Rashomon Gate (43 page)

He turned to the books next, and it was here that he found the diary. It spanned the past year and contained small memos Hirata had written to himself about things he planned to do that day. Akitada turned to the final entry, made the last time Akitada had seen Hirata, the day he had decided to go with Nishioka instead of speaking to his old friend.

Hirata had written, "I think A. is still angry with me over the matter of the examination. Poor Tamako. My conscience will give me no peace until I make one more effort to set things right. An announcement that a mistake has been made and that the poor dead boy should have won would at least please his family."

Akitada laid the journal down with a shaking hand. It confirmed his dreadful suspicion. He wondered if Hirata had wanted to consult him before taking a dangerous step. What if he had, in fact, started to "set things right"?

Tucking the journal into his sleeve, Akitada went to dismiss the students early. Then he walked to the ruins of the Hirata house.

There was nothing left but charred timbers. A single fireman was raking apart the debris of the main house. Akitada picked his way to where Hirata's study had been.

"What are you looking for, sir?" the fireman asked, walking up.

"I was trying to see where the fire started."

The man pointed. "Right there. Started outside. On the veranda."

Akitada looked at a pile of ashes, then at the man. He had an intelligent face and bright, curious eyes. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"Oh, I've seen plenty of fires. You get to where you can tell. It was hottest on the veranda. See, there's nothing left of it. The room burned up later, and the supports are still there. Fire burns up, not down."

"But how could a fire start outside?"

"Oh, any number of ways. Careless maid drops a brazier full of coals or spills a lantern full of oil and is too scared to tell. This one must've been oil. You can still smell it a bit. I expect it dripped down between the boards."

Akitada could not smell anything but the acrid odor of burnt wood that hung over the whole compound, but he knew the man was right. He also knew that the oil had not been spilled accidentally.

He asked the fireman's name and walked to police headquarters.

Kobe was in and still in a friendly mood. "Come in, come in!" he cried. "I have good news." He took a closer look at Akitada's drawn face and said, "You look terrible. Have you been ill?"

"No. Are you aware that Professor Hirata died in a fire in his home five nights ago?"

Kobe's face lengthened. "Yes. I saw the report. Forgive me for not expressing my sympathy. You were close, weren't you?"

"Yes. I came to tell you that the fire was arson. The professor was murdered by the same man who killed Oe."

Kobe sighed. "Now, now," he said soothingly. "I can see that you've been under a lot of strain and are upset about this. But I read the report, you know, and there's nothing in it about arson. And Oe's killer wasn't anywhere near Hirata's place that night."

Akitada raised a distracted hand to his face and sat down. So much had been happening that he found it hard to concentrate. He felt the outline of Hirata's diary through his gown. "It is a long and complicated story," he said, pulling the diary from his sleeve and sliding it across the desk towards Kobe. "Turn to the last page and read the entry."

Kobe read and then leafed through the journal. "This is Hirata's?"

"Yes. I found it when I was clearing out his papers at the university. He and I had been investigating a report of cheating during the spring examinations, but I had thought that he had decided to leave the matter alone."

"Does this have anything to do with Ishikawa and Oe?" Kobe asked.

"Yes, indirectly. A very mediocre student was given first place, because Ishikawa, who is quite brilliant, wrote his essay, and Oe, one of the proctors, passed it to the candidate during the examination. Oe was subsequently paid, but Ishikawa got very little for his troubles. He sought to rectify the situation by blackmailing Oe. By accident the note was passed to Hirata instead."

Akitada had Kobe's full attention now. "Go on!"

"Hirata asked my help in discovering the blackmailer and his target. We were on the point of confronting Ishikawa and Oe when the murder happened. I have tried to reconstruct the sequence of events. No doubt Ishikawa continued to pressure Oe who, in turn, asked the candidate for more money to pay Ishikawa."

Kobe frowned. "He asked whom for more money?"

When Akitada told him, he protested, "His name has not come up once in this investigation."

