Laura Rowland: The Cloud Pavilion

The smoke from the crematoriums hung in a cloud over Inaricho district.

Reiko could see the smoke, lit by the full moon, rising like a ghostly fog in the distance as she and Chiyo rode in her palanquin. The light from lanterns hung on poles attached to her bodyguards' horses didn't extend beyond the roadsides. The vast darkness of the rice fields resonated with a cacophony of frogs singing and insects buzzing. At this late hour, Reiko, Chiyo, and their escorts were the only travelers going to Inaricho.

Inaricho was a backwater, situated between two major temple districts. Reiko could see lights flickering far ahead in Ueno to her left and Asakusa to her right, but Inaricho would have been invisible if not for the smoke. It was a perfect location for cemeteries, and for the crematoriums in which dead bodies burned overnight. Inaricho was conveniently near the temples where funeral rites were held and distant from Edo proper, where crematoriums were outlawed because of the fire hazard.

"Jirocho must have chosen the pauper's cemetery because he knew it would be deserted," Reiko said.

"He'll have privacy for his business," Chiyo agreed.

Few people ventured into these parts at night. As her procession entered the smoke cloud, Reiko smelled the awful odor of burning flesh. She and Chiyo held their sleeves over their noses and mouths, but the odor was so strong she could taste it. Her escorts coughed. Their lanterns lit up the smoke and colored it orange. The procession moved as if through fire, toward some hellish netherworld.

The bearers set down the palanquin in the main street, where shops sold altar furnishings such as Buddha statues, candle holders, gold lotus flowers, and incense burners. The shops were closed, abandoned by the living, surrendered to the dead until day came. The bearers were breathing hard, tired from the journey, wheezing because of the smoke. Lieutenant Tanuma dismounted and said to them, "You stay here and guard the horses. We'll walk from here."

Reiko and Chiyo climbed out of the palanquin. As they and the bodyguards raced along Inaricho's back streets, Reiko's heart beat with quickening excitement and apprehension. Beyond small temples and shrines lay the cemeteries, enclosed within stone walls or bamboo fences. The sickening smell of burned flesh grew stronger. Reiko could feel the heat from the crematoriums.

"Which way?" Lieutenant Tanuma's anxious face shone with sweat in the light from the lanterns that he and the other men had brought.

"I don't know," Reiko said. She'd never been to the paupers' cemetery, and there was no one to ask for directions. "We'll just have to look around."

They tramped through the cemeteries. In each stood a crematorium, a massive, outdoor oven built of stone. Each had a shelter where mourners gathered in the morning, when the oven was opened, to pick out bones and put them in an urn for burial. Reiko heard sizzling inside the crematoriums. The smoke that poured from their vents was so thick that she and her comrades groped between the rows of square stone grave pillars carved with the names of the deceased. They tripped on vases of flowers and offerings of food and drink left for the spirits. But they saw no sign of Jirocho or Fumiko. Exhausted, nearly overcome by the smoke, they stopped in an alley to rest.

Bells in the temples tolled the hour of the boar, the time of the rendezvous. As their peals faded, Reiko heard another sound that sent shivers racing along her skin.

"Listen," she whispered.

From somewhere in the distance came the noise of dogs barking. It grew louder, drew closer. Past the alley marched a horde of some thirty men. A few carried lanterns. They appeared to be samurai; they had shaved crowns and wore swords. Ten or twelve held the leashes of big dogs that sniffed the ground and barked. The man with the hugest, blackest dog walked with a swagger, legs spread wide and arms swinging.

"That must be Nanbu," Reiko whispered. "He seems to know where he's going."

She and her companions followed Nanbu and his group to a gate that sagged on its hinges, into a cemetery enclosed by a rough stone wall. Reiko peeked through the gate and saw a large field thick with shrubs and high weeds. Nanbu and his men trudged within the light from their lanterns. Here, in the paupers' cemetery, wooden stakes that bore names scrawled in fading ink marked the graves. Smoke billowed from a crematorium that had no shelter. Firelight glowed through cracks in its walls, like red veins.

"Fumiko must be there already," Chiyo said.

Careless of her own safety, she hurried into the graveyard before Reiko could stop her. Reiko had no choice but to follow, crouching as she ran through the weeds around the perimeter of the field. Lieutenant Tanuma and her other guards thrashed after her, and she prayed Nanbu wouldn't hear them. She caught up with Chiyo and pushed her behind the crematorium. There they hid with Tanuma and the guards. They watched Nanbu's group gather in the middle of the cemetery.

"Where is that cursed gangster?" Nanbu said.

"This was a bad idea," said a bald man with a prominent double chin. He wasn't a samurai; he wore no swords. His cross voice had a deep, carrying resonance. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into coming."

Surprise stabbed Reiko. "That's Ogita. I recognize him from my husband's description. What are he and Nanbu doing together?"

Chiyo whispered urgently, "It's him! I recognize his voice. He's the man from the pavilion of clouds!"

Reiko saw one rapist matched up with his victim, like suits in a card game. Had Ogita, and Nanbu, also violated Fumiko? Was that why they were both here?

"Hey, you came to me when you got that message," Nanbu said to Ogita. "You asked me what to do. This was my solution. If you have a better one, speak up."

However they'd become acquainted, whether they'd both raped Fumiko or not, they'd evidently banded together to cope with Jirocho's blackmail.

"Maybe we should just buy Jirocho off," Ogita said.

Nanbu snorted. "You're supposed to be an expert at business, you should know that won't make him leave us alone. He'll keep asking for more money until he's bled us dry. This is the only way out."

If the presence of his troops and dogs hadn't made it clear to Reiko that he had other plans instead of paying blackmail, his words did. Some of the men must belong to Ogita; he'd brought his army, too. Chiyo had been right: There was trouble coming. Reiko looked at her six bodyguards. They were badly outnumbered.

"I don't like this," Ogita said. "We're going to get in trouble."

Nanbu laughed. "We're already in trouble. Or have you forgotten what we had to do to get Chamberlain Sano's spies off our tails?"

"You mean, what you did," Ogita said.

"Hey, you didn't stop me, you stood by and watched," Nanbu said. "We're in this together."

Reiko realized that Nanbu and his men and dogs must have killed her husband's troops. She was horrified because not only were the men dead, but they wouldn't be coming to help.

"Besides, you're the one who sent that incompetent fool to Major Kumazawa's house," Nanbu said. "If he hadn't botched the job, we wouldn't be in this mess now. You need me."

At least Reiko now knew who was responsible for the assassination attempt on Chiyo and Fumiko.

"I never should have gotten mixed up with you," Ogita said bitterly.

"It's a little late for regrets," Nanbu said. "When this is over, you'll thank me."

"When this is over, I never want to see your face again." Ogita exclaimed, "A curse on the shogun's wife! If she hadn't gotten kidnapped, we wouldn't have to worry about Jirocho."

Reiko began to understand better why they'd formed this unholy alliance. If their problems had been only a matter of the crimes against Chiyo, Fumiko, and the nun, the two men could have gambled that Jirocho's blackmail attempt was just a bluff and ignored his message. But now the shogun was looking for someone to blame for his wife's disappearance. If Fumiko bore witness against Ogita and Nanbu, the shogun would probably take her at her word and decide they were responsible for whatever had happened to Lady Nobuko even if they weren't. The two men had to destroy Jirocho before he destroyed them.