Massacre at Shirakawa (Akitada Mysteries, #20) by I. J. Parker

Author:I. J. Parker [Parker, I. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ingrid J. Parker Inc.
Published: 2020-12-12T07:00:00+00:00

23

Akiko

T here was still much they had not learned about Kanemori. It was almost certain that the killer knew him well, or at least well enough to find out where he lived, and above all, well enough to get close to the man to kill him. But did Kanemori allow this person to masquerade in his armor and use his horse?

Although tired, Akitada could not sleep. New problems with the crimes had surfaced and seemed to multiply as he thought about them.

Could Kanemori have been an accessory after all?

But surely he was not a man to countenance the slaughter of women whatever reason he might have had to condone the killing of Yorimune and his male relatives.

And then there was the fact that Kanemori did not seem to have had any close friends. Or friends like this killer.

Still, a clever man may convince a trusting one of almost anything. Kanemori probably thought he was helping with a harmless entertainment.

Akitada sat up. But then he must have discovered the truth after the massacre. He must have known the very next day. He would surely have done something. But he had done nothing and yet he wasn’t killed until three days later.

It was impossible!

Akitada sighed and lay down again. Tomorrow he must make a start to find out what happened. He would pay another visit to the sword smith’s place. The killer was also a fine archer in his own right. Surely they met there.

On that thought, Akitada finally went to sleep.

*

U nfortunately the next morning he realized that the problem with asking more questions was that he could not reveal that Kanemori had been murdered. And clearly, the people who had known and worked with Kanemori would be puzzled why Akitada was still pursuing the matter when the authorities had closed the case.

Everywhere he turned he ran into insurmountable obstacles.

He turned his mind again to Yorimune. If he had indeed been the reason for the massacre—and even that no longer seemed certain—then there must be something or someone in his past who was the link between the massacre and Kanemori’s murder.

He could not ask anyone connected with Yorimune’s family. Indeed, just asking questions of people connected to the court was dangerous.

It was again impossible!

Then he remembered his sister Akiko.

Akiko, who frequented the halls and backrooms of the imperial palace.

Akiko, who knew how to keep a secret.

Akiko, who took enormous pleasure in meddling in his cases, having decided that she could do as well as her brother at catching killers.

He would pay Akiko a visit.

Akiko was Akitada’s less favorite stepsister. She was the older one. The two were his father’s children by the woman he took to wife after Akitada’s mother died. Akitada had never known his mother and was raised to believe the second Lady Sugawara to be his mother. His childhood and early adulthood had been made miserable by this woman and his father had done nothing to protect him. But he had found his younger sister to be a gentle and loving child while Akiko was always bossy, a trait she had inherited from her mother.

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