The Crane Pavilion by I. J. Parker

didn’t by chance visit the Daikoku-yu?”
    “A bathhouse? I can’t afford such luxuries,” the schoolmaster said with a snort.
    “Good. One last question: do you know of anyone who might have murdered Nakamura?”
    The schoolmaster shook his head.
    Saburo rose, bowed to both of them, and left.
    The rain still fell, casting the city into a gloomy grayness that matched Saburo’s mood. The Kajiwara story depressed him. The poor family needed help Saburo could not provide. He decided to speak to his master. Then it struck him that the murder case itself was just the sort of thing to lure his lordship from his self-imposed house arrest.
    Greatly cheered, he hurried home.

11

Fire in a Jar
    Akiko was not a woman to remain soft-hearted for long. Once they had reached Akitada’s study, she wasted no time speaking her mind.
    “You have worried us long enough,” she said. “It’s time you returned to your duties. Sitting for hours in a dark room, as Tora and Hanae assure me you have been doing, does no one any good, least of all your children and your people who depend on you. Over the last few years, you have taken on responsibilities beyond those of your own family. Soon there will be many more mouths to feed. Genba’s wife is expecting.”
    Akitada covered his face with his hands as if he could thus stop the onslaught of accusation and reproof. “I only just noticed,” he muttered. “They didn’t tell me.”
    “They’re afraid to. They all walk about on tiptoes so they won’t disturb you.”
    Akitada lowered his hands. “Not quite.” He decided to distract Akiko from the issue of his not having returned to work yet. “It seems Kobe, Nakatoshi, and Tora have plotted together to get me involved in the investigation of a strange death. Do you recall my former friend Tasuku?”
    Her eyes flashed with interest. “The handsome Tasuku? He’s the very splendid abbot of Daiun-ji now, did you know?”
    “Yes. Well, it seems a beautiful and mysterious woman has hanged herself in his mansion.”
    “No!” Eyes round with delighted shock, Akiko sank down on a cushion. “Tell me! I want to know all. A mysterious woman, you say? Just the sort of thing to stimulate the mind.”
    Akitada looked at her in dismay. He had only meant to stop the flood of recriminations. Instead he had given her exactly what would make her an intolerable nuisance. She would not rest now until she was part of the investigation, and that meant she would be here every day until the case was solved.
    “It’s probably nothing,” he said weakly. “The police have investigated and confirmed the death as suicide. But … “ He thought of the two sweets on her shelf.
    “So you suspect murder?” Akiko’s eyes glittered. “What’s the lady’s name?”
    “Her name is Ogata. It may be an assumed name.”
    “Ogata? Hmm. A good family, but not well known. Now where have I met someone by that name?” Akiko was off on the trail.
    Akitada sighed. “Well, perhaps it will come to you later,” he said, hoping it would encourage her to leave and continue her research from her home.
    But his sister was not so easily distracted. “Yes,” she said. “It can wait. Right now I want to know everything you know. Did you speak to Abbot Genshin? What does he say?”
    “I have not spoken to him,” Akitada said quickly. “We did not part on very friendly terms years ago, and I haven’t seen him since.”
    “Ah, yes. I recall you were always critical of him.” Akiko giggled. “You can be very judgmental in matters of romance, dear brother. You didn’t approve of the man because he was very good-looking and adored by many women.”
    Akitada frowned. “His offense was rather more serious than flirtations.”
    Her eyebrows shot up. “You don’t say. What exactly did he do?”
    “I’m not going to tell you.”
    She pouted. “Oh, very well, but you won’t get off so easily about this case. You think the evil abbot murdered the Ogata woman,