Текст книги "The Crane Pavilion "

Автор книги: Ingrid J. Parker

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

11

Fire in a Jar

Akiko was not a woman to remain soft-hearted for long. Once they had reached Akitada’s study, she wasted no time speaking her mind.

“You have worried us long enough,” she said. “It’s time you returned to your duties. Sitting for hours in a dark room, as Tora and Hanae assure me you have been doing, does no one any good, least of all your children and your people who depend on you. Over the last few years, you have taken on responsibilities beyond those of your own family. Soon there will be many more mouths to feed. Genba’s wife is expecting.”

Akitada covered his face with his hands as if he could thus stop the onslaught of accusation and reproof. “I only just noticed,” he muttered. “They didn’t tell me.”

“They’re afraid to. They all walk about on tiptoes so they won’t disturb you.”

Akitada lowered his hands. “Not quite.” He decided to distract Akiko from the issue of his not having returned to work yet. “It seems Kobe, Nakatoshi, and Tora have plotted together to get me involved in the investigation of a strange death. Do you recall my former friend Tasuku?”

Her eyes flashed with interest. “The handsome Tasuku? He’s the very splendid abbot of Daiun-ji now, did you know?”

“Yes. Well, it seems a beautiful and mysterious woman has hanged herself in his mansion.”

“No!” Eyes round with delighted shock, Akiko sank down on a cushion. “Tell me! I want to know all. A mysterious woman, you say? Just the sort of thing to stimulate the mind.”

Akitada looked at her in dismay. He had only meant to stop the flood of recriminations. Instead he had given her exactly what would make her an intolerable nuisance. She would not rest now until she was part of the investigation, and that meant she would be here every day until the case was solved.

“It’s probably nothing,” he said weakly. “The police have investigated and confirmed the death as suicide. But … “ He thought of the two sweets on her shelf.

“So you suspect murder?” Akiko’s eyes glittered. “What’s the lady’s name?”

“Her name is Ogata. It may be an assumed name.”

“Ogata? Hmm. A good family, but not well known. Now where have I met someone by that name?” Akiko was off on the trail.

Akitada sighed. “Well, perhaps it will come to you later,” he said, hoping it would encourage her to leave and continue her research from her home.

But his sister was not so easily distracted. “Yes,” she said. “It can wait. Right now I want to know everything you know. Did you speak to Abbot Genshin? What does he say?”

“I have not spoken to him,” Akitada said quickly. “We did not part on very friendly terms years ago, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Ah, yes. I recall you were always critical of him.” Akiko giggled. “You can be very judgmental in matters of romance, dear brother. You didn’t approve of the man because he was very good-looking and adored by many women.”

Akitada frowned. “His offense was rather more serious than flirtations.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You don’t say. What exactly did he do?”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

She pouted. “Oh, very well, but you won’t get off so easily about this case. You think the evil abbot murdered the Ogata woman, right?”

“Don’t call him an evil abbot, and I don’t think anything of the sort. Really, Akiko, you jump to conclusions much too fast to make a good investigator.”

Her eyes shone. “Then you’ll let me help?”

He sighed. “Very well, but you must promise to be discreet. We can’t afford to offend the abbot. He seems to be a favorite with the court.”

“I promise. Not a whisper of his secret shall pass my lips.”

Akitada’s lip twitched. “That shouldn’t be hard, since you don’t know what it is.”

She smiled. “I don’t know it yet. Well, what can I do? I mean besides finding out what I can about this Ogata person?”

“That will be quite enough for the moment. She was known as Lady Ogata, so is most likely a member of one of the good families. She was in her mid-twenties, and is said to have been very beautiful.”

“At that age? Who said so?”

His sister was a shrewd observer of female looks.

“My information comes from a middle-aged caretaker, a young student, and an elderly professor. Perhaps they overlooked her age.”

He had joked, but she took him seriously.

“Yes. And all are male. Women have sharper eyes. Who’s the professor?”

“His name is Suketada. He is retired. But there is also a painter. Surely he knows beauty when he sees it.”

“They all sound dreary. And the student, I take it, is at that awkward age when his face is covered with spots?”

