He uttered an awful yowl. He dropped his sword, sank to his knees, and bent over the wound. Blood mixed with rainwater spilled onto the floor.
Fumiko huddled nearby, hands over her mouth, staring at him. Chiyo called, "Help, help!"
The intruder glared at Reiko through the holes in his hood, his eyes blazing with hatred and anger. He groped for his weapon, but toppled sideways. The emotion faded from his eyes as he collapsed amid playing cards stained red by his blood.
Reiko heard men shouting and running in the corridors and outside the house. Then Major Kumazawa and his guards were in the room. Major Kumazawa wore a night robe; his feet were bare. He carried a sword, which he pointed at the dead man.
"What happened?" he demanded. "Who is this?"
Reiko couldn't answer. She was suddenly dizzy, gasping for breath. She had a frightening sense that time had folded back on itself and she was reliving an earlier attack, during which her children had almost been murdered.
Fumiko pointed to the mask that the corpse wore. "It's the man who kidnapped us!" she shrilled. "He came back to get us, just like he said he would!"
33
Sano roused groggily from a sound sleep. Into his dark chamber spilled light from a lantern held by Detective Fukida, who stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry to bother you," Fukida said, "but there's an urgent message from Lady Reiko."
Instantly wide awake, Sano said, "What?" He bolted upright in bed. "Is she all right?"
"Yes," Fukida said, "but there's been an attack at the Kumazawa house. She asks you to come at once."
Sano threw on some clothes. Heading for the door, he met Masahiro, rubbing his sleepy eyes, in the hall. "Where are you going, Father?"
"To fetch your mother," Sano said. "Don't worry, she's fine. Go back to bed. We'll be home soon."
He rode through the dark, slumbering city with Marume and Fukida and some troops. The neighborhood gates had long been closed for the night, but Sano and his men wore the Tokugawa crest, and the watchmen let them pass. After a hard ride along the highway, they reached the Kumazawa estate.
It was lit up like a house on fire. Flames burned in metal lanterns along the wall and at the gate; more lights flickered from within the courtyard. Smoke melted into the misty night. The guards let Sano's party through the gate. As they dismounted in the courtyard, Reiko came running out of the mansion. Dressed in a night robe, she was agitated and disheveled, her face bare of makeup, her long hair carelessly braided. But she was indeed alive and well, to Sano's relief.
"What happened?" Sano said.
As Reiko told him about the attack, he listened in horror that didn't ease much when she told him she'd killed the man. Killing was a traumatic experience. Reiko must have been terrified, and she hadn't been the only one in danger.
"Where is Chiyo?" Sano said. "And Fumiko?"
Out of breath from excitement and speaking too fast, Reiko gestured toward the house. Chiyo and Fumiko stepped out onto the veranda. They looked shaken but unharmed. Major Kumazawa appeared behind them, fully dressed in his armor tunic, his swords at his waist, as if ready for battle.
"My daughter and her guest weren't touched," he said. "But they would have been killed if not for your wife."
His tone conveyed some admiration and gratitude toward Reiko but more fury at the attack on his house hold. "The man climbed over the wall. We found the rope he used. He got past my guards-he killed two of them. He must have been a professional assassin."
"Where is the assassin now?"
"In the backyard," Major Kumazawa said. "Your wife insisted on keeping his body until you arrived."
Sano cast a thankful glance at Reiko. She smiled briefly through her distress. He was proud of her for having the presence of mind to save the evidence.
"Come," Major Kumazawa said, lifting a lantern off a stand and walking down the steps. "I'll show you."
He led Sano around the mansion, across the garden, and through a gate. The detectives accompanied Sano and Major Kumazawa past the kitchen building, to a small, fenced yard. Major Kumazawa's lantern illuminated wooden bins that reeked of rotten fish, and a blanket-covered shape that lay on the ground. Fukida drew back the blanket. Underneath lay a youngish man with the shaved crown of a samurai, a wiry build, and an oval face with long, thick lashes that fringed his closed eyes. His gray kimono and trousers were drenched with blood from the wound Reiko had inflicted on his belly. The clothes had no identifying crests on them. The man was a stranger to Sano.
"Do you know him?" Sano asked Major Kumazawa.
"Never seen him before. Neither have my daughter or your wife, so they say. At first the girl thought he was the kidnapper, but she was fooled by the mask. It must be like the one the kidnapper wore. When she saw his face, she changed her mind and said she didn't recognize him after all."
Marume and Fukida shook their heads; they didn't know the assassin, either. Fukida covered the corpse.
"Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your family?" Sano said.
"No one with enough nerve to break into my house."
"We need to find out who he is." Concern filled Sano because he was starting to get an idea about the reason behind the attack.
"It'll be day soon," Fukida said. "Do you want us to take his body around the neighborhood and see if anyone recognizes him?"
"Have some of my troops do it," Sano said. It was hardly standard procedure, but there seemed no other way to identify the dead man. Sano hoped it would work better than his experiment at Edo Jail. Envisioning the gory corpse paraded through the streets, he added, "Tell them to keep the body covered and just show the face."
The detectives went off to obey. Sano and Major Kumazawa walked back toward the mansion.
"It's no coincidence that this happened after you started your investigation." Major Kumazawa spoke as if stating a distasteful fact.
"No. I don't believe it is, either." Sano experienced a bad, familiar feeling. Once again, he hadn't solved a case soon enough. "I think the assassin came to kill Chiyo so that she could never identify the man who raped her."
"Do you think he did it?" Incredulity vied with hope in Major Kumazawa's voice.
Sano knew why Major Kumazawa wasn't ready to accept the idea. The dead assassin seemed so ordinary, not an evil monster. And Sano had other reason to doubt that the man had acted alone, on his own behalf. "No. I think he was sent by the guilty party."
"Those oxcart drivers?" Major Kumazawa turned to Sano, his disbelief clear in the light from the brightening sky.
"Not them," Sano said. "While I was looking for them, I found three new suspects."
He told Major Kumazawa about the kennel manager, the rice broker, and the exorcist. Surprise halted Major Kumazawa in the courtyard. "This happened when?"
"Their names came up yesterday," Sano said.
"And you didn't tell me?" Vexed, Major Kumazawa said, "I expected you to keep me informed about your progress."
"I'm informing you now." Although Sano could understand that Major Kumazawa didn't like being kept in the dark, he'd wanted to prevent his uncle from confronting the suspects himself and causing trouble again.
"Nanbu, Ogita, and Joju." As Major Kumazawa turned their names over on his tongue, he looked stunned to think they could have stooped to kidnapping and rape. Then he nodded, aware that even three such important men could have perverted tastes and no scruples. "If one of them wanted my daughter and hired those oxcart drivers to kidnap her-if one of them sent the assassin to kill her-how can I get my revenge?"