“I regret extremely,” he finally announced, “that any decent woman in our city should have suffered such an outrage. A full investigation will begin immediately. But, difficult as this must be at the present time, Mrs. Sato, you must answer a few questions first.”
“Oh,” she wailed, to a sympathetic murmur from the crowd.
“Pour the prisoner a cup of water,” Akitada instructed Kaoru. A reminder of her present status proved salutary. She pulled herself together and the crowd grew quiet again.
“You recently had a guest die at your inn?”
“Yes, your Excellency. The poor man died of a fever.” ‘
“What did you do with the body?”
“Why, the usual. I sent my stable boy to the temple to tell the monks to get it for the funeral. They did.”
“You saw them take it away?”
“No. I had much business to take care of after my husband’s death. They must have come in my absence.”
“How do you know this? Is there a servant who had instructions to turn over the corpse?”
She made a show of confusion. “I…I don’t really know what happened. We sent the message and left the body outside the gate to be picked up. Later it was gone. Naturally I assumed-”
“What do you mean, you assumed?”demanded Akitada. “It is illegal to dump corpses on the street as if they were so much garbage. It offends against every law of this nation. It offends our gods and the Buddha himself.”
She bowed her head. Then she prostrated herself, crying, “This poor widow admits her fault. Having lost a dear husband so recently and being burdened by grief and business worries and ignorant of legal matters, she has gravely offended. I beg your Excellency’s mercy.”
A sense of defeat settled into Akitada’s stomach and sickened him. She had outsmarted him again. He had no evidence that she had plotted with another person to make use of Kato’s corpse.He also knew better now than to call her servants to testify against her. The key witness in the murder case, the maid Kiyo, had changed her story. There was only one other move available to him. Though it might well turn out disastrousby involving Hitomaro, it could no longer be avoided.
He said, “You will pay a fine of five bars of silver to the court clerk and make an equal contribution to thel ocal shrines and the Buddhist temple to appease the divine powers and give rest to the dead man’s soul.”
She murmured her thanks, then asked humbly, “May I go home now?”
“In a moment. I have some preliminary questions concerning your ordeal. Sergeant?” Kaoru stepped up and bowed. “Bring in the woman who is waiting outside.”
Mrs. Omeya, the perfect image of a respectable middle-aged matron in her black gown and patterned silk scarf,approached the dais calmly. She ignored curious stares from the crowd, but was visibly startled to see the widow there on her knees.
Kneeling next to the younger woman, she bowed and announced, “This insignificant person is called Omeya,widow and landlady in this city.”
Mrs. Sato gasped and turned.She pointed a trembling finger. “That’s the one! She’s the demon. She held me prisoner in her house.”
Mrs. Omeya’s mouth fell open.
“Please, Excellency,” cried the beauty, “make her tell you about the man who tortured and raped me at her house.She knows who he is.”
Mrs. Omeya looked at Akitada.He held his breath. She said, “What is she talking about? I don’t understand.What man? I thought you wanted to know about the maid.”
“The widow Sato,” Akitada informed her, “has accused you of forcing her to prostitute herself to a customer with a perverse taste for cruelty.”
“What?” cried Mrs. Omeya. “She has gone mad! Several months ago, a local gentleman of the highest reputation arranged to rent one of my rooms so he could meet her in private. But recently she took another lover. I warned her that she was playing a dangerous game, but she wouldn’t listen. Her regular patron is as normal in his tastes as you and me. And as for the other one …”
The rest of her words were drowned out by Akitada’s baton and the young woman’s shrill cries, “Liar!Demon!”
Akitada could not proceed further without bringing Hitomaro into it. He announced, “The woman Omeya,having been accused of abduction and pandering, will remain jailed. The woman Sato will be released after paying her fines but is to appear again in court when called.” He rapped his baton three times to close the hearing, rose, and left the hall.
Back at his desk, Akitada attempted to think through the shambles of this situation.He had accomplished nothing. The Sato woman, as deceitful a female as he had ever known, was aware of his intentions and fighting back. She had also once again won public sympathy.
Meanwhile, Uesugi continued to threaten with his troops, and Akitada was no closer to knowing the identity of all the conspirators, nor the precise extent of the conspiracy against the emperor or himself. He was nearly certain that it was not Uesugi who was pulling the strings. An undertaking of this magnitude required intelligence and careful planning, and his estimate of Uesugi was of a small local tyrant without enough brains or energy for such a task. Hisamatsu was somehow involved but seemed mentally even less equipped than Uesugi.
Akitada had already considered Abbot Hokko. Years ago, Akitada had encountered just such a conspiracy. That time, a corrupt Buddhist abbot had used his spiritual powers to recruit and train an army of soldier monks. Hokko was a very different type from MasterJoto, but he was trusted and treated with respect by Uesugi and, as abbot of the largest temple and monastery in the province, he wielded great influence.However, in the meantime Hokko had warned him of the attack planned by Uesugi and suggested that Takesuke and the garrison would be loyal to the emperor.
He thought of the others who had been present at Uesugi’s banquet. Kaibara was dead, but there was still the troublesome merchant Sunada. He also wielded influence, though with the merchant class. From what Genba had reported, Sunada used thugs to guard his property and spent a good deal of his time in houses of assignation. There was the incident in which he had stabbed his alleged attacker and Akitada suspected him of being connected with local criminals, but neither fact linked him to Uesugi. True, the most recent developments had thrown a new light on Sunada,but Akitada was not ready to accept a mere merchant as the mastermind of such a plot.
There was another guest that night who qualified by both his intelligence and contact with the local community,but Akitada was even less happy with that thought. The trouble was, Akitada had taken him into his confidence without knowing his background. Oyoshi had cured his stomach trouble, but he was knowledgeable about herbs which could cause such complaints in the first place. What better way to win Akitada’s trust?Since then Oyoshi had raised serious suspicions. How, for instance, could he have failed to recognize the mutilated corpse of his former patient? And he could have told Kaibara about the secret exhumation of the late lord. For that matter, could his diagnosis be trusted? Akitada recalled vividly how Oyoshi had paled when Tora had mentioned a murderous physician.
He needed time and proof. The Omeya woman was his only hope at present. She was a witness against the widow-or Ofumi, as she had called herself there-and she also knew Ofumi’spatron. And Mrs. Omeya, at least, was safe and sound in Akitada’s jail.
In less than an hour, he learned differently. Tora burst into his office, crying, “The prisoner has hanged herself.”