It was true, but Akitada said, “You women are very hard on men. He’s just an ordinary-looking youngster.”

“Very well.” She got to her feet. “I’ll see what I can do. Send for me if there’s any new information.” She eyed him a moment. “You look better. Good. I’m glad I took you out of that dreadful state of melancholy. Mind you take care of business.”

She swept to his side to give him a quick hug, and was gone.

Akitada sighed. He would hardly have any peace from now on. He looked about the dim room and at the dust on his desk. On an impulse he opened a lacquer box that held writing paper. Inside, hidden under blank pages, lay his letter of resignation from his position at the ministry. His post as governor of Chikuzen province he had resigned before leaving Kyushu. Presumably, the news had been transmitted to the government here. But he felt very ill at ease about this. The act of resigning and leaving his post without permission should long since have brought him his due punishment in the form of being called in to account, but nothing whatsoever had happened. The resignation from the ministry was presumably pointless, because he would be dismissed anyway. Only his friendship with the minister, Fujiwara Kaneie, had made him write out the formal letter. He had not sent it. Their friendship really required that he hand-deliver it.

Here he was, ignoring his responsibilities in every conceivable fashion. Dabbling in the peculiar activities of someone from his past was hardly what was required. He sighed again. He would go to see Kaneie and apologize.

He had barely come to this decision when there was a scratching at the door, and Saburo put his head in. “Do I disturb you, sir?” he asked, looking at him anxiously.

“No.” Akitada added ungraciously, “It seems everyone else has been to see me today.”

Saburo came in hesitantly and bowed. “It’s a private matter, sir. I can go away again.”

More responsibilities. Come to think of it, Tora had mentioned that Saburo had found a girlfriend. Perhaps he, too, had decided to start a family. Akitada glanced despairingly at his resignation letter and closed the box.

“Sit down.”

Saburo sat. “This morning,” he started, “I went to visit a young woman in the city.”

Her it comes, thought Akitada, but managed to nod encouragingly.

“Her name is Shokichi. She earns a living by doing the make-up and hair of entertainers. Her good friend is blind and works as a shampoo girl at a bathhouse. Her name is Sachi. I didn’t know of this friendship until today, sir.”

Akitada frowned. Where was this going? What was he to do about hairdressers and shampoo girls?

Saburo saw his expression and gulped. “Er, to make a long story short, sir, this Sachi was arrested this morning for murdering a customer. Shokichi and I went to the bathhouse to see if we could help, but the police had already arrested her. Shokichi says her friend couldn’t have done it.”

Akitada said nothing. It was clear now that this was another attempt to get him out of the house and involved in every crime that happened in the capital.

Saburo waited a moment, then continued in a rush. “I’ve spoken with the bathhouse owner, a dubious character who washes his hands of the girl, and I also went to see the victim’s family. The victim was one Nakamura, a moneylender with a reputation of charging so much interest that he ruined people. He preyed on the most desperate cases only and had become a very wealthy man, sir. His heirs are his son and daughter. Then there’s also a stepbrother who is his business partner, a very suspicious character called Saito. No doubt there are many others who had reason to kill the man.”

He paused to draw breath.

Akitada asked in a dangerously quiet voice, “Why are you telling me this?”

Saburo caught the tone. “I … I hoped you might give me your advice, sir. I don’t know where to begin?” He swallowed.

“I see that I’ve been negligent in keeping you busy with your duties,” Akitada said. “You seem to have too much time on your hands and meddle in affairs that have nothing whatsoever to do with your work. Apparently you’ve used your ample leisure to set up as an investigator on your own account. I absolutely forbid my people to engage in activities that don’t have my approval. So my advice to you is to abandon the matter and make yourself useful around my residence.”

Even behind all the facial hair and the paste Saburo used to hide his scars, Akitada could see him change color. He sat still for a moment. Only his injured eye rolled uncontrollably, betraying his shock. Then he got to his feet and bowed.

“I beg your pardon, sir. Of course, I’ll obey your wishes. But you’ll find that the accounts are in order. So as not to disturb you unduly I’ve been working on them at night. And I’ve made sure I wasn’t needed before going into town today. Is there any particular thing you’d like me to do now?”

