19

The sky above Edo Castle’s official quarter glowed with the cold red fire of sunset. Moon and stars glittered like ice shards in the darkening heavens. Smoke drifted from inside the mansions and lanterns burning at the gates; sentries stamped their feet and rubbed their arms to keep themselves warm. Hirata rode along the empty street, dawdling as he neared Sano’s estate. Soon would come his moment of reckoning. He prayed that he wasn’t in too much trouble.

“The sōsakan-sama is waiting for you,” said the guard who opened the gate for Hirata.

The guard’s tone said Hirata was in very much trouble. Hirata’s heart began a slow, sickening descent. When he entered the mansion, he found Sano, Otani, and Ibe kneeling in the reception room.

“Hirata-san. Please join us,” Sano said.

His manner was unusually formal. Ibe and Otani regarded Hirata with open animosity. Hirata’s heart pounded as he knelt, greeted Sano and his guests, and bowed to them.

“I understand that you ran out on the men assigned to observe your inquiries today,” Sano said. “Is that true?”

“Yes, Sōsakan-sama,” Hirata said in a monotone that he hoped would conceal his nervousness.

“Where did you go?”

“To investigate Senior Elder Makino’s wife at Asakusa Jinja Shrine.”

“See? I told you.” Otani shot a look at Sano. “He went off investigating on his own. He broke the rule that all inquiries pertaining to Senior Elder Makino’s murder should be overseen by representatives of Lord Matsudaira.”

“And Chamberlain Yanagisawa,” added Ibe. “He also left my men breathing his dust.”

The disappointment in Sano’s eyes pained Hirata. “I can explain,” he said, anxious to defend himself although his only, poor excuse was that he’d snapped under pressure.

Otani’s hand sliced a cutting gesture at Hirata. “It doesn’t matter why you did it.”

“What’s important is that you never cause us trouble again,” said Ibe.

“As of this moment, you are removed from the investigation,” Otani said.

Shock and horror combined with humiliation as Hirata realized that his watchdogs thought him such a trivial person that they wouldn’t bother inflicting a more severe punishment on him. They were just cutting him out of the investigation as if he were a rotten spot on an apple.

“That’s fair,” Sano said, his tone as stoic as his expression.

And Sano was going along with them! Hirata stared in dismay at the master who’d just sacrificed him to appease Chamberlain Yanagisawa and Lord Matsudaira. A sense of injustice filled Hirata even though he knew he’d earned his fate. He couldn’t let the watchdogs take away his chance to solve the murder case and regain Sano’s esteem.

“A thousand apologies for my bad behavior,” he said, reluctantly abasing himself to Otani and Ibe. “Please allow me to make amends to you and continue in the investigation.”

“Save your breath,” Otani said. “The decision is final.”

Otani and Ibe rose. As Sano accompanied them to the door, Otani paused and said to Hirata, “By the way, what did you learn at Asakusa Jinja Shrine?”

Hirata rebelled against sharing the results of his clandestine inquiries with the men who’d exacted painful retribution for them. “Nothing,” he lied.

Ibe chuckled. “Then your escapade wasn’t worth the consequences, was it?”

Hirata sat alone, furious and miserable, while Sano escorted the watchdogs out of the estate. Presently, Sano returned and knelt facing Hirata.

“Things could be worse,” Sano said. “Otani and Ibe could have ordered you put to death for insubordination. If either of us had objected to your punishment, they’d have done it out of spite.”

That Sano had good reason for not objecting gave Hirata little solace. “Do you want me out of the investigation, too?” he said.

Conflicting emotions battled in Sano’s eyes. He exhaled and said, “You’ve shown poor judgment. This murder case is difficult enough without my own men causing problems.”

Hirata bowed his head, aware that Sano was right and he’d made himself a liability to Sano. When he’d disobeyed orders during the hunt for their wives and the kidnapper, he’d lowered himself into a hole of disgrace. Now, after only three days on the murder case that he’d hoped would restore him to honor, he’d dug the hole deeper.

Forlorn, he said, “How can I make up for what I did today?”

“You might start by telling me what you discovered about Senior Elder Makino’s widow,” said Sano. “Maybe you fooled Otani and Ibe, but I doubt that you came away from Asakusa Jinja Shrine empty-handed.”

At least he could prove himself a competent detective as well as a fool and liar, Hirata thought glumly. He told Sano the rumors that Agemaki had murdered Makino’s first wife. “Before I came home, I questioned the Edo Castle physician who attended Makino’s first wife when she took ill.” Hirata mentioned some interesting facts gleaned from the doctor. “He’s always suspected she was poisoned. And Agemaki certainly benefited from her death.”

Sano nodded, absorbing the news, delaying judgment. “Otani told me about your trip to Rakuami’s pleasure house. He says you learned nothing worthwhile about the concubine.”

“I beg to disagree,” Hirata said, irked that the man who’d expelled him from the investigation had also demeaned his hard-won evidence. “We learned that Okitsu hated Makino enough that she tried to drown herself rather then be sold to him.”

“Whether or not that means either woman killed Makino, it appears that his household was no model of peace and harmony,” Sano said. “He and his chief retainer had their differences.” He described Tamura’s disapproval of his master’s greed for money and sex. “His vendetta against the murderer could mean he’s innocent, or that he’s covering his guilt. And that actor is a shady character.” Sano told how Koheiji had staged sex shows and once beaten up an elderly client.

“We’ve discovered evidence against all the people who were in Makino’s private chambers that night,” Hirata said, “but none that proves any of them is guilty.”

“Maybe Reiko will find some,” Sano said.

Hirata belatedly noticed the haggard, careworn look that shadowed Sano’s face. He must be worrying about Reiko. “Has there been any news of her?” Hirata hated that he’d caused Sano additional worries.

“None,” Sano said. “The detectives I put in Makino’s house to report on her have said they can’t find her. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”

Neither he nor Hirata speculated aloud on the mishaps that might have befallen Reiko by now.

“What’s the next step in the investigation?” Hirata said, wondering if he even dared ask, now that it was none of his business.

Sano breathed, slowly and deliberately, as though to gird himself for an unpleasant task. “Much as I would like to avoid the factions, I can’t. I’ve already skirmished with Lord Matsudaira and his nephew.” Sano described what he’d discovered about Daiemon. “It’s time for a talk with Chamberlain Yanagisawa.”

And Hirata would be left out of it. More than ever he regretted his mistake. As Sano rose, Hirata said, “What shall I do?”

“Attend to your other duties as my chief retainer,” Sano said. “You can handle the business we’ve neglected since Makino’s murder.”

To occupy himself with mundane, everyday matters while the investigation went on without him seemed a sentence of doom to Hirata. “Yes, Sōsakan-sama,” he said, bowing humbly.

Sano hesitated. The concern in his eyes worsened Hirata’s anguish. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sano said.

With bitter despair, Hirata watched Sano walk out of the room.

Sano, accompanied by Detectives Marume and Fukida, met Chamberlain Yanagisawa in the passage that led to the heart of Edo Castle. Yanagisawa walked amid his entourage. Lights from torches in the guard turrets and carried by soldiers patrolling atop the stone walls flickered in the black night. Dogs howled somewhere on the hill.