Death on an Autumn River (A Sugawara Akitada Novel) Page 14

  Miyoshi rummaged and found two cushions under some bedding. These he placed on the floor in the center of the room, inviting Akitada to sit. From several doorways peered the faces of children, only to be withdrawn when Akitada glanced their way.

  This would be difficult.

  Looking at his beaming host, Akitada said, “You know, of course, that Sadenari just recently accompanied me to Naniwa.”

  Miyoshi nodded eagerly, beaming more widely. “Oh, yes. He was so excited, so honored. He’s such an admirer of Lord Sugawara’s brilliant work that it was a stoke of the greatest luck to him. He told me he hoped to learn from you so that maybe someday he also might become an investigator. And here he was, selected to assist in such a very serious matter! It was an honor, a great honor. The greatest! We are very indebted to your generous regard for our boy, sir.”

  “Hmm, er, thank you. Sadenari is indeed a very eager young man. I returned because of a death in my family and had to leave him behind.”

  His host was nodding his head with apparent satisfaction. “I understand,” he said. “He wrote to me about his assignment.”

  “He wrote to you?” Akitada wondered what Sadenari had told his father about being left behind in Eguchi and having to walk all the way to Naniwa.

  “Oh, yes. The letter got here a few days ago. He’s very excited about being given a special assignment. Says it’s of the highest national importance. And he writes that he has already made excellent progress and hopes he’ll soon justify your faith in his abilities. Isn’t that wonderful? I said to his mother only this morning that my eldest son will bring great honor to the family. We’re very proud of him.”

  Akitada digested this with surprised dismay. “He wrote a few days ago?” It sounded as if Sadenari had written his father after he had disappeared. “Where exactly was he, er, making this great progress?”

  “He didn’t say. Would you like to see the letter, sir?”

  “I would indeed. I haven’t had a report from him myself.” And that thought brought back anger. Perhaps all his worry had been for nothing. The rascal was gallivanting about again without a thought to his duties. No telling what damage he had been doing. Or perhaps Akitada knew well enough: there had been the two soldiers and Seimei’s death.

  Miyoshi returned with a much creased sheet of cheap paper. “Here it is. I could wish Sadenari would take more care with his brushwork, but he was clearly pressed for time, and the note was just to his old dad.” He chuckled.

  Sadenari’s brushwork had given Akitada some concern in the past, and this sample was distinctly worse than what he produced at work.

  “Honored Father,” Sadenari scrawled. “You’ll wonder how I’m doing here. Be assured that your son has finally gained his lordship’s complete confidence. He has given me an assignment of the greatest national importance. I’ve already made excellent progress, but the secrecy involved doesn’t allow me to write about it. Suffice it to say I’m on the trail of a villain who plots against our Divine Sovereign himself. I’m filled with an energy that could move mountains. Give my best love to my mother and to my brothers and sisters. Tell them to expect their big brother to return covered in triumph.”

  Sadenari was not precisely modest, thought Akitada sourly. The letter was dated after his disappearance. Akitada turned the sheet over, looking for some clue to where it had been posted. There was nothing but the superscription and some grease stains that might have been put there by the grubby fingers of all the little brothers and sisters. He glanced toward the doorway and caught sight of two little girls and an older woman. She must be Sadenari’s mother. She was smiling proudly until she met his eyes and ducked away with a small cry. The two rosy-cheeked girls remained, wide-eyed at the visiting courtier who sat in their living room.

  Akitada did not know what to think or tell this family. Sadenari might indeed be well, though Akitada doubted he would cover himself in glory or even uncover any clues to the identity of the traitor. Alternatively, he might have encountered trouble shortly after sending this letter and be dead even now.

  He returned the letter with a heavy heart and cautioned, “There may be some danger. We must hope he’s being careful. He is very young.”

  Miyoshi chuckled. “Oh, Sadenari is one lucky fellow. It’s always been that way with him. His karma is excellent. He’ll be fine, sir, don’t you worry. Nothing bad ever happens to Sadenari.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Return to Naniwa

  A week after Akitada had arrived home, Fujiwara Sanesuke decided that Akitada should return to Naniwa and finish his assignment. An official arrived toward nightfall to meet with Akitada. The gentleman outranked Akitada and threw the household into consternation as his retinue waited in the courtyard and no one knew whether they should be shown inside and offered refreshments.

  Akitada paid no attention to the nervous whispers in the corridor. He had bigger problems. His career might well hang in the balance.

  Lord Takahashi was stiffly formal. He refused an offer of wine, indicating that he was there on business.

  “His Excellency has taken note of the death of one of your retainers,” he said. “He regrets this. However, no mourning period can be involved since this man was not a close family member. His Excellency has decided that you will return to your duties immediately.”

  This sounded a good deal like a reproof for neglect of duty, and Akitada bowed humbly, expressing his apologies and acceptance. When Lord Takahashi merely nodded, he dared a question. “May I ask if the assignment has changed in any way as it regards the local governor, or the prefect and the administrator of the foreign trade office?”

  “No. His Excellency has addressed separate instructions to the governor and the man at the trade office. You are to deliver these and finish your investigation. Weekly reports are expected, but surely it will not take that long.”

