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[concluding chapter 11]
Shiro was first back at the mansion, as the late-afternoon sun hovered just over the tops of the western hills. “I was completely surprised that you turned out to be right, Hiroki,” he said. Then he stopped, flushing furiously. “That’s not what I said — not what I meant to say —”
“Something you learned today has surprised you,” Hiroki said. He had slept most of the day through, and though his knee continued to throb with pain from time to time he had avoided the pain-relieving concoction for hours now. He wanted to be certain he really was feeling better, and not just under the drug’s continued influence. He also wanted to be more alert when Shiro and Tetsuo reported in; he was embarrassed when he thought about the things he had said to Hosokawa Katsunata this morning.
“We — Tetsuo and I — we decided that I would look for the clerk and he would go after Hosokawa Takakuni’s man, Hoso. I took Inaba with me. I’ll be honest: I wanted to keep an eye on him, because I still don’t trust him.”
“And did you find the clerk?”
“We did, but he doesn’t look like a clerk the way Lord Miyoshi’s secretary does. We saw him going into a sake shop, and he looked to me like a man who is very familiar with those places. He was in partial armour, too; I thought that was considered rude behaviour here.”
“It is,” Hiroki said. “Though with all the fighting going on in the capital these days I can understand how polite behaviour might be suffering. So, did Inaba recognize the clerk? Is Nakamura Yutai our man?”
Shiro’s eyes shone. “He is. Or, at least, Inaba is pretty certain he is. He won’t be absolutely certain until he can get face-to-face with the man. And I was pretty sure you didn’t want that to happen today.”
“You were right.” Hiroki couldn’t help smiling at Shiro’s pleasure in having done well. Sometimes he really was more of a boy than a man. “Were you able to find his house? Or at least where he stays when he’s in the city?”
“Yes, and the name of the sake shop is Tando. Well, the first one. He also went to a place called Wakei, and another called Ensei. You’ll be pleased about Ensei, Hiroki.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Because it’s near the Gion shrine, and only a few minutes on horseback from where Inaba is staying.”
“Shiro, you have done very well indeed. I am having no trouble at all believing that this Nakamura is indeed our man. I am only sorry if Tetsuo had to ride all the way to Omi to find Hoso. It appears he did so for no good reason.”
“Oh, you needn’t feel sorry for me.” Tetsuo’s voice, loud and happy, came through the walls. When he entered Hiroki’s room he had another man with him, a shabbily dressed, bare-legged creature whose last experience with a razor had clearly been weeks ago. “I was coming back into the city this afternoon when I happened across this fellow near the old Rashomon ruins. I had no idea such a famous place could be such a repository of disgrace and evil, Hiroki.”
“Rashomon hasn’t been a good place in eight hundred years, Tetsuo. It was a den of thieves, killers and absconded peasants when my grandfather was a child. Who is this person and why have you brought him into my room?”
“This person,” Tetsuo said with nearly as much pride as Shiro, “is Makoto, former servant of the wakashū Togashi Shokan. And the reason I have brought him here is that he is going to tell you the name of the temple Togashi was at when the Lady Tomiko was murdered.
“He is also going to tell you what Togashi was doing there.”
Next Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
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