Sowing Ghosts 5.4

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[Concluding chapter 5]

“A monkey could have got over the wall without being seen,” Tetsuo said, disgusted. That he said this while in the custody of two guards was not exactly a testimony to the truth of his allegation, though. Shaking his head, Hiroki showed the guards his letter of authority from the arms master and they departed, albeit with profane reluctance.

“Tell me what you learned,” Hiroki said.

“I want to know what happened to you,” Shiro said, laughing. “How is it those guards didn’t take your head?”

“Not now, Shiro. Well, Tetsuo?”


“As I said, Hiroki, the back walls aren’t guarded at all well, at least not this morning. I only had to wait about half of an hour to work out the patrol schedule of the guards on the outside, and there is a grove of trees not far from the part of the back wall protecting the garden. So I climbed that tree and was able to see for myself that there were no guards at all in the garden. All I had to do was wait until the patrolling guards were midway through their rounds and then I used my rope to climb the wall. Anybody could have done it.”

“Anybody with strong arms and a good rope,” Shiro said.

“Somebody who meant to kill the arms master’s sister might well have brought a rope with him,” Tetsuo said. “Some killers do have brains, you know. Whereas I have sometimes wondered about — ”

“Another time, Tetsuo,” Hiroki said. “How did you come to be detained, then?”

“I was watching some servants pulling something out of one of the privies, Hiroki, when the guards came up to me. They knew I was part of our company, but I did not enter the compound with you and Shiro this morning. They wanted to know how and when I’d come in.”

“So you told them.”

“Better they should learn from a friend than from an enemy,” Tetsuo said with a derisive snort. “I wanted to come and get you about the dirty clothes, but the guards were going to hand me over to their captain. Thank you for rescuing me.”

“Dirty clothes?”

“That’s what was in the latrine: a pair of hakama. It was disgusting. All shit and piss and gods know what else. That’s no way to get rid of old clothes. Everybody knows that you dispose of old clothes by giving them to Shiro. He loves wearing cast-offs.” Tetsuo laughed at his own joke. Shiro, who was excessively proud of his wardrobe, did not.

“I don’t suppose,” Hiroki said, “that the main colour of these trousers was purple?”

Tetsuo started. “How did you know?”

“I did not get the chance to tell you this morning, Tetsuo, but I found a piece of cloth beside Lady Tomiko’s body yesterday. It was wisteria-purple, with silver-white embroidery. My guess at the time was that the killer tore the fabric when leaving the room. If you have indeed found the clothing that matches my fragment of cloth, then we have a much better idea of how the killer was dressed.” He took the purple fragment from his sleeve and showed it to Tetsuo. “Does this match?”

“Hiroki, I don’t know. The trousers were disgusting and smelled worse. Yes, I think they were purple, but to know anything more we are going to have to have them cleaned, and that means finding outcastes to do the work. Nobody here will have anything to do with that.”

“Nor can they be blamed.” Hiroki wrinkled his nose, disgusted at the mere thought of having to clean anything that had been in a latrine. “Please have the arms master’s chamberlain see to the hiring of outcastes to do the cleaning, then. Shiro, take a close look at this cloth and, when the cleaning is finished, examine the hakama to see if they match this piece.” He handed the strip of cloth to Shiro, who examined it carefully.

“Some nice work here,” he said as he handed the cloth back to Hiroki. “The design is embroidered, not just printed. Somebody paid a lot of money for this.”

“So if this was part of the killer’s costume, we are looking for a samurai,” said Tetsuo, “or a noble who dresses in samurai style.”

“Not a poor samurai, either,” Hiroki said, thinking of Kanegawa and wondering if the secretary was still being held in the storage building. “Get going, Tetsuo.”

He thought for a moment after Tetsuo’s departure. “I think,” he said to Shiro, “that it’s time we found out just where our wakashū friend has been hiding himself for the last two days.”

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