When he bent a commanding gaze upon his siblings, the younger brother spoke. “I was supposed to become Jinsai-san’s assistant when he succeeded to my father’s post,” he said in a meek, childish voice. “Now I get nothing unless another place can be found for me.” His head bowed lower.

“You know that the bakufu is overloaded with retainers and the treasury is hard pressed to support them all,” Jinsai said to Sano. “Since we’ve no money to bribe anyone into giving my brother a position, he’ll be dependent on me.”

The sister hid her face behind her fan and murmured, “I had received a marriage proposal from a high official…”

“The match would have brought wealth and prestige to the family,” Jinsai said, “but this morning, the official canceled the marriage negotiations because he’d heard about our circumstances. It’s unlikely that anyone else suitable will want to marry a bride without a dowry. My sister shall have to choose between being a poor spinster and entering a nunnery.”

“You have my deepest sympathies,” Sano said, because the children did seem to have suffered rather than gained by Oyama’s death. “However, I must ask you all where you were the night before last and the morning after.”

“We were home,” Jinsai said; his brother and sister nodded.

Sano planned to have his detectives question the Oyama retainers and servants and search for witnesses who had seen anyone from the Oyama estate near the crime scene. But he expected that further inquiries would only clear the household of suspicion, and shift the focus of the investigation back to the Black Lotus Temple.

Jinsai said, “May I ask a question, Sōsakan-sama? We heard that two other bodies were found in the cottage. Who were they?”

“Nobody seems to know,” Sano said. “I was hoping that someone here could identify the dead woman and child.”

“There’s no one missing from this estate,” Jinsai said, “and if any women or children are missing from the families of my father’s friends or colleagues, I haven’t heard.”

“Can you think of anyone who wanted to harm your father?” Sano asked.

“My father made many enemies during his life,” Jinsai said. “There were criminals he arrested; gangsters who hated him for interfering with their illegal business; rivals for power in the police department; men whose wives he seduced.” The young man mentioned a few names, and Sano noted them. “But if I were in charge of the murder investigation, I would concentrate on that orphan girl who was found near the fire.”

“Why is that?” Sano asked, welcoming evidence to connect Haru with the arson and murders.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to discuss this with you alone.” Jinsai glanced at his brother and sister.

At Sano’s assent, the pair bowed, rose, and departed.

“I doubt if the criminals, gangsters, rivals, or angry husbands knew that my father was at the Black Lotus Temple that night, but the residents would have known. Especially the girls.” His face rigid with disapproval, Jinsai explained, “My father used his status as a sect patron to take advantage of the female orphans and novices. Whenever he visited the temple, he would pick out a girl and have sexual relations with her. He took me to the temple once, telling me that I would enjoy the same privileges if I joined the Black Lotus. And he introduced Haru to me as one of his favorites.”

“Did the sect leaders know about your father’s relations with Haru or the other girls?” If they did, Sano thought, they hadn’t mentioned it to him yesterday.

“Maybe; maybe not. You know how it is.”

Sano nodded. Some unscrupulous sects used female members to attract followers, and the nuns were often little more than prostitutes whose earnings supported the temples. But the bakufu discouraged this practice by shutting down offending sects. It was possible that Oyama had carried on his activities without the knowledge of the Black Lotus leaders, swearing the girls to secrecy by threatening to hurt them if they told anyone. Or maybe they’d willingly consented to illicit sex because they wanted money or favors from him.

“I could tell that Haru hated my father,” Jinsai continued. “She glared at him, spat on the ground at his feet, then ran away. He just laughed and said her temper made sex with her exciting. Maybe she killed him for violating her, then set the fire to cover up the murder.”

“That’s plausible,” Sano said, yet he couldn’t reconcile Jinsai’s portrayal of Haru as a wronged woman out for revenge with the terrified girl he’d met yesterday. Besides, her hatred of Oyama didn’t provide a motive for killing the other two victims. It was conceivable that she could have struck Oyama on the head and broken the child’s neck, but she seemed too small and delicate to strangle a grown woman. Sano also wondered why, if Haru was guilty of the crimes, she hadn’t fled the scene before the fire brigade arrived.

“Haru killed my father,” Jinsai said in a voice crackling with controlled rage. “Whatever he did to her doesn’t justify the misfortune she has brought upon this clan. I want her executed.”

“If I can prove that she did indeed kill your father, she will be,” Sano said.

As he exchanged farewell bows with Jinsai, he decided against going to the Black Lotus Temple to continue his inquiries. Instead he would go back to Edo Castle, because Reiko should be home by now. They would compare their results and determine whether Haru was an innocent bystander or the murderer and arsonist he sought.

7

Reiko waited with her entourage in the narrow lane outside the Black Lotus Temple for an hour, but the monk didn’t appear. An attendant brought her a bowl of noodles and some tea from a food stall, and she ate in her palanquin, watching the temple gate. Priests, nuns, and pilgrims passed in and out, but there was no sign of the young man who’d claimed to have important information and begged her to meet him. Temple bells tolled the hour of the sheep; the sun bathed earthen walls with the bronze glow of midafternoon. Reiko grew restless. If the monk didn’t show up soon, she would go home to Masahiro.

Yet Reiko remembered the urgency in the monk’s voice. Surely he’d risked harsh punishment by spying on Abbess Junketsu-in and Dr. Miwa. He might know who had set the fire and hurt Haru. Now Reiko opened the door of the palanquin and stepped out.

“Wait here,” she told her attendants.

She walked down the lane between the high walls, circling the Black Lotus Temple. The monk hadn’t specified exactly where they should meet. Perhaps he feared being seen with her. Reiko turned down the narrow alley at the rear of the temple. Gnarled pines rose above the wall, casting deep, cool shadows over the dusty path and the few pedestrians. The sound of chanting rose in air scented with resin, incense, and open sewers. Continuing along the wall, Reiko planned to sneak through the temple’s back gate and look for the monk.

A sudden movement rustled the pine boughs above her. As she looked up, a human figure dropped out of the tree and landed with a heavy thud in front of her. Reiko exclaimed in surprise. It was the monk, sprawled on hands and knees, pine needles showering his shaven scalp and protruding ears, his eyes wild with panic. He scrambled to his feet and seized Reiko’s arm. Pulling her down the lane, he said in a breathless voice, “Please come with me.”

He was only a little taller than Reiko, with a wiry build. His thin fingers dug into her flesh. “Where are you taking me?” she demanded, shocked by his impertinence.