Lady Saisho gasped. ‘She murdered him?’
‘No, I think her son used her.’
Mrs Ishikawa flailed weakly. The awful rattling began again. Her convulsion must have opened her wound because fresh blood was seeping from beneath the quilt. But she lay still now, her head on Akitada’s knee, tears welling from her eyes.
‘It was your son who sent you with the gruel, wasn’t it?’ Akitada asked softly.
She looked up at him and opened her mouth, perhaps to answer or to wail again, but all she managed was a harsh gurgle. Her stare became fixed and her jaw sagged. A thin trickle of saliva seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Akitada felt her neck and found no pulse. He placed her head back on the floor and got up. ‘She is dead,’ he said.
‘Why do you look at me that way?’ demanded Lady Saisho. ‘It is not my fault she died. Her own son killed her.’
‘I was told it was an accident.’
‘You were not here. The man was deranged. He broke into my quarters and attacked both of us. He tried to kill your man, but he wounded his mother instead. We are well rid of such a man.’
Akitada controlled himself and said, ‘We shall leave now. I regret extremely this upsetting experience for the child. Unfortunately, it was necessary.’
‘No. The child must stay. My son will be here shortly’
‘I shall speak to Lord Sadanori another time.’
She barred his way. ‘You cannot take my grandson away. I forbid it.’
Akitada suddenly felt pity instead of anger. ‘Does your son have other children?’
‘A grown daughter only. That is why…’ She broke off. ‘The boy is his. He must be. Sadanori looked just like him at that age.’
‘He is most likely young Masuda’s son.’
‘No. Never.’
‘I am truly sorry.’
She was silent for a moment. Then she said, ‘You must prove that he is ours. They say you are clever. When you find the proof, I will pay you well and Sadanori will advance you at court. He is the chancellor’s cousin and can raise you far beyond your dreams.’
Akitada bowed and walked out.
TWENTY-THREE
Akitada blamed himself for putting the child through a confrontation with the dying woman. Tora was also unhappy. Akitada thought his gloom was due to having inadvertently caused two deaths, but Tora seemed cool enough about the Ishikawas.
‘I wish the bastard had confessed first,’ Tora muttered. ‘Now you’ve only got his mother’s word about the poisoning. And you say she never blamed it on him.’
‘No. But then she was his mother and she loved him. Having a child means protecting him, come what may.’
They were riding homeward, and he glanced over at Tamako and Nori. His wife’s arms held the boy securely, and her head was bent to his. She seemed to be chatting, and the child smiled up at her. His heart warmed, but he feared that she might become too attached.
His own recent efforts at detachment made him see the child’s situation in a new light. The tangled lines of the troubled history of two families formed a tight knot, and Nori was at its center. The child had at least part of the answer, and Akitada wished he could speak. Perhaps he was as callous as Lady Saisho, but he wanted answers. Human obsessions, his own as much as those of the Masudas and of Sadanori and Ishikawa, had been responsible for the confusion and eventual disaster.
However, his comment about mothers’ love had cheered Tora, who broke into Akitada’s thoughts with: ‘Hanae thinks we’ll have a boy.’
Akitada smiled. ‘Women know such things.’ He looked over at his wife and said, ‘I am deeply in your debt, Tamako. Thank you for your help.’ ‘What help?’
‘For coming with me to Otsu. For your wise counsel. And for your patience and forgiveness.’
She blinked and looked away. ‘Oh, Akitada, it was nothing,’ she murmured.
‘I’m sorry about the scene at Uji. If I’d taken the right steps earlier, I could have spared you that.’
She said earnestly, ‘You must stop blaming yourself for everything. It’s one thing to set things right for other people, and quite another to take on everyone’s burdens.’
‘I have been a fool, and look where it got me.’
‘Nonsense. This is no worse than our usual predicaments.’
And that made him laugh.
They reached home at dusk and were greeted by the sound of barking. Tora gave a joyful whoop. ‘I’d know that bark anywhere.’ He pounded on the gate. ‘Trouble!’
Inside, the dog yipped his excitement, and heavy steps came running. Then Genba threw wide the gate, his face all smiles. ‘Trouble found his way home on his own,’ he cried. ‘I heard him scratching and whining outside the gate last night, and there he was.’
It was a joyous and confused homecoming. The dog, looking thinner and missing part of an ear, rushed about, barking and jumping up at them. Hanae came running and flung herself into Tora’s arms. Tamako’s maid peered from the doorway and ran down the steps to greet her mistress. Seimei hobbled slowly to the top of the stairs. Even Cook ran out of the kitchen with a smile on her face.
Akitada went to greet Seimei. Seimei smiled, but he lost no time telling Akitada that the board of censors expected him to report.
This was a heavy blow because it meant that his case had been found serious enough to warrant an official investigation. An investigation alone carried the stigma of public disgrace. For a moment, Akitada’s mind reeled, then he bit his lip and accompanied Seimei inside to read the document.
The letter was no more enlightening than Seimei’s blunt report, but Akitada looked up from it and said, ‘It must be Sadanori’s doing. He did this to stop my meddling in his affairs. I wonder what he will say when I tell him that Ishikawa is dead and that he is suspected of several murders.’
Seimei looked nervous. ‘You are not going to see Lord Sadanori again?’
‘Even without the summons from the board, I would have to speak to him. There are loose ends in this case, and the boy deserves to know what happened to his parents.’
Seimei twisted his thin old hands in silent protest.
Akitada touched his shoulder. ‘Seimei, trust me. All will be well. Her Ladyship has taken us in hand.’
That made Seimei smile again. ‘Oh, very good,’ he said. ‘Then happiness has indeed returned to this house.’
But ‘trouble’ had also returned, both figuratively and literally. While he was not certain how deep Sadanori’s involvement in the murders went, Tora’s report of the conversation between Ishikawa and his master suggested that Sadanori knew about them.
Akitada washed and changed his clothes, then went to tell Tamako about the summons from the board. Nori was sitting on the floor playing with Hanae’s white cat. He looked like any happy, healthy little boy.
Tamako listened to his news and sighed. ‘I suppose it had to happen. You will know how to answer them.’ They had both learned that the decisions made by the mighty were not always based on reason and truth, and that punishment and reward were equally unpredictable.
‘You won’t mind living in poverty again?’
She shook her head and smiled at him.
His heart lifted with hope. ‘I’m on my way to see Sadanori,’ he said.
Her smile changed to alarm. ‘Take Tora.’
‘You know I must see Sadanori privately.’
‘Yes, but… he could wait outside.’
He laughed. ‘You haven’t seen Sadanori. I’m a much better fighter than he.’
‘You will take your sword?’
‘No, that’s not what I meant. I wouldn’t be admitted. I meant with my bare hands.’ He flexed them and scowled ferociously.
Tamako giggled. She had always had a very pretty laugh. ‘Be careful and hurry back, husband,’ she murmured.
A short while later, when Akitada was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, putting on his shoes, he noticed a strange rumbling sound that seemed to come from beneath his feet. He paused to listen. Trouble was barking furiously in the stable, and birds fluttered among the trees. Akitada got up and crossed the yard quickly, afraid that some part of a building or wall had collapsed.