"Because everybody looked for the suspect among Oe's colleagues. The killer had a better reason to wish Oe dead than anyone, and his personality fits the circumstances of the crime perfectly. Nishioka, who makes a study of such things, would agree. As for opportunity, he was at the contest and, if I am not mistaken, Oe recited a poem which contained a direct threat to this man. I think he left the park and followed Oe to the Temple of Confucius, perhaps to reason with him. When he saw Ishikawa come out alone, he went in and discovered a helpless Oe tied to the statue of the sage. The temptation to kill him was too great to resist."

Kobe pondered this. After a while he shook his head. "It's pure assumption. I have to have proof to make an arrest. By the way, that blackmail note Hirata got, where is it?"

"Probably lost in the fire."

Kobe threw up his hands.

"Ishikawa can confirm the examination fraud— if he is still alive. That reminds me." Akitada passed a hand over his face to wipe away perspiration. It came away streaked with soot from the Hirata ruin. "I asked at the Ninna temple. Ishikawa is not there."

"That was my good news! He's alive and we've got him. He was brought in yesterday from the Onjo temple southeast of the city. So far he hasn't said much, but believe me, we've got our killer. Do you want to talk to him?"

Akitada thought of the bamboo whips which were an inevitable concomitant of police interrogations and shuddered. But he nodded.

Kobe got up. "Come on then!"

They walked across the courtyard to the jail building. Kobe gave orders and invited Akitada to sit on the wooden floor of the staff room. A clerk took his place behind a desk, rubbed some ink and shuffled papers. Then the prisoner was brought in.

Two guards dragged his unwilling body between them. Akitada did not recognize the handsome and haughty graduate student in the miserable creature who was pushed down to his knees before them. Ishikawa wore a stained and torn monk's robe. His shaven head bore several bloody gashes, as did his bare feet and chained wrists, and his face was swollen and bruised almost past recognition. He cowered before them, shivering.

"Fought like a tiger," muttered Kobe in explanation to Akitada. Then he shouted to the prisoner, "Sit up!"

When Ishikawa did not react immediately, one of the guards kicked him in the ribs and shouted, "Pay attention, dogmeat!"

The student cried out and struggled upright. His right eye was swollen shut, and his nose had bled and stained the front of his robe. But his good eye recognized Akitada. He straightened his shoulders a little and bowed.

"Well, are you ready to talk now?" demanded Kobe in a threatening voice.

"Sir," muttered the prisoner, his good eye fixed on Akitada, "please tell them who I am and that I have done nothing."

"What are you doing in monk's garb?" asked Akitada.

"I was hiding because I was afraid."

"Hah!" cried Kobe. "Then you admit you killed the professor!"

"No! I did not kill him." Ishikawa's voice rose. "I swear I did not do it. I only tied him up. Why would I kill him? He paid me to read his papers, and he would have recommended me for a good position once I passed the examination." He looked at Akitada again. "Please tell him, sir!"

Akitada leaned forward, looking at the student intently. "Do you admit that you tied Oe to the statue of the sage?"

"Oh, yes." Ishikawa's lips twitched at the memory. "He was so drunk he kept falling down, so I arranged for some appropriate support."

"That was surprisingly kind of you," said Akitada, raising his brows, "when you had just had a violent altercation with him. You remember meeting him behind the pavilion at the contest? What was that all about?"

Ishikawa opened his eyes wide. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Come, come! I saw you with my own eyes. You assaulted Oe."

A sullen expression settled on Ishikawa's bloodied face. "It was nothing! He was drunk and babbled nonsense."

Kobe suddenly leaned forward and shouted, "You lie, you piece of dung! He threatened you and you struck him."

Immediately the guard belabored Ishikawa's head and shoulders with the butt of his whip. Ishikawa fell forward screaming.

Akitada winced, and Kobe gestured to the constable to stop. The man withdrew a little, but Ishikawa remained prone.

Giving Kobe a hard look, Akitada said to the student, "Sit up and answer the questions truthfully and you won't be beaten. This is a murder case. An intelligent fellow like you should be able to grasp that cooperation is a good idea."

Ishikawa struggled up. "All right," he muttered. "Can I have something to drink?"

