Death of a Doll Maker (9 page)

Maeda grinned. “They say most devils live near a temple.”

Tora sobered. “Or marry shrine priests,” he said.

8

FATHER AND SON

T
hey located the modest house belonging to the Zhou family and asked for Suyin. Her family received Maeda with the greatest respect in a large room which served as living quarters for many Zhous of all ages. Parents, wives of sons, unmarried daughters, and grandchildren all seemed to live together amicably.

This family togetherness was customary, and it struck Tora he had rarely known anyone as lonely as the dead woman, who seemed to have had no one except Suyin to confide in. In his own country women were supposed to be cherished by their families, protected by fathers, husbands, and brothers, and surrounded by other women in the household. He knew his wife Hanae spent many happy hours with his master’s wife and Genba’s new bride.

As it turned out, Suyin did not have a husband or children, but she, too, was part of this large family. She was plain to the point of ugliness and past middle age, which explained why she was still unmarried and tended many small children belonging to her brothers’ families. The Zhous were not well-to-do. They were able to feed their large family, but had little beyond that. Maeda and Tora talked to Suyin in the same room where most of the Zhous spent the day. She was surrounded by other women, busy with assorted chores, and a startling number of small children ran about, many of them bare-bottomed.

They all listened as Maeda told Suyin about her friend’s death. She wept. Several toddlers clinging to her skirts joined in, and it was a while before everyone calmed enough for Tora and Maeda to ask their questions. And finally new facts emerged.

“She was happy for once,” sobbed Suyin, “really happy. She had earned some gold; she showed me five coins and said she was going to spend it on herself. She’d never been able to do such a thing before. She was going to buy some green silk at Mr. Feng’s store and sew herself a fine new dress. And there were some embroidered shoes she wanted, and then she said she and I were going to take a trip together. We were going to visit a mountain shrine and bathe in the hot water sacred to the mountain god. She believed it would cure the pains in her hands and legs.” Suyin looked at them tearfully, then wailed, “Oh, poor Mei. She never had any luck.”

The listening family murmured, nodding their heads. A child started to bawl again.

“She had gold?” Tora asked, flabbergasted. “Where did she get it?”

Suyin sniveled and turned away to blow her nose. “She sold some of her dolls for quite a lot of money and decided not to tell her husband. He never gave her anything, even though it was Mei who did most of the work. He just fired the clay dolls and delivered them when they were ready. It was Mei who painted them and made their clothes.”

“Who gave her the money?” Maeda asked.

“She didn’t say. She just smiled and said she could sell as many dolls as she wanted.”

Tora asked, “When did she get this gold? I suppose her customer paid after she delivered the dolls?”

Suyin looked vague. “I’m not sure. She showed me the coins when she came to work with me at the Hayashi house. That was day before she was killed. She smiled and sang all day as she worked. After work, she bought some sweets for both of us.”

“Then she must have gotten it at least two days before the murder.” Maeda said. Suyin nodded and burst into tears again.

“Why didn’t she want her husband to know about this money?” Tora asked.

“He wasn’t nice to her because she was Chinese. He told her it was her fault they were poor. I told her she should ask for some of the money for herself because she did most of the work. She did, but he gave her a black eye. After that she was afraid of him.”

Tora and Maeda exchanged a glance. Tora asked Suyin, “What about his children? Did she mention them?”

Suyin shook her head. “I asked her after he struck her that time, but she just shook her head. Something wasn’t right with them. I know he had a grown daughter and son, but both married and moved away.” She glanced at her eagerly listening family and drew a small child with a snotty nose and a thumb in his mouth closer to her. “Poor Mei,” she said again, shaking her head.

The sun was setting when they left the Zhous. Tora squinted at it. “Well, now you’ve got your motive. Mitsui must have done it. A man who beats his wife because she asks for a bit of money for a new dress is going to do a lot more when he discovers she’s kept five pieces of gold from him.”

“Maybe. Time to go to Hakozaki. Let’s see what the son has to say.”

