Haru shook her head. “I didn’t-”

’ Reiko silenced her with a warning gaze. “If you want my help, you have to tell me the truth. Did you know Oyama?”

Drawing a deep, tremulous breath, Haru lowered her eyes and nodded. “I met him in the summer,” she said. “He would talk to me when I was doing my chores. All the while, his eyes would be looking over me. He made me nervous, and I wished he would leave me alone. But he was an important patron, and I had to be polite to him. So when he asked me to come to the cottage one night, I obeyed.”

Uneasiness stole through Reiko as she wondered if the incident Haru was describing had happened months ago, or right before the fire.

“When I got there,” Haru continued,”he was waiting in the room. The lanterns were lit. There was a futon on the floor. He told me to sit, and he offered me some sake from a jar on the table. I said, ‘No, thank you; I’m not allowed to drink.’ So he drank the sake himself. Then he started undressing. I looked away and said, ‘I think I should go back to the dormitory.’ He said, ‘Not yet.’

“Then he started touching my body. I begged him to stop, but he tore off my clothes and threw himself on top of me. I struggled, but he was too strong. Then he-he-”

Haru entwined her legs and crossed her arms over her bosom, as if trying to defend herself against the remembered attack. Reiko winced as she vicariously experienced Haru’s pain and terror. She said, “Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?”

“I couldn’t.” Sobs heaved Haru’s chest. “I was afraid you would think I killed Commander Oyama.”

Reiko pondered the evidence against Haru. The girl had been in the cottage and raped by Oyama at least once. That gave her reason to hate him. What if he’d raped her again on the night before the fire? That would explain Haru’s bruises. Maybe, while struggling with the girl, Oyama had fallen and hit his head. Then Haru had panicked, set fire to the cottage, and later blocked out the memory.

Or maybe Haru had plotted revenge, lured him to the cottage, and struck him down in cold blood.

Weeping into her sleeve, Haru said, “I’m innocent, but everyone will think I’m guilty. It’s no use hoping to be saved. I know what I must do.” She lifted her head and spoke bravely: “I’m going to confess.”

“What?” Reiko said, surprised.

“I owe a great debt to the Black Lotus sect for taking me in. If they want to blame me for killing those people and burning the cottage, then it’s my duty to confess,” Haru explained. Bowing, she said, “Thank you for trying to help. I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble, but I must ask a favor. Will you take me to the police? I’m afraid to go alone.”

Reiko was caught between opposing impulses. On one hand, she now had much proof of Haru’s dubious character, but none of anyone else’s involvement in the crimes. Maybe Haru was guilty, and Reiko should let her accept the punishment she deserved. On the other hand, Reiko still thought that Kumashiro, Abbess Junketsu-in, and Dr. Miwa warranted further inquiries, as did the two unidentified victims. She wanted to know what High Priest Anraku had to say about the crimes, and whether Sano had discovered more suspects or anything to substantiate the novice monk’s claims, before she made up her mind about Haru. She shouldn’t condemn someone on the strength of inconclusive evidence or denouncements from enemies.

Reiko faltered. “I don’t think you should confess.”

“Then you believe I’m innocent?” Eager hope gleamed in Haru’s streaming eyes.

“The investigation isn’t finished,” Reiko said, compromising between honesty and tact.

Desolation shadowed Haru’s face: She wasn’t deceived by Reiko’s hedging. She hurried to the cabinet and removed a worn cotton blanket, a comb, a pair of chopsticks, and a wooden bowl. She spread the blanket on the floor and set the other items on top of it.

Reiko frowned, perplexed. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t stay here. Kumashiro will come back. If I don’t confess, he’ll kill me.” The words poured from Haru in a frantic rush as her fingers fumbled to tie the blanket around her meager possessions. “I must go.”

“But where?” Reiko said, dazed by events happening too quickly, spinning out of her control.

“I don’t know.”

Likely, she would end up begging in the streets. The thought appalled Reiko, as did the idea of letting Sano’s only suspect go. Perhaps Haru was manipulating her by volunteering to confess, then threatening to run away, yet she saw only one possible course of action.

“Come with me,” Reiko said, taking the bundle from Haru. She put her arm around the girl’s trembling shoulders, although aware that her affection for Haru had waned. “I’ll take you to a safe place.”

Afterward, she must continue investigating the Black Lotus sect-even if it meant breaking her promise to Sano.

10

Well, Sōsakan Sano, what progress have you made in your, ahh, investigation?” said the shogun.

He sat on the dais of Edo Castle ’s Grand Audience Hall, whose floor was divided into two levels. On the higher level immediately below the dais, in a row to the shogun’s right, knelt the five members of the Council of Elders, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi’s chief advisers and Japan ’s supreme governing body. Sano knelt near the end of this row. Opposite knelt the abbot of Zōjō Temple and four high priests. On the lower level sat a delegation of Edo ’s city elders: commoners who relayed communications between the townspeople and officialdom and supervised the neighborhood headmen. Sentries guarded the doors. Secretaries occupied desks along the walls. The shogun’s personal attendants awaited his orders, while servants poured tea for the assembly and brought metal baskets of lit coals for tobacco pipes.

Sano said, “I’ve learned that all three victims were murdered before the fire,” and described their injuries. “The woman and boy haven’t been identified yet; citywide inquiries have begun. So far, the orphan girl remains the only suspect. There are reports that Haru is a troublemaker who had a grudge against Commander Oyama.” Sano related the statements of Abbess Junketsu-in, Dr. Miwa, and Oyama’s son. “However, she claims that she can’t remember anything between the time she went to bed and the time she was found at the fire. One of my detectives is working with her to recover her memory.”

The thought of Reiko stirred lingering worry inside Sano. Their compromise last night hadn’t restored their intimacy. Reiko had spurned his amorous advances, saying she was tired, but this morning he’d watched her practicing kenjutsu. Her every movement seemed to proclaim her determination to prove she was right about Haru. Now Sano wondered uneasily what would happen when Reiko visited Haru today.

“We’re continuing the search for witnesses and other suspects,” Sano finished. “I shall have more to report soon.”

His audience’s reaction confirmed his fear that his results sounded paltry. The priests and the Council of Elders regarded Sano with veiled disapproval; the shogun took his cue from the others and frowned. The city elders watched their superiors in complicit silence.

“I expected better from you, sōsakan-sama,” remarked Senior Elder Makino Narisada, whose pallid skin stretched over the prominent bones of his face. Since the truce between Sano and Chamberlain Yanagisawa, he’d taken over the role of Sano’s chief detractor. “You should certainly have solved the mystery by this time; yet you’ve accomplished very little.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the other council members. Sano’s spirits began a familiar descent. Men in the bakufu were always trying to gain by making someone else look bad.