Sunada smiled a little. “Iknow. My request is not for me.”
Akitada hesitated. “The sameapplies to all your associates and includes your henchman, Boshu, and hisvillainous gang. They have terrorized the local people at your behest. I lookforward to sentencing them to long terms at hard labor. Besides, your peoplehad a hand in placing the mutilated body at the tribunal gate.”
Sunada looked astonished. “Forwhat it is worth, we had nothing to do with that. That was done by that animalChobei, your former sergeant, on instructions from Hisamatsu. No one else couldhave misused a corpse in such a repulsive fashion.”
“The corpse showed evidence ofhaving been stored in a rice warehouse.”
Sunada hunched his shoulders. “Byall means add it to my charges. It does not matter. And do as you wish withBoshu and his men. I’m asking you to spare the two crippled servants you saw inmy house. They are simple fishermen who lost the ability to go to sea. Theyneither read nor write and only took care of my simplest needs in my home. Inever asked more of them.”
Akitada remembered the twocripples. Again Sunada had surprised him, almost shamed him. “They have beenoutside this jail since you were brought here.”
Sunada lowered his head, thenbrushed a hand across his eyes. “I plead with you,” he said brokenly. “Theymust not suffer for their loyalty, for their love …” He choked on the word.
“Very well. If they are asinnocent as you say, they may return to their families.”
“Thank you.” Sunada boweddeeply, his face wet with tears.
Back in the common room, Kaoruand Tora greeted Akitada with broad grins.
“We heard,” cried Tora. “Yousolved the Sato case. It was brilliant. From little things like Umehara’sbackpack and a noise Okano heard, you put the whole thing together.”
“And from Koichi’s jailrecords, when no one knew he had been near the inn,” added Kaoru. “Such wisdomis worthy of the famous judge Ch’eng-Lin.”
Akitada looked at him for amoment, then smiled and shook his head. “I don’t deserve any credit. From thebeginning, Tora was closer to the answer than I was.”
“Me?” Tora gaped.
“Yes. We should have arrestedthe maid. It would have saved trouble and lives. She was an accessory beforeand after the fact and should have been questioned rigorously.”
“Kiyo? Why?”
“The bloody knife. Someone hadto put it in Takagi’s pack. Koichi knew nothing of the three travelers. I thinkwe will find that Kiyo not only knew of the planned murder, but that she andKoichi split Sato’s savings.”
Tora stared at him. “But shehated her mistress.”
“Probably. She also hated oldSato. When she thought you were a stranger passing through, she carelesslyrevealed her motive. It is to your credit that you recognized and reported it.Later she changed her story, but by then she knew that you worked for me, andthat Sunada had killed Koichi. She was afraid.”
“Well,” Tora said with greatsatisfaction, “would you believe it? I have the instinct for it after all.”
Akitada nodded. “Oh, yes. It isyour case now. Go arrest the girl and get her confession. We also need astatement from Sunada.” He paused and gave the sergeant a considering look. “Allthe clerks are busy with Sunada’s papers …”
Kaoru said eagerly, “I canwrite well enough, sir,” and gestured at a sheaf of reports on his desk.
Akitada looked and raised hiseyebrows at the neat script, then smiled. “Very well, Sergeant, go ahead. Butfirst tell your three prisoners that they are free to go. Hamaya will returntheir money and property to them. There should be additional compensation fromSunada’s confiscated estate after both cases are settled.”
¦
Someone,Tamako or Seimei, had brought hot tea and placed it on the brazier in hisoffice. He poured some and drank greedily before sitting down at his desk.
The prince’s letter stillawaited his attention. Tamako had understood immediately that an officialreport to the chancellor would set wheels in motion which might well putAkitada and his family in personal danger. She had wanted him to wait. But thiscould not wait. The emperor himself was in danger.
Akitada reached for his writingutensils. His cover letter was very brief. He enclosed it and the prince’sletter in another sheet of paper, sealed this, and addressed both to a manwhose wisdom and kindness were well known to him, the retired emperor’s brotherwho was a Buddhist bishop. Then he clapped his hands.
The young soldiers selected byTakesuke looked eager and intelligent. Akitada gave his instructions and turnedhis letter over to them. This accomplished, he had another cup of tea andrelaxed.
There was little left to do.The tangled web of murder and mayhem had resolved itself with Sunada’sconfession. Akitada took no pleasure in it. There had been many deaths andthere would be many more, public executions which he must attend in hisofficial role. Besides, it had not been his own effort which had broughtjustice to the three unfortunate travelers, or revealed and broken theconspiracy against the emperor. No, it had all been due to chance encountersbetween one woman and two men.
He considered the destructionMrs. Sato had wrought in the lives of others. The good abbot Hokko had his ownsymbol to explain the inexplicable. Buddhist scripture taught that man occupieda precarious position midway between the angels and the demons on the wheel oflife. A turn of the wheel propelled him either upward, toward righteousness,good fortune, and happiness, or it dragged him into the filth of evil andcrushed him underneath. The wheel had crushed Sunada.
He sniffed. There was a strangefishy smell in the air. Then he became aware of a peculiar noise coming fromthe wooden shutters behind him. It sounded like the gnawing of a rat. A softhissing followed, then a scrabbling noise. Akitada turned on his cushion sothat he faced the shutters. As he watched, a narrow line of light widened intoa crack and a pudgy hand appeared in the opening. More hissingfollowed-whispering, Akitada decided-and then a round red face topped withshort black horns appeared and leered in at him from bulging eyes.
Both Akitada and the goblinjerked back in surprise. The goblin squealed, and the shutter slammed shut.Akitada opened his mouth to shout for a guard, when the shutter flew openagain, revealing two human backs, bowed abjectly on the narrow veranda outside.
“Who are you and what do youwant?” barked Akitada, his heart pounding.
One of the creatures, thehorned goblin, visibly trembled, but the other one raised his gray head.Akitada recognized Umehara.
“Forgive us, Excellency,”Umehara said, wringing his hands and sniffling. “We asked your clerk to let ussee you, but it was strictly forbidden, so we came this way.”
“Ah.” Akitada regarded theshaking figure. A certain plumpness suggested Okano, but the horns? “Is thatOkano?” he asked.
The spiked head noddedviolently.
“What happened to your head,Okano? Are you playing a goblin?”
“Oh!” The actor wailed andcovered the spikes with both hands. “See, Umehara? Okano should have worn hisscarf! He is so ugly!”
“His hair is growing back,”explained Umehara.
Akitada suppressed a smile. “Situp and look at me, Okano.”
The actor sat up slowly, pudgyhands fluttering from hair to face and finally dropping in despair. With greatdifficulty, Akitada kept a straight face. Above Okano’s red face with itsbulging, tear-filled eyes and quivering lips, black tufts rose into the air.Poor Okano needed no costume to play the part of a goblin. “Can you not comb itback?” he suggested.
“It’s too short. See?” Okanoslapped at the horns with both hands. “Umehara gave Okano some fish oil. But itmade it worse.”
That explained the strangesmell.
“Ah. No doubt it will improvein time. You did not wish to consult me about your hair, I trust,” Akitadaremarked.
“Oh, no,” they chorused,exchanging doleful looks.
Umehara was wringing his hands,“It’s about the sergeant telling us to leave.”