The Hell Screen (11 page)

“I’m impressed.” Masayoshi nodded, smiling broadly. “They do teach you young gentlemen something after all.” His tone was openly offensive.

Akitada got to his feet slowly. From his full height he looked down at the short coroner and said coldly, “I gather from your remark that you know nothing about a gentleman’s education. It would have been wiser to hold your tongue under the circumstances. Your specialized training is what put you in your present occupation. Confine yourself to that in the future.”

Kobe gave a snort which could have been either surprise or satisfaction, but the coroner’s face froze. He bowed stiffly, saying, “I beg your pardon, my lord. I forgot myself.”

The man had a careless tongue, and Akitada did not like the manner of the apology, but he controlled his anger. He had no wish to humiliate people who performed useful tasks, but the coroner had taken intolerable liberties. A coroner was a mere functionary of the courts and he, Akitada, had held the rank of governor. He had been the one who administered justice and maintained good order among his people. He said brusquely, “Very well. Please explain your findings now.”

Masayoshi bowed again and turned to the corpse. He pushed aside the woman’s hair and pointed to the back of her neck. The blood had been washed off, and the skin gleamed softly white—except for a thin pink line, hardly noticeable, beneath one ear. “There it is,” he said dryly.

“It is nothing,” said Kobe quickly. “Anything could have done that. It certainly did not kill her.”

Akitada bent to look. He slowly turned the woman’s head, following the thin line until it disappeared in front under the torn flesh of the severed throat. Straightening up, he looked at the coroner. “I believe you are right. You think she was strangled with a rope or cord of some sort?”

Masayoshi nodded. “There are no other wounds on the body, and there is no evidence of poison, or of disease.” He bent to lift the lid from the undamaged eye. The pupil was turned upward, but the white was suffused with broken blood vessels. “This is what happens when people cannot breathe,” he said dryly.

“But,” complained Kobe, “it makes no sense! Why would the man first strangle her and then hack her to pieces?”

“That, my dear Superintendent,” said the coroner, rising, “is your job. May I be excused now?”

Kobe muttered, “Yes, yes. Sorry to have kept you, Masayoshi.”

Akitada cleared his throat. The doctor’s eyes flicked in his direction. “May I be of further service, my lord?” he asked tonelessly.

“I wondered if you had found any sign of sexual, er, activity.”

“If you mean intercourse, the answer is no. Anything else?”

“No, thank you.” Akitada felt that, quite unreasonably, he was being told that he had given offense and was being put in his place. When Masayoshi had left, he said to’ Kobe, “What a very unpleasant fellow! Where did you dig him up?”

Kobe frowned. “He’s a good man. In his own way, he is as stubborn and opinionated as you are. But he is no respecter of the aristocracy, and your reprimand has made him angry. Now it will take me days to soothe him sufficiently to get any work out of him. You had no cause to humiliate him that way. Especially when you were wrong and he was right.”

Akitada felt himself redden. “He was disrespectful. Remember, Kobe, I, too, am not the same man I was eight years ago. Up in the deep snow country I have learned some hard lessons about authority. The man was disrespectful of my position. Respect for distinctions of rank is necessary to maintain harmonious order. Common sense dictates that respect must be given and demanded or social chaos ensues. By mocking me, he mocked the order established by our emperor and the gods, and that cannot be not permitted.”

Kobe burst into shouts of laughter.

Akitada froze, then turned to leave.

“Wait,” cried Kobe. “Don’t be ridiculous! I grant you the man lacks manners, but I have to take a more practical view. Masayoshi is a damned fine coroner, so I don’t pay attention to his oddities. For instance, in this case, if he says she was strangled, then she was. Though it makes the case against Nagaoka’s brother damned awkward.”

Akitada snapped, “Well, it could not matter less, for the dead woman is not Nagaoka’s wife.”

Kobe turned to stare at him. “Not his wife? Have you lost your mind? The husband has identified her. There is no doubt about it. Besides, even Kojiro identified her as his sister-in-law.”

“Nevertheless, they are mistaken.” Akitada glared back with the certainty of conviction. “Perhaps they are lying for their own reasons. Without a face, the body could belong to a lot of young women. This particular one is well muscled, her palms are callused, and the soles of her feet are toughened from walking. She may not be a peasant woman, but neither is she a lady of leisure, as Nagaoka’s wife surely was. I don’t know how she came by the gown, but I think you should look for a missing servant girl. Apparently neither you nor your clever coroner have wondered why her face should have been destroyed.”

Kobe started to laugh again. “This is your unlucky day! It so happens I asked about the muscles and calluses. Nagaoka says his wife was raised in the country and used to ride horses and climb mountains and everything. A regular tomboy, according to him.” He stood, rocking back and forth on his heels, his eyes filled with glee.

Akitada gaped. “Are you sure? But why cut up her face like that, then? What was the purpose?”

Kobe took his arm to lead him out. “Never mind! You have done enough damage for one day. Why don’t you go home now? You said earlier that your mother was very ill. Surely you are needed at home.” His tone was paternal and thoroughly insulting.

Akitada shook off his arm. Through clenched teeth he said, “Could I have a few words with Nagaoka’s brother first?”

“No.” Kobe’s tone was firm, and his eyes cold. “Not today or anytime. Put the matter from your mind! It is not your concern.”

