I. Parker - The Emperor's woman

Akitada shot his sister a warning glance, and Lady Hiroko blushed rosy red again. “It was very proper. I was there, and so were others. It was only later that Masako left the palace to meet him.” She twisted her hands again and looked down.

Akiko smiled. “You helped her, I take it?”

Akitada said quickly, “It doesn’t matter now. What matters is to find out who knew about their assignations. You said the other ladies were less than kind to Lady Masako. Did she have enemies among them?”

Lady Hiroko looked shocked. “Oh, nothing like that. Not murder.” She paused. “Could it have been a madman?”

It was an interesting thought. The killer had been furiously angry, but he had also been coldly calculating.

Akiko gave Akitada a questioning look, and he shook his head slightly. “The possibility of an accidental meeting with a dangerous stranger is remote,” he said. “Given her story, someone must have considered her an obstacle to his plans or desires. It must have been a person who knew of these secret meetings. Can you think of anyone like that? It need merely be a matter of gossip being passed around.”

The novice looked at Akitada directly for the first time. “Late last year there was some gossip. I don’t know how it started and who may have heard. By then, Masako had already planned to leave the palace for good. You see, there was no chance of hiding the relationship any longer.”

Akiko said bluntly, “Because Lady Masako was with child.”

The young woman nodded.

“Could she have been desperate enough to consider killing herself?” Akitada asked, thinking of the letter the prince had mentioned to Kobe.

“Oh, no. She was very happy when she found out. It was her future, she said. Their future together, for the prince also wanted it. For her, the child was her whole life. Her life was only just beginning.”

Akitada was moved by this. “I see.” He did not add that she had fallen in love with a man who had not deserved such a sacrifice.

“You will find out who did this?” Hiroko asked anxiously.

“Yes.”

“Oh, yes,” echoed Akiko.

Hiroko nodded and reached into her sleeve to pull out a slender booklet. “I brought this. I wasn’t sure if I had the right to let anyone see it. Now I think perhaps you should read what she wrote. You may find something that tells you who did this. It’s Masako’s journal.”

Akiko gasped. “Her journal? Oh, that is excellent, isn’t it Akitada?”

Akitada looked at the thin volume of fine paper in its brocade cover. He was also flabbergasted by the good luck. “It may indeed hold some answer,” he said. “Thank you for your trust, Lady Hiroko. You will not regret it.”

“You will return it? It is all I have left of her.”

Akiko cried, “Of course.”

The homeward journey was filled with Akiko’s loud chatter and frequent demands to stop and have a peek at the journal. When a rather silent Akitada refused, she spent the time on various theories about what it might contain. They were almost home before Akitada had the heart to spoil her pleasure.

“It may not contain anything useful. If it did, Lady Hiroko would have told us. I doubt Lady Masako knew her danger. She would not have made the lonely journey to the villa, knowing that someone wished her dead.”

Akiko was silent for a moment. Then she raised her chin. “Well, in that case we must read between the lines. I have a knack for that sort of thing. I always knew ahead of time what the characters in Lady Murasaki’s novel were going to do next.”

Tora waited for Saburo in front of Mrs. Komiya’s little house. He passed the time charming Saburo’s landlady, who had noticed him and come out.

“I knew right away he was good man,” she said to Tora after he had introduced himself. “I got a feeling for that sort of thing. And I have a big heart. The poor man looks terrible, and people are unkind or fearful. They believe they see goblins and oni everywhere. Me, I’ve never seen one of those, so I’m not afraid.”

Tora regarded her with surprise. He had never really seen any apparitions either, but he believed in their existence with every fiber of his being. He said cautiously, “Well, Saburo’s had some bad luck. And you’re right. He’s a good man. I can testify to that.”

She smiled and nodded. “And you’re his friend. I must say you two couldn’t be more unlike.” She chuckled. “Hell and paradise, you might say.”

Tora shook his head. “You should look past the outside of things. That’s what Master Kung-fu-tse said.”

“I know, I know. But it’s what people think when they see you two together.”

Tora humphed and wished her gone. Fortunately, Saburo appeared around the corner at that moment, his scarred face breaking into one of his twisted smiles.

“Tora. Mrs. Komiya. You’ve met, I see.”

“Your friend’s a very handsome fellow.” Mrs. Komiya ogled Tora.

“Unlike me,” remarked Saburo, “but he’s a good sort for all that.”

This made her laugh, and she left them to their business.

“I only have a small room,” said Saburo. “Maybe we’d better talk while we’re strolling down to the river.”

“Suits me. The sun’s still high and a walk along the Katsura should be pretty this time of year.”

“Yes. The cherry trees are blooming. But you have news?”

Tora related recent events, making his own role in the rescue a fairly hair-raising feat.”

Saburo was suitably impressed. “I’m glad your master wasn’t badly injured.”

“Your master, too,” reminded Tora. “He sent me to tell you he wants you back.”

Saburo frowned. “I’m no use to him. I’m not even a good secretary. All I do all day long is to keep the accounts. It only takes an hour here or there.”

Tora stopped. “Don’t forget you have other useful skills.”

“Those are the ones he doesn’t approve of.”

Tora said, “He’ll come round. He always does.”

“I know he’s kind, but his position makes it impossible for him to allow the sort of things I do.”

“As long as you don’t kill anyone or cause a scandal, he doesn’t need to know precisely how you get information. He wants you to help me clear Genba.”

Saburo said nothing.

They took up their walk again. Long stretches of greenery hinted at the open countryside. Dotted about were occasional vegetable gardens with fruit trees in bloom and a shrine or two.

They reached the river and stopped under one of the flowering trees. Ducks paddled near the shore. The Katsura River would join the Kamo River south of the capital, and together they would become the Yodo and end up in the Inland Sea. They had both been there, working together and almost dying. It was then that Saburo had joined the Sugawara household.

“Remember Naniwa?” Tora asked.

“Yes.”

A long silence fell, then Saburo sighed. “I think what you propose may be possible, but I dislike concealing my activities from my master.”

Tora burst into a shout of laughter. “That’s surely a lie, my friend. Your whole life’s been dedicated to hiding what you do.”

Saburo’s lip twitched. “Well, yes. You got me there.”

“Anyway, that’s why I’m here. The master wants us to find Tokuzo’s killer, and it looks like he’s one of your kind. You’re a spy, and so is he probably. Who better to find him than you?”

Saburo shot Tora a glance. “You make it sound so easy. Do you have any proof he’s a shinobi?”

“I think he’s the man Genba encountered just before the murder. The one who dropped the assassin’s needle. And surely he’s the one who knocked you out inside the brothel and took back his needle?”