“No.” Akitada felt guilty for having been so harsh with Saburo. It was likely that he had come to tell him about bathhouse murder for much the same reason as the others when they had tried to interest him in Lady Ogata’s death. He cleared his throat. “Umm, I appreciate that you have made sure that your chores were done, Saburo. I’ll have a look at the accounts later. Harumph. It’s been a rather busy day and I’ve been distracted by other matters.” He paused uncertainly. “Umm, I’m sure the police can handle crimes in the city, but if you have any information, you may give it to Superintendent Kobe.”

“Thank you, sir.” Saburo bowed and left.

Akitada felt more than ever inadequate for what lay before him. Never mind the alleged suicide of some woman or the violent murder of a moneylender. Those were other people’s problems. He had neglected his own duties while reprimanding Saburo. With a sigh, he got up and went to look at the accounts. Saburo had indeed kept them faithfully.

But he was shocked to see how very little gold was left. Running his eyes over the entries, he saw the large payments that had been made for Tamako’s funeral and a number of bills the household had incurred in his absence. Missing were his usual salary payments to offset such big expenses. Since he had abandoned his position in Kyushu, he had not drawn his salary for it or for his large travel expenses. Meanwhile, income from his farm outside the capital and from some land he still owned in the north from his service as governor in Echigo was not expected until after the fall harvests.

Worse, apparently none of his people had received any pay since his return. Saburo had not told him, perhaps because he had assumed that his master would check the accounts.

No wonder they were all so eager for him to get over his grief.

No, that was unjust. None of them was doing this for the money. He was being unfair to the people who served him, just as he had been unfair to his children. He closed the account book.

For a moment he went out on his veranda and stared at the wet greenery without seeing it. He could not do as he wished. He could not even do as they had hoped he would, that is by letting himself be distracted by an investigation into a suicide or a murder. He must go back to work.

He went inside and took his resignation from the box. Tearing it up, he dropped the pieces on the glowing charcoal under his water pot and watched it flare up and burn.

Suddenly, he had the strange feeling that he was not alone. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he listened. Had he heard a shuffling step? A dry cough? He looked around wildly, half afraid and half hopefully. The room was empty.

And yet he knew he was not alone. Perhaps the beneficent spirits of the dead who had loved people stayed around or paid their visits when needed.

“How are you, old friend?” he murmured into the dim air. “You always know, don’t you?”

If old Seimei had still been with him, he knew what he would have told him. “Fire does not burn in a jar,” he would have said. And then he would have quoted Master Kung-fu-tse on the duty of a gentleman to keep active and look after his people.

Locking himself away in his room to mourn Tamako had been wrong. It had been a form of escape. He was alive, and Tamako had trusted him to look after the children and their people. Now he must make an effort for them. However distasteful it was, he must return to work. It would mean begging forgiveness and pleading for even the most humble position.

He would start with a visit to the ministry and a talk with Fujiwara Kaneie.

12

The Blind Girl

Saburo felt resentful. He did not think he had deserved his master’s anger, and though he tried to make allowances, the scene rankled. The next morning, he went to look for Tora or Genba.

Genba was in the stable, feeding the horses. He looked glum. “I don’t know what we’ll do for food for these animals,” he said to Saburo. “You’ve got to talk to the master. I need money to buy more hay and straw.”

Saburo perched on an upturned water bucket. “I can’t talk to him. I just told him about a murder in the city and a poor blind girl the police arrested, and he got very angry, saying I had no business meddling in police affairs and neglecting my chores. I haven’t been neglecting my chores.”

Genba nodded. “He’s not well. We’ve got to be patient. But money is another matter. We’ll all starve soon along with the horses. Cook says she’s been cutting back on her marketing. You’ve got to talk to him.”

“I can’t. At least not just now.”

Genba sighed. “We haven’t told him our news yet.”

Saburo nodded. He knew that Genba and Ohiro were expecting a child in another three months and that they had been afraid to tell the master.”

“We can’t wait much longer. Ohiro shows already.”

Saburo nodded again. They looked at each miserably, then Saburo got up. “I’ll see what Tora thinks.”

