“Well, let’s hope it means he’ll return to a more normal life now.” Kobe’s eyes went to Saburo. “Glad to see you again, Saburo. Your looks are greatly improved, I notice.”

“Thank you, sir.” Saburo hung his head a moment. “It was Lady Sugawara’s help as much as anything,” he added softly.

“Ah. A great loss, that lady.”

They sat in silence for a moment, then Kobe said, “You went along with your master and Tora?”

“No, sir. I’m here about something else.” Saburo gave an account of the murder in the bathhouse and his conviction that the blind girl had not done the crime. “I’d hoped to get the master’s help, but he’s too busy now, and I don’t know how to proceed, or if I should.”

He had managed to sound dejected, and Kobe smiled. “I see Sugawara’s entire household is trying to do my work for me again. No doubt, Lady Akiko will shortly make her appearance.”

Tora chuckled. “She was talking to the master when we left, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“May the heavens help me,” said Kobe. “I may have made a bad mistake. As for the blind girl, frankly I had my doubts when I heard about it. The say she’s absolutely adamant that she didn’t do it and was out of the room when it happened. We’ll look into the matter, so there’s no need for you to do anything else.”

Saburo’s heart sank. He had little faith in police investigations. “Could I talk to her, sir?”

Kobe frowned. “Very well, but don’t make her any promises and stay out of it afterward.” He told a young constable to take Tora and Saburo to the jail so they could visit the girl.

Sachi cowered in a corner of the cell on some dirty straw. An evil-smelling bucket was in the opposite corner. She turned a frightened face toward the door as it opened. Saburo was struck again by how pretty she was when you discounted that bluish cast of blindness in her eyes.

Tora also whistled under his breath, and the blind girl shrank against the wall and cried, “Don’t, please!”

Saburo said quickly, “Don’t be afraid, Sachi. I’m Shokichi’s friend. She sent me to help. I brought a friend with me. We don’t mean you any harm.”

She relaxed a little. “Shokichi? She was there when they arrested me.”

“Yes. Me, too. She wanted me to fight the constables. Now she’s angry with me.”

A tiny smile appeared on her face. “You’re Saburo?”

“Yes. And my friend is Tora. Say ‘hello’, Tora.”

Tora obeyed. “Hello, Sachi. I’m sorry I whistled. It was the surprise. I guess you know you’re very pretty.”

She cried, “I wish I wasn’t.”

“Why?” Tora asked, “Did the constables or guards try anything?”

She nodded. “They tried.”

Tora growled. “Wait until the superintendent hears. Who was it, the constables or the jail guards?”

“One of the guards. Maybe two.”

“Right. I’ll put a stop to that. Saburo wants to help, too. Maybe you’d better tell us how all this happened.”

It appeared that Nakamura had requested her services at the Daikoku-yu a few days earlier.

“He was very generous. He paid me extra. It was all right at first, but he started saying things.” She blushed. “I didn’t understand at first, but then he also touched me when he said them, and I understood.” She lowered her head again. I told Jinzaemon I didn’t want to work for Nakamura-san anymore, but …” She made a helpless gesture with her hands. “I owed Jinzaemon some money. He wanted it back and I didn’t have it. He said he would forget the debt if I took care of Nakamura-san.”

“The swine,” muttered Tora.

“Go on,” said Saburo, who wanted to find out what happened on the day of the murder.

“It was difficult,” she said, bowing her head some more. “Nakamura-san insisted on touching me and he wanted me touch him. I said something about getting some special oil and ran out of the room. I went to Jinzaemon and said I couldn’t do what Nakamura-san wanted, but Jinzaemon sent me back in. He said I had to finish the session, and after that I could leave. So I went back into the room. I think I made some excuse. There was no answer, and there was a smell. I reached for the towel on Nakamura-san’s head, but he had fallen forward.” She gulped and stopped.

“Was he dead?”

Sachi nodded. She murmured, “I felt for him. There was blood. I touched it. A lot of blood. I thought maybe he’d had a nosebleed. Sometimes bathers cannot take the heat and their noses start bleeding. I think I asked him if he needed help. He didn’t answer. Then I put my hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t react, and I got scared. I shouted for help and tried to lift him up. I got a lot of blood on me then.” She shuddered.

“You had just finished shaving him?” Tora asked.

“No. I’d only washed his hair.”

Tora exchanged a glance with Saburo and asked, “You mean you left him there with the towel wrapped around his head?”

She nodded.

“Was anyone outside the room when you left? I take it, there are ways to recognize people without being able to see them.”

“Sometimes. I can smell some of them. Others have a certain way of walking and I can tell by their footfall.”

Saburo had been content to leave the questions to Tora as a gesture of gratitude for his help. But he could not restrain himself any longer. “In that case, do you remember anyone near the room when you stepped outside to fetch the oil? Or did you meet someone in the corridor?”

She frowned, trying to remember. “There was someone, maybe more than one. I recall smelling a scent. Jinzaemon was down the corridor and asked me what I was doing. I have a notion that there was some other man there also. Perhaps he was waiting to be my next customer. Do you think the killer was outside the room, waiting for me to leave? But how could he have known I would go to get some oil? I only did this because Nakamura-san’s attentions were becoming obnoxious.”

“Yes,” said Saburo. “We know, but this person could have been waiting for you to finish.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “How terrible! And yet I wish he had waited.”

“Never mind!” Tora said cheerfully. “We’ll do our best to find out who really killed Nakamura.

“Thank you,” she said, bowing deeply and wiping away her tears.

13

A Hopeless Case

Akitada was on his way out when Tora and Saburo returned. They met in the courtyard. Akitada, still chafing from the many ways he had been manipulated by his people, his friends, and his own sister, glowered at them.

Saburo shrank back, but Tora, not easily discouraged by his master’s moods, grinned, flashing his fine teeth. “A chilly day, sir. Winter may be early this year. We’re just back from speaking to the superintendent. Seems Saburo here is on the trail of a vicious killer.”

Akitada shot Saburo another resentful look. “I told him to leave it to the police,” he snapped.

Tora chuckled. “I can’t believe my ears, sir. That’s not been our custom in the past. You’ve caught many a killer the police would’ve let get away. We talked to Sachi—with the superintendent’s permission—and it looks like someone pinned the murder on the blind girl, sir. She’s frightened and lost.”

Akitada glanced at the gray sky. He hoped it would not rain again. He was in his best court robe and hat. “I’m on my way to the ministry,” he said. And on more unpalatable visits to regain my income, he thought. “I cannot be bothered with this. Since you’ve talked to Kobe, it seems to me you can now leave it to him. And I’ll remind you not to make remarks about the incompetence of the imperial police. It isn’t true and will lose us Kobe’s friendship.”

With this he brushed by Tora and walked out through the gate.

The halls and streets of the Daidairi greeted him like a soldier returning from frontier service. It felt at once familiar and strange. He saw no familiar faces, and people passed without a greeting. He felt awkward and embarrassed when he walked into the ministry. A young servant was sweeping the corridor and did not recognize him. Akitada had already become a stranger.