I Parker - The Convict's sword

Kobe raised a brow. “Ah, so you’ve heard the rumors. Never mind that. And you, of all people, warning me about getting into trouble?”

That made Akitada smile. “Who better?”

“Nonsense. If you can break a few rules, so can I. We’ve been in the business of catching villains long enough to know that one has to use one’s own judgment sometimes. I’m just doing my job. Besides, I’m interested.”

Akitada gave up. They crossed the Greater Palace grounds together. The rain had cooled the air a little after the oppressive heat of the previous week, and there was still enough light to see by. The moist air intensified the scent of honeysuckle drifting over the wall of one of the ministries, and at the Shingon Temple, young monks laughed as they swept the water with brooms from the steps of the gate.

Suddenly Tora’s situation did not seem so bleak anymore. Akitada thought of what Kobe had said and snorted.

Kobe threw him a glance. “Something funny?”

“In a way. It seems that I’ve finally broken the rules once too often. Today Soga forced me to resign and then had the gall to announce that he expected me to cover for him for an unspecified period of time. I’m to run the ministry until his return. I’ve been promoted and dismissed in the same breath.”

“You’re joking!”

“Not at all. And I’ve never worked as hard or as cheerfully. Of course, my situation is not really amusing, but sometimes it’s easier to laugh at your troubles.”

“But what will you do?”

“I don’t know. At the moment Tora’s problem is more important.” He told Kobe what he had learned, and they became involved in the discussion of Tora’s case. Akitada barely noticed the archivist Kunyoshi waving from the other side of street. He waved back.

Clouds of small gnats hovered in their path. Officials and clerks, on their way home from ministries or the imperial residence, tottered along on tall wooden geta, skirting puddles and holding up their fine silk trousers.

As they passed the main gate of the imperial residence, its thatched roofs sodden black from the rain, Kobe nodded to one of the guards, the son of a powerful family. Kobe had truly risen in the world, and Akitada felt a little less guilty about accepting his assistance.

After leaving the Greater Palace, they turned northeast. In this part of the city were public buildings and the palaces and mansions of court nobles. The Sugawaras, though sadly come down in the world, had lived here since the capital had been built.

When they saw the bleak walls and gate of the Eastern Prison ahead, Kobe said, “A fascinating case. I shall look forward to your solution.”

“It’s difficult to think of it as a mental exercise when it may mean a friend’s life.”

“Come, come,” said Kobe bracingly. “We’ve worked ourselves out of muddles before, you and I. Don’t be so downcast. We’ll have Tora free in no time.”

Kobe’s kindness was touching, but Akitada remained uneasy. They had never quite seen eye to eye in the past, and while he knew Kobe to be scrupulously honest and in his own way as dedicated to justice as he was, the superintendent could become very stubborn when they disagreed. Besides, there was the threat to Kobe’s career. Few enough officials were both able and incorruptible. He hoped that Tora could be cleared quickly before someone took notice.

The conditions of Tora’s imprisonment had improved dramatically. They found him sitting cross-legged on a clean straw mat, gobbling food from a heaping bowl and looking a great deal more cheerful than that morning. On a gesture from Kobe, the guard left.

Tora greeted Akitada with a wide grin, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and put aside the bowl. He bowed to both of his visitors, then said to Akitada, “Thank you, sir. This is a great deal better, and the food isn’t half bad either. But, as I told the superintendent, I need to get busy solving the murder. Have you had any news?”

Tora’s meal reminded Akitada that he had not eaten since the night before. No wonder he felt light-headed. He said, “No news at all, I’m afraid. Soga has taken it into his head to leave the city for a while and I was trying to catch up on the work he left behind. I’m on my way home now for my evening rice. After that I’ll think about what is to be done next.”

“Well, well,” said Tora, “I guess you may be the next minister then. And here you’ve been worried about losing your job.”

“Actually, I shall have to present my resignation on the minister’s return.”

Tora’s jaw sagged. Then he exploded. “Why, that dirty scoundrel! That lazy piece of dung! How dare he do that to you when you’ve been doing all his work for months? He’s just another stinking official. Rotten to the core!”

Akitada bit his lip and glanced at Kobe.

But Kobe merely raised an eyebrow. “I’d like my men to be as loyal as yours. Of course, he had better not have the judge hear him say things like that.”

“Judge?” asked Tora, blanching a little.

Kobe nodded. “I have requested that your case be heard tomorrow.” He turned to Akitada. “Around midday. I hope that’s convenient? Can you attend?”

“I will make time. It was very good of you to push Tora’s case forward. Who is the judge?”

“Masakane.”

“Oh.” Akitada knew the man from past court cases he had observed, and Masakane had never liked him. But he nodded. “Masakane is fair.”

Tora looked nervously from one to the other. “What will happen? There’s no evidence to clear me yet. And they haven’t arrested anybody else. What’s to keep the judge from sentencing me?”

Akitada said, “It’s only a hearing. We will ask to have the trial postponed and you released into my charge. With a little luck I hope to make a good case for further investigation. But you must be completely frank with us about your relationship with the woman.”

“You know all there was. I liked her, but there was nothing between us. She didn’t want that.”

Akitada gave him a hard look. It sounded as though Tora had tried. What had possessed him? Tomoe hardly met his usual requirements.

Kobe remarked, “From what I’ve gathered, there was some mystery about this woman.”

Tora said eagerly, “That’s right. And I bet if we figure it out, we’ll have her killer. She was different from other street people. Like she didn’t belong. She was polite, but she never talked about herself. It took me two months to get her to open up a bit. And she’d never have let me walk her home if she hadn’t been scared.”

“Perhaps she had committed some crime,” Kobe wondered.

Tora adamantly denied the possibility, but Akitada thought of the expensive cosmetics box and the silver. It was quite possible that Tomoe had worked with a gang of thieves-in which case her killer could have been one of her accomplices. He said, “Tora, you must consider the possibility. If she worked with gang members, it explains why she protected them.”

“No.” Tora shook his head stubbornly. “You don’t know her the way I do.”

“But you said yourself that she did not tell you everything.”

Tora flushed. “You haven’t believed me from the start, sir, but I know that she was neither a harlot nor a thief. I know that as well as I know you.”

Akitada had a strong conviction that nobody had truly known Tomoe, but he did not say so. He turned to Kobe. “What do you think should be done first?”

“I can have my people check on gangs.” Kobe grinned. “Now that you’re running things at the ministry, my sending across police documents shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.”

Akitada thought of the nosy Sakae and hoped that young man was too preoccupied with filling Akitada’s shoes to have any time or interest in spying on his now very temporary superior. “Thank you. That would be very helpful. There is also the cosmetics box. If it was stolen, someone may have reported its loss. And if not, perhaps that young police lieutenant Ihara might try to trace it to its maker. It was of particularly fine workmanship and seemed an odd thing for her to have.”