“Oh, Tora’s in great spirits. He got the master to inspect some place where a lady hanged herself. The mansion belongs to one of the master’s friends.”

Saburo’s resentment grew by a few notches. So Tora got a favorable hearing. Maybe because that death concerned one of the good people. He spat into the straw and left.

Tora was on his way out. Of course, he looked happy, Saburo thought sourly. Here he lived in a comfortable house with a pretty wife and handsome son, and his master favored him above all his other retainers. Even Genba, for all his grumbling, was a lucky family man. Only he, Saburo, had neither wife nor family.

And now not even a girlfriend any longer.

“Hey, Saburo. Why the long face?” Tora grinned at him.

“I can’t seem to do anything right.” Saburo’s resentment grew. Tora could do no wrong. Fortune smiled on him. “The master just laid into me because I told him about a murder in the city. All I wanted to do was to get him interested again. You know he hasn’t been out of that room in months and has made no effort to return to work. And we’re almost out of money. I don’t know what to do. Genba’s worried about feed for the horses. When I told him about the murder, the master accused me of gallivanting about on my own business instead of doing my chores. But I’d stayed up nights to work on the account so as not to be in his way. Frankly, Tora, I don’t know what to do any more.”

As he poured out his pent-up feelings, Tora’s face gradually lost its smile. Now the handsome Tiger scratched his head. “It’s that bad about the money?” he asked, getting to the most urgent of the problems.”

Saburo nodded.

“I think it’ll be all right,” Tora said cautiously. “He’s starting to take an interest again. Sorry you got a lecture. It’s probably all been a bit much for him. See, I got him to look into the suicide of this Lady Ogata this morning, and then his sister came. She always makes him irritable. What’s this about a murder in the city?”

Saburo felt a little ashamed of having blamed Tora for being the master’s favorite. He said, “I’m sorry, Tora. It’s not your fault. I’ve had a bad day over this murder of a moneylender in one of the bathhouses. The police arrested one of Shokichi’s friends, a blind shampoo girl who worked at the Daikoku-yu. Shokichi broke off with me because she thought I didn’t do enough to help her friend. I hoped maybe the master might look into it, but you’d already got him to look into your case.” He sighed.

“It’s not my case. Lord Nakatoshi told the master about it. As it turns out, some of the master’s friends have been plotting to get him out of the house. And it worked, too. I just happened to be the one to go with him. I tell you what, Saburo. I was about to go see Superintendent Kobe to report. Why don’t you come along? You can talk to him about your blind shampoo girl.”

Saburo accepted gratefully. He was experiencing a strong feeling of kinship with Sachi and the poor schoolmaster. Once he had been like them: poor and therefore preyed upon by everyone. The good people looked through you as if you didn’t exist. Your presence appalled them and offended their sensibilities, so they closed their eyes to your suffering. The rich merchants drove you from their doorstep, and the rest stole from you or took out their frustrations by beating you up.

He had convinced himself that the blind girl had been a convenient scapegoat, and the poor schoolmaster had been brought to his abject condition by the greed of the Nakamuras. He still felt a little resentful that his master had behaved the way all the other good people did and ignored the needs of the poor.

It was no longer raining, but the sky was overcast and a cold wind blew down from Mount Hiei. They huddled into their quilted jackets as they walked to the prison where police headquarters were located.

Saburo voiced his thoughts to Tora on the way.

Tora glared at him. “If you think that of the master, then you don’t know him. He’s never turned his back on the poor. If you can’t see that he’s been buried under a mountain of grief since his lady died, along with the little son, then you’ve really lost your mind.”

Saburo flushed. “I didn’t really think he was like the rest.”

“He’s not!”

A brief silence fell. After a while, Tora said more calmly, “Mind you, when I first met him, I made the same mistake. You see, it’s all that book learning that makes him a bit stiff when it comes to rules, and I thought he was cruel and uncaring. As it turned out, he saved my neck when I was about to be taken up for a highwayman, and then he saved Genba and Hachiro from being arrested for murder, when all they’d done was to defend their honor. For that matter, he took you on, too, didn’t he? The way you looked back then, I wouldn’t have given you a chance.”

