"I don't want him," Joju said weakly to the ghost. "Leave me alone."
"She's angry at you for what you did," Sano said. "You caused her and the baby to suffer and die. You doomed them never to find peace. And now that she's found you, she wants revenge."
Joju shuddered as he recoiled from the ghostly mother and child. "Please. Go away," he whispered.
His hand that held the knife trembled. He seemed to have forgotten the old woman was there, but one slip of the knife could kill her. Sano felt an increasing pressure to gain control of Joju, fast.
"Okitsu says she's putting a curse on you," Sano said. "Misfortune will follow you wherever you go. The shogun will turn against you. You'll lose your temple, your money, and your reputation. You'll become a pariah begging in the streets. You'll get every disease known to man. Everybody will shun you. You'll suffer terribly."
Joju glared at Sano as if Sano were responsible for the sins he'd committed, the ills he'd brought upon himself. "Make her stop! Make them go away!"
"I can't," Sano said. "I'm not an exorcist. All I can do is act as a mediator between you and Okitsu."
"Then do it!" Panic agitated Joju.
Sano addressed the ghost he'd conjured up. "How can Joju make amends for what he did? What must he do in order for you to lift your curse and cross into the spirit world?"
He pretended to listen. He forced himself to wait and let the suspense build, while Joju watched him with the helpless faith of a drowning man clinging to a rescuer's hand. At last Sano said, "Okitsu says you must confess your sins."
"All right!" Joju cried. "I took advantage of her. I got her with child. It's my fault they died!"
"She says that's not enough. You have to confess all your sins." Sano asked, "Did you rape the nun?"
Joju hesitated, clearly aware that Sano had led him onto ground where he must dig his own grave. But his fear of the future Sano had painted overcame caution. With a groan, he sank in his shovel. "Yes."
At long last Sano had the admission of guilt that he wanted, but he couldn't stop there. "Okitsu still isn't satisfied. She says that if you hurt that old woman, she'll never forgive you. When you die, she'll lay claim to your soul. You and Okitsu and your child will wander in the netherworld together for all eternity."
The priest gazed at the old woman. She slept, oblivious to the drama taking place. In his eyes warred his desire for salvation and his knowledge that if he gave up his hostage, he was doomed.
Sano pointed at a corner of the padded floor. "Okitsu wants you to throw the knife over there. She says, get up and move away from that woman, or the curse starts now."
Joju's fraught expression didn't change, but Sano felt a dangerous impulse flare in him. Sano ducked at the same instant the priest hurled the knife straight at his heart. The knife struck the wall with a muffled thump; the padding absorbed the blade. Joju uttered a roar of desperate, reckless fury. He lunged at Sano. Sano sidestepped, grabbed Joju by the arm, twisted it behind him, and forced him to the floor.
The resistance leaked out of Joju. Pinned under Sano's knee, he wept, babbling, "Namo Amida Butsu! Namo Amida Butsu! I trust in the Buddha of Immeasurable Light." It was the prayer that the nun had told Reiko he'd forced her to say while he'd raped her here, in the pavilion of clouds.
The door crashed open. The sounds of oars splashing in water accompanied Hirata and Detective Marume into the room. "The boat owner and his guards are dead," Hirata said. "The crew has surrendered, and they're taking the boat back to the dock. Fukida is keeping an eye on them…" His voice trailed off. He and Marume stared at Sano holding Joju down, at the naked, unconscious woman on the bed, at the padded walls.
"So this is the scene of the crime," Marume said, dripping wet from his swim in the river. "It looks like you've got things under control here. All's well that ends well."
"Not quite," Sano said. The full measure of his success and failure struck satisfaction and despair into him. "I hate to tell you this, but the shogun's wife is still missing."
42
In the morning, Sano and his detectives arrived back at Edo Castle. His troops had taken Joju to Edo Jail and the old woman to Keiaiji Convent, where the nuns would care for her until she could be identified and returned to her home.
Sano wasn't eager to return to his. He'd missed the shogun's deadline, and now he must face the consequences. He had to save his family, but he was so exhausted he could hardly see straight. He'd hardly slept in days.
Outside the gate, one of his soldiers was waiting for him. "Honorable Chamberlain Sano! The shogun's wife has been found!"
Fukida groaned. Marume cursed and said, "Why couldn't it have happened just a few hours sooner?"
Sano felt as much foreboding as relief. "How? By whom?"
The soldier shook his head. "All I know is that she was found lying in the Ginza theater district."
"That's a long way from Chomei Temple," Sano said.
Her abduction hadn't followed the same pattern as the others, when the victims had been dumped near the places they'd been taken. But the two oxcart drivers weren't the culprits this time. There was another kidnapper, still at large.
"Where is Lady Nobuko?" Sano asked.
"She's being taken to the palace."
Sano and his men rode at a gallop through Edo Castle. They arrived at the palace in time to join a crowd of officials and troops watching four guards carry Lady Nobuko on a litter up the path to the entrance. Her thin body was covered by a blanket, her black hair matted. Her eyes were closed, but Sano could tell she was conscious. Pain, misery, and humiliation played across her pale, quivering face, which was contorted on the right side.
The shogun scurried out of the palace, trailed by attendants. When the guards brought Lady Nobuko to him, he squinted at her as if he didn't quite recognize her. He said, "Take her to her chambers. Call the court physician."
At the entrance, her maids and the other court ladies surrounded Lady Nobuko in an exclaiming, weeping horde.
Then the shogun saw Sano, and his expression turned furious. "My wife is home, no thanks to you! I understand she was found by some policemen who, ahh, just happened to stumble upon her." Sano started to apologize, but the shogun cut him off. "The police said my wife has been violated. I've been dishonored." He seemed more angry at Sano than glad to have Lady Nobuko back alive. "And it's all your fault because you didn't rescue her in time!"
He seemed to have forgotten that he'd previously thought Yanagisawa shared the blame for the kidnapping. Yanagisawa was nowhere to be seen. The shogun jabbed his finger at Sano's face. "You'll pay for letting me down. As soon as it can be arranged, you and your family and all your close associates shall die!"
"Your Excellency," Sano began.
After twelve years during which Sano had loyally, unstintingly served him, the shogun turned his back on Sano and stalked into the castle.
Everyone's gazes avoided Sano. The crowd moved away from Sano, Hirata, and the detectives like the ocean receding from an island at low tide.
Reiko hurried toward him. Her expression said she'd heard the shogun's pronouncement. Masahiro also came running. Sano was aghast that his wife and son had not only witnessed his public humiliation, but would die because he had failed.
"Don't worry," he said more confidently than he felt. He didn't want to frighten Reiko and Masahiro, but he feared that this time they were all lost.
"I have to tell you what else happened." Breathless with excitement, Reiko said, "Nanbu and Ogita are dead."
She poured out a story of blackmail, an ambush and a battle in a cemetery, and the shocking outcome. Sano's men listened with amazement. Sano could barely absorb what he was hearing.
"Where have you been?" Reiko asked.
Sano didn't have a chance to answer, because Masahiro tugged his sleeve and said excitedly, "Father, I've seen that lady before!"