When Akitada turned to ask for water, Ishikawa shot him a hopeful glance. He drank greedily from the wooden ladle a guard had dipped into a bucket of water. Wiping his mouth, he said, "The bastard had cheated me and I told him so. It was like this: Oe got this idea to make some money on the side by letting this wealthy fellow place first in the examination. Knowing that I didn't even have enough for a hot meal and was cleaning the kitchens and dormitories for a few coppers a day, he asked me to withdraw my name as candidate but write the paper on the examination topic and pass it to him. He offered me a large sum of gold and promised me first place and a fine position the following year. Well, my placing first was a foregone conclusion and I didn't want to hang around another year, so I refused. That's when the bastard started threatening. He'd see to it that I didn't get first place, that there was another candidate equally qualified, and that he would not recommend me even if I did place first. Well, I cooperated, but he never paid me the promised gold. Sure, he let me read his students' papers for a few coppers and kept telling me he'd not been paid himself. But I found out differently. He was building a villa for his retirement on the money that should've been mine and he was selling his position." He spat, his one good eye flashing with anger.

Akitada wished he could find some satisfaction in having his theories confirmed, but Hirata's death and the sordidness of the whole affair overwhelmed him. Ishikawa, on the other hand, seemed to have regained his old cockiness.

He met Akitada's eyes and grinned lopsidedly. "Since you had to put your nose into it, Professor, at the poetry match I was reminding Oe of what I was owed, that's all."

Anger caused Akitada to speak coldly. "Hardly all. You made a pretty good thing out of betting on Oe's candidate and won five hundred pieces of silver, I hear. How did Oe feel about that?"

Kobe grunted with surprise, and Ishikawa stared in shock at Akitada. "Whose side are you on?" he asked, glowering.

"Explain your involvement in the illegal gambling operation!" growled Kobe. "Or I'll have you beaten again."

Ishikawa cursed both of them. He shouted, "You're all alike! You'll pin the murder on a poor student who can't help himself and protect the real killer because he's one of the 'good' people! Yes, I had a fight with Oe. He cheated me! Yes, I pushed the fat bastard and, yes, I tied his sorry figure to the mealy-mouthed saint of all you hypocritical bastards! But I did not kill him! A lot of people hated Oe, but you pick on me because I don't have anybody to speak up for me. Damn Oe! Damn all of you for that matter!" He broke off with a sob and collapsed.

The guard raised his whip and looked at Kobe for orders.

"No!" Turning to Ishikawa, Akitada said, "I believe you, but I shall see to it that you are expelled from the university. Your character is despicable."

The student spat. "I shall not forget your kindness, sir," he said with a sneer.

Kobe sighed. "We're not getting anywhere." He nodded to the guards. "Take him away and clean him up. Then lock him in one of the cells and watch him!"

When they walked back, Akitada asked Kobe, "Surely you don't still believe him guilty?"

"It does not matter what I believe," said Kobe. "There is no proof for your theory, and plenty of proof of Ishikawa's guilt."

Akitada felt very tired. He muttered, "You cannot beat a confession out of an innocent man. He might confess simply because he cannot bear the pain any longer and would rather die. I would not want that on my conscience."

"Curse you and your damned conscience!" exploded Kobe. "You tell me how to get new evidence then! You don't want it to be Ishikawa, but you can't give me any proof to make another arrest! I wish you would stay out of my business from now on!"

Some of the constables in the courtyard stopped to stare at them.

Akitada thought of the dead Hirata. "Forgive me, Captain, if I have been a nuisance," he said quite humbly. "There is only one thing I must ask for. Hirata's death weighs on my mind. I would be deeply grateful if you could talk to the firemen who put out the blaze that killed him. One of them told me it started on the veranda. If Hirata was asleep in his study, he could not have started the fire himself and he never troubles his servant after dark. I would not ask this, if I did not feel it was important to the case."

Kobe was so startled by Akitada's uncharacteristic humility that he looked hard at him for a moment. Then he relented. "Very well, I'll look into it.

It was already dusk when Akitada walked away from police headquarters, still blaming himself for Hirata's death. He had distanced himself from his old friend, from the blackmail, and from Oe's death at least partially out of pique and injured pride. He had left all the questioning to Kobe and Nishioka, while he had plunged into the investigation of the Yoakira case, telling himself that the boy was in danger. Throughout he had behaved like a self-righteous fool!