Laura Rowland - The Assassin's Touch

Suddenly Tama vanished from sight. Reiko hurried forward, anxious because she thought she’d lost the girl. Then she saw a trail that led off the road, cut through the forest, and snaked uphill. She heard Tama panting and stumbling in the distance. Lieutenant Asukai and her four other guards stole with her up the trail. It grew steeper, and although its surface had been smoothed by human labor, fallen branches hindered them. The darkness was almost complete here, and they walked cautiously, but Tama made so much noise that Reiko doubted she would hear them. They emerged from the forest, into open space lit by the sky’s dim glow. Pausing, Reiko saw that the trail skirted a valley. Brush-covered slopes fell sharply away to its bottom, where a stream burbled over rocks. Reiko and her guards watched Tama hurry along the trail, which followed the arc that the valley carved through the terrain. Now Reiko spied Tama’s destination.

It was a mansion built on three levels, upon land cleared of trees. The first level had a veranda that extended across the front and jutted over the valley and stream. Thatched roofs rose in multiple, jagged peaks. The mansion wasn’t huge, but it must have been difficult and expensive to build. In daytime it would have a marvelous view of Edo from the balconies on the back, higher levels. Light shone through a window and spilled onto the veranda. Tama toiled up a staircase that climbed the slope toward the mansion. The sound of her footsteps on wooden planks rang loud across the valley.

“What shall we do?” Lieutenant Asukai whispered to Reiko.

“Let’s get closer. We have to find out if Yugao and the Ghost are there.” Reiko must make sure before she told Sano.

She and her guards hastened after Tama, staying close to the trees that bordered the trail. They hid themselves in shrubbery at the foot of the staircase. Tama sped across the veranda, dropped her bundle, and beat her fists on the door. It creaked open. From her vantage point Reiko could see along the veranda, and she had