Blind Alley - Iris Johansen [83]
No!
He drew a deep breath and tried to control himself. He checked the other newspapers. No more information. He pulled up Archaeology Journal. No mention of Sontag's discovery.
Relief surged through him. The weekly magazine was usually on top of every significant find and they hadn't made reference to even the first hints that had been dropped before Sontag's announcement. Maybe it was just Sontag trying to garner a little more publicity for himself.
Wait. Be wary. The stakes were too high.
Cira.
Jane was still looking at the report of the interview when Trevor called that evening.
“Sontag's interview is in The New York Times. How did you manage that?” she asked.
“I didn't. The minute the story became real news and not a concoction, it was like a snowball going downhill. But that means we're going to have to move fast. There will be reporters buzzing around Sontag and there's nothing more dangerous than an inquisitive reporter.”
“What about Archaeology Journal?”
“I'll get to it as soon as I can. I can't leave Sontag right now. He's getting a little too enthusiastic. He loves to see his name in print and he's already set up another interview for tomorrow. He's clever but he might make a slip that could land us in hot water.”
“Where's the main office of the magazine?”
“It's a university press in Newark, New Jersey. Tiny and esoteric and damn important to us. Any sign of Aldo?”
“You know that Joe would have let you know if there had been.”
“I hope he would.” He paused. “I found out a little about your theater while I was hovering around that press interview.”
“From one of Sontag's interns?”
“No, from Mario Latanza, a reporter from Milan. He had to do his homework when Sontag announced that the skeleton was almost certainly one of the actresses who performed at the theater. Latanza thought that since the actress appeared to be bejeweled and successful that she was probably the Herculaneum version of a musical comedy star.”
“What?”
“Musical pantomime was the most popular form of spectacle other than chariot races and gladiatorial battles. Lots of nudity, broad graphic jokes, singing, and dancing. Satyrs chasing nymphs brandishing erect leather phalluses. If Cira was as well-known as Julius's scrolls indicate, then she was more than likely catering to that popularity.”
“Musical comedy? I always think of ancient theater as being Greek or Roman tragedies. For that matter, weren't most of the actors men?”
“Not by the time Herculaneum's theater came into being. Women came into their own and they dropped their masks and faced the audience. It was a magnificent theater with marble walls and columns made with the finest materials available at the time. The actors and actresses became almost as popular as gladiators and were welcomed into the beds of the town elite and even an occasional emperor.”
“And Cira was able to climb that ladder.”
“She climbed as high as she could but there was a stigma connected with being an actress that she would never have been able to overcome. There were strict laws regulating the marriages of actors and actresses and isolating them from the rest of society.”
“No wonder she tried to carve out a little security for herself.”
“A chest full of gold was more than a little security. Particularly during that age.”
“They treated her like a plaything, with no substance or rights,” she said fiercely. “It was natural that she'd want to make sure that could never happen again.”
“I'm not arguing. It was just a comment. I admire her. More now than ever. Hell, I don't even know how she ever got to be an actress. The performances were free and open to all citizens of Herculaneum. Except slaves. Cira was born a slave, and wouldn't have been permitted to even watch a play.”
“And she worked and worked and rose to be a star, damn them.”
He chuckled. “Yes, she did.” He repeated, “Damn them.”
Companionship. Warmth. Togetherness. This was even more potent than the physical magnetism he managed to exert over her. To hell with it, she thought recklessly. They were thousands of miles away