“Do you have proof he’s innocent?”
Hiroshi heaved a sigh. “The one hundred questions of a fool! You’ve got the wrong man because the police are idiots, that’s how.” He looked from Maeda to Tora. “Who’s he?”
Tora said, “I work for the governor. Your father claims he found your stepmother already dead. He says he was here in Hakozaki that day, making a delivery, and got home late. Is this true?”
“Sure. He was here. We didn’t talk much. He delivered his goods and left.”
“So then he would have gotten home when?”
“How should I know? I was working all day.”
Maeda frowned. “When did you last see your stepmother?”
“Weeks ago. It’s a lousy job. I don’t get much time off.”
“Did she mention having money of her own?”
“Are you kidding? How would she get money?”
“Maybe from your sister?”
Hiroshi made a face. “You must be joking. Atsuko is a stuck-up bitch who won’t have anything to do with her poor relations. Especially when they ask for money. She’s too good for the likes of us.” He suddenly looked angry. “Life’s easy for women. They just spread their legs for some old rich guy.”
It was crude, but having met the shrine priest’s wife, Tora could understand the brother’s bitterness. Still, why had Hiroshi not done better for himself? He said, “You’re married?”
“Am I? To a lazy wife with six brats. All of them eating like hungry wolves. How’s a man to feed a family like that on fifty coppers a week?”
Tora did not point out that drinking and gambling were bound to reduce his wages even more, but Maeda was sarcastic. “You have my sympathy. Especially since you’re out of work again. Your master says he fired you for drinking, and we found you gambling just now.”
Hiroshi flared up, “The son of bitch! I told him what I thought of him and his job. He didn’t like it. And I’m trying to earn a few coppers playing dice.”
“Right.” Tora grinned. “Did you ask your father or sister for help?”
“No. My sister set the dogs on me last time.”
“Yours isn’t a very close family, is it? Let’s go back to your stepmother’s murder. What did you do the day of the murder?”
“What, me? I worked.”
“And after work?”
“I met some friends and went home. What business is it of yours? Are you accusing me of killing my own stepmother?”
“I’m not accusing you of anything. Did you get along well with your stepmother?”
“Sure. She’s my father’s wife.”
“Be a little more specific.”
“Look, I told you I haven’t been home in weeks. I’ve got nothing to tell you.”
Maeda nodded. “Very well. Can you think of anyone who might have had a reason to kill her?”
Hiroshi narrowed his eyes. “What sort of reason?”
“I was hoping you’d tell us.”
Hiroshi lost his temper. “Fuck you, Policeman! You’re too lazy to find her murderer so you’re trying to pin it on me or my father. You’re not going to get me to do your dirty work. If I knew, I’d have told you from the start. You’d better start doing your job.”
Tora cleared his throat. “Your stepmother was Chinese. Did your parents have any problems with their neighbors?”
“Not that I know of, but my sister doesn’t want people to know. Me, I couldn’t care less. I’ve got friends among the Chinese.”
“Who do you think killed your stepmother?”
Hiroshi shook his head. “How the hell should I know? I wasn’t there.”
Maeda said through clenched teeth, “If you think of anything else, get in touch,” and turned away.
Hiroshi snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.” He glared at Tora. “My stepmother’s dead, her killer’s loose, and the police have nothing better to do than harass the family. I’m glad I’m not a policeman.”
“So am I,” Maeda called over his shoulder.
Hiroshi spat and went to rejoin the gamblers, and Tora caught up with Maeda.
The sergeant muttered, “He’s worse than his sister. They were well rid of them.”
“He wasn’t exactly helping his father, was he? I bet the old guy disapproved of the son’s life. Maybe Mitsui wasn’t a good husband, but he earned his money with hard work.”
“Whatever the case may be, the father could have gotten home earlier than he said.”
“What about the witness who saw the old man after dark?”
“Unreliable. He was drunk.”
“There’s too much drinking going on. The son does a lot of drinking himself. He seems to be a regular in the “Auspicious Cloud.”
Maeda just grunted. He was in a sour mood.
“Maybe we should go back and talk to Mitsui’s neighbors again. Someone must have seen something that day.”
“The crime probably happened after dark. Most people were in bed and asleep.”
“Maybe not all. What about the woman Mrs. Kubota called a slut?”
Maeda started laughing. “Yoko? I thought you’d forgotten about her. Very well. We’ll talk to her tomorrow.”
They were passing an elaborate two-storied gatehouse, and Tora stopped. “Look at the size of the gate. What’s behind it?”
“The Hachiman shrine. Sacred to Emperor Ojin, Empress Jingu, and Princess Tamayori. You want to go in?”
“Well, I could ask the god to help us.”
Maeda stopped and grinned. “Why not? Nothing else comes to mind.”
9
Akitada spent every free moment, mostly after hours in his private study, going through the document boxes pertaining to shipping and trade in Hakata harbor. He paid special attention to trade with China and Koryo.
The government controlled and restricted all contact with foreigners by law. The fear of invasions had caused the court to deny foreign ships the right to land their people and goods on Japanese soil. Visitors were supposed to stay at the Korokan, the government’s lodge for foreigners. But noble families who owned coastal land allowed the foreign merchants to dock there and engage in trade. The court permitted this, because these families acted as intermediaries who funneled costly goods directly to the courtiers in the capital. Thus, an abundance of luxury goods entered the country from China in spite of the laws.
The Korokan was part of Chikuzen province, and therefore under Akitada’s authority. The noble families dealing with Chinese merchants, and perhaps with the Chinese government, were not. They traded under the protection of powerful men at court.
That left the Hakata merchants, both Japanese and Chinese. The presence of the Chinese settlement encouraged Japanese merchants from other parts of Japan to deal directly with the Chinese. And this trade was very rich indeed. As he read through his predecessor’s documents, Akitada found Chinese goods unloaded in Hakata harbor included perfumes, make-up, their ingredients, such as aloe, musk, clove, sandalwood, oils, and salves. Medicinal imports involved herbs and animal parts as well as betel nuts. Exotic objects, such as tiger and leopard skins and glass utensils, apparently were also in demand. In addition, of course, large amounts of silks and brocades made in China were brought into the country.
Akitada wondered how all these goods were being paid for, but the documents did not concern themselves with this. They noted only the harbor fees in aggregate as collected each month. Given the number of ships listed, these seemed very modest to him, and he searched for individual assessments. Certain ships seemed to have paid considerably less than others. In each case, a notation read “special cargo.” Akitada glanced up at the lighter rectangles on his walls and decided the special cargo might well have been art objects collected by Governor Tachibana.
At this point, he yawned and put the documents back into their boxes. He pulled out the letter he had been writing to Tamako, reread his last words, then added the line, “I’m as lonely as the pine on the sea shore, looking homeward, longing for the embrace of the wisteria vine.”