The Crane Pavillion

14

Tora ignored his master’s instructions to leave the bathhouse murder to the police. As soon as the gate closed behind Akitada, he said to Saburo, “Let’s go talk to some of the people in the bathhouse. Seems to me, you should have done that right away.”

Saburo glared at him. “How was I to know there was a killer loose? You may recall at the time I only knew a blind shampoo girl had killed a customer.”

“Well, chances are the real killer was still hanging about to see what was happening. Some killers do that, you know.”

Saburo shook his head. “That’s stupid. Seems to me he would have gotten out of there fast.”

“Not necessarily. Think how much he would have enjoyed watching the police take the blind girl away. Besides we need to know who was there that day. You have the list of those borrowers. Let’s see that.”

Together they bent over the names provided by Nakamura’s son. Tora had some problems making out the writing, but Saburo helped. Nakamura Junior had put some helpful comments beside each name, such as “sick child,” “father made threats,” “lost his job and cannot pay,” “claims family is starving,” and “well-known criminal.” The poor school master’s name was there. His comment was the one about the starving family. Apart from the criminal, all of the debtors seemed to be suffering such despair that it was at least possible they would try to end it by killing their tormentor.

“That Nakamura was a bastard,” said Tora when he had grasped the gist of it. “Let me get some money, and then we’ll go see if any of these people went for a bath that morning.”

“I’d rather it were Saito.”

“We can ask about him, too.”

They found the bathhouse busier than ever. Jinzaemon bustled about, greeting arrivals, chatting with regulars, collecting money.

His face fell when he saw Saburo. “You again? I hope this time you’ve come for a bath.”

“We have our own facilities,” Saburo told him. “And you’re not hurting for business. This must be your lucky day.”

“It won’t last. Most of them are here to look and gossip. They want to see the room where it happened. I’ve started charging them if they don’t stay for a bath or shampoo.”

Tora grimaced. “That’s disgusting!”

Jinzaemon gave him a black stare. “And who’re you? What business is it of yours? I’ll have you know I’ve lost the use of that room. People refuse to go in there for a massage or a moxa treatment. In fact, they’re nervous about getting themselves shaved.”

Saburo tried to calm the man. “That won’t last. People forget quickly. You’ll be doing a better business than ever in no time. I bet you picked up some new customers.”

Jinzaemon admitted it.

“Well, we’re interested in your old customers,” said Saburo. “Have a look at this list. Anybody there who’s a regular customer and was here that morning?”

Jinzaemon looked at the list and frowned. “Why?”

“Possible witnesses.”

“Since when do the police send civilians to find witnesses?” countered Jinzaemon, handing back the list. “I’d be out of business fast if I turned in my customers to be questioned by the police. I run a reputable business. That means I protect my customers’ privacy.”

Tora fished out a couple of silver coins and tossed them casually from hand to hand. Jinzaemon’s eyes flickered his way.

“Look,” Saburo tried again, “they won’t know you told us. We’ll go and ask them if they saw anything.”

Tora added a third coin and juggled all three. “Actually,” he said, “you should point out those that are your customers, even if you don’t recall seeing them that morning.”

Jinzaemon’s eyes had become fixated on the flying silver pieces. “You’re pretty good,” he said grudgingly.

Tora flashed him a smile. “Thanks! If you can distract me and I drop one, it’s yours.”

“Give me that list again,” said Jinzaemon.

Saburo passed it over. The coins spun smoothly.

“Well, a few names here I recognize.”

“Oops!” Tora dropped a coin.

“Let me see. Yes, I seem to remember Matsuoka.”

The remaining two coins flew back and forth.

“And Harada is a regular. He may have been here.” Jinzaemon paused. “And the same for Ozaki and Kato.” Tora dropped another coin. Jinzaemon eyed the remaining coin hungrily as Tora tossed it from hand to hand. “That’s it,” he said. “I don’t know the other people. Where’d you get those names anyway?”

Tora grinned. “One more question, my friend. Are Nakamura’s family and his brother Saito also regulars here?”

“Saito comes sometimes. Haven’t seen him recently. I don’t know Nakamura’s family.”

“Thanks!” Tora tossed Jinzaemon the last coin. “We’ll take a look around.” He rubbed his chin. “Then maybe we’ll have a bath.”

They walked away as Jinzaemon bent to scoop up the other two coins.

“You’re very extravagant with your money,” Saburo said. “That bastard didn’t deserve it.”

“You have to pay for information,” Tora told him. “And the nastier the informer, the higher the price.”

Saburo, who was very shy about showing his scarred body, said, “I don’t want a bath.”

Tora was unfeeling. “You’ll have to bear it if we can get some information that way.” He burst into laughter. “Bare it! You’ll have to bare it. Get it?”

Saburo gave him a sour look. “Ha ha.”

They peered into a number of rooms where men had massages or shaves. The workers were all men, two of them blind, all of them with the shaven heads of their profession. Saburo wondered whether the customers were afraid of women barbers since the murder.

In the steamy room where people soaked in two deep tubs, they also found customers, the men in one tub, the women in another. A screen separated the two. Either the bathhouse was always well attended at this hour, or the notoriety of the crime had brought more business to Jinzaemon.