Saburo hung his head. “You’re right. I’m sorry I said what I did, but I think someone has to help Sachi and the schoolmaster.”

“Tell me about them.”

As they walked, Saburo told the story from the beginning: his meeting with Shokichi and the murder in the bathhouse, his break-up with Shokichi and his decision to solve the murder himself, his visit to Nakamura’s house, and the plight of the schoolmaster. He summed up, “When I saw what that crook had brought this poor family to, I knew there was no point in hunting down all the other borrowers. They’re all going to be the same kind of poor devils. That’s when I went to ask the master’s advice.”

Tora had listened without interrupting. Now he said, “You can’t know that they’re all the same. But I’ll help you as much as I can, and Genba, too. Well, here we are. Let’s talk to Kobe. Maybe we can see this blind girl of yours and find out if she knows anything.”

Kobe was busy and made them wait. They sat outside his office, watching the coming and going of constables and senior police officers.

“So you and Shokichi have broken up?” Tora asked after a while.

Saburo’s irritation with Shokichi’s unreasonable behavior rose again. “She says she’ll have nothing more to do with me. That sounded pretty final to me.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen her so stubborn. Would you believe she expected me to attack the constables and free Sachi?”

Tora raised his brows. “Doesn’t sound like her. This Sachi, do you at all think she might have done it?”

Saburo looked morose. “Not really. But considering Shokichi’s behavior, it strikes me women lose their minds sometimes. Who’s to say Sachi didn’t cut Nakamura’s throat if he said something she didn’t like? Women!”

Tora laughed. “Let’s assume she didn’t do it. I like the moneylenders much better for it. They have no conscience. You know, we need to go to that bathhouse and start asking questions about the people who were there.”

Saburo slapped his forehead. “Of course. Honestly, the quarrel with Shokichi upset me so I couldn’t think straight.”

At this point, a constable stuck his head out of Kobe’s office and asked them to come in.

Kobe sat behind a desk that was laden with papers as usual. Several clerks worked on more paperwork.

The superintendent smiled. “So, what do you have to tell me? Did he go to check out that suicide?”

Tora grinned back. “Yes, sir. It worked beautifully. He not only looked at the room where the lady hanged herself, but he talked to three of the people living there. A really odd bunch of people, if you ask me. And he came away suspecting Abbot Genshin of having had a hand in it somehow. Apparently the abbot was a holy terror among the ladies in his younger years.”

Kobe laughed. “True, but these days the reverend abbot is in such great favor with the court and Buddhist hierarchy that he can certainly shrug off Lord Sugawara’s suspicions. I wish I’d been there.” He paused. Suddenly looking worried, he asked, “Did he think there was something wrong with that suicide?”

“Not really. He did look through the lady’s things and, as I said, he asked some questions. But he seems to be mostly curious why the lady and the others were living there.”

“Well, let’s hope it means he’ll return to a more normal life now.” Kobe’s eyes went to Saburo. “Glad to see you again, Saburo. Your looks are greatly improved, I notice.”

“Thank you, sir.” Saburo hung his head a moment. “It was Lady Sugawara’s help as much as anything,” he added softly.

“Ah. A great loss, that lady.”

They sat in silence for a moment, then Kobe said, “You went along with your master and Tora?”

“No, sir. I’m here about something else.” Saburo gave an account of the murder in the bathhouse and his conviction that the blind girl had not done the crime. “I’d hoped to get the master’s help, but he’s too busy now, and I don’t know how to proceed, or if I should.”

He had managed to sound dejected, and Kobe smiled. “I see Sugawara’s entire household is trying to do my work for me again. No doubt, Lady Akiko will shortly make her appearance.”

Tora chuckled. “She was talking to the master when we left, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“May the heavens help me,” said Kobe. “I may have made a bad mistake. As for the blind girl, frankly I had my doubts when I heard about it. The say she’s absolutely adamant that she didn’t do it and was out of the room when it happened. We’ll look into the matter, so there’s no need for you to do anything else.”

Saburo’s heart sank. He had little faith in police investigations. “Could I talk to her, sir?”

Kobe frowned. “Very well, but don’t make her any promises and stay out of it afterward.” He told a young constable to take Tora and Saburo to the jail so they could visit the girl.

