The Lucky Gods of Otsu by I. J. Parker

Author:I. J. Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ingrid J. Parker Inc.
Published: 2021-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

21

Suspicions

Outside the farmhouse, he found the peasant who had brought him. He had been joined by a group of other peasants, both men and women. All wore clean but plain clothes to honor their late master. Several wept.

The man who had brought him asked, “What will become of us, sir?”

“I don’t know. Your master’s family thinks the farm will be theirs.”

They all looked at each other. One of the women spoke up, “They never came until now. They didn’t care. The master worked hard with us to make this good rice land. Things were getting better. Plenty of rice for him and us and the tax man.”

Akitada said, “Thank you for coming. It wasn’t your fault.”

They hung their heads, grieving and worried.

Akitada had no assurances to give them. Instead, he asked the question that had been bothering him. “My friend seemed quite well when he left my house to come back here. Can you think of anything that might have made him ill?”

They looked at each other and shook their heads. When he pressed them, a few spoke up. They agreed on the events before Kobe’s death. He had seemed well and worked hard to make the house livable. His son had come to help him, but only recently.

Along with what the woman inside had told him, this filled Akitada with suspicions of the son. But what of the first time Kobe had become ill? Nothing suggested that Heishiro had seen his father then. Yet the son’s visit to the Sugawara home to take his father away could have been an effort to stop his recovery. Akitada wished more than ever that he had realized the danger and prevented Kobe’s return, but proving that the son had caused his father’s death was another matter.

It took a lot of willpower to be courteous to Heishiro, or indeed the whole family. Akitada wanted them all to be culpable, or at least have knowledge of why Kobe had died. He was angry and miserable because he could not prove that they had somehow caused his friend’s death. His anger was made worse because they would inherit Kobe’s farm and whatever he had owned at the time of his death. As a motive for murder, the value of the inheritance seemed negligible, which made it even more disgusting. He thought they had acted not just out of greed, but out of revenge which had simmered for many years.

Kobe had known their hatred. It was why he had made no attempt to reconcile with them after Sachi’s death.

But what could Akitada do now? Telling them of his suspicions would simply alert them. Much better to let them think he believed them, and perhaps in time he would find a way to prove Kobe had been murdered.

He decided to take care of the most pressing matter and went back into the house. He told Kobe’s family firmly that he would make the arrangements for the funeral and pay the expenses. As he had expected, they did not object and he left for the Saga temple.

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