“Oh well, that narrows it down.” Tora looked disgusted and poured himself some more tea. It was sweetened with honey, and he thought it a very acceptable substitute for wine.
Maeda waved a waiter over to order another dish, which appeared in the form of fluffy objects like tiny hairy pillows.
“Golden Dragon’s Beard,” said Maeda. “Try it. It’s sweeter than honey.”
Tora eyed the hairy objects with a shudder. “Thanks, I’m too full.”
Maeda picked up a pillow, tearing it into sticky pieces before putting them into his mouth. He rolled his eyes and rubbed his belly. Tora decided the hairy things couldn’t be too bad and took a small bite from another pillow. The sticky strands separated and stuck to his chin.
Maeda laughed and reached across to wipe Tora’s chin. “Tigers don’t have beards in my experience.”
They finished the sweet with sticky fingers and faces, but the waiter brought bowls of warm water to wash off the remnants of the meal.
Tora burped with satisfaction. “Best meal I’ve ever had. I’m beginning to like our Chinese neighbors.”
Maeda grinned. “They say most devils live near a temple.”
Tora sobered. “Or marry shrine priests,” he said.
8
They located the modest house belonging to the Zhou family and asked for Suyin. Her family received Maeda with the greatest respect in a large room which served as living quarters for many Zhous of all ages. Parents, wives of sons, unmarried daughters, and grandchildren all seemed to live together amicably.
This family togetherness was customary, and it struck Tora he had rarely known anyone as lonely as the dead woman, who seemed to have had no one except Suyin to confide in. In his own country women were supposed to be cherished by their families, protected by fathers, husbands, and brothers, and surrounded by other women in the household. He knew his wife Hanae spent many happy hours with his master’s wife and Genba’s new bride.
As it turned out, Suyin did not have a husband or children, but she, too, was part of this large family. She was plain to the point of ugliness and past middle age, which explained why she was still unmarried and tended many small children belonging to her brothers’ families. The Zhous were not well-to-do. They were able to feed their large family, but had little beyond that. Maeda and Tora talked to Suyin in the same room where most of the Zhous spent the day. She was surrounded by other women, busy with assorted chores, and a startling number of small children ran about, many of them bare-bottomed.
They all listened as Maeda told Suyin about her friend’s death. She wept. Several toddlers clinging to her skirts joined in, and it was a while before everyone calmed enough for Tora and Maeda to ask their questions. And finally new facts emerged.
“She was happy for once,” sobbed Suyin, “really happy. She had earned some gold; she showed me five coins and said she was going to spend it on herself. She’d never been able to do such a thing before. She was going to buy some green silk at Mr. Feng’s store and sew herself a fine new dress. And there were some embroidered shoes she wanted, and then she said she and I were going to take a trip together. We were going to visit a mountain shrine and bathe in the hot water sacred to the mountain god. She believed it would cure the pains in her hands and legs.” Suyin looked at them tearfully, then wailed, “Oh, poor Mei. She never had any luck.”
The listening family murmured, nodding their heads. A child started to bawl again.
“She had gold?” Tora asked, flabbergasted. “Where did she get it?”
Suyin sniveled and turned away to blow her nose. “She sold some of her dolls for quite a lot of money and decided not to tell her husband. He never gave her anything, even though it was Mei who did most of the work. He just fired the clay dolls and delivered them when they were ready. It was Mei who painted them and made their clothes.”
“Who gave her the money?” Maeda asked.
“She didn’t say. She just smiled and said she could sell as many dolls as she wanted.”
Tora asked, “When did she get this gold? I suppose her customer paid after she delivered the dolls?”
Suyin looked vague. “I’m not sure. She showed me the coins when she came to work with me at the Hayashi house. That was day before she was killed. She smiled and sang all day as she worked. After work, she bought some sweets for both of us.”
“Then she must have gotten it at least two days before the murder.” Maeda said. Suyin nodded and burst into tears again.
“Why didn’t she want her husband to know about this money?” Tora asked.
“He wasn’t nice to her because she was Chinese. He told her it was her fault they were poor. I told her she should ask for some of the money for herself because she did most of the work. She did, but he gave her a black eye. After that she was afraid of him.”
Tora and Maeda exchanged a glance. Tora asked Suyin, “What about his children? Did she mention them?”
Suyin shook her head. “I asked her after he struck her that time, but she just shook her head. Something wasn’t right with them. I know he had a grown daughter and son, but both married and moved away.” She glanced at her eagerly listening family and drew a small child with a snotty nose and a thumb in his mouth closer to her. “Poor Mei,” she said again, shaking her head.
The sun was setting when they left the Zhous. Tora squinted at it. “Well, now you’ve got your motive. Mitsui must have done it. A man who beats his wife because she asks for a bit of money for a new dress is going to do a lot more when he discovers she’s kept five pieces of gold from him.”
“Maybe. Time to go to Hakozaki. Let’s see what the son has to say.”
They asked for Hiroshi at Hakozaki harbor. This was not as large or as busy as Hakata’s, but here, too, some large ships anchored, and the shore was covered with bundles and boxes of goods which had either just arrived or were to be loaded. Tora wished he had time to look around, but Maeda headed straight for the office of the harbor master. There he got directions to a warehouse much like the ones in Naniwa. Tora suppressed a shudder climbing the steep stairs. The memory of that terrible night of fire and of the burning body falling down still haunted him.
“Hiroshi?” The warehouse manager shook his head. “I got rid of the lazy bastard. He’s always either drunk or half asleep.”
“When was that?” Maeda asked.
The man scratched his head. Let’s see. Yesterday? No, the day before. He didn’t seem to care. Sorry I can’t help. But when he wasn’t working, he used to head straight for the wine shops.”
They walked the streets near the harbor, peering into various evil-smelling dives to ask for Hiroshi. They found him in the fifth, enjoying life in the company of friends.
Hiroshi was a big young man with a deep tan from working in the open, but his face was puffy from too much drink. Like the others, he wore only a dirty loincloth and a ragged shirt, but he had wine before him and was shooting dice with three or four other porters.
When Maeda and Tora approached, he looked up, and for a moment they thought he would run, but he relaxed.
“You’re Mitsui Hiroshi?” asked Maeda.
“Who wants to know?”
One of his friends supplied the answer. “Hoho! The police want you, Hiro! What have you done?” They all laughed.
Hiroshi flushed. “Shut up!”
Maeda said, “Would you mind stepping outside to talk to us?”
“Yes, I mind. I’m finally winning.”
Maeda said, “We’ll wait.”
Hiroshi cursed but decided to leave the game. Outside, he asked, “What the hell do you want? If it’s about my father, I know you bastards arrested him.”
Maeda raised his brows at this. “I would have thought you’d be more upset that he’s in jail for having killed your stepmother.”
“A lot of good that would do. You got the wrong man but what else is new?”