Worse was about to come!
The paler square of the opening disappeared. For a moment, Saburo was disoriented and moved frantically this way and that in the darkness. Reason returned and, feeling about above himself, he managed to guess from the direction of the overhead beams where he was and started crawling again. On his way, he encountered the corpse of the animal and decided it was only a cat after all, though a rather large one.
But then a new noise reached his ears. Someone was hammering. He followed the sound, and when he reached the outer wall, he felt along it. The hammering stopped.
Alas, the opening was gone. Something soft and yielding blocked it. He felt it, touched clothing and hair, and realized he had been joined by the corpse of the gambler.
With some difficulty in the confined space he moved the gambler aside. The hole through which he had entered, and through which Kanemoto had shoved the body, was now closed off. He was trapped under the gangster chief’s house with the body of a murdered man.
19
The Dance of the Cranes
His visit with the nun Seikan left Akitada frustrated and irritable. Why is it that those who choose a religious life assume they are above the law and can make their own judgments? Perhaps they have stripped their souls of all capacity to feel anything by avoiding the troubles of those who lead normal lives, fall in love, have children, work hard to provide for them, and in consequence suffer the unbearable pain that comes with the loss of loved ones.
But Seikan had mourned the passing of her friend, though he still thought her feelings had not been engaged to a degree where she would fight for justice. Had the erstwhile Tasuku put aside his emotions when he became a monk?
Pondering these questions, Akitada stopped and looked around. What to do next?
The answer came immediately. He would go to speak to the children who used to visit Lady Ogata. But to find them, he must visit the caretaker Koshiro again.
He passed quickly through the gardens, skirting the lake where the two cranes were fishing again, and knocked on the caretaker’s door.
It opened quickly, and Akitada saw that his presence came as a shock to the man. He said reassuringly, “I won’t keep you, but it occurred to me to speak to the two children who visited Lady Ogata. Could you tell me where they live?”
Koshiro looked past him as if he pondered the question. It had been a simple question, and Akitada turned his head to see if someone was coming, but the path was empty.
Finally Koshiro said, “I don’t know. They’re poor children. Who knows what those are up to? They were a nuisance. I didn’t like them, but I ignored them because the lady enjoyed their visits.”
“Ah. You said a boy and a girl? About how old?”
Again the strange hesitation. “Yes, a boy and a girl. The girl was maybe nine and boy was younger. I’m not good at guessing ages.”
“Thank you. I must try my best to find them.” Akitada gave him a smile and left, wondering why Koshiro had been so unhelpful.
Back outside the compound, he circled around the block that was Genshin’s property and arrived at a quarter of very modest homes. Workers and artisans, scribes and low-ranking officials lived in these houses. The wall that protected the noble compound from the lower classes had a small gate on this side. He tested it and found it locked. Apparently, this had not been so before the lady’s death, but Koshiro had wasted no time keeping the children away in the future.
He glanced across the street and saw a group of children playing under a large catalpa tree. They were all younger than ten, he guessed, and both boys and girls. When he had walked across, he noticed an old woman sitting under the tree and was relieved that the children had not been left without some sort of supervision.
Seeing a formally dressed nobleman approaching, the old woman struggled to her feet and bowed deeply.
“I see you look after all these children,” Akitada said, smiling. “It must be difficult. They seem very energetic.”
She returned a toothless smile and bobbed another bow. “So they are, your Honor, so they are. Regular mice, they are so quick. But they’re mostly good children, and I really only look after my own.” She giggled and raised a hand to her mouth to stifle the merriment. “I mean my daughter’s children, of course. That’s them over there.” She pointed to a cluster of four boys engaged in kicking a small stone about.
“Sturdy boys,” Akitada complimented her. “I’m looking for two particular children, a girl and her smaller brother. I believe they live in this neighborhood and used to visit a lady in the big house over there.” He pointed across the street.
“Oh,” she said. “The poor lady who hanged herself?” Again the hand covered her mouth. “Sorry, sir. I shouldn’t talk about such things.”
“It’s all right,” he reassured her. “I wonder, are those children here, by chance?”
She nodded and pointed to a pair who sat nearby, looking forlorn as they watched the other children. “The girl’s called Maeko and the boy Shiro. Their mother’s a widow who works as a cleaning woman. They’re alone during the day.” She shook her head. “That’s not a good way for children to grow up. Look at them. They just mope around. Are they in trouble for going over there?”
Akitada got the impression that she would have welcomed some trouble for them to prove the point that families had a duty to watch over their children. He thought of his own two who were close in age. But unlike the poor widow’s children, they had servants to look after them. Who knew what dire straits the mother was in? He said firmly, “No, no trouble at all. They seem to be good children and they were invited by the lady.”
“Not to start with,” corrected the old woman. “They went over there to look around because they were bored. I know they did. They came back talking about how beautiful the garden is and how there’s a lake with ducks and cranes and beautiful buildings. I had my hands full to keep the rest of the kids from running off to see.”
That explained her resentment. Akitada thanked her and walked over to the two children. They got to their feet, looking nervous, but making him a bow. The girl was thin but neat in her faded blue and white dress with her braid hanging down her back. The boy, in short pants and a simple shirt, was less tidy, and his short hair stood up in small uneven tufts. Both were barefoot. The weather was already too cold for such inadequate attire, but they did not seem to feel it.
Akitada smiled at them. “I think you must be Lady Ogata’s young friends.”
The girl’s eyes widened and she grasped her brother’s hand as if she were about to run away, taking him with her. Akitada crouched to bring his face to their level. He meant to reassure them when the boy burst into tears.
“I didn’t do it,” he cried. “I didn’t touch her. Please don’t hit me. I didn’t mean to.”
The girl put an arm around him. “Hush, Shiro. The honorable gentleman isn’t asking about that.”
The boy gulped and fell silent, but Akitada wondered. He stood up again and said gently, “Nobody is going to beat you. I won’t allow it. I just stopped by to tell you how grateful everybody is that you were so brave the morning you found her dead.”
The girl looked uncertain, but the boy brightened immediately. “I was brave. Did you hear, Maeko?” he told his sister. “The honorable gentleman just said so.” He wiped away his tears and smiled at Akitada, who smiled back and nodded.