“My brother met his wife on one of his periodic buying trips in the country. Nobuko was the daughter of a retired academician with a small country estate. She was younger than my brother, but eager to find a husband of suitable background and income.” Kojiro grimaced slightly. “Some young women,” he said, “seem to wish for a life of luxury, and the trade may, after all, be a fair one. My brother was middle-aged and, no doubt, rather dull company for a pretty and lively young woman. But he had two advantages. He had money and he resided in the capital. Her father’s motive was more complicated, I think. Professor Yasaburo is an educated man who struggled to make ends meet and could not afford to pay for a dower for his daughter. No doubt he wished to provide for his only child. In any case, she came to my brother’s house and I acquired a sister-in-law. I liked Nobuko very much at first. She was close to my age and talented in music. On my visits, we used to play the lute and sing songs together while my brother watched and listened.” A sadness passed over Kojiro’s face. “My brother was deeply attached to Nobuko. He could not take his eyes off her, and I was glad. But this soon changed.” The prisoner moved uncomfortably and sighed.
They were all uncomfortable standing there on that filthy, cold floor, thought Akitada, but Kojiro, chained and in pain, was much the worse off. Still, there was nothing to be done about it. To hurry the tale along, Akitada urged, “What changed?”
Kojiro said bleakly, “One day my sister-in-law asked me to make love to her. She claimed that my brother could no longer … satisfy her and that she could not sleep for love of me. I was appalled and immediately left my brother’s house. From then on I stayed away as much as I could, but my brother would send for me. I could not tell him what had happened.”
“You never acceded to her wishes?”
“Never. I detested that woman from the moment she offered to betray my brother.” Kojiro’s hard stare dared Akitada to doubt it. “I avoided her like the smallpox.”
“Hah!” Kobe interrupted suddenly. “That is part of the string of lies you told us. If you had been avoiding her so much, why did you go off with her on trips around the countryside, eh? And without a maid or chaperone? I tell you what you really did: You seduced your brother’s wife and when diddling her got a bit difficult in his house, you took her on little excursions. You intended to take your sexual pleasures at the temple. The night of her death, you both got drunk, and you killed her. Maybe it was an accident, or maybe she refused you. When you saw what you had done, you panicked and slashed her face, so she wouldn’t be recognized and you could get away. But you didn’t make it. The wine proved stronger.”
Kojiro gave Kobe a contemptuous glance. “No,” he said. “I have done nothing but think about that night. I do not know how I got into her room, but I did not drink anything but tea at the temple, and I certainly had no desire to make love to my brother’s wife. I went on the trip because my brother asked me to accompany her, and I could not refuse without telling him why. Her maid did not come with us because she was violently ill the day we left. Nobuko insisted on going, and my brother supported her. He will confirm this.”
Kobe said, “Oh, he did. But then, he has done his best to cover for his little brother all along.”
Kojiro glared at Kobe, and Akitada said quickly, “I have been told by your brother that you used to drink too much. In fact, he said you had prior episodes of forgetting where you had been and what you had done. Is it not likely that this happened again?”
“I don’t deny that I used to drink. Wine has always affected me worse than other men, and there was a time in my life when I welcomed oblivion for a few hours. However, by the time my brother married, I had stopped.” He paused. “I repeat, I did not drink at the temple. At least, I did not do so knowingly. It would have been difficult in any case, because I did not bring wine with me, and the monks, of course, do not serve wine.”
“Yes. I had thought of that.” Akitada nodded, exchanging a look with Kobe, who merely raised an eyebrow quizzically, as if to say, Believe what you like! “Did you spend any time with Mrs. Nagaoka after you had been shown to your rooms?”
“No!” The denial was emphatic and bitter. “I stayed in my own room, except for a brief visit to the bath. When I returned, I had a cup of tea and immediately went to bed. I was very tired. And that is the last thing I remember.”
“Tea?” asked Akitada surprised. “I thought the monks served only water.”
“There was tea in a pot on a small brazier when I returned from my bath. I do not like tea, and this tasted very bitter, but I was thirsty and the water had been removed.”
Akitada exchanged another glance with Kobe, who frowned.
“You said that you remember nothing after you went to sleep in your own room. Did you have any dreams?”
Kojiro looked startled. “No,” he said, “but when I woke up I felt exactly the way I did after a night of drinking. My head was pounding, I was nauseated, and my sight was blurred. And I could hardly speak. It was as if my tongue had turned into a heavy rock, and my mouth was full of sand. They told you, no doubt, that I reeked of wine and that an empty wine pitcher was next to me. I can only theorize that I was knocked out and the wine poured over me.”
Kobe snorted. “We checked your head. Nobody knocked you out.
“Hmm!” Akitada stared at the prisoner thoughtfully. “Do you have any ideas who could have killed your sister-in-law and set you up as the killer?”
Kojiro’s face lengthened. He shook his head. “No, my lord, I do not. No one knew us there. Only the gatekeeper saw us arrive together. And he was an old man and a monk. You saw him yourself.” He sagged against the wall, his face suddenly drawn and very white. “I warned you,” he said tiredly. “I know of nothing that might help my case.”
“You do not suspect your brother of the murder?”
The prisoner came upright with a jerk and a rattle of chains. “What do you mean?” he cried, his eyes suddenly blazing. “My brother was not there. And he loved her to the point of madness. He would never have laid a hand on her… or implicated me! If you plan to shift the blame to my brother, I want none of your help. I will confess to the crime myself before I’ll allow that to happen.”
Kobe suddenly looked like the cat who caught the fish. “Well, Sugawara?” he asked. “Are you finished?”
Akitada nodded. To Kojiro he said, “I shall try to find out the truth. If it falls on your brother, so be it. You have spent all your time here thinking about what happened that night at the temple. I now want you to think about your sister-in-law. Anything you recall about her life before and after her marriage may be important. All her interests, her relationship with your brother and with anyone else in his house.”
Kojiro opened his mouth, but Akitada raised his hand. “No. Not now. Rest and take your time! I shall return … if the superintendent permits it.”
Kobe unlocked the cell door. “We shall see!” he said noncommittally.
Akitada nodded to the prisoner and turned to leave. Behind his back the chains rattled, then the hoarse voice said, “Thank you, my lord.”
Once they were away from the cells, Akitada confronted Kobe. “You heard him. He was drugged, of course. With that tea. I spoke to the monks who serve the visitors. They never provide anything but water.”
Kobe only grunted.
“Have you turned up anyone else who might have had a reason to kill Mrs. Nagaoka?”
“No one but her husband. By all accounts, she was a woman of few morals.”
“Yes. But I met Nagaoka. He was strangely unemotional about her death. His whole concern seemed to be for his brother. Perhaps he suspected an affair between them.”
Kobe cocked his head. “I’ve had the same thought just now. He was supposed to be besotted with her. But why defend his brother? Maybe he’s a good actor. Why don’t you look into it?”