Sachi cowered in a corner of the cell on some dirty straw. An evil-smelling bucket was in the opposite corner. She turned a frightened face toward the door as it opened. Saburo was struck again by how pretty she was when you discounted that bluish cast of blindness in her eyes.

Tora also whistled under his breath, and the blind girl shrank against the wall and cried, “Don’t, please!”

Saburo said quickly, “Don’t be afraid, Sachi. I’m Shokichi’s friend. She sent me to help. I brought a friend with me. We don’t mean you any harm.”

She relaxed a little. “Shokichi? She was there when they arrested me.”

“Yes. Me, too. She wanted me to fight the constables. Now she’s angry with me.”

A tiny smile appeared on her face. “You’re Saburo?”

“Yes. And my friend is Tora. Say ‘hello’, Tora.”

Tora obeyed. “Hello, Sachi. I’m sorry I whistled. It was the surprise. I guess you know you’re very pretty.”

She cried, “I wish I wasn’t.”

“Why?” Tora asked, “Did the constables or guards try anything?”

She nodded. “They tried.”

Tora growled. “Wait until the superintendent hears. Who was it, the constables or the jail guards?”

“One of the guards. Maybe two.”

“Right. I’ll put a stop to that. Saburo wants to help, too. Maybe you’d better tell us how all this happened.”

It appeared that Nakamura had requested her services at the Daikoku-yu a few days earlier.

“He was very generous. He paid me extra. It was all right at first, but he started saying things.” She blushed. “I didn’t understand at first, but then he also touched me when he said them, and I understood.” She lowered her head again. I told Jinzaemon I didn’t want to work for Nakamura-san anymore, but …” She made a helpless gesture with her hands. “I owed Jinzaemon some money. He wanted it back and I didn’t have it. He said he would forget the debt if I took care of Nakamura-san.”

“The swine,” muttered Tora.

“Go on,” said Saburo, who wanted to find out what happened on the day of the murder.

“It was difficult,” she said, bowing her head some more. “Nakamura-san insisted on touching me and he wanted me touch him. I said something about getting some special oil and ran out of the room. I went to Jinzaemon and said I couldn’t do what Nakamura-san wanted, but Jinzaemon sent me back in. He said I had to finish the session, and after that I could leave. So I went back into the room. I think I made some excuse. There was no answer, and there was a smell. I reached for the towel on Nakamura-san’s head, but he had fallen forward.” She gulped and stopped.

“Was he dead?”

Sachi nodded. She murmured, “I felt for him. There was blood. I touched it. A lot of blood. I thought maybe he’d had a nosebleed. Sometimes bathers cannot take the heat and their noses start bleeding. I think I asked him if he needed help. He didn’t answer. Then I put my hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t react, and I got scared. I shouted for help and tried to lift him up. I got a lot of blood on me then.” She shuddered.

“You had just finished shaving him?” Tora asked.

“No. I’d only washed his hair.”

Tora exchanged a glance with Saburo and asked, “You mean you left him there with the towel wrapped around his head?”

She nodded.

“Was anyone outside the room when you left? I take it, there are ways to recognize people without being able to see them.”

“Sometimes. I can smell some of them. Others have a certain way of walking and I can tell by their footfall.”

Saburo had been content to leave the questions to Tora as a gesture of gratitude for his help. But he could not restrain himself any longer. “In that case, do you remember anyone near the room when you stepped outside to fetch the oil? Or did you meet someone in the corridor?”

She frowned, trying to remember. “There was someone, maybe more than one. I recall smelling a scent. Jinzaemon was down the corridor and asked me what I was doing. I have a notion that there was some other man there also. Perhaps he was waiting to be my next customer. Do you think the killer was outside the room, waiting for me to leave? But how could he have known I would go to get some oil? I only did this because Nakamura-san’s attentions were becoming obnoxious.”

“Yes,” said Saburo. “We know, but this person could have been waiting for you to finish.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “How terrible! And yet I wish he had waited.”

“Never mind!” Tora said cheerfully. “We’ll do our best to find out who really killed Nakamura.

“Thank you,” she said, bowing deeply and wiping away her tears.