"We must find Caius Septimus, and find him immediately," the tribune said upon the return of Quintus Flavius. "He is a person who comes and goes at will. Every time he appears he brings death with him. He must know who is the one who orchestrates this grim comedy unseen."
"Sir, the neighbors. All I talked to swear no one came or left the Gracci household until Caius Septimus arrived sometime this afternoon. Yet a servant in charge of supplying the house next door with firewood swears there is a secret passage leading into the Gracci home through an outcropping just north of the house. Twice in the last two weeks he says he has seen figures late at night coming and going. Two, three at a time."
"Let us find this passage, Quintus. Perhaps we might find something of interest."
Gripping bur
