The Nuns of Nara by I. J. Parker

Author:I. J. Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medieval Japan, series detective, Akitada, Heian Japan, historical mystery
Publisher: Ingrid J. Parker Inc.
Published: 2019-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

27

Another Death

Tora sat beside Midori, holding her hand, watching anxiously her labored breathing. He was in a quandary. He should long since have reported back. There was already trouble because the women in Sanekane’s house were filing a complaint against him. It did not do to ignore his duties this way. But this poor young woman’s suffering twisted his heart.

On Midori’s other side sat the little boy. His eyes were on her face and now and then his lower lip quivered. Tora had asked Sachiko earlier who he was and been told he was Midori’s.

“What does that mean?” he had asked.

Sachiko had sighed. “She isn’t saying. He belongs to her because she brought him and she looks after him.”

Tora tried to trace the boy’s features in Midori’s. He failed. The boy was only about five, his face still soft and round, his eyes bright, his mouth tender and moist. Midori’s face was haggard, the eyes ringed with dark circles, and her cracked lips parted as she gasped for every breath. But it was clear the boy loved her.

His own presence was not so easily explained. He did not know why she had grasped his hand when he had come to kneel beside her to ask how she was doing. He had hoped the monk’s medicine was working, that she was better and just resting. That was when she had seized his hand as one of her coughing fits seized her again. She had grasped it painfully in the paroxysm and she had not let go of him after it was over. The boy had held her other hand and whimpered. Perhaps her grip had hurt him, but he had borne it manfully, though tears spilled from his eyes, and he was still holding her hand.

And so they sat, both caught, as night fell. The boy had not said a word all evening. Sachiko had brought him some soup earlier, but he had not touched it. She had also brought Tora some, but the boy’s grief had taken his appetite away.

This odd group of people! They were all looking after each other. Tora found this very moving. They had so little themselves, but what they had, they shared. Midori had long since been too sick to work regularly as a prostitute, but she had worked as long as she could, bringing the earnings to Sachiko who had used them for the family, which also apparently included this child, who might or might not be Midori’s.

Sometime toward the middle of the night, Tora saw that the boy had fallen asleep with his head on Midori’s shoulder. She seemed to breathe a little easier and her eyes were closed. Sachiko had gone up to her bed, and so had Ushimatsu. Only Kosuke still sat in his corner, snoring.

Tora tried to slip his hand from Midori’s, thinking of going home long enough to explain his absence, but her fingers tightened, and her eyes opened. She turned her head to look at him.

Her lips moved, and he bent closer.

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