"I saw a man in bandages being questioned in the other room."

"A bodyguard. The man has been with Publius for years. How could he have let this happen?"

"And the young man questioning him?"

"My nephew, I imagine. Our brother Appius's oldest boy. He came with me in the litter, along with Metella. He loved Publius like a second father." She shook her head. "Publius's own little boy was with him down at Bovillae. We don't know what's become of the child. We don't even know where he is!" This was suddenly too much for her. She began to weep. Eco looked away. It was a hard thing to watch.

Her weeping subsided. "Clodia," I said quietly, "why did you send for me?"

The question seemed to baffle her. She wrinkled her brow and blinked back tears. "I'm not sure. I saw you in the crowd, and so -" She shrugged. "I don't know, really. But something will have to be done. You know about that sort of thing, don't you? Inquiries. Investigations. How it's done. Publius knew how to go about that kind of thing, of course. But now Publius…"

She drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Her tears had run dry. "I don't know why I called for you, really. To see an old, familiar face? We parted friends, didn't we?" She touched my arm and managed a wan smile. The effort produced only a small fraction of the charm of which I knew she was capable. The feebleness of the attempt made it all the more poignant. "Who knows what will happen now? The world has turned upside down. But something will have to be done to set things right. Publius's children are too young to see to it. It will fall to others in the family. We may need you. It may come to that, you see." She sighed wearily 'There's nothing to be done right now, except to seek what comfort we can. Metella needs me." She stood and looked bleakly towards the women across the room.