Laura Rowland - The Cloud Pavilion

"Well? Which one kidnapped you?" Jirocho barked at his daughter. These were the first words he'd spoken to her.

Fumiko turned to him, and Reiko could see on her face her longing to please him, to earn her way back home. She looked through the lattice and slowly pointed at the big man.

Reiko felt her breath catch. Behind her, Sano, Major Kumazawa, and Jirocho stirred. Fumiko's hand moved hesitantly sideways. Her finger pointed at the other suspect. Then she let her hand drop. She shrugged and frowned hard, as if trying not to cry.

"She doesn't know, either," Jirocho said in disgust.

Sano called, "Turn them around."

Hirata gestured his hand in a circular motion at the suspects. They rotated slowly, then faced the women again. Reiko looked from Chiyo to Fumiko. Their faces were devoid of recognition. She sensed their wish to identify their attackers vying with their duty to be honest.

"Maybe if we could get a closer look?" Chiyo murmured.

Sano gave the order. Hirata prodded the two men up the steps, onto the veranda. They stood close enough to touch. Reiko could see the pores in their tanned, weathered skin and smell their odor of urine, sweat, and oxen.

Fumiko shook her head. Chiyo shuddered, her nose and mouth muffled in her sleeve. "I'm sorry. I don't know if it was one of them or not."

The two men exchanged glances. They'd heard Chiyo. The slight one's grin broadened; the big one smirked.

Anger swelled in Reiko. If they were responsible for the kidnapping and rapes, she didn't want them to get away with it. She didn't want Chiyo and Fumiko to have suffered this ordeal for nothing. But what could she do?

A thought occurred to her. "Let us hear their voices," she said to Sano. "Make them say, 'Dearest mother, beloved mother,' and 'naughty girl.' "

Sano gave the order through the screen. "Dearest mother, beloved mother. Naughty girl," the big man said in a deep, thick, scratchy voice. The other man echoed him. Chiyo turned to Reiko in despair.

"I don't think it's either of them," she said. "They both sound too young."

"What do you think?" Reiko asked Fumiko.

The girl shook her head unhappily. Jirocho said, "Well, that's that." His face was grim; so were Sano's and Major Kumazawa's. The two suspects swaggered with glee.

"Have you ever seen them before?" Sano asked Jirocho and Major Kumazawa.

"No," they said.

Reiko tried to hide her own disappointment. She didn't want to make Chiyo and Fumiko feel worse.

Fumiko suddenly said, "Make them take off their clothes."

"What?" Jirocho said, incredulous. He grabbed her arm and yanked her around to face him. "What's the matter, didn't you get enough pleasure while you were kidnapped? Do you want some more men? You little whore!"

He raised his hand to strike her, but Sano shoved him toward the door and said, "I warned you. Get out!"

As Marume and Fukida led the gangster away, Fumiko whimpered, "Papa!" then, "I didn't mean it the way he said."

Chiyo moved to the girl's side. "I understand," Chiyo said, putting her arm around Fumiko. "You want to see if we can recognize the men's bodies. Isn't that right?"

To Reiko's surprise, Fumiko leaned into Chiyo's embrace as she nodded. Reiko saw a tenuous bond form between these two women from different worlds. They had experiences in common that no one else they knew could fully understand.

Sano ordered the suspects to undress. They dropped their garments onto the veranda. Major Kumazawa said to Chiyo, "You don't have to look."

Her expression was resigned. "Yes, Father, I must."

The men stood naked. The big man slouched, surly with embarrassment. The other's nervous grin took on a lascivious cast. His organ began to curve erect.

Reiko averted her eyes, sickened by a sudden, unpleasant memory. She'd seen naked men before-beggars on the streets, youths swimming in the river-but only once had she had such a close observation of any except her husband. That had been the man who'd called himself the Dragon King, who'd kidnapped and nearly raped her. Now she felt her heart race and nausea roil her stomach. She kept her gaze on Chiyo and Fumiko.

Chiyo frowned, pondered the men, and said unhappily, "I don't know. I'm sorry. I just can't remember."

Fumiko turned away, her face miserable with disappointment. "He had a big black mole," she said. "They don't."

It was true: Both suspects' penises were devoid of moles.

The big man guffawed and his friend tittered with relief. Fumiko ran out the door. Major Kumazawa said, "We've had enough," and left with Chiyo.

"Take them back to their cell," Sano told Hirata.

The suspects picked up their clothes, and Hirata marched them off. Sano turned to Reiko. "Well."

Sharing his frustration, Reiko voiced the thought on both their minds: "The real kidnapper is still at large. What if it's not one man but three? And how many more women will they hurt before they're caught?"

When Sano emerged from Edo Jail with Reiko, he heard screaming and weeping. Jirocho was planted outside the gate with Fumiko on the ground before him, her arms wrapped around his legs. "Papa, please don't be mad at me," she cried as she sobbed.

"Let go, you dirty little animal!" Jirocho shouted, trying to kick her away.

Chiyo stood near them, watching, her hands clasped under her chin. Beside her, Major Kumazawa said, "Let's go."

His face was stiff with disgust at the scene that Jirocho and Fumiko were making. But Chiyo didn't move. At the bridge waited Sano's troops, Jirocho's gangsters, and the palanquins and bearers that had brought the women to the jail. Prison guards peered out of the watch towers.

"Papa, why don't you love me anymore?" Fumiko wailed. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You couldn't identify the bastard," Jirocho said, his face purple with ugly rage. "Are you trying to protect him? Or have you had so many men that you can't remember what they look like?" He seized Fumiko by her hair, pulled her head up, and slapped her face. "Whore!"

"Stop that!" Sano commanded.

As he strode toward Jirocho, the gangster pried Fumiko's arms off his legs. "Papa, forgive me, I want to go home with you," she pleaded.

Jirocho beckoned his men. As they all stalked off, Jirocho threw Sano a baleful glance. Fumiko lay curled on the ground and wept. Even though Sano was furious at Jirocho for punishing the girl, he felt responsible for her suffering. If Sano had caught the culprit, maybe Jirocho would have been willing to reconcile with his daughter. A familiar guilt, heavy and sickening as a physical illness, plagued Sano. Another of his investigations hadn't produced quick enough results, and people had suffered.

Chiyo gently lifted Fumiko to her feet, held her, and murmured soothing words. "You can come home with me. Would you like that?"

Fumiko sobbed brokenheartedly, but she nodded. Major Kumazawa exclaimed, "She's not setting foot in my house!"

Chiyo responded with an obstinacy that matched his. "Yes she is, Father." For the first time Sano saw a family resemblance between them. Chiyo helped Fumiko into the palanquin. The bearers carried the women away.

"I'm glad Fumiko has someplace safe to live," Reiko said. "But it must be awful for her to realize that her father isn't going to take her back."

Sano thought of Akiko and couldn't understand how a man could treat his daughter in such fashion, but he'd never walked in Jirocho's shoes. "Maybe Fumiko and Chiyo will be good for each other," he said hopefully. One had lost her parent, the other her children. They might find solace together.

Major Kumazawa glared after the palanquin, then at Sano. "I don't like how your investigation is proceeding."

Sano didn't like how his uncle was speaking to him, and if Major Kumazawa were anyone else, Sano would put him in his place without hesitation. Yet Major Kumazawa was the father of a crime victim, and Sano felt guilty because he hadn't done better by his family.