Message: Murder in the House of Varrus!!! (Chapter III)
Author: L. Didius Silva
Originally Posted: October 10, 2000 (reposted with the permission of the author)

The HQ of the Vth Vigiles was empty. It never dawned on me that I wouldn't find ANYONE here when I arrived. I thought that they might already be at General Varrus's house, but Aurelia's slave assured me that he was the only one sent and he'd come straight to us. As I turned to leave, the entire doorway was filled with the body of Sullius Piso. While the doorway could easily handle my 5'6", it was stretched the breaking point with Piso's 6' bulk. Piso pushed his way into the room, closely followed by ten Vigiles of the Day Watch. Four Vigiles were dragging in two prisoners who had their hands tied behind them. The other six Vigiles were carrying canvas buckets and "esparto" grass mats used in fighting fires. As big as this room was, it just wasn't designed to accommodate eleven Vigiles, five Statores, and two prisoners.

Piso turned toward his Decurion and said: "Gallus! How many times do I have to tell you to lock the door when we leave? Now we've got to kick a bunch of dogs out of here." Piso's face and clothes were smudged with dirt and soot, and so too were the clothes of the other Vigiles. They all reeked of sweat and smoke.

"Why Piso, I said, how good it is to see you. I turned to Marcus Priscus and said: "Priscus! What IS that engaging aroma? It has such a woodsy, all-outdoors smell!"

"I think it's our good friend Piso here, Silva."

I sniffed Piso and said: "Why I DO believe you're right, Priscus. Tell me Piso, is your barber having you try out that new fragrance 'Eau de Outhouse'?"
"Do you want I should throw them out Boss?" asked Gallus, moving toward me in a menacing way.

"Now! Now! Careful Gallus! Doggie Bite!" I said, wagging my finger under Gallus' nose.

"Naw!" said Piso, "Leave 'em alone. Dump those drunks in the back to sober up and get this equipment stowed away proper. Then check around and see if anything's missing. What do you want Silva? I told you before, I ain't got no more time to teach you how to be an investigator." He walked out the back door and over to a watering trough in the courtyard. We followed him out. Piso stripped off his tunic and began washing the grime off his body.

"Anything more you have to teach me, Piso, is going to have to be 'on-the-job training'." He looked up. "I've got a murder to investigate."

"Who?" he asked. "General Varrus."

"OUR General Varrus?" I nodded.

"When? Where? How? Why?" His questions exploded out of his mouth.

"You should be working for the 'Acta Diurna'."

"Never mind that, damn you, just answer me!"

"I don't know Piso. The Domina Varrus sent this boy over to get me. I'm on my way over there now. I thought you'd want to go with me."

Piso turned to the slave, who tried to hide behind me. "Why wasn't I told immediately? You had to run right by this door, boy!"

"I looked in sir," the frightened boy said," but the place was empty."

Piso grabbed a clean tunic off a peg and yelled: "Gallus! Get Clemens! Wash up quick, grab a stretcher and come with me!" He stopped on the way out the door and looked at me. "Silva?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

Within minutes the combined force of Vigiles and Statores were marching down the Vicus Honoris et Virtutis.

"What do you remember about General Varrus?"

"About the same as you do, Piso. His wife died in childbirth. The baby, a girl, was stillborn. He had two sons in the I Parthica. They both died storming the walls of Atra in Severus's last Parthian Campaign. When the General received the news, he went into seclusion. I didn't know that he had remarried. I hoped YOU could fill in the blanks."

"She was a working girl from the 'Sign of the Owl'."

"Aelia's old place?" I asked.

"It's still Aelia's place. She worked there using the name 'Viola' (Violet). The General started going over there a few years ago. Just lonely I guess. Anyway, he met her and married her about a year ago. Her real name's Aurelia.

We'd arrived at the House of Varrus. "Rantius! Bolanus! Find the back way in and stay there until I relieve you. Priscus! You and Cordus stay here. Nobody goes in or out!" I looked at Piso. Piso smiled and said: "Gallus stay here with them. Clemens go in back with those two."

We turned and both rapped on the door.

Copyright © 2000-2001, L. Didius Silva. All Rights Reserved. All Rights Reserved. All copyrighted material is the property of the original author.