Akitada raised his brows. “Am I to congratulate you on this feat?”

“No, sir. That is, we thought we would get married, if... if it is all right, sir.”

Mildly startled, then pleased, Akitada said warmly, “This is a serious matter, indeed! If she has captured your heart, my friend, she must be a very special woman. But you certainly don’t need my permission.” He paused, then asked anxiously, “You are not planning to leave, are you?”

“Oh, no, sir. Quite the reverse. I was wondering if we might have the empty storehouse in the far corner of the compound?”

“The empty...?” Akitada began to laugh. “Of course. But please settle your affairs quickly, for I can see that your mind is not on business. My wife will be of assistance. What is the charming lady’s name?”

Hitomaro bit his lip, then said defiantly, “Her name is Ofumi. She is wellborn, but misfortune has forced her to earn her living as an entertainer. She is very talented, a fine lute player, and well spoken, sir.”

“A lute player, eh?” Akitada studied Hitomaro’s flushed face. Then he nodded. “I am sure that you have chosen wisely. Ofumi shall be welcome in our family.”

Hitomaro knelt and touched his forehead to the floor. When he straightened up, he was completely businesslike. “What is my assignment tomorrow, sir?”

Outside footsteps crunched through the gravel. Male voices spoke in rapid exchange. Hitomaro and Tora tensed and looked toward the closed shutters.

Akitada frowned and adjusted the leather-covered plate over his left shoulder. He was not used to wearing armor and found it cursed uncomfortable, especially with the recent shoulder wound. He hoped there would be no fight tonight.

When all became silent again outside, Tora asked, “Should I wake Genba, sir?”

“No. Let him sleep. He has had a hard day.”

They all looked at the gently snoring mountain and smiled.

Akitada thought. “There is still Judge Hisamatsu. But I think you are right, Hitomaro; he is merely mad, more of a liability to his fellow conspirators than a threat to us.”

“What about the child?” asked Hitomaro. “I could search Hisamatsu’s place in his absence.”

Distractedly Akitada ran a hand over his hair. “Heavens! I forgot to tell you. The abbot says the boy is safe.”

“Safe where?” Tora’s disbelief was plain on his face.

“He did no t say, but...”

“Then how do we know it’s true?” interrupted the normally courteous Hitomaro.

“The abbot has proved our friend. Besides, I believe Hokko because I think I know who has the boy. No, I cannot tell you. There are still a number of unanswered questions.” Akitada moved restlessly again. “If only I could find a way to get into Takata manor again. I know part of the answer is there.”

Hitomaro and Tora looked at each other and shook their heads. There was a small army between them and Takata.

“But there is still the dead Koichi,” said Akitada.

“What is puzzling about that case?” asked Hitomaro. “Sunada admitted to killing the man, and a whole crowd says it was self-defense.”

Akitada shook his head. “I don’t care what they say. I don’t like it. There was something far too pat about the whole affair. I should have paid Sunada a visit long ago. He wields a great deal of power in the province, as evidenced by his support among the leading merchants.”

“Not to mention Boshu and his henchmen,” Hitomaro agreed. “Sunada has certainly turned the shipping business to good account. Half the fishermen in Flying Goose village are in his pay, and he controls all the shipping along the coast.”

Akitada frowned. “Shipping. It may have some significance in all this. There are our empty granaries, for example. Inadequately explained by Uesugi as a matter of moving the rice to more convenient storage or using it in provisioning the troops fighting in the north.” He moved his shoulder and grimaced. “I have not had time to inspect Uesugi’s granaries. What if the rice is gone? If there is a bad crop next year, people will starve by the thousands, and I shall be blamed.” Suddenly he stiffened and picked up the sketch Takesuke had given him. “Hmm,” he muttered, frowning at it, then said, “Wake Genba for a moment.”

When Tora shook him, the big man grunted, then sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Are they here?” he asked.

“No, no,” Akitada said. “It will be another hour or so. This concerns Sunada. I have the feeling it was a mistake not to investigate him fully. We have had two warnings that all is not as it seems with that gentleman. Did you hear any gossip in town about his personal affairs?”

“Oh, him. After his people attacked Hito, I checked out Sunada, but there was no proof that he knew about it.”

“That is not what I meant. What about his private life, his family, friends, his closest associates?”

“Well, he’s said to be the wealthiest man in the northern provinces. But he’s a loner. No family, no friends. He lives in a large manor in Flying Goose village, near the harbor where his ships and warehouses are, but there’s nobody with him apart from his servants. People say he was married once, but his wife died in childbirth. After that he took his pleasures elsewhere.”

“Right,” Hitomaro said. “One of your friends made a comment about that.” Seeing Akitada’s questioning look, Hitomaro flushed and looked uncomfortable. “Something about Sunada being a regular at one of the houses of assignation.”

Genba nodded. “The current gossip is that he’s taken a concubine from outside the pleasure quarter, being tired of the local ware.”

Akitada considered this. “Strange that there is no family, no heir to a business of that size,” he said. “A son has a sacred obligation to his parents and to his ancestors to provide sons in his turn. The man is either an irresponsible fool or he has been bewitched by some female he cannot take to wife. And that amounts to the same.”

Tora grinned. Akitada’s own marriage was still quite recent.

Hitomaro shifted in his seat. “If a man has character and loves such a woman, he makes her his wife anyway,” he said so fervently that the others stared at him in surprise.

An embarrassed silence fell. Akitada busied himself with putting the shells back into their container and wrapping it again. Genba got up and poured himself some lukewarm tea.

From outside came the sudden sound of shouted commands and then the trotting of men’s feet across gravel. They tensed and listened.

“It’s just a changing of the guard,” said Hitomaro after a moment, and everyone relaxed. Akitada reached for a batch of documents and began reading. Another heavy stretch of waiting began.