They asked for Hiroshi at Hakozaki harbor. This was not as large or as busy as Hakata’s, but here, too, some large ships anchored, and the shore was covered with bundles and boxes of goods which had either just arrived or were to be loaded. Tora wished he had time to look around, but Maeda headed straight for the office of the harbor master. There he got directions to a warehouse much like the ones in Naniwa. Tora suppressed a shudder climbing the steep stairs. The memory of that terrible night of fire and of the burning body falling down still haunted him.

“Hiroshi?” The warehouse manager shook his head. “I got rid of the lazy bastard. He’s always either drunk or half asleep.”

“When was that?” Maeda asked.

The man scratched his head. Let’s see. Yesterday? No, the day before. He didn’t seem to care. Sorry I can’t help. But when he wasn’t working, he used to head straight for the wine shops.”

They walked the streets near the harbor, peering into various evil-smelling dives to ask for Hiroshi. They found him in the fifth, enjoying life in the company of friends.

Hiroshi was a big young man with a deep tan from working in the open, but his face was puffy from too much drink. Like the others, he wore only a dirty loincloth and a ragged shirt, but he had wine before him and was shooting dice with three or four other porters.

When Maeda and Tora approached, he looked up, and for a moment they thought he would run, but he relaxed.

“You’re Mitsui Hiroshi?” asked Maeda.

“Who wants to know?”

One of his friends supplied the answer. “Hoho! The police want you, Hiro! What have you done?” They all laughed.

Hiroshi flushed. “Shut up!”

Maeda said, “Would you mind stepping outside to talk to us?”

“Yes, I mind. I’m finally winning.”

Maeda said, “We’ll wait.”

Hiroshi cursed but decided to leave the game. Outside, he asked, “What the hell do you want? If it’s about my father, I know you bastards arrested him.”

Maeda raised his brows at this. “I would have thought you’d be more upset that he’s in jail for having killed your stepmother.”

“A lot of good that would do. You got the wrong man but what else is new?”

“Do you have proof he’s innocent?”

Hiroshi heaved a sigh. “The one hundred questions of a fool! You’ve got the wrong man because the police are idiots, that’s how.” He looked from Maeda to Tora. “Who’s he?”

Tora said, “I work for the governor. Your father claims he found your stepmother already dead. He says he was here in Hakozaki that day, making a delivery, and got home late. Is this true?”

“Sure. He was here. We didn’t talk much. He delivered his goods and left.”

“So then he would have gotten home when?”

“How should I know? I was working all day.”

Maeda frowned. “When did
you
last see your stepmother?”

“Weeks ago. It’s a lousy job. I don’t get much time off.”

“Did she mention having money of her own?”

“Are you kidding? How would she get money?”

“Maybe from your sister?”

Hiroshi made a face. “You must be joking. Atsuko is a stuck-up bitch who won’t have anything to do with her poor relations. Especially when they ask for money. She’s too good for the likes of us.” He suddenly looked angry. “Life’s easy for women. They just spread their legs for some old rich guy.”

It was crude, but having met the shrine priest’s wife, Tora could understand the brother’s bitterness. Still, why had Hiroshi not done better for himself? He said, “You’re married?”

“Am I? To a lazy wife with six brats. All of them eating like hungry wolves. How’s a man to feed a family like that on fifty coppers a week?”

Tora did not point out that drinking and gambling were bound to reduce his wages even more, but Maeda was sarcastic. “You have my sympathy. Especially since you’re out of work again. Your master says he fired you for drinking, and we found you gambling just now.”

Hiroshi flared up, “The son of bitch! I told him what I thought of him and his job. He didn’t like it. And I’m trying to earn a few coppers playing dice.”

“Right.” Tora grinned. “Did you ask your father or sister for help?”

“No. My sister set the dogs on me last time.”

“Yours isn’t a very close family, is it? Let’s go back to your stepmother’s murder. What did you do the day of the murder?”

“What, me? I worked.”

“And after work?”

“I met some friends and went home. What business is it of yours? Are you accusing me of killing my own stepmother?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything. Did you get along well with your stepmother?”

“Sure. She’s my father’s wife.”

“Be a little more specific.”

“Look, I told you I haven’t been home in weeks. I’ve got nothing to tell you.”

Maeda nodded. “Very well. Can you think of anyone who might have had a reason to kill her?”

Hiroshi narrowed his eyes. “What sort of reason?”

“I was hoping you’d tell us.”

