“Oh yes. I don’t sleep well,and the maid was snoring in her cubicle. They didn’t get up. It is too dreadful that we were the only guests. Someone arrived in the afternoon just after I got back from my shopping. I was having my bath. They made a great clatter in the entry, but I expect whoever it was didn’t like the place and left again.”
“Very well. You may go. If yourecall anything useful, get word to Lieutenant Hitomaro.”
“With the greatest pleasure.”Okano rolled his eyes at the muscular Hitomaro and tittered. On the way out, hemade a show of stumbling and grasped Hitomaro’s arm, but he found his hand quickly removed.
When the door had closed behind them, Tora burst out laughing. “Hitomaro’s finally made a conquest.” He swished across the room and fluted in falsetto, “‘With the greatest pleasure.’”
Akitada watched him sourly. “Okano’s another one who worries more about trivia than his life. But his accounting for the gold is as unbelievable as Umehara’s trust in total strangers.”
Tora stopped prancing. “Maybe not. In the capital, rich men take actors for lovers, and when they get tired of them, they pay them off. If they don’t, the bum-boys haunt their doorstep.Okano’s getting a bit past it as a pretty boy, so he could be telling the truth.”
“He is thirty-one according to the record, Excellency,” offered Hamaya. “And he is, of course, an outcast. By law, he was not permitted, to sleep at the inn. I expect that’s why they shaved his head.”
“They shaved his head? Isuppose that explains the red scarf,” Akitada said. “Make a note to look into the matter. I do not approve of wanton cruelty toward those who cannot defend themselves.”
Hitomaro returned with the last man, the young farmer who had carried the bloodstained murder weapon among his belongings.
Unlike the other two, he walked in with a firm step, wearing nothing but a loincloth and a shirt of rough hemp which left bare his thick muscular thighs and legs and revealed a good deal of barrellike chest. With his low forehead and vacant look he reminded Akitada more of a docile beast than a man. Hitomaro had to push him down into akneeling position, where it became obvious that the back of his shirt wassoaked in fresh blood.
“Takagi, sir,” said Hitomaro. “Son of the headman of Matsuhama village in the mountains.”
The young man grinned and nodded.
“Let me see his back,” Akitadasaid.
Tora and Hitomaro turned the prisoner around and lifted the crimson cloth. Akitada recoiled. This man’s backwas one huge open wound. It seemed impossible that a mere flogging could have done so much damage. Or that he should still be able to walk upright or kneel.
“Has he been seen by a doctor?”
Hitomaro answered. “No. They just got through with him an hour ago. He never confessed, but they ran out of bamboo canes and complained of muscle cramps. Chobei told them to take a rest and continue later.”
“Tell them I forbid it. And have a doctor sent for.”
They repositioned Takagi and covered his back again. The peasant submitted passively, staring around the room with a vacant expression.
Akitada leaned forward. “Takagi,look at me. Where did you get the gold you had?”
“Three pieces of gold.” Takagi nodded proudly, holding up three fingers. “The soldiers took the gold. I got to have it back. It belongs to the village.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s for the bowls and the oxen. My father said, ‘Takagi, go sell our bowls in the markets of Shinano province where they have much gold, and sell the oxen, too. Then we don’t have to feed them in the winter when they are no good to us.’ And so I go and I bring home three gold pieces.” He held up the three fingers again.
Akitada nodded. “A good plan.How many oxen did you take?”
“Two. To carry the bowls.”
“So you were on your way home.Why did you stop at the inn so early in the day?”
“Tired. I walk and walk, and then I rest and walk again. Sometimes I rest at night, sometimes in the day.”
“So you went to sleep at the inn as soon as you got there? Did you sleep all day?”
Takagi looked puzzled. “I wake up hungry. I ask for food, but no food. The girl is with the mistress. So I g oto the market and buy noodles. For a copper. The coppers are mine to keep. The gold belongs to the village. Will you give it back? I have to go home.”
“What time was it when you saw the mistress?”
He leaned his head back and studied the ceiling. His plain face contorted with the effort, but he finallysaid, “Don’t know.”
“Where was her husband?”
The face became blank. “Husband?”
“How did you get the knife?”
He began to frown deeply again,then smiled. “I know. The knife was from the kitchen.”
“How do you know?”
Takagi frowned again andscratched his head. “A nice big one.” He held his hands apart about a foot. “The girl is cutting a big radish with a little bit of a knife for our dinner. The big knife is better for big radish.”
“So!” Akitada slammed his fiston his writing table, “Confess! You liked the big knife so well you stole it.And that night you started looking for something else to steal and found theinnkeeper ill in his room. You killed him, took his money, sharing it with theother two so they would keep quiet, and the three of you made your escape. Andyou kept the nice large knife for a souvenir.” He straightened up and added coldly, “Confess now, and the law will be merciful.”
Takagi looked dully at him,shaking his head from side to side. “Stealing is wrong. Demons bite off your hands.” He held out his big, work-scarred paws. “See? I didn’t steal.”
“Then how did the knife get inyour bundle?”
Takagi looked blank again.
“What did you do with your bundle at the inn?”
“The girl said to put it in the kitchen. When I walk, I carry it on a stick over my shoulder.”
“Did you take it to the market with you?”
“No. The maid said to leave it behind the rice basket.”
“Weren’t you afraid someone might take your gold pieces?”
Takagi laughed out loud. “No gold in bundle. Oh no. Father said, ‘Put gold inside scarf and tie it around your waist.’“ He patted his middle and remembered his loss. “Three pieces ofgold. Will you give them back?”
Akitada stared hard at the farmer and then waved to Hitomaro to take him away. “I wonder,” he muttered toTora. “Someone must have seen these three in the market. They’re memorable enough.”
“And how! I don’t know about the other two, but it looks bad for Takagi. He’s not too bright. The fool admitted that he saw the knife and liked it.”
“True, that was not very bright, but it gives his story a certain convincing ring. And remember, of the three he is the only one who did not confess. You were right. Not one of the three is the criminal type. Umehara seems just what he claims to be, a middle-aged traveling salesman. Any number of locals may be able to testify to his character. Perhaps the magistrate will make an effort to verify his story, and that of the others, but I’m beginning to have my doubts. The actor Okano is afraid of his own shadow, and the peasant is slow-witted enough to believe that demons punish people for crimes. I cannot imagine who accepted that ridiculous tale that they are members of a gang.” He sighed. “I am convinced. We must check into the case.” Giving Tora a quizzical look, he added, “I expect you are just the man to talk to the maid at the inn.”
Tora jumped up eagerly.
“Not so fast. You haven’t shown much diplomacy so far, and I am very reluctant to interfere with a properly appointed judge in the execution of his duty. Only the thought of having this kind of abuse going on makes me intervene. Be very careful about what you say or do.”
Before Tora could depart,Hitomaro came in to announce a visitor. The new arrival was a warrior in full armor bearing the Uesugi crest. He had a strip of white cotton tied about his helmet.