Akitada stayed only long enough to see his family settled and hire laborers to remove the charred timbers and rebuild the stables and Tora’s small house. The simplicity of their construction and the tips he promised set them to working with speed and enthusiasm.
He changed out of his dirty clothes, bathed, and set off for the Kiyowara mansion in his second-best robe.
Servants, still in mourning, received him. Fuhito was absent. A sense of unease and subdued excitement filled the air. Akitada asked to speak to Lady Kiyowara and her son.
He waited in the same waiting room as the last time. Outside, the day was pleasant. The rain had taken away the dry heat that had oppressed the city for so long. The Kiyowara gardens were green and fresh in the sun, and the water in the little rill ran high and clear over the large round stones.
Akitada was not happy with the outcome of the case. Not only did he not like to see Fuhito and his family suffer further at the hands of arrogant aristocrats like the Kiyowaras, but he was also dissatisfied with both confessions. Fuhito had been too adamant that Tojiro was completely innocent, and Tojiro had confessed much too readily to the killing. In addition, the boy’s description of how he had murdered his father had not rung true. It was as if both were trying to protect the other. Fuhito was quite likely to sacrifice himself for his grandson. Akitada did not know Tojiro very well, but from what he had seen, the youngster had shown both courage and principles. The truth was, he hoped to find that someone else had killed Kiyowara.
His wait was shorter than he had expected. A servant came and took him to the reception room. Lady Kiyowara was with her son, but this time her cousin, Lady Aoi, attended her. This audience was markedly more casual than the last one and differed also in the fact that the young lord now had the seat of honor. His mother sat to his side, and Lady Aoi – still in her beads and amulets and with her hair disheveled – sat farther back.
Akitada bowed to young Katsumi, who seemed to be trying valiantly to appear manly and self-assured, but would not meet Akitada’s eyes. When Akitada had also bowed to his mother, he said, ‘There have been certain developments. Someone has confessed to Lord Kiyowara’s murder. I have come to make my final report.’
The young lord glanced nervously at his mother. She said, ‘That is most satisfactory,’ and clapped her hands for a servant. A sense of relief was almost palpable in the room. A middle-aged man appeared, and she instructed him to bring a money box from her room. Then she told Akitada, ‘I speak for my son and myself when I say that we are grateful to you. I have sent for the rest of your fee. Please proceed with your report.’
Akitada had become uncomfortably aware of Lady Aoi’s piercing stare. Unlike the Kiyowaras, she reminded him of a coiled snake. She seemed to be shouting at him, Don’t! He tried to ignore this and began.
‘From the beginning, it was clear that the murderer or his accomplice belonged to his household.’ Lady Kiyowara frowned, and Akitada said quickly, ‘I’m sorry, My Lady. It was simply impossible for any outsiders to have entered the property in the middle of the day unnoticed by the servants. There was one exception to this, but for the time being, let us eliminate any and all political enemies of the late lord. It is true that Prince Atsunori, the Minister of Central Affairs, stopped by, but he cannot be considered either an enemy or someone who would dirty his fingers with murder.’
Lady Kiyowara started to object, but the servant returned with a small box, identical to the first one Akitada had received. She dismissed him, then said, ‘Go on.’
‘Allow me first to tell you a story from the past.’ Akitada spoke of Fuhito and his young daughter, of the birth of the young woman’s son, and of Lord Kiyowara’s promise to acknowledge the boy. He watched their faces as he spoke. He had expected outrage and denial, but there was none. He found it especially interesting that young Katsumi did not seem in the least surprised.
Lady Kiyowara looked down at her hands and said bitterly, ‘It is no secret that my husband had many women. He may also have many children. What is that to us now?’
The young lord shot her a glance and moved uncomfortably.
Akitada said, ‘It is important because it is Fuhito who confessed to your husband’s murder. He claims that the broken promise to acknowledge his grandson is why he killed your husband.’
Lady Aoi sucked in her breath at the news of Fuhito’s confession, but her cousin only sighed. ‘Poor man. I do not blame him. I am sure he was dreadfully provoked.’
