b'56LISA E. BETZOn his finger. If thieves had killed him, wouldnt they have taken it?I would think so. Maybe thats why I didnt even think to look. But then, everything happened so fast, and I didnt take time to look, just had the slaves load the bodies on a litter and got home as fast as I could.I also found this. She gave him the coin.His eyes widened. Its Fathers lucky talisman.She gave him a quizzical look.I guess youre too young to remember it. When Father first came to Rome, he and some other ambitious young men met in a tavern called the Crocodile. They formed a partnership: Father handled the finances, Marcellus father Naso had the shipping contacts, Scaurus looked after the logistics, and Blaesus was the salesman who could sell anything they managed to acquire. The night they celebrated their first successful investment, one of them noticed he had an old coin like this. They decided the croc-odile was their lucky talisman and each man searched until he found one of these old coins.So Father carried it as a good luck charm?Not anymore, and thats why I was surprised to see it. After the partnership broke apart, Father was bitter and never went to the Crocodile Tavern anymore. Last I remember, he kept his coin in the bottom of his strongbox. I wonder.Curio opened the heavy iron-bound chest in the corner of the study and rooted through the documents and other valuables. Yes, here it is. He pulled an identical coin from the chest.Almost identical. The one from Fathers body had a small hole drilled through the center, as if it had been kept on a cord. Livia touched them both with her finger. Could this be a sign left by the murderer? Maybe it was one of his ex-partners.Her brother rolled his eyes. That sounds like an over-dramat-ic ploy used in a comic dramathe villain with enough hubris to leave a final message for his victim.'