“I can use a sword, but not well. I clearly cannot ride a horse, to judge by my recent experiences. I don’t shoot arrows. Most of my assignments have involved a stealthier form of warfare.”
Akitada grimaced. “Exactly what I disliked most about your background.”
Saburo nodded. “I’ll do as you say. The gods know, I’d do more than that to get Tora back.” He turned to leave.
Akitada called after him, “When you’re ready, meet me outside in the courtyard. I’ll try to find a calm horse for you.”
It should have amused Akitada, but fear for Tora sickened him every time he remembered that a day and two nights had passed since he had sent Tora after the watcher. Unless they-whoever they were-wanted information, they had killed him already. And if they wanted information, he would wish he were dead.
The worst part of this was that he still had no grasp of the plot that had made the last governor disappear and caused the murder by poison of the beautiful woman Tachibana had loved.
As he walked back to the tribunal office, he pondered the situation.
If Feng was behind Tora’s disappearance, what had he hoped to achieve?
If he had interpreted the meeting between Feng and his men correctly, then Feng had paid Hiroshi. For what? Surely not just to get rid of his clothes. But someone had set the man to watch them, and Tora had followed this man. Where had the watcher taken him? What had Tora discovered that had made him a threat?
And again he cringed at the knowledge that he had sent Tora into danger.
He had sent him into the unknown unarmed. Akitada touched the sword at his side and winced. He had remembered the threat they faced too late to protect Tora.
In the tribunal office, the sergeant of the tribunal guard awaited him. He blinked when he saw Akitada with sword and half armor and saluted stiffly.
Akitada wished he remembered the man’s name. Another oversight. He said, “Thank you for coming so promptly, Sergeant. It seems Lieutenant Sashima has been attacked in the city. He didn’t return from an assignment. You will gather as many of your men as can be spared from watching the tribunal and assist Lieutenant Maeda’s constables in searching Hakata. We are leaving for police headquarters as soon as your men are mounted.”
The sergeant saluted again. “Does your Excellency expect an attack on the tribunal?”
Good question. Anything at all might happen in this cursed place. “No, Sergeant, but a few men should remain. And please find a docile mount for the betto.”
Another snappy salute, and the sergeant was gone.
Akitada turned to Mori who stood beside his desk, looking frightened. “I rely on you to see to things while I’m gone, Mori. Saburo is coming with me.” He went to his desk and put away the documents he had been working on. After giving Mori instructions for the day’s work, he took a look around, and then walked out into the forecourt of the tribunal.
The mounted guard was assembled, some fifteen armed men. Saburo, wearing half armor and a sword, waited beside a horse, clearly postponing the inevitable until the last moment. Akitada nodded to the sergeant, swung himself into the saddle, watched Saburo climb up, and they set off.
Their arrival in Hakata sent the people in the streets running. Akitada wondered what they were thinking. That it was war? Perhaps it was. His fear for Tora had given him a furious anger at the people in this godforsaken place, at the grand officials who had seen fit to send him here, at the assistant governor general in Dazaifu for leaving him without support, at the late Governor Tachibana for having allowed the criminal behavior which had led to this.
At police headquarters, the constables on duty poured out of the building to stare. Akitada stayed on his horse. “Where’s your chief?” he bellowed.
“At the harbor.”
Akitada turned his horse and, followed by Saburo and the soldiers, he galloped to Hakata harbor where his arrival stirred up more consternation. Lieutenant Maeda came running from the harbor office.
Akitada dismounted. “Well? Anything?” he demanded grimly.
“Not much, your Excellency.” Maeda, looking strained, stared at the mounted soldiers and Akitada’s armor. “My men are combing the wine shops and gambling dives asking for information. Most of the reports are unreliable, but a couple of people think they saw Tora following a man with a red rag around his head. The man seemed to be heading for the Chinese settlement. That was on the evening before last. I had a talk with Feng’s clerk. He says he paid Hiroshi for a delivery of goods.”
Whatever that meant.
Too much time had passed. And already the clouds were streaked with crimson in the west as if they were about to rain blood across the earth. Akitada bit his lip. “It makes sense,” he said. “Let’s go to the Chinese settlement. I brought the soldiers to help.”
Maeda called for a horse and gathered his men. They set out for the Chinese settlement as if they intended to conquer a foreign country.
And perhaps they were.
As soon as they passed through the gates into the Chinese quarter, people started scattering. Mothers dragged their children behind them; a toddler stumbled and fell in the path of the horses; his mother threw herself over him; screams from women and children brought men running. Some shook their fists at them; others herded people inside and slammed doors.
Akitada shouted to Maeda to stop. He did not want this. What gave him the right to make war on women and children because Tora had disappeared? He said as much to Maeda and the sergeant of the tribunal guard.
“Nobody got hurt.” Maeda said. “I doubt these people had anything to do with Tora’s abduction, but they have eyes to see. I think it best to go from house to house and store to store in the business district. Someone may have some information.”
“Very well. Tell your men to be polite.” It would take time. A lot of time. Akitada needed to be doing something as his fear ate away at him. It might already be too late.
Maeda gave his orders and the constables dispersed. He and Akitada dismounted to await results.
“Any news about Fragrant Orchid?” Akitada asked to distract himself.
“Nothing beyond the fact that the governor was apparently very much enamored with her. He seems to have been an almost daily visitor in the months before his departure.”
“How did she take his leaving?”
Maeda gave a snort. “She received a generous present, I think. The maid said her mistress looked quite pleased and spent lavishly on new clothes.”
“I see.” It was common enough to pay off one’s mistress. Given the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by the courtesan, he assumed Tachibana had been especially generous. He suddenly remembered the letter she had left. It suggested a passion which was strangely at odds with her behavior. There had been something about its wording. He bit his lip. Tora’s fate had driven the matter completely from his mind. “What about the other murdered woman? Is it possible that Tora’s interest in the case caused someone to attack him?”
Maeda frowned. “Well, we found Tora’s clothes where Yoko’s body was for a week or more, and since it was Hiroshi who put them there, it seems reasonable that Hiroshi also put Yoko there. He is wanted for her murder. And yes, if Tora discovered something that proved Hiroshi killed her, he would be likely to try to get rid of him.”
More than likely. And Hiroshi would not leave Tora alive. Akitada turned away with a shudder.
Maeda said, “You mustn’t think the worst, sir. We didn’t find Tora’s body, just his clothes. It proves he wasn’t killed, doesn’t it?”
“Perhaps,” Akitada said, “but we cannot be certain.” He clenched his hands.
“Hiroshi is a small-time crook. I doubt he could outwit Tora.”
Akitada did not answer. It was easy to make a mistake, he knew. And sometimes a small thing might be the last mistake a man made.