Laura Rowland - The Perfumed Sleeve

“That Agemaki is jealous of Okitsu and was afraid that Makino would throw her out and marry his concubine gave her a reason, too,” Hirata told Reiko. “What you heard contradicts the image she presented to us.”

“And there surely is a conspiracy of silence involving Koheiji, Okitsu, and Agemaki,” Sano said.

“It’s looking more and more as if the killer was someone in Makino’s household,” Hirata said. “Maybe they were all in the murder together.”

“I don’t think so. There’s so much bad feeling among them that I can’t imagine them cooperating in anything. Maybe some of them together, but not all.”

“We might have suspected all this but not had any verification, except for you,” Sano said to Reiko.

His warm, praiseful look rewarded Reiko for the hardships she’d suffered. She said eagerly, “Does my information help you identify the killer?”

Sano and Hirata pondered, then told Reiko what their investigations had uncovered while she’d been away. She realized with a sinking heart that although each of them had found pieces of the puzzle, the picture didn’t add up to a solution to the crime. They had an abundance of suspects, motives, and theories, but no culprit.

“I wish I could have spied longer,” Reiko said.

“You might have spied forever and not proved that someone from Makino’s household is guilty,” Sano said in an attempt to console her. “Remember that Lord Matsudaira, Chamberlain Yanagisawa, and their factions are still suspects. We haven’t ruled them out of either murder.”

“If Ibe and Otani have their way, we won’t be able to rule them in, even if they are responsible,” Hirata said glumly.

“What shall we do?” Reiko asked, thinking how hopeless the situation appeared.

Sano told her about Hirata’s discovery. “That Daiemon had quarters outside the Matsudaira estate suggests he had a private life that may be related to his death.”

“But you can’t investigate Daiemon’s business with Otani and Ibe shadowing you,” Hirata reminded Sano. “Do you want me to search the house by myself?”

After a long moment’s thought, Sano said, “I have an idea.”

He confided his plan. Reiko and Hirata nodded in approval, yet Reiko despaired because she couldn’t do more to help. Then sudden inspiration elated her.

“Even if Otani and Ibe forbid you to look for Daiemon’s missing woman, I can look,” she said. “They won’t even notice me.”

Sano regarded her with consternation. Reiko knew he was wondering what more had happened to her at Makino’s estate than she’d told him, and he was hesitant to further involve her in the case. “What do you propose doing?” he said.

“I’ll ask around and see if any of my friends can tell me who was Daiemon’s mistress,” Reiko said. “Women talk. The romantic affairs of an important man like him are hard to keep secret. Someone is bound to know.”

“All right,” Sano said. “That sounds harmless enough for you. But be careful this time.”

Sano found Otani, Ibe, and their troops waiting for him outside his gate the next morning. The rain had stopped, but moisture still darkened the walls and buildings of the official quarter. The sky showed pale blue streaks between bands of cloud, but the air still had a frosty tang. Overnight, the portals of the estates had sprouted banners bearing the Matsudaira or the Yanagisawa crest. The banners snapped in the wind. Only Sano’s gate was unadorned. Up through the passages of Edo Castle reverberated the pounding of hooves and footsteps as troops marched off to battle.

“What’s he doing here?” Otani said, frowning as he spotted Hirata among the detectives who accompanied Sano.

“He’s helping me with my inquiries today,” Sano said.

“No, he’s not,” Ibe said. “We banned him from the investigation.”

“If you want any more cooperation from me, you’ll let him come along,” Sano told the watchdogs.

He thought Hirata had earned his reinstatement in the investigation. As Ibe and Otani began to protest, Sano said, “My son is your guarantee of Hirata-san’s good behavior as well as mine.”

“I don’t care. I want him gone,” Otani said, angry that Sano would defy him.

But Ibe said, “I’m tired of arguing over everything. Let him come. What does it matter?”

Otani subsided with a grudging nod. “Today you’ll arrest either the widow or the concubine for the murders of Senior Elder Makino and Daiemon,” he told Sano. “You’ve run out of reasons to delay.”

“Not quite,” Sano said. “There’s another clue that I must investigate before arresting Agemaki or Okitsu. Last night, I received this message.”

He handed Otani a folded paper. Otani opened it and read aloud, “ ‘If you want to know who killed Senior Elder Makino, go to the middle house on the west side of Tsukegi Street in Kanda.’ ” He said, “There’s no signature. Who sent this?”

“I don’t know,” Sano said, although he’d written the message himself. “The letter was slipped under my gate sometime during the night. No one saw who did it.”

Last night Sano had devised this ploy to investigate Daiemon’s house under Ibe’s and Otani’s very noses. If they didn’t know the house belonged to Daiemon, or how Sano had learned of it, they might not object to going there, and they couldn’t blame him for whatever he found.

Ibe took the paper from Otani and inspected it suspiciously. “Anonymous messages are not to be trusted.”

“True, but I can’t ignore this one,” Sano said. “That would be neglecting my duty to the shogun.”

A silent consultation ensued between the watchdogs. Sano waited, hoping that if fear of their lord didn’t sway them, curiosity would.

At last Otani said, “Very well.”

“But if this is a trick, someone will pay.” Ibe’s glance at Sano proclaimed exactly who that someone was.

Reiko knelt at the dressing table in her chamber, preparing to call on the friends whom she hoped would tell her the identity of Daiemon’s mistress. A good night’s sleep had restored her spirits and strength. Having washed the soot out of her hair, applied makeup to her face and black dye to her teeth, and donned clothes appropriate for the wife of an important bakufu official, she looked like herself instead of the hapless servant she’d been yesterday. But her return to normal didn’t assuage her worries.

The watchdogs’ men never let Masahiro out of their sight. They’d hovered near while Reiko dressed and fed him this morning. She hated to leave him with them, even though Sano’s detectives stood ready to defend him. And she feared for Sano, navigating through the war zone that Edo had become, alone except for his own retainers now that he’d refused to join either faction. Reiko saw the anxiety on her face reflected in the mirror. She deliberately smoothed her expression. She’d risen and put on her cloak, when a maid came to the door.

“Fetch my palanquin, bearers, and guards to the courtyard,” Reiko said.

“Yes, mistress,” the maid said, bowing, “but I must tell you that Lady Yanagisawa is here to see you. She’s waiting in the reception hall.”

Dismay, coupled with anger, flashed through Reiko. No sooner had she arrived home than Lady Yanagisawa was after her again! Reiko decided she could no longer tolerate Lady Yanagisawa’s destructive madness. She must put an end to their friendship once and for all-now.

She hastened to the reception room and there found Lady Yanagisawa. “Reiko-san!” Lady Yanagisawa cried, hurrying to greet her.

The woman’s usually pale cheeks were flushed; her eyes glittered with unnatural intensity. “At last we’re together again,” she said. Her rapid breathing was audible as she clasped her hands at her bosom and gazed yearningly at Reiko. “It is so good to see you after our long separation.”