Read Medicus for Free Online

himself in a corner with the air of a man who had spent long years honing the skill of waiting for action.
    Ruso's gaze ran along the loops of gold braid that had been painted at waist height along the deep red of the wall beside him. Similar loops ran along the adjacent wall. A large tassel blossomed in the corner, probably inspired by the painter's discovery that the two braids—which must have been started at opposite ends of the walls—weren't quite going to meet up.
    The boy, Lucco, reappeared at the foot of the stairs, and assured him—with more optimism than accuracy, as it turned out—that the mistress would not be long. The girls went back to cleaning.
    Merula evidently took just as long as other women to get ready. Ruso was pondering why, when seated at a bar table, the average soldier felt compelled to carve his initials into it, when a female voice from the top of the stairs snapped, "Chloe!"
    The girl with the ankle chain looked up in alarm.
    "Don't rub so hard, you stupid girl! You'll take all the paint off!"
    The figure sweeping down the stairs was, Ruso assumed, Merula.
    Ruso had no idea what the silky material in her tunic was called, but he knew it was expensive because his wife had needed something like it for a dinner party once and then had managed to lean across a brazier and burn a hole in it. Merula looked like a woman who would be more careful. The fabric was draped to make the most of an elegant figure. Her hair, which could almost have been naturally black, was pinned back, leaving little tendrils of curls framing her face. As she reached the foot of the stairs, Ruso observed that her eyelids were dark, her lips red, and her cheeks subtly pink. It was well done. Only the lines that ran between nose and mouth suggested that Merula would not look quite as good in broad daylight.
    The lines deepened around something approaching a smile when she greeted him.
    "Gaius Petreius Ruso," he announced, standing. "Medicus with the Twentieth."
    "Gaius Petreius. Ah yes, the new doctor. Did my girls offer you a drink?"
    He nodded. "Is there somewhere we could talk in private?"
    Merula clapped her hands and called, "Out!"
    Instantly the girls stopped what they were doing. Chloe threw the cloth down and beckoned Lucco to follow her into the kitchen.
    Merula said, "Thank you, boys."
    Bassus and Stichus glanced at each other, then retreated to stand guard outside.
    "Now, Doctor." Merula seated herself opposite him. "What can I do for you?"
    Ruso scratched his ear. There were good reasons why he was now facing the task of breaking bad news to this woman. Principal among them was that Valens was busy with morning clinic and the duty civilian liaison officer, whose job this surely was, was already late for a meeting. "You know the sort of thing," the man had explained from the back of his horse, swinging one leg forward so the groom could tighten the girth. "Just show them we take it very seriously, but whatever you do, don't promise we'll do anything about it."
    Ruso cleared his throat again, reminded himself that the woman wasn't a relative, and began. "I'm afraid I have bad news."
    Merula stared at him for a moment, then lowered her head and shaded her eyes with one manicured hand.
    "It's about—"
    She said, "Saufeia."
    "Yes."
    "I was afraid of this." The woman sighed. "No matter how many times you try to tell these girls, some of them just don't listen." She looked up. "What happened to her?"
    "Her body was found in the river the day before yesterday and brought into the hospital. She was identified late last night."
    "She had only been with us for ten days," said Merula, inadvertently explaining why none of the hospital staff, many of whom would be in' timately acquainted with the local tavern girls, had recognized her.
    "Did she drown?"
    "There were, uh . . ." Ruso hesitated. "There was some bruising around the throat," he said, "and her neck was broken."
    "I see." Merula paused, then shook her head. "Poor,