shouldered figure. He smiled, but his eyes were cold.

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Akitada smiled back. “I had not expected to meet you again

so soon, sir. We left you only yesterday.”

Kumo’s smile disappeared. “Yesterday you were a mere

scribe. Today, I understand, you claim to be the governor’s

emissary, empowered to gather new evidence which might clear

his son in the murder of the Second Prince? You are a change-

able fellow, Taketsuna.”

The bluntness of that left Akitada momentarily speechless.

“I . . . I beg your pardon?” he stammered. “Inspector Osawa

entrusted me with a letter because he is too ill to bring it him-

self. I never claimed anything else.”

Again that fleeting, mocking smile, and Akitada fought the

uneasy feeling that he might be out of his depth with this man.

“So you kindly offered your talents to assist the professor in

his response,” Kumo said. “I must say I am sorry I did not take

the time to chat with you at my house. Your background is

interesting. How exactly did you become involved with Lord

Miyoshi?”

They were still standing. Sakamoto fidgeted, clearly uncom-

fortable with the tone of the interrogation. Akitada controlled

his nervousness and offered up the tale that had been concocted

at the time of his assignment, hoping that the gentlemen from

the sovereign’s office had not made any glaring mistakes, for he

did not doubt for a minute that the high constable had kept

himself thoroughly and minutely informed about the factions

in the capital.

If Kumo found fault, he did not say so. When Akitada had

finished, he regarded him thoughtfully for a few moments and

then said, “My sympathies are entirely with any man who would

oppose Miyoshi in this dispute. But I had better leave you both

to your chore.”

Akitada, more puzzled than ever about Kumo, bowed and

murmured his thanks.

I s l a n d o f E x i l e s

179

“Well,” said Sakamoto, when they were alone, “we’d better

get started. Please sit down. Here at my desk. And make use of

my writing things. Now, what shall I say?”

Akitada picked up the letter and scanned it. “The governor

asks if you recall any odd happenings before or after the tragic

event. Perhaps we can start with that.”

“Tell him no.”

“You want me to say that nothing out of the ordinary hap-

pened during the days preceding the prince’s visit?”

Sakamoto frowned. “Nothing really strange. He sent a letter

asking that the food not be too spicy. He had a delicate stomach,

but I knew that. I must say I was surprised he ate the stew young

Mutobe brought. I could tell it was highly spiced. That’s why I

didn’t worry when he complained of a bellyache. Of course,

now we know it was the poison.” Sakamoto shook his head.

“The prince always trusted too easily when it came to young

men who captured his fancy.”

That remark startled Akitada. But he decided the professor

was merely venting his ill humor again. “And after the prince’s

death? Anything out of the ordinary then?”

Sakamoto snorted. “Don’t be daft, young man. Everything

was out of the ordinary then. We watched the prince die, Taira,

Shunsei, and I. It was horrible. I was completely distraught. We

were near the house when we heard him cry out and turned to

see Toshito strangling him. At least that’s what it looked like. We rushed back, but the prince had already expired. Taira attacked

Toshito, calling him a murderer. Toshito claimed he was helping

the prince breathe, but I think he didn’t trust the poison and

was making certain the prince would die.” Sakamoto shud-

dered. “It was a vicious crime against a son of the gods. Anyway,

we called for a litter and had His Highness taken to Nakatomi.

He lives nearby and is the prince’s physician. He looked at the

body, and later at the dead dog who’d licked the bowl, and said

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the prince had been poisoned. Taira had young Toshito arrested

and charged with murder.”

“It must have been very upsetting to have this happen in

your house and after one of your dinners. No doubt you were

glad that the dog licked the bowl.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Akitada met Sakamoto’s frown with a bland face. “Nothing

at all, sir. Since the source of the poison was quickly found, the

local authorities could not suspect your kitchen staff. Or ask

questions about the dishes you served. For example, was there

anything with mushrooms? Or perhaps that local delicacy,

blowfish?”

“There was certainly no blowfish. I cannot afford such ex-

travagance. And all the dishes were perfectly wholesome. We all

ate of them, except for Mutobe’s stew.”

Well, that took care of the blowfish theory. Akitada asked,

“Who did the postmortem?”

“Nakatomi. There was no time to wait for Mutobe’s disrep-

utable coroner. In the summer, a body decomposes quickly. And

Nakatomi is a very able man, in my opinion. He wrote out the

report himself and hand-delivered it to the governor.”

“And then?”

“We had a fine Buddhist funeral. No expense was spared.

The prince’s funeral pyre was twenty feet high.”

Akitada wrote.

“The other information the governor asks for concerns

those who attended the dinner. That would be Taira Takamoto

and a young monk called Shunsei? Is there any chance, even a

remote one, that either or both had a hand in this?”

“Certainly not. Lord Taira is a man of superior learning

and of absolute loyalty to the prince. He’s an old man now,

older than I am. When he was appointed tutor to Crown Prince

Okisada, he was the most brilliant man in the capital. He loves

I s l a n d o f E x i l e s

181

the prince, and the prince’s death devastated him. In fact, he

withdrew from all matters of this world until today.”

So Taira was expected. “And Shunsei? How is he connected

with the prince?”

Sakamoto frowned. “Shunsei belongs to the Konponji

Monastery near Tsukahara. The prince enjoyed religious cere-

monial. Being impressed with this young man’s devotion, he

took him under his wing.” He bit his lip. “Perhaps he needed

spiritual stimulation and was inspired by Shunsei’s fervor.”

Apparently Shunsei had been tolerated only because Okisada

had insisted on his presence. In fact, Sakamoto’s manner implied

that Okisada had preferred men, or boys, to women. There had

been gossip in the capital, and perhaps that had had something

to do with Okisada’s being replaced as crown prince. More to the

point, such a relationship might have considerable bearing

on the prince’s death. Akitada asked, “Were you surprised at the

attachment?”

Sakamoto met his eyes, looked uncomfortable, and shifted

on his cushion. “Not surprised, really. Need you write all that to

the governor? Shunsei was with us when the prince died, and

none of us sat close enough to put anything in his food. All that

is well-known evidence.”

“Thank you. The final question concerns any friends,

females, or business associates, anyone else who might have had

a motive to kill the prince.”

Sakamoto was becoming impatient. He said testily, “We

have been over all that with that police officer, Wada. As you

may imagine, Prince Okisada associated with very few people,

basically those of us who attended the dinner and the Kumo

family. Kumo was not here, and besides, he had no motive.

There were no women in Okisada’s life. And he had no interest