In the end, Akitada wrote a letter and Tora delivered it himself. An hour later, Kobe arrived at the Sugawara house.
He looked a little anxious when he entered Akitada’s room. More shocking was the fact that he was no longer in his impressive crimson uniform but wore an ordinary gray silk robe and a small black hat. He could have been any low-level clerk bustling about in one of the many administrative halls at the beck and call of every nobleman and guards officer. The change in clothing diminished him; he looked smaller, older, and less distinguished.
Akitada managed a smile as he gestured to a cushion. “Forgive me for not rising. I’m afraid it still hurts too much to get to my feet and then sit back down.
Kobe sat and smiled back. “I’m very glad to see you’re so much better than I’d been led to believe. Should you be up already?”
“Yes. Besides I’m impatient to catch up on what I’ve missed.” He paused to give Kobe a searching look. “Tora told me your bad news. I’m deeply sorry and very angry that they’ve treated you this way.”
Kobe’s mouth twisted. “Karma and shadows follow a man everywhere. You know that well enough.”
“My fortune seems to have improved. I seem to have been forgiven, and today they sent me my pay. I feel all the more responsible for what happened to you.”
Kobe looked astonished. “Why? I came to my senses almost too late. In fact, if I’d acted sooner, you wouldn’t have been attacked. So don’t talk to me of responsibility.”
“I hear you arrested Kanemoto and his woman.”
“Yes, and they couldn’t wait to heap accusations on one another. She told us about Kanemoto’s strangling of the gambler Hankei. Naturally, she claimed she was an innocent bystander. When I didn’t believe her, she threatened me with retaliation. It seems one of her clients holds a rather important position in the government. I ignored this and told Kanemoto what she had said. He retaliated by informing us that she had killed the moneylender Nakamura.”
“She owed Nakamura money?”
“Oh, yes. It seems Kanemoto refused to pay her debts and told her to take care of them herself, so she did. By killing the man! She told Nakamura that she would meet him at the bathhouse and buy back her IOUs. Instead she cut his throat and took the papers she had signed, letting Sachi take the blame for the murder.”
“That poor girl!” Akitada said, shaking his head. “She must have been terrified.”
Kobe said angrily, “Sachi had no business working there. The men are animals. Nakamura tried to rape her. He would have succeeded, too. The bathhouse owner forced her to accede to his wishes. She is well out of there.”
“Is she?” Akitada raised his brows, and Kobe flushed.
“What has become of her?” Akitada asked.
“She’s at my house for the present.”
“That was very kind of you.” Akitada smiled.
Kobe glanced at him. He was clearly embarrassed. “My first lady decided to forsake the world when she heard of my dismissal. My second lady isn’t going quite so far, but she blames me for ruining our children’s futures and keeps to herself. I’m alone these days.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea.” Akitada had always assumed Kobe’s household to be a happy one and was thunderstruck by these revelations.
“I’ve always envied you, Akitada. Lady Tamako was all that a wife could be. I was jealous of your happiness. You never wanted another woman, having all that a man needs in this one. Forgive me! I know it must pain you to think of it.”
Akitada shook his head. “You are right about us, though there were some years-.” He paused.
Kobe brushed a hand over his face. “Well, it made me see women differently. And then there was Sachi, this poor blind girl who wanted so little from life and had nothing. It occurred to me … but it’s too soon to speak of it. Forgive me.”
Akitada understood. Kobe had found his lotus flower in the mud and had fallen in love. It shocked him that a man of Kobe’s background would consider living with a bathhouse attendant. And a blind one at that.
He changed the subject. “Did you find evidence against the courtesan Phoenix apart from what Kanemoto told you?”
Kobe nodded. “Nakamura kept meticulous accounts of all his loan transactions. We found some of them hidden in an empty jar in his kitchen. It seems he didn’t trust his partner Saito or his children. Phoenix owed the equivalent of thirty bars of gold. It had accumulated over the years as she spent on her wardrobe.”
“Dear heaven! Thirty bars of gold for gowns? It’s unbelievable.”
“Murders have been committed for far less. By the way, Sachi said she smelled her. She has a very good nose. She smelled perfume and also a faint whiff of blood when she passed her in the corridor on her way back to Nakamura. The bathhouse owner testified that the Phoenix was there at the time of the murder. Saburo had already alerted us to the fact that some of the courtesans were hanging around the murder scene.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s over. Saburo got himself into trouble pursuing this case.”
Kobe smiled. “And so did you. Are you truly on the mend?”
“I think so. What will you do now?”
“Oh, I need the rest. I expect I’ll retire to the country. Life costs less there, and I have always wanted to do some hunting. I hope you and Tora will be my guests soon.”
*
Kobe’s dismissal upset Akitada a great deal. The superintendent had been facing the threat of replacement for a few years now. Still, the crisis had come over the trial of the blind girl. Akitada considered the fact that Phoenix had claimed to be under the protection of some great lord. It seemed odd, given what he knew of her, but it would explain why Sachi’s trial had been pushed forward after Saburo had started asking questions.
The morning following Kobe’s visit, he talked with Tora and Saburo about the case. They had followed events and knew that Kanemoto had confessed. Phoenix had persisted with her denials at first and suffered severe floggings. In the end, she had admitted killing Nakamura.
“The superintendent handled it perfectly,” Tora commented. “Something should be done about his dismissal when he was right all along. He said the Ministry of Justice was behind it. Can you find out why your former boss would do such a thing?”
Akitada was astonished. “It wasn’t Kaneie,” he said with conviction. “He would have told me. There must be some mistake.”
The outcome was that Akitada wrote Kaneie to ask what he knew about the situation. Kaneie came to see him, bringing with him some documents. It turned out that Sakanoue had ordered the trial to be moved up. And it had been Sakanoue again who had forwarded Judge Hirokane’s complaint about Kobe’s behavior. The cover letter objected in the strongest terms against Superintendent Kobe’s meddling again in affairs properly part of the Ministry of Justice. All of Sakanoue’s letters claimed to have been written on orders of Fujiwara Kaneie.
“I knew he had done some things,” said Kaneie, who was furiously angry. “But I had no idea of this. When I got your letter, I went immediately and demanded to see these documents. As you may imagine, I have protested and demanded the man be prosecuted.”
“I see,” said Akitada, very pleased with this outcome. “Do you think it will get Kobe his position back?”
“I have no idea. They’ve wanted to replace him for a long time. But that they should do it this way, and use my name!” Kaneie was turning purple with anger again.
“Well,” said Akitada. “I’m very glad anyway. And you got rid of Sakanoue. Any idea why he did it?”
“No, but I’ll have it out of him. I’m going back to the ministry to call him to account.” Kaneie waved the documents triumphantly as he left.
33
When Lady Akiko next called on her brother, she looked glum.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m at the end of my wits. I’ve talked and probed, gossiped and snooped, flattered and teased. I can get nothing more. Masako was a gosechi dancer, was chosen as an imperial handmaiden, and met Masakane. Once she lived in the imperial palace, the handsome rascal pursued her, gained access to her chamber, and the pair confronted her father with their clandestine marriage.”