* * * *

The Shrine Gate

Perhaps four years earlier Akitada, less conscious of his consequence, might have persisted in his plea to see the accused, but now, meeting Kobe’s implacable eyes, he merely executed a stiff little bow, turned on his heel, and left.

In his fury, he walked straight home without noticing the change in the weather. The city shivered in a cold wind and under a sky which was clouding up rapidly. People rushed along, holding on to their hats and pulling their collars up against the chill breeze. Leaves danced along the street, swirled up in little eddies, and subsided in odd corners of buildings and along the bottom of bamboo fences.

Saburo opened to his knocking, his wrinkled face breaking into a welcoming smile. Akitada brushed past him. The chanting monks had withdrawn from the windswept courtyard into the shelter of the house. Their droning voices reverberated through the corridors.

Yoshiko heard his step and came running, her eyes shining. “Oh, Akitada,” she cried.

“How is she?” snapped Akitada, his face and voice stormy.

Yoshiko’s happiness faded abruptly. “There is no change.” She faltered. “Is ... is anything wrong?”

“No. Yes. Never mind! It has nothing to do with you. If Mother has not sent for me, I’ll go to my room.”

“No, she has not. But... what has happened? Can you not speak about it?”

She looked anxious, and Akitada felt guilty that he had inflicted his outrage with Kobe on her. “I am sorry,” he muttered. “There is nothing for you to worry about. Just an injury to my own cursed pride and self-consequence. Come and I’ll tell you about it, if you like.”

She brightened at that and followed to his room.

“Did they deliver the silks?” he asked, glancing at her severe dark blue cotton dress.

“Oh, yes,” she cried. “That is what I wanted to tell you. But Akitada, you should not have bought such very gorgeous fabrics for me. And why two sets, and with all the stuff for under-gowns? I have never had anything half so expensive or lovely. It must have cost a fortune?”

He smiled at that. “Not quite a fortune. I am reasonably well-to-do these days, Little Sister, and it gives me great joy to imagine you in the finished gowns.”

“I am so very grateful, my dear, but I may not get much use out of them, especially the rose-colored one.”

“Why not?”

“Because of Mother.”

For a moment his anger rose at the thought that the meanness of his mother might extend to forbidding her daughter a pretty gown. Then he understood. “Oh, dear,” he said, ashamed of his thoughtlessness. “Yes, I suppose we must be prepared to go into mourning when the time comes. But it may not be for some time.”

Yoshiko shook her head. “Certainly before spring. It will be soon, I am afraid. She has been spitting up some blood.”

Misery settled on Akitada. “What does the physician say?”

Yoshiko looked down. “He says the end is not far away.”

“And she has not asked for me?”

Yoshiko shook her head mutely. He sat, staring sightlessly at his clenched hands. How much she must hate me, he thought. And he knew that his mother was leaving him a legacy of self-doubt along with the memory of rejection. He sighed deeply.

“She is very ill,” said Yoshiko gently, “not really herself, you know.”

He said nothing.

“You look tired and ... have you had your meals in the city?”

“What? No. There was so much to do I forgot.”

She left and came back with a bowl of noodle soup and some rice cakes on a tray, and watched him as he ate. He had little appetite, but the food made him feel better. He put the half-empty bowl down and said gratefully, “It is so good to be back,” then corrected himself quickly with a grimace: “I meant with you. This has never been a happy house for me.”

Yoshiko looked stricken. “You mustn’t feel that way! This is your home, not Mother’s or mine,” she cried. “Do not let her spoil it for you and Tamako and your son. It will be a happy home again. Our family has lived here for many generations and will continue to live here through you.”

Akitada glanced around his room and out to the overgrown garden, now as covered with leaves at Nagaoka’s courtyard had been. From the direction of his mother’s room the voices of the monks penetrated even into his sanctuary. Like Nagaoka’s, this, too, was a house in disarray, but Yoshiko’s words touched something in his heart. She was right! It was up to him to give life back to the family home. Tamako would make short work of the weeds and choking vegetation outside and turn the garden into a flowering grove, while his son Yori, and in due time other children, would play outside, filling the place with their shrill shouts and laughter instead of the horrible drone of prayers for the dying. He smiled.

“There,” said Yoshiko. “That looks much better. Now tell me what happened to upset you so.”

He decided not to mention Toshikage’s problem, but told her of his night at the temple, and how he had run into Kobe in the city and ended up becoming involved in the murder of Nagaoka’s wife.

“It was foolish,” he said, when he was done, “to become so angry with Kobe for refusing what I considered a courteous request, but I have become used to being obeyed. No one has spoken to me in that manner for a long time now.” He added with a smile, “It will take some patience before I will become properly humble again.”

Yoshiko did not smile. She was sitting very still. He was dismayed to see her so pale, her eyes large with shock. Cursing himself for frightening her with his gory tale of murder and nightmare, he apologized.

“No, no,” she said, smiling a little tremulously. “It is nothing. But what will happen now? Who will help that poor man? Oh, Akitada, can you not do something? You could use your rank, perhaps. Or get some of your powerful friends to intercede.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “Of course not. My arrogance is not quite that great. Besides, it is by no means clear that the man is innocent.”