‘I am not done, My Lady, for only a few hours ago, his grandson Tojiro, your son’s half-brother, also confessed to the murder.’
Lady Aoi moved abruptly. Her beads and bangles made a harsh, dry sound. Lady Kiyowara turned and said, ‘There is no need for you to stay, cousin.’
Lady Aoi did not answer. She only shook her head, her eyes burning into Akitada’s with a fierce intensity.
Lady Kiyowara turned back. ‘Well, no doubt the police will straighten it all out,’ she said, pushing the money box towards Akitada. ‘In any case, that finishes our arrangement. Please accept this in appreciation of your work.’
At this point, the young lord exploded. ‘No. We’re not finished, sir. I will not allow you to blame my brother. It was not his fault. My mother has paid you to shift the guilt on him. Well, I’ll pay you twice that amount to clear his name.’
‘Katsumi,’ cried his mother, ‘watch your words. It is not wise to be associated with your father’s killers.’
Akitada admired the boy for his speech, so he only said mildly, ‘I neither shift guilt on an innocent man nor clear a guilty one.’
The youth glared. ‘Then you may as well arrest me too, for I helped him.’
His mother snapped, ‘Nonsense, my son was nowhere near my husband the afternoon he died. Katsumi had gone out to exercise his horse.’
Katsumi ignored her. ‘I’ve known my brother for months. He spoke to me one day and told me who he was. I knew it was true because we look alike. After that, we used to meet often when I went out riding. I taught him how to ride my horse. The day of my father’s death, I let him in through the back gate. It was I who encouraged him to speak to my father, and I also let him take my horse to escape.’
Lady Aoi started swaying back and forth and muttering, ‘Oh, no… Oh, no… Oh, no.’ They all looked at her. She paid no attention and fell to reciting prayers.
Lady Kiyowara was very pale and at a loss for words. Her fan had fallen into her lap. She shook her head in disbelief.
Katsumi faced Akitada with the same defiant sincerity Tojiro had shown when he had confessed. ‘Well? What will you do?’ he demanded.
Akitada sighed. ‘You will have to speak to the police, of course, My Lord. It does you honor that you are standing by your brother. I think he, too, is a young man of principle and courage. It is a pity that the father of two such young men should have been their very opposite.’
Lady Aoi suddenly rose, towering over them like a vengeful deity. ‘Not only men have principle and courage, Lord Sugawara,’ she said, her deep voice vibrating with passion. ‘We women have had to bear the violence of men and their ruthless rape of our bodies. We have borne their ill-begotten children and raised them while their fathers took other women. And yet we have been patient and hoped that our sons would not turn out to be the monsters their fathers were. We, too, have honor.’
Akitada sat transfixed. Here, finally, was the truth. He hardly dared breathe. He had suspected something of the sort all along, though not necessarily of this odd and wild creature. And yet, he thought, who more likely? She was a woman of rank, an astonishing and exotic beauty in spite of her eccentric appearance and her tall stature and deep voice – or perhaps because of them.
Lady Kiyowara looked terrified. She pleaded, ‘Oh, Aoi! Don’t.’
Aoi ignored her. Her eyes did not leave Akitada’s. ‘Kiyowara’s sons may be males, but I will not let them take the blame for this,’ she said. ‘You, Lord Sugawara, were wrong from the start. I came to your house and told you so, but you would not listen. That boy and his grandfather are innocent, because I killed Kiyowara.’
There was a pause. Strangely, no one contradicted Lady Aoi. The young lord had turned to watch her, but Lady Kiyowara sat silent, hanging her head.
Lady Aoi went on: ‘I paid my cousin a visit, and on the second night her husband came to my room and defiled me, a shrine virgin. A man would not hesitate to avenge such a dishonor, but I am a woman and he was my cousin’s husband. Still, I went to speak to the monster when I saw the boy leaving his room in a panic. I took up one of the large stones from the garden stream to defend myself and entered Kiyowara’s study. He was getting to
