Well, that cleared some space.

While everyone, else was sniggering and looking shifty, Petro threw a heavy arm round my shoulders and greeted my mother with affection. `Junilla Tacita! How right you are about Falco needing to buckle down. As a matter of fact, he and I have just been outside having a long discussion about that. You know, he seems feckless, but he does recognise his position. He needs to establish his office, take on some lucrative cases and build up a reputation so the work continues to flow in.' That sounded good. I wondered why I' had never thought of it. Petronius had not finished his oration. `We found the ideal solution. While I'm taking a break from the vigiles I'm going to move into his old apartment and give him a hand as a partner myself.'

I beamed at Anacrites in a charitable way. `You're just a fraction too late for the festival. Afraid the job is taken, old fellow. Bad luck!'

THREE

When we slapped the parcel on to the clerk's table, Fusculus reached for it eagerly. He had always had a hearty appetite and thought we had brought him in a snack. We let him open it,

For a second he did think it was an interesting new kind of cold sausage, then he recoiled with a yell.:

`Urgh! Where have you two infantile; beggars been playing? Who does this belong to?'

`Who knows?' Petronius had had time to get used to the dismembered hand. While jolly Fusculus still looked pale, Petro could appear blase. `No seal ring with a lover's name, no handy Celtic woad tattoo it's so swollen and misshapen you can't even tell whether it came from a woman or a man.'

`Woman,' guessed Fusculus. He prided himself on his professional expertise. The hand, which had four fingers missing, was so badly swollen from being in water that there were no real grounds for his guess.