Laura Rowland - The Assassin's Touch

“The assassin who killed the metsuke chief and those other men?” Reiko said, breathless with surprise as well as from keeping up with Sano. “Do you think he came here to kill you?”

“I know it.” Even now Sano felt the assassin’s deadly intent like a poison in his blood. He prayed that the memory was all the assassin had left with him.

“Does that mean he’s someone within the regime?”

“Maybe. It would explain how he got into the castle.”

“Why are you walking so fast?” Reiko said as they rushed past servants who hovered in the corridor.

Sano burst into their bedchamber. “Light all the lanterns,” he told Reiko.

“Why? What’s wrong?” she said, clearly baffled.

“For once in your life, just do what I say without arguing!” Sano shouted.

Reiko’s mouth fell open in shock, but she obeyed. The lanterns filled the room with hot, smoky light. Sano flung open the cabinet, took out a mirror, and peered at his tense, haunted face. He discarded the mirror and stripped naked. He extended his arms, turning them as he inspected every minute detail of his skin from shoulders to fingertips. He examined his torso, legs, and feet.

“What are you doing?” Reiko said.

Sano turned his back to her and demanded, “Do you see a mark on me?”

“A mark?” She ran her hands over him. “No,” she said, sounding even more perplexed. “What-”

But of course it was too soon for the telltale bruise to develop. As Sano faced Reiko, he saw horrified enlightenment in her eyes. Her hand clasped her throat.

“Merciful gods,” she whispered. “Did he touch you?”

They stared at each other, both paralyzed by fear that he would be the sixth victim of dim-mak.

“I don’t know,” Sano said, “but I think he did. I think that’s what woke me up.”

“No!” Reiko clutched Sano’s hands, frantic to deny it. “You must be mistaken. You don’t feel anything bad happening inside, do you?”

Sano shook his head. “But I don’t suppose the others did, either.” In his mind he saw the intruder bending over him while he lay asleep in bed, stealthily reaching out a hand toward him. His whole body prickled with the sensation of the fatal touch. Was this imagination or reality? “They didn’t know anything was wrong with them, until…”

Breathless and frantic, Reiko said, “I’m calling a physician!”

“It’s no use. If I’ve been given a death-touch, the damage is done. Medical treatment can’t save me.”

Tears shone in Reiko’s eyes. “What are we going to do?”

That fate could be altered so suddenly for the worse, in a mere instant, amazed Sano. If the killer had indeed touched him, he could be doomed even before Lord Matsudaira punished him for failing to catch the assassin or Hoshina brought him down. The thought of his life cut short, of leaving his beloved wife and son, appalled him. He had scant comfort to offer Reiko.

“There’s nothing we can do now,” he said, “except wait two days and see what happens.”

A dense morning mist shrouded Edo, blurring the distinction between earth and sky. Invisible boats floated on the rivers and canals. The voices of people crossing the bridges were links in chains of sound that spanned the water.

In the slum that bordered Edo Jail, four square blocks lay in ruins. Wisps of smoke still rose from the burned timbers, blackened and fallen roof tiles, and ash heaps where once many houses had stood. Desolate residents picked through the debris, trying to salvage their possessions. But the jail loomed intact beyond the wreckage. Across the bridge and in through its gate filed the prisoners who had been released when the fire had started yesterday. They’d voluntarily returned to finish serving their sentences or awaiting their trials. Two jailers, stationed with the guards at the gate, counted heads and checked names off a list.

When the last prisoner had walked inside, one jailer said, “This is a surprise. Usually they all come back. This time we’re missing one.”

Reiko stared out the window of her palanquin as it carried her out of Edo Castle, but she barely noticed the sights or sounds. Fear that her husband would die inhabited her mind like a malignant presence, crowding out the world around her. The sob caught in her throat grew larger by the moment. The idea of losing Sano, of living without him, was beyond unbearable.

When he’d told her the terrible possibility that the assassin had given him the touch of death, Reiko had wanted to cling tight to him, to anchor him to her and to life. She’d been alarmed when he’d said he had to go out.

“Where?” she’d asked. “Why?”

“To continue my hunt for the assassin,” he’d said.

“Now?”

Calm detachment had replaced his terror. “As soon as I’ve washed, dressed, and eaten.” He headed toward the bath chamber.

“Must you?” Reiko said, hurrying after him. She didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

“I still have a job to do,” Sano said.

“But if you have only two days to live, we should spend them together,” Reiko protested.

In the bath chamber, Sano poured a bucket of water over his body and scrubbed himself. “Lord Matsudaira and the shogun wouldn’t accept that excuse. They’ve given me orders to catch the killer, and I must obey.”

Reiko experienced a sudden furious hatred for Bushido, which gave his superiors the right to treat him like a slave. Never before had the samurai code of honor seemed so cruel. “If there’s one time when you should disobey orders, this is it. Tell Lord Matsudaira and the shogun that you’ve already sacrificed your life for them, and they should go catch the killer themselves.” Beside herself with desperation, Reiko pleaded, “Stay home, with me and Masahiro.”

“I wish I could.” Sano climbed into the sunken bathtub, rinsed his body, climbed out, and dried himself on the towel Reiko handed him. “But I have more reason than before to bring the assassin to justice.” He chuckled. “Not every murder victim gets a chance to take revenge on his killer before he dies. This is a unique opportunity I have here.”

“How can you laugh at a time like this?” Reiko demanded.

“Either I laugh or I cry,” Sano said. “And remember, it’s possible that the assassin didn’t touch me. If that’s the case, we’ll both be laughing about this pretty soon. We’ll be embarrassed that we made such a fuss.”

But Reiko saw that Sano didn’t believe it; nor could she. “Please don’t go,” she said as she followed him to the bedchamber.

He threw on his clothes. “I have only a short time to catch the assassin and prevent more deaths. And I will, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Neither of them voiced the fear that it might be. Sano turned to Reiko and held her close. “Besides, if I don’t, I’ll just worry and be miserable. That’s not how you want me to spend the last two days of my life, is it?” He said gently, “I’ll come back soon. I promise.”

Reiko had let him go, because even though she was hurt that he wouldn’t stay with her, she didn’t want to deny Sano the chance to spend his precious time as he chose. She’d decided that she should go about her own business rather than fret about a fate that she was helpless to change.

Now her procession halted in the fog outside Magistrate Ueda’s estate. She stepped from her palanquin and hurried in the gate, through the courtyard, which was empty at this early hour. She entered the mansion, where she found her father seated at his desk in his office. A messenger knelt before him. Magistrate Ueda was reading a scroll that the messenger had apparently just brought. He frowned, wrote a quick note, and handed it to the messenger, who bowed and left. Magistrate Ueda looked up at Reiko.