Tora appeared to be satisfied with his inspection. He returned to the front, paid the fee for both of them, and they went to the dressing room where they left their clothes. In the steamy room of the tubs, the bathers paid them scant attention as they washed themselves and then climbed into the tub where three men were already soaking.

There were some stares at Saburo’s lean, scarred body, but they seemed more impressed with the muscular Tora, who also sported mementos from his military career and other violent encounters. The three bathers, most likely tradesmen, offered timid nods. A brief silence fell.

Tora broke it first. “There was a nasty murder here, we hear,” he offered.

They nodded eagerly. The fat man said, “A shampoo girl cut a fellow’s throat. Can you imagine?” He rolled his eyes.

“Intentionally?” Saburo asked.

They looked at each other. The bearded man snorted. “Maybe. She’s a hot number for all that she’s blind. The men like to make passes at her. It’s a kind of game.” He chuckled. “She gets pretty sharp, I can tell you.”

Saburo eyed him with a frown. “That doesn’t mean she’d kill someone.”

The man grinned and cocked his head. “Who knows what women may do? It’s easy enough to say the knife slipped.”

The other two nodded wisely.

“Were you here when it happened?” Saburo asked suspiciously.

Two shook their heads, but the third, an elderly man, nodded. “I was. I could hear the screaming all the way in here,” he said. “Everybody jumped out and ran to see what happened, They were stark naked and dripping water all over. There was a crowd in front of the room where it happened. I couldn’t get close, but they say there was blood everywhere. The girl was covered in it.”

“I say that proves she did it, right?” The fat man said..

The old man disagreed, “She says she found him dead but didn’t know what happened. She tried to help him. That’s how she got his blood on her clothes. It could have happened that way. She’s blind after all.”

The other two laughed at this suggestion.

Saburo asked the elderly man, “Did you see anyone you recognized in the crowd?”

“Several of the regulars. Mind you, I don’t know their names. I thought I saw one of the courtesans, though.” He chuckled and waggled his gray eyebrows at his companions. “I was wishing she’d jumped out of the bath wearing nothing but water. No such luck! She was in full costume, scarlet silk and dark green brocade. Probably drumming up custom for her house. The working girls come here a lot.”

“She sounds like a choja,” said one of the others. “Don’t they normally send someone else to do that?”

“Who knows? She was something, though. I was trying to get quite close.”

Saburo wanted to get the subject back to the murder. “A friend of mine was here that day. His name’s Matsuoka. Did you see him?”

The elderly man shook his head. “Don’t know him.”

“What about Harada or Kato?”

“Nope. Wait a minute, I did see a couple of regulars earlier. Ozaki was just leaving. He’s a tailor and always comes early to get back to his shop for opening time. And the man who owns the paper shop was here. I don’t know his name.” He frowned. “That reminds me. I’ve got to get to work.”

Not surprisingly, the other two also discovered they had places to be and scrambled out. The steaming vat was temporarily left to Tora and Saburo.

“So,” said Saburo with satisfaction, “we have two names. Both Matsuoka and Ozaki are on the list of debtors, and they were here that morning.”

Tora climbed out. “It’s something,” he said, toweling himself dry. “But it could still be anybody. Or at least anybody who was here. It needn’t be a regular customer either, just someone who owed Nakamura money.”

Saburo joined him. “In that case, we’re nowhere. So much for taking a bath we don’t need,” he said angrily. “I thought you’d be better at this. You used to want to be like the master. And now that you have a murder to work on, you lose interest.”

Tora headed for the dressing area. “You’re too impatient, Saburo. In a case like this, little bits of information come your way gradually. In the end you just put them all together. If you rush, you end up making bad mistakes.” He stepped into his trousers and added, “Like the police did when they arrested Sachi.”

“It’s not like you to advise patience,” Saburo grumbled. He hurried into his clothes.

“Even I can see that we cannot check out all these people.” Tora waved the list at Saburo. “That’s for the police to do. We must find another way.”

They were walking out of the bathhouse when Jinzaemon hurried up, smiling broadly.

Saburo muttered, “Don’t give that bastard any more money. We don’t have any to spare.”

Jinzaemon bowed. “A pleasant bath, gentlemen? I pride myself on having the roomiest tubs and the hottest water. And it’s always clean. Kamo river water from above the shrine, where it comes from the sacred mountains.”

“It was all right,” Tora remarked. “We had a chat with some of your customers.”

Jinzaemon looked anxious. “You didn’t trouble them, I hope?”

“Oh, no. They wanted to talk about the murder. That’s what brought them here. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you arranged the crime yourself to drum up some business.”

“Don’t make jokes like that!” cried Jinzaemon.

“Well, the police will be around. If I were you, I’d watch my step. From what I’ve seen and learned here, you act as a pimp, selling the favors of the neighborhood whores and forcing decent women to service your customers on the premises.”

The bathhouse owner paled. “That’s a lie!”

“No, it isn’t. Sachi’s talking to the police! And furthermore, you allow swindlers like Nakamura to come here to sell their services to poor people. Did he pay you for pointing out clients? Maybe you quarreled over the arrangement? Yes, you’d better watch it, Jinzaemon. The truth will out!” With that, he and Saburo left to a volley of curses from the owner.

Outside, the icy wind made short work of the pleasant warmth left by the bath.