Hiroshi lost his temper. “Fuck you, Policeman! You’re too lazy to find her murderer so you’re trying to pin it on me or my father. You’re not going to get me to do your dirty work. If I knew, I’d have told you from the start. You’d better start doing your job.”

Tora cleared his throat. “Your stepmother was Chinese. Did your parents have any problems with their neighbors?”

“Not that I know of, but my sister doesn’t want people to know. Me, I couldn’t care less. I’ve got friends among the Chinese.”

“Who do
you
think killed your stepmother?”

Hiroshi shook his head. “How the hell should I know? I wasn’t there.”

Maeda said through clenched teeth, “If you think of anything else, get in touch,” and turned away.

Hiroshi snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.” He glared at Tora. “My stepmother’s dead, her killer’s loose, and the police have nothing better to do than harass the family. I’m glad I’m not a policeman.”

“So am I,” Maeda called over his shoulder.

Hiroshi spat and went to rejoin the gamblers, and Tora caught up with Maeda.

The sergeant muttered, “He’s worse than his sister. They were well rid of them.”

“He wasn’t exactly helping his father, was he? I bet the old guy disapproved of the son’s life. Maybe Mitsui wasn’t a good husband, but he earned his money with hard work.”

“Whatever the case may be, the father could have gotten home earlier than he said.”

“What about the witness who saw the old man after dark?”

“Unreliable. He was drunk.”

“There’s too much drinking going on. The son does a lot of drinking himself. He seems to be a regular in the “Auspicious Cloud.”

Maeda just grunted. He was in a sour mood.

“Maybe we should go back and talk to Mitsui’s neighbors again. Someone must have seen something that day.”

“The crime probably happened after dark. Most people were in bed and asleep.”

“Maybe not all. What about the woman Mrs. Kubota called a slut?”

Maeda started laughing. “Yoko? I thought you’d forgotten about her. Very well. We’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

They were passing an elaborate two-storied gatehouse, and Tora stopped. “Look at the size of the gate. What’s behind it?”

“The Hachiman shrine. Sacred to Emperor Ojin, Empress Jingu, and Princess Tamayori. You want to go in?”

“Well, I could ask the god to help us.”

Maeda stopped and grinned. “Why not? Nothing else comes to mind.”

9

AKITADA GOES SIGHTSEEING

A
kitada spent every free moment, mostly after hours in his private study, going through the document boxes pertaining to shipping and trade in Hakata harbor. He paid special attention to trade with China and Koryo.

The government controlled and restricted all contact with foreigners by law. The fear of invasions had caused the court to deny foreign ships the right to land their people and goods on Japanese soil. Visitors were supposed to stay at the
Korokan,
the government’s lodge for foreigners. But noble families who owned coastal land allowed the foreign merchants to dock there and engage in trade. The court permitted this, because these families acted as intermediaries who funneled costly goods directly to the courtiers in the capital. Thus, an abundance of luxury goods entered the country from China in spite of the laws.

The
Korokan
was part of Chikuzen province, and therefore under Akitada’s authority. The noble families dealing with Chinese merchants, and perhaps with the Chinese government, were not. They traded under the protection of powerful men at court.

That left the Hakata merchants, both Japanese and Chinese. The presence of the Chinese settlement encouraged Japanese merchants from other parts of Japan to deal directly with the Chinese. And this trade was very rich indeed. As he read through his predecessor’s documents, Akitada found Chinese goods unloaded in Hakata harbor included perfumes, make-up, their ingredients, such as aloe, musk, clove, sandalwood, oils, and salves. Medicinal imports involved herbs and animal parts as well as betel nuts. Exotic objects, such as tiger and leopard skins and glass utensils, apparently were also in demand. In addition, of course, large amounts of silks and brocades made in China were brought into the country.

Akitada wondered how all these goods were being paid for, but the documents did not concern themselves with this. They noted only the harbor fees in aggregate as collected each month. Given the number of ships listed, these seemed very modest to him, and he searched for individual assessments. Certain ships seemed to have paid considerably less than others. In each case, a notation read “special cargo.” Akitada glanced up at the lighter rectangles on his walls and decided the special cargo might well have been art objects collected by Governor Tachibana.