Sano exchanged glances with Hirata. “That would be an understatement.”
“What is it?” Masahiro said, full of eager curiosity.
“We’d better sit down,” Sano said. The family took places around the kosatsu — a table built over a sunken charcoal brazier. Their feet and legs were warm in the space around the fire. A quilt covered the table and their laps. The clutter of their belongings surrounded them. A maid served them tea and departed. “Before I tell you, you must swear to keep it secret.”
Apprehension crept through Reiko. “I swear,” she and Masahiro said in unison.
“Hirata- san, will you make sure nobody eavesdrops?” Sano asked.
There were spies everywhere, Reiko knew; even in their own household. Hirata went to stand outside the door. Sano told Reiko and Masahiro about the dead women in the sunken house, his visit to the Hosokawa estate, and Lord Hosokawa’s blackmail.
“If you solve the crime, Lord Hosokawa will hand over a million koban to pay for rebuilding Edo? And if you don’t, he and the other daimyo will overthrow the Tokugawa regime?” Reiko was so shocked that she forgot about her own news. “Did I hear you correctly?” When Sano nodded, her disbelief gave way to horror. “Doesn’t Lord Hosokawa know that’s treason?”
“Yes. I told him,” Sano said. “But he’s not thinking about anything except his own grief and revenge for his daughters.”
“So you agreed to do what he wants?” Masahiro asked.
“I didn’t see any other choice.” Sano explained why he couldn’t just report Lord Hosokawa to the shogun. “The best thing to do is solve the case quickly.”
“But how can you fit a murder investigation in with all the work you have to do?” It seemed impossible to Reiko.
“I’ll need some help, even if I handle it personally. The problem is, it needs to be kept secret. I can’t send my retainers out to interview people and dig up clues. My enemies would surely notice that I was diverting effort away from the earthquake repairs to investigate the murders. They would wonder what sort of hold Lord Hosokawa has on me.”
Reiko knew that Sano had many enemies, including a large faction loyal to Yanagisawa. The secret deal between Sano and Lord Hosokawa, and their conspiracy of silence, made Sano a party to treason. This information would be just the weapon his enemies needed to destroy Sano.
“If people start prying, your deal with Lord Hosokawa could come out,” Reiko said.
“The Tokugawa regime would have to take action against Lord Hosokawa and the daimyo. The war would start.” Masahiro’s clever mind quickly grasped the implications.
“Which means I can only use assistants I can absolutely trust to be discreet,” Sano said. “That means Hirata, Detective Marume, and the two of you.”
Reiko decided to put off telling Sano she was pregnant. If he knew, he would refuse to let her join in the investigation, for fear it would tax her health and endanger the baby. But he needed her help. Unless he caught the killer, Lord Hosokawa would make good on his threats. The civil war would start. Sano would be blamed and executed as a traitor. His family would be put to death as well. If Reiko didn’t live long enough to give birth, the baby would die with her. Although Sano had never failed to solve a case, this might be the first time. Reiko couldn’t allow that to happen. Furthermore, she’d carried and given birth to Masahiro and Akiko without any trouble, and she felt fine now. As long as she restricted herself to visiting and talking with a few people, what harm could a little detective work do?
“You can count on me,” she said.
Sano smiled; the tension in his face relaxed. “I know I can.”
Reiko saw more reason to help Sano. He couldn’t count on Hirata or Marume for much. Marume was so grief-stricken; the investigation might be beyond his capabilities. And Sano had confided to her that something was amiss with Hirata, who often disappeared for lengthy, unexplained periods. That left her and Masahiro.
“You can count on me, too,” Masahiro said.
But he was only a child, Reiko thought. No matter how clever and mature he was, he couldn’t do everything that a murder investigation required. And he had other duties.
“You’ll have to stay with the shogun,” Sano said. “Both of us deserting him at the same time would be asking for trouble.”
Disappointed, Masahiro said, “Isn’t there any way I can help?”
“Watch Ienobu,” Sano said. “Let me know what he does. I may find other things for you to do later.”
Masahiro nodded happily. But Reiko knew he couldn’t do the things she could. Sano needed her. She couldn’t bow out of the investigation.
“What have you learned so far?” she asked.
“The cause of death.” Sano described the results of Dr. Ito’s examination.
“Arsenic in the incense,” Reiko mused. “It suggests that someone who was present at the game is the poisoner. Perhaps Madam Usugumo, the teacher.”
“But why would she poison her students?” Masahiro asked. “Weren’t they paying her money?”
Reiko smiled, proud of his astuteness. “Usugumo had the best opportunity to poison the incense, although she must have taught her pupils to blend incense. One of them could have mixed in the arsenic.”
“That would have been stupid,” Masahiro said. “I think somebody else killed them all.”
“We’d better pray that you’re right, or that Usugumo is guilty,” Sano said.
“Why?” Masahiro asked.
“Picture me telling Lord Hosokawa that the killer is one of his daughters,” Sano said.
“Oh,” Reiko said. “He would be furious.”
“Maybe furious enough to renege on our deal and lead the daimyo into war.”
“Surely he wouldn’t be so vindictive or so rash!” Reiko exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t like to find out the hard way,” Sano said.
Reiko and Masahiro pondered the implications of what they’d heard. Reiko said, “I was about to offer to go to the Hosokawa estate and talk to the women who live there.” That was her strength as a detective-she could go places where a man wouldn’t be welcome and question people who would hide information from Sano. “But if I do, I might turn up evidence against the daughters. Maybe I shouldn’t go?”
“No, you should,” Sano said. “We need to get to the truth about the murders.”
He wanted the truth even if it wasn’t what Lord Hosokawa wanted to hear. Reiko loved him for his honor. “I don’t suppose you would consider blaming the murders on Madam Usugumo or someone else who’s dead and won’t suffer any consequences?”
“I can’t say I haven’t thought of it.” Sano spoke with chagrin. “If one of the daughters is the killer, I’d much rather say it was Usugumo. But I promised Lord Hosokawa justice. That’s what I’ll give him if I can. And if I frame a scapegoat, the real killer would go free, possibly to kill again.”
“You’re right,” Reiko said. Masahiro nodded. “I’ll go to the Hosokawa estate tomorrow. What will you do?”
“Hirata- san and I will go back to the incense teacher’s house and look for what we would have looked for today if we’d known we would be investigating the murders.”
“It’s dinnertime,” Masahiro said. “Is there anything to eat?”
The household food supply was running low. “I’ll go and see,” Reiko said. As she left the room, her conscience pricked her, but she told herself that keeping her pregnancy a secret from Sano was for the best.
9
The next morning was warmer but cloudy. As Sano rode through the ruined city with Hirata, Detective Marume, and his troops, it looked like a painting done in ink. Black crows flew from crumbling gray earthen walls into a gray sky. A gray dog detached itself from a gray pile of debris. Sano felt as if his eyes had lost their ability to see color. He had to glance at the red medallion design on his coat sleeve to reassure himself that they hadn’t.
He and his group arrived in the incense teacher’s neighborhood. The same townsmen they’d met yesterday were still searching for earthquake victims. Sano was glad to see the young, bristly haired Okura among them, apparently recovered. The headman named Jiro came to greet Sano.