  More pressure: Finish this quickly or we will consider the delays another instance of dereliction of duty!

  Akitada hated begging for protection. It made him sound like a coward. He murmured, “I must urge the danger faced by any official who ventures into this hornet’s nest of piracy and profiteering.”

  Lord Takahashi gave him a cold look. “You surprise me. I had heard that you faced much greater odds on that convict island. Surely you can handle a simple information leak without requiring body guards?”

  Akitada mentioned humbly that on Sado Island he had carried secret orders that had gained him the support of the local governor. On this occasion, the local authorities not only did not offer protection but seemed aligned against him.

  “Enough!” Lord Takahashi drew a rolled up sheaf of papers from the voluminous sleeve of his black court robe. “Here are your instructions and official letters to the governor and the others. It will be up to you to decide whom to trust. You may collect funds and travel tokens at your ministry and are expected to start out early tomorrow.”

  *

  And so Akitada and Tora departed after a night that had allowed them little rest. Akitada’s visit to his ministry to pick up travel funds had been time-consuming as it involved a lengthy and convivial visit with Fujiwara Kaneie, who congratulated him on the trust the Minister of the Right placed in him and proceeded immediately to a discussion of his own problems. A number of questions of a legal nature had cropped up during Akitada’s absence, and besides two pending cases might prove tricky. He desired input from his senior secretary. Their working session was accompanied by many cups of wine, and Akitada did not get home until nearly dawn. He still had to pack, and issue funds to Tamako and instructions to Genba.

  The loss of Seimei weighed more heavily than ever on him. The old man had been the heart of the household, making sure all ran smoothly. Eventually, Akitada said farewell to Tamako and peeked in on his little daughter Yasuko, still fast asleep with a doll clutched to her chest.

  Except for the fact that he was with Tora instead of Sadenari, the trip resembled the previous one. They wen
t by boat down the Yodo River, the time of day was the same, and the passengers were again pilgrims and men on business. The boat master was different, but he, too, was accompanied by two helpers.

  Autumn had progressed in even the short span of time since the last journey. Here and there, brighter splashes of gold and crimson showed among the sober green of the wooded banks of the river. The thought of autumn had made Akitada think of old age and death and had proved sadly premonitory. The loss of Seimei would pain him for a long time to come.

  The river carried him toward the unknown. He leaned over the side of the boat and peered into the water. Dark shadows moved below the surface. Already they were close to Eguchi. He found himself watching for the place where they had found the dead girl.

  The charming pavilion overhanging the river hove into view first, and he recalled his longing for such a retreat, or for something like the professor’s house, a modest place where he could wander down to the water and feed his ducks.

  Oh, to be free of the obligations and fears his work placed upon him!

  The finely wrought railings, brilliantly red in the sunlight, were nearly level with their boat when a thought struck him. He called out to the boatman, “Can you take us closer to shore, to that pavilion there?”

  The boatman was eager to please a nobleman, and immediately ordered his assistants to pole the boat toward the pavilion. They entered a cove normally hidden from view. The other passengers craned their necks, wondering what the court official found so interesting.

  Tora came to sit beside Akitada. “Is that the place?” he asked in a low voice.

  Akitada nodded and pointed. “We found her over there, where the river makes the bend. She could have gone into the water from this pavilion. She had not been in the water long, and it’s much more likely than that she should have drifted upstream from Eguchi. I don’t trust that Eguchi warden.”

  Tora looked dubious. “She could have fallen or been tossed from a boat.”

  “Yes. It was just an idea.” Akitada eyed the pavilion. For all its glowing beauty, the place struck him as somehow menacing now. It seemed just the sort of place where a beautiful girl-child might meet her death.

  “It’s a grand place,” said Tora, looking up at elegant rooflines and red lacquered columns. “The emperor himself might live in a place like that.”

  It was indeed a palatial. As they had come closer, they could see other buildings raising their blue-tiled gables over the tree tops beyond the pavilion. Akitada called to the boat’s master again, “Do you know what this place is?”

  “We just call it the River Mansion, sir,” the man replied. “The pavilion marks the place where we start the turn for the Eguchi landing stage.”

  “Who does it belong to?”

  “It’s a summer place for some great nobleman from capital. Sometimes they play music up there over the river, and fine gentlemen and ladies in silk of many colors walk around.” He shook his head in wonder. “The good people live every day of their lives in the Western Paradise.”

  Yes, the elegant buildings in their beautiful setting looked like those in painted scrolls depicting the Western Paradise. To ordinary people, the lives of the rich and powerful were the most accurate image of ultimate bliss. As they gradually moved downriver and away from the site, Akitada got a vivid impression of music floating out over the water while celestial figures moved about under the trees or leaned over the red railings of the pavilion to watch the river traffic. It was a far cry from the rustic hermitage he had imagined as the perfect haven for his old age. Perhaps the reward for a good life was exactly the sort place one had dreamed of during his lifetime. He wondered what abode Seimei would find waiting for him.

  Tora snorted. “‘Good people’? Hardly good. They may live in paradise, but their crimes send them to hell after they die,” he said, shocking the boat’s master and his assistants, but getting some nods and grins from passengers.

