Ingrid Parker - Rashomon Gate – A Mystery of Ancient Japan

Sesshin took the papers and set them aside. "Never mind that now. Go on!"

Akitada plunged into the heart of his report. "I next visited your brother's mansion and talked with his driver. Then I interviewed the Lords Yanagida, Abe and Shinoda. General Soga unfortunately was not available, but his evidence can be gathered later. Finally, my servant and I visited the Ninna temple and spoke with the recorder there. Each conversation was separately suggestive, but all of them together confirmed my conviction that Sakanoue had plotted your brother's disappearance. Yet without a body I still had no proof of murder. I finally found the proof in the hall where your brother was said to have disappeared."

Sesshin sighed. "I know what you found. After your visit to him, Shinoda came to me and told me what he and Sakanoue had done. I cannot speak for Sakanoue, but Shinoda wanted to protect my brother's memory."

Akitada nodded. "To continue with the motive and execution of the murder, I believe that Lord Sakanoue is an excessively proud and ambitious man who was dissatisfied with his hereditary position as bailiff. Shortly before the murder, Prince Yoakira called him to the capital for an accounting. Whether or not Sakanoue could defend himself against the charges, his relationship with the prince became very strained. It was during this time that he must have met the prince's young granddaughter, and seen in a marriage to her his chance to secure his position and win a fortune."

Sesshin muttered, "Poor child! I blame my brother's household for permitting him access to the girl."

"Apparently the prince discovered what had happened too late, and on the very day before his customary temple visit. He was furious and confronted Sakanoue immediately. He then gave orders for the removal of the family to the country the following day. Had he not insisted on performing the customary visit to the Ninna temple first, he would be alive today."

Sesshin sighed. "That was like my brother. He never forgot to fulfill his vow."

"Yes. No doubt Sakanoue was aware of it. In any case, here is what I believe happened next." Akitada detailed the events of the night journey and the movements of Sakanoue as he had done for Tora. Sesshin listened with increasing horror, interrupting only twice.

On the first occasion he said, "If the quarrel between my brother and Sakanoue took place before the trip to the temple, my brother would hardly have invited the man to accompany him."

"Exactly. It was one of the first things that puzzled me."

Sesshin's second question concerned a possible accomplice.

Akitada said, "If there had been political reasons for removing your brother, I would have considered a conspiracy, but in this instance there was no motive other than personal gain. In a crime of that magnitude, considering the rank of the people involved, the rewards and the extraordinary method used, even a single accomplice would have been too risky. Sakanoue acted alone."

When Akitada had finished, Sesshin bowed his head. His beads passed through his fingers, making small clicking sounds in the still room. After a long time, he looked up and asked, "Why bring the head? Why did the foolish man have to dismember my brother's body? Was it not enough to kill him?"

"I am afraid not. He needed proof of death to gain immediate access to the estate. Also, he may have counted on the fact that His Majesty would bestow appointments on him out of respect for your brother."

A silence fell. Then Sesshin sighed. "Poor confused man! What he must have suffered to take such incredible risks. How he must have hungered for the empty things of this world! How desperate he must have been when my brother confronted him!"

Akitada said angrily, "Don't waste your sympathy, Your Reverence! This murder was planned carefully. Sakanoue had to have made the arrangements for the sutra reading during your brother's visit well ahead of time."

Sesshin seemed to shrink into himself. "Anger is a futile emotion. Besides my vows forbid the sort of action that should be taken by the law," he said. "I must think what to do." He paused again, then asked, "What has become of the rest of my brother's body?"

Akitada had expected and feared this question. "I do not know, but I can suggest a possibility. Sakanoue apparently insisted on taking the last cart into the country himself. It contained several clothes chests from your brother's rooms and left long after nightfall, hours after the rest of the goods. I suspect that Sakanoue made a brief stop at Rashomon."

"Rashomon?" For the first time, Sesshin looked truly shocked. "You think my brother's body was put amongst the cadavers of the wretched to be burnt and his bones tossed into a mass grave?"

Akitada said quickly, "It is equally possible that Sakanoue stopped somewhere along the road and buried the body."

Sesshin stared past Akitada into the distance. Then he said, "It seems I must break my vows long enough to secure the future of my brother's family. Thank you for your frankness. You may leave matters in my hands now. I have already made arrangements for my great-niece to go to her cousin, who is the priestess of the Ise shrine. No men are allowed in those sacred precincts, and she will be safe there. I would be very grateful if Sadamu could remain with your family for a while longer. I hope this is not a serious imposition?"

Akitada smiled. "Of course not. We have all become very fond of the boy. Even…"- He was going to say "my mother," but caught himself in time-"my servant Tora."

The look of pain on Sesshin's faced eased a little. "In that case, perhaps you would allow me to call on Sadamu at your house? I must begin to make amends for my neglect."

Akitada expressed himself honored and took his departure.

Outside he turned towards the main gate and home. It was almost dark, the same hot, dry darkness of the past week. Fireflies sparked on and off in the black foliage like disembodied spirits. Just as Akitada passed the Temple of Confucius, he was hailed by a familiar voice.

"Sugawara? Is that you?" Nishioka's gown flapped about his bony frame as he ran out of the gate. "How lucky that you were passing just as I decided to get a breath of air, though fresh it certainly is not. Something very strange has happened."

Akitada was tired and burdened with his own troubles. He looked at Nishioka's lantern-jawed face with weary distaste. "Can't it wait? I have urgent business at home."

Nishioka's long face fell. "Oh, yes. I forgot! Poor Hirata. They say you have taken in his daughter. What a great loss! The students are taking it badly, too. How is his daughter?"

"As you might expect. What is your problem?"

"I don't want to trouble you, but you might have some advice. It concerns our rats."

"Your rats?" Akitada wondered if Nishioka had gone mad.

"Perhaps it would be better if you would just come and see for yourself. It will only take a moment. I am quite distracted." He ran an agitated hand through his hair and dislodged his topknot, which slipped over his right ear.

"Very well, but I cannot stay."

Sighing inwardly, Akitada followed the man to his study. The room was in the same state of disorder as the last time Akitada had been there. Near a set of shelves holding sagging and toppling stacks of papers, assorted wine cups, empty oil lamps and unmatched rice bowls, Nishioka paused and pointed to the floor.

There, among remnants of roasted walnuts spilled from their box, lay the corpses of three rats.

Akitada moved the animals with his foot. They were quite stiff, their teeth bared in futile snarls. Poisoned! "I thought you had no walnuts left. Did you buy more?"

"That's just it. I've had no time. Anyway, those are not my walnuts."

"No? It looks like the same box."

"Oh, it's my box all right. But they are not my walnuts. I told you about the old woman who makes mine? Well, hers are almost black and shiny. These are ordinary brown ones."