The Crane Pavilion by I. J. Parker Read Free Book Online Page A

since our lady died and her babe with her.”
    Saburo nodded. The sadness was creeping back, and he hurried off into town. Shokichi would drive the demons of darkness from his mind.
    Shokichi had given up prostitution and was earning some money by applying the make-up for entertainers and courtesans. Recently she had also begun to arrange their hair and select their costumes. She had always had a knack with this sort of thing, helping her friends get ready for their customers. Now she worked for a number of “aunties” who sent for her when they were rushed and needed to get a number of women ready for a party. Shokichi’s income was very small compared to what she could earn as a prostitute, but it was getting better and Saburo augmented it. She rented a room near the amusement quarter.
    Saburo was glad she had given up her trade. Quite apart from the fact that he did not want to share her with other men, Shokichi was thirty. She was younger than he by fifteen years but becoming too old for her former occupation. On the other hand, her changed circumstances and their changed relationship presented new problems. Lately he had noticed a certain possessiveness in her. He loved Shokichi, but he did not want to get married. For one thing, he could not very well bring another ex-prostitute into his master’s house, expecting him to support an additional family, and for another … well, he really was not the marrying type. The present situation was what he liked: knowing she was there for him whenever he needed a woman’s touch.
    When he turned down her street, he saw Shokichi come flying out of her door and taking off at a run.
    “Shokichi,” he shouted, hurrying to catch up.
    She turned, flushed with excitement. “Saburo, I’m so glad you’re early. You must come quickly.”
    First things first. Saburo took Shokichi in his arms and swung her around. “I’m happy to see you, too,” he murmured into her ear.
    She struggled free. “No time for that now. A terrible thing has happened. They’re going to arrest Sachi. They say she killed a customer.”
    Saburo searched his memory. Ah! Sachi was one of Shokichi’s friends. She was the blind girl. He asked, “Why did she kill him or her?”
    Shokichi stamped her foot impatiently. “She didn’t. And it was a man, a horrid man. His name’s Nakamura. They say she slit his throat with the razor. Come on. You must stop them.”
    The blind Sachi earned a living by shampooing and shaving customers. Blind people frequently took such jobs because they could perform them by touch. Sachi was supposed to be popular with her customers for her gentle hands, and possibly also because she was pretty.
    “Could it have been an accident?” he asked. “Maybe her hand slipped?”
    “I don’t think so. Let’s go.” Shokichi pulled at his arm.
    He resisted. “If the police have been called, surely it’s too late. What’s the rush? There’s nothing I can do.”
    “Oh, Saburo,” she wailed. “Why do you do this to me?”
    He gave up. They ran down the street together and cut over to the next thoroughfare, Shokichi in front, her skirts gathered with one hand so that he could see her shapely legs moving swiftly and seductively in front of him. “Is it far?” he cried, trying to keep up and hoping that this would at least earn him some lovemaking later on.
    “Next street. In the Daikoku-yu.”
    The Daikoku-yu was a bathhouse. The next street marked the boundary between the amusement quarter and the business area of the city. The owner of the Daikoku-yu, which was named for the god of wealth, had chosen an excellent location where he could draw his clientele from both ways of life and earn the largest possible income. In the nature of things, the shopkeepers and businessmen were not averse to sharing a bath with the pretty women from the quarter and so both benefitted, and the Daikoku-yu did an excellent business.
    A crowd had gathered outside the bathhouse, craning their necks.