Three Hands In The Fountain

other. It was an involuntary sign of tenderness for the dead girl. Helena's expression held the same absorption as when she made that gesture above our sleeping child.

Perhaps my recognition of it struck a chord,, without a word Helena rose, and we heard her walk into the next room where: Julia Junilla was safe in her cradle. After a short pause as if she was checking on the baby Helena came back and resumed her seat, frowning. Her mood, was dark, but she said nothing so Frontinus and I began discussing our work.

`This was found during the cleaning of the Aqua Claudia reservoir in the Arch of Dolabella Frontinus' manner and tone were businesslike. `It came up in the sand in one of the dredging buckets. The work gang who discovered it were badly supervised; instead of reporting the find officially they displayed it in public for money.' He spoke as if he disapproved, yet didn't blame them.

`That caused today's riot?'

`Apparently. The Curator of Aqueducts was at the Circus, fortunately for him. One of his assistants was not so lucky; he was identified in the street and beaten up. There has been damage to property. And of course there is an outcry for hygienic supplies to be restored. The panic has caused all kinds of difficulties. An epidemic, started overnight -'

`Naturally,' I said. `The minute I heard the city's water might be contaminated, I started feeling dicky myself.'

`Hysteria,' stated the consul tersely.' `But whoever is doing this must now be found.'

Helena had heard enough. `So inconsiderate!' She spoke too sweetly.' We were about to be blasted. `Some silly girl gets herself killed by a madman, and disrupts Rome. Women really will have to be deterred from putting themselves in this position. Dear Juno, we cannot have females being responsible for fevers, let alone damage to property -'

`It's the man who needs deterring.' I tried to ride out the tempest. Frontinus shot me a helpless glance and left me to cope. `Whether his victims fall into his clutches through their own folly or whether he grabs them from behind in a dark street, nobody suggests they deserve it, love. And I don't suppose the public have even started to think about what he does to these women before he kills them – let alone the way he treats them afterwards.'

To my surprise Helena subsided quietly. She had had a sheltered upbringing, but she paid attention to the world and had no lack of imagination. `These women are being subjected to terrible ordeals.' `Not much doubt of it.'

Her face clouded with compassion again. `The owner of this hand was warm and young.' Only a day or two ago she was sewing perhaps, or spinning. This hand was caressing her husband or their child. It was preparing their food, combing her hair, laying wheatcakes before the gods

`And she was only one in a long line,, snatched away to end up hideously like this. All with lives ahead of them once.'

`I was hoping this was a recent phenomenon,' Frontinus said.

`No, it has been, happening for years, sir,' Helena explained angrily. 'Our-brother-in-law works on the river and says mutilated bodies have been discovered for as long as he, can remember. For years the disappearance of women has been going unreported – or uninvestigated, anyway. Their corpses have been hidden away in' silence: It's only when, people begin to think the aqueducts are contaminated that anybody cares!'

`It has initiated an enquiry at last.' Frontinus was a braver man than me to suggest it. `Of course it's a scandal, and of course this enquiry is too late; nobody denies that.' `You're being disingenuous,' she chided him mildly. `Practical,' he said.

`Whoever they were,' I assured Helena, `these women will have the investigation they deserve.'

`Yes, I think they will now.' She trusted me. It was a serious responsibility.

I reached, for the dish and held it. `One thing I shall have to do – even though, it seems disrespectful – is remove this poor soul's wedding ring.' It would he best done unobserved. The ring was embedded in waterlogged flesh and would be ghastly to extricate. `The only way we stand any chance of solving this is to identify at least one of the victims and work out exactly what happened to her.'

`How likely is that?' Frontinus asked.

`Well, it will be the first time the killer has to dispose of remains while somebody is actually looking, out for him. The girl's torso is likely to be dumped soon in the Tiber, as Helena said.' The consul looked up quickly, already responding and considering logistics. `In the next few days,' I told him. `At the latest just after the Games finish. If you have any men at your disposal they could be watching the bridges and embankments.'

`A day and night watch calls for more resources than I have.'

`Which are?'

`A modest allocation of public slaves.' His expression told me he realised he was heading an investigation on the cheap.