to risk having Diana found on her property. Where then? Where would she hide a child — or a child's body?
In my abstraction I must have loosened my grip, for she suddenly slipped free. When I tried to seize her, she bit my hand. I cried out and Meto and Eco came running out of the house, but too late to catch her. She dashed into the midst of her slaves, who made a circle around her and held up their weapons.
Eco called out and his men came running. 'We can take them, Papa. Her slaves will scream and run at the first drop of blood.'
'Attack me and I won't be responsible for what follows, Gordianus,' said Claudia, breathing hard. - Do you really want a blood feud with the Claudii?’
'Say the word, Papal' said Meto, gripping his dagger so hard that his knuckles turned white.
'No, Meto! No bloodshed! Retribution can wait. The only thing that matters now is finding Diana, and I think I know where she is. Eco, stay here with your men. Make sure that Claudia stays where she is until we return. Meto, mount your horse and come with me.'
Claudia must have known of the mine all her life. As a place of remote concealment, it would have come to her mind at once. So I reasoned as we went thundering up the Cassian Way. So I hoped, and dreaded.
We rode past the hidden trail Catilina had used. It would be too slow, and I had no cause for concealment. Instead we took the open way onto Gnaeus's land, up into the foothills and the woods, past the house of the goatherds where poor Forfex had dwelled, past Gnaeus's gloomy villa, where his hounds stirred and howled to announce our passage.
We came to the end of the road, tethered our horse and proceeded on foot. Neither of us spoke a word. Our thoughts were too close, and what we were thinking we did not dare to say aloud.