I Parker - The Fires of the Gods

The sun blazed down out of the cloudless sky, and Akitada moved into the shade of a catalpa tree. There he stood, raising his eyes to the far blue mountains in the north. They looked hazy through the shimmering heat that covered the capital on this scorching summer day. Far above him in the sky, a hawk circled slowly. He smiled at the notion that it, too, was searching for prey.

Gravel crunched, and Fuhito reappeared.

‘Her Ladyship wishes to speak with you, sir,’ he announced.

He sounded and looked disapproving. It was understandable. This was a house where mourning had been disrupted by police searching for a murderer, and now strange men were being admitted to the women’s quarters. All he had expected was a glimpse of the layout of the grounds.

Akitada followed him through a small thicket of shrubs, trees, and tall grasses, along an overgrown path that might well give a husband romantic notions of seeking out a new beauty in her hidden and derelict house. He was shortly disabused of such thoughts. Lady Kiyowara’s pavilion was large and ornate with red-lacquered railings and banisters. Several maids, their many-layered silk dresses now covered with hempen jackets, had stepped on the veranda to watch their approach. They seemed astonishingly unattractive or elderly. Perhaps this suited their mistress’s vanity.

When Fuhito clapped his hands, they scattered.

Lady Kiyowara’s room was most luxurious. She was seated, surrounded by several folding screens painted with flowers nodding against a background of gold. As before, she wore little paint on her face – just a dusting of white, a thin outline of her eyes in kohl, the high eyebrows barely brushed on, and the merest touch of red on her lips. She seemed younger for that and was still a desirable woman. Raising her fan, she smiled at Akitada.

‘Please be seated, Lord Sugawara.’ Her voice was pleasant but cool. ‘You, too, Fuhito, for propriety’s sake.’

They bowed and sat.

Akitada took in the presence of two other women, sitting together at a distance. One was the same woman who had been with Lady Kiyowara on his last visit. The other was a handsome young female in a very odd-looking costume of white hemp covered with a red stole, and thick ropes of beads and shells hung about her neck. Her hair was thick but disheveled, and she stared at him boldly, almost hungrily. He looked away, wondering why the major-domo was required when there were other women present.

An odd thought seized him. If Ono was not the lady’s lover – he had only claimed brotherly affection – then a middle-aged woman like Lady Kiyowara might well have chosen a man like Fuhito to be her lover and confidant. True, the man was in his sixties and his hair was sprinkled with white, but he was, for all that, tall and handsome enough. Besides, he was well-educated and conveniently available.

Lady Kiyowara gestured with her free hand. ‘You have met my companion,’ she said. ‘The other lady is Aoi, a spiritualist and miko . She is consulting the gods to find out the truth about my husband’s murder.’ She paused to let Akitada absorb this, then said, ‘And you, sir? Have you made any progress with your methods?’

It was a humbling moment. Akitada was clearly valued no higher than the local witch. He decided to ignore it. ‘I assume from your major-domo’s explanations and an inspection of the grounds that the attacker must have come from the inside,’ he said.

Lady Kiyowara frowned. Her eyes moved to Fuhito, who shifted uncomfortably on his cushion. ‘From the inside?’ she said sharply. ‘Can you be certain? My husband received visitors from the outside that day, yourself included.’

Akitada understood the implied hint that he had better come up with a stranger or he would become a suspect again. He said stiffly, ‘My assumption is based on the information I was given.’

She turned on Fuhito. ‘You know as well as I that no one in this household would lay a hand on my husband. Why then do you suggest this to Lord Sugawara?’

Fuhito paled. ‘I know it, My Lady, but I also know how careful all of us have been to protect our lord from unwelcome visitors.’

This surprised Akitada. It seemed to make a point of ready access for welcome visitors. Could the major-domo mean Ono? But he focused on something else. ‘What unwelcome visitors?’ he asked. ‘If Lord Kiyowara feared anyone, surely this is the time to mention names.’

Fuhito compressed his lips and looked down at his clenched hands. Lady Kiyowara fidgeted with her fan.

‘Well?’ Akitada urged.

Lady Kiyowara shot Fuhito a furious look and said sharply, ‘My husband was an outsider at court and widely resented by his colleagues. I assumed that you would answer this question yourself. I turned to you for help because you have access to government circles that are closed to the Kiyowara family.’

A very neat turning aside of his request. While she was far off about his real position in the government, Akitada had to accept her point. He was to find the murderer among her husband’s enemies. Still, he was not at all sure that the solution did not lie within the Kiyowara household. For that matter, what better place to hide a murder weapon than in the women’s quarters? The police would hardly dare search them. He said stubbornly, ‘It does not answer the question how an outsider could have entered the compound unseen, My Lady.’

She snapped her fan angrily. ‘Then you must look harder. You and Fuhito. I wish you luck.’ She did not look at him this time, but sketched a slight bow.

Thus dismissed, Akitada and Fuhito withdrew.

As they walked back to the main house, Akitada asked, ‘How secure is the compound at night?’

Fuhito seemed dejected. His shoulders slumped and his head was bowed. ‘The gates are closed, and there are watchmen,’ he said listlessly.

‘I take it, if a thief were caught trying to enter, you would be called. Has there ever been a disturbance at night in your memory?’

‘There have been some minor alarms. Once a group of drunken officers of the guard drove a carriage up to the outer wall and tried to climb in. They were noisy, and the servants stopped them quite easily. Another time, the guard in the front courtyard heard noises and rustling in the garden. They investigated, but found only some wild cats fighting. I was not called on either occasion. I am not here at night.’

Akitada stopped. ‘You don’t live here?’

‘No, I have my own house in the western quarter. I go home at sunset and return at sunrise.’

Akitada left after this exchange, wondering more than ever about Fuhito. It was very unusual for a house servant, even a major-domo, to reside anywhere other than with the family. The fact that Fuhito owned property and preferred living there suggested again that he did not belong to the servant class. Surely some tragic circumstance had forced him to accept his present humble position. Akitada decided to check into the major-domo’s background first thing the next morning.

Unfortunately, several events were about to intervene and drive all thought of Fuhito from his mind.

Akitada was tired when he got home. To his relief, he found Tamako looking better. Hanae was with her, fussing to make her comfortable as Yuki whimpered in a nest of bedding. Nodding to the women, Akitada went to pick him up. Yuki fell silent for a moment and looked at him with large, sorrowful eyes. Akitada smiled and clicked his tongue. The baby scrunched up his face and wailed.

Putting the child over his shoulder, Akitada patted his back and asked, ‘Isn’t Tora back yet?’

Hanae shook her head. ‘The rascal’s out late again. He says he’s working for you, but every night I can smell and taste the liquor on his lips.’ She sounded irritated.