Sowing Ghosts 5.2

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[Continuing chapter 5]

“She was my friend.” Kanegawa Akihiro sat, perfectly rigid, on the cold floor of the chamber in which he was being held. The room felt as cold as the floor; the rain, which had not stopped overnight, pounded on the tiled roof. A lamp provided little light, so that the secretary seemed to have only half a face. The visible part of Kanegawa’s face, drawn and pale, suggested he was still feeling a kind of shock — even though he had not seen Lady Tomiko’s body himself. Hiroki, watching the young man, reminded himself that Kanegawa was a clerk, not a warrior, and had probably never come this close to death before. Now he was facing his own death, and likely by shameful execution rather than honourable seppuku.


“She was more than a friend, in fact. She was a great help to me in dealing with her brother. The arms master is not always an easy man to serve.” Kanegawa took a deep, shuddering breath. “I could not do this thing to her. Or to him.” His voice broke on the last words and his rigidity broke with it. He put his head in his hands and his shoulders shook with his weeping.

“When did you see Lady Tomiko last?” Hiroki felt a crawling discomfort at having to intrude on Kanegawa’s grief and shock, but he tried to remind himself that he was seeking out intelligence for his lord, in a way he had often done before. The intelligence was just a little bit less about strategy or tactics this time.

Kanegawa lifted his head. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and turned a less shattered expression to Hiroki. “I said good morning to her at the start of my day,” he said. “Just after morning rice. She hadn’t eaten yet. She told me she was expecting a visitor from the imperial palace that morning. She seemed very happy about it.”

“Did this surprise you in any way?”

“Not at all.” Kanegawa seemed more relaxed now, as if talking about routine things was helping him. “The Miyoshi clan wants to be on good terms with the palace. It’s all about persuading the emperor to change his mind about which shōgun to recognize.”

“I met the lady from the palace last evening,” Hiroki said. “She seemed a most unusual person to me. Have you met her before?”

“I have seen her. We were never introduced. I do not know who she is or what her role at the palace is.”

She has a role at the palace? This was news to Hiroki. Though not, apparently, to Kanegawa. Things really have changed here since I have been gone, he thought. “So you said good morning to Lady Tomiko. That was all?”

“She asked me if I expected to see young Hosokawa today, or his sharp-tongued wakashū friend. I told her they had not communicated with me. Then I went away to see to some letters my lord had asked me to write.”

“Do you like the colour purple?”

“What?” Kanegawa seemed startled. Hiroki was pleased; he had wanted to catch the man off-guard.

“Purple. Lavender, Mauve. I was thinking about purple and just wondered if you were fond of it.”

“That’s an odd question to ask me, here.” He thought for a second. “I like looking at wisteria,” he said. “But that’s about all. I wouldn’t want to live with the colour.”

Hiroki got to his feet. “Thank you for helping me,” he said. “I will tell the arms master how cooperative you have been.”

Kanegawa swallowed. “If you can do so politely, Yoshino-dono, would you please tell Lord Miyoshi how sad I am for his loss?”

Hiroki nodded, then rapped on the locked storeroom door to attract the attention of the guard. As he hurried back to the covered walkway that would take him to the main house, he tried to make sense of what he had learned so far this morning. And he found himself smiling in sympathy for Tetsuo, trying to achieve his assignment in the pouring rain. It was, Hiroki realized with some shame, a small compensation for what he had undergone the previous night.

“What have you learned?” Lord Naitō asked when Hiroki, as clean and dry as he could make himself, presented himself. There had been no need for the lords to come to the arms master’s house this morning, so Hiroki was honoured that they had chosen to come merely to give his presence whatever formal support was required.

“I have learned enough to have serious doubts that Kanegawa Akihito murdered Lady Tomiko,” Hiroki told him. “I have looked through Kanegawa’s storage chests and satisfied myself that he owns no purple clothing at all, much less anything resembling the piece of fabric I found beside Lady Tomiko’s body. I have just interviewed Kanegawa and he seemed honestly perplexed as to why I would ask him about the colour purple.”

“You believe him to be innocent?”

“With respect, lord, I did not quite say that. I have doubts that he is guilty, sufficient doubt that I would advise Lord Miyoshi against fully interrogating Kanegawa until my friends and I have made further investigations.” A full interrogation involved torture and would almost certainly result in a confession. Whether it would result in the truth was a different matter.

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