  Like Tora, Akitada knew well enough that the lives of the powerful were far from perfect or desirable. He was tempted to stop over in Eguchi to find out who owned the River Mansion. He could ask Harima, the former choja. The thought of the two old people brought a smile to his face.

  Tora must have read his thoughts. “Shall we spend the night and ask a few questions?” he asked eagerly. “We can go on to Naniwa the next morning.”

  That was what Akitada had done last time, and it had led to nothing but trouble. Besides, while Tora doted on his pretty wife Hanae and had turned into a good family man since his marriage, his past had been spent among the women who earned their living on their backs. Tora might be tempted to take advantage of his temporary freedom from domesticity to return to his old ways. He said, “No, Tora. Have you forgotten Seimei’s death? As long as the villain who sent his men to my home is alive and free, your family and mine are in danger.”

  Tora’s face fell. He nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have been so stupid.”

  They fell silent. Akitada wondered if Kobe could guard his family adequately if more armed men showed up at his house.

  Tora said, “That postmaster’s story about the old princess and her young men sort of fits, don’t you think?”

  “What?”

  “What the boat master said about parties at the River Mansion. What if that’s where the princess lives?”

  “I doubt it very much. It’s just a salacious tale told by a lecher.” But it struck Akitada that a nobleman might well use such a remote place to enjoy forbidden pleasures the court would frown upon or a highborn first wife might object to. Those pleasures, in the close proximity of a town that catered to all sorts of sexual perversions could involve the abuse of poor young girls, abuse that would lead them to commit suicide rather than face more of the same. It might even result in murder.

  He thought of Otomo and his insistence that Korean girls were being abducted and put to work in Eguchi. There was something very odd about the way Otomo had pursued him with his suspicions. But the professor had never mentioned the word murder.

  They stayed on board while the boat docked at Eguchi and watched passengers disembark and new passengers take their place. The short distance to Naniwa was uneventful. The skies were still blue, the broad expanse of the river glistened in the sun, and a fresh breeze brought the tang of the open sea.

  In Naniwa, they walked to the government hostel. The fat man sat in his usual place. There was no sign of the little girl. The manager eyed them glumly.

  “You had a visitor,” he told Akitada. “Right after you left. Ugliest bastard I ever saw. He left this.” With a smirk, he produced a badly wrapped package that seemed to contain a scroll. “I told him you’d gone and I didn’t know if you’d be back, but he said to keep it and he’d be back to pick it up if you didn’t show. Only he never came back.”

  Akitada stared at the package and then at the fat man. It was clear that someone had opened and then rewrapped the package clumsily. He took it and said coldly, “Thank you. We’ll share a room. Bring our saddlebags.”

  The fat manager got to his feet with difficulty, grabbed a saddlebag in each fist and lumbered down the corridor. He took them to the same room Akitada had occupied before and collected his tip.

  “Where’s your daughter?” asked Tora.

  “With her mother,” that man said and lumbered out.

  “I wonder how the child is.” Tora looked after him with a frown.

  “Let’s hope her mother is looking after her better than her father was.” Akitada was unwrapping the package. It turned out to be no more than a piece of bamboo pipe of the sort used in gardens to direct water into a basin. It should be hollow, but he could not see through it. He shook it and heard a soft sound inside. He looked about the room, then stepped out into the small yard where he saw a dry stick and used that to probe inside the tube. Some brown fibers fell out. He poked harder, and more fibers emerged, and then a small, heavy object wrapped in a piece of paper fell into his hand. When he unfolded the
paper, he saw the Korean amulet. The ugly man had returned it.

  “What is it?” asked Tora.

  “It’s an amulet I bought and lost. Apparently, someone found it for me.” Akitada tucked the coin away in his sash. No sense in further stirring Tora’s interest in the dead girl from Eguchi. “Let’s have an early night. I plan to see the prefect in the morning. Nakahara is useless, but he did inform me that Munata is a close associate of the governor’s. If one of the two is a villain, then the other is also, and Munata is less likely to slip away to the capital. What about you?”

  Tora stepped out on the veranda and sniffed the air. “I’ll go to Kawajiri. To that hostel.”

  Akitada nodded. “The Hostel of the Flying Cranes.” He looked at Tora’s neat blue robe, his black hat, and good boots. “But not in those clothes, I hope.”

  “No, of course, not. I’ll change into some rags, but I’ll take my sword. It’s short, and an old jacket swill cover it. I may be gone for a couple of days. Will you be all right?”

  “Yes. It’s you who is going into the tiger’s lair. Be careful.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Family Ties

  The next morning, Akitada walked to the district prefecture, ruminating about the return of the Korean amulet.

  Why had the ugly man returned it? If he had taken it in the first place, what had made him change his mind? If he had not taken it, how had he found it? Hiding it inside the bamboo pipe made more sense. He had clearly taken the measure of the fat man. But the rest of his impressive feats still bordered on the unreal.

  Before setting out, Akitada had looked at the amulet again. Otomo was right. It was too finely made to have belonged to a mere courtesan. If he had the time, he would return to Eguchi with the amulet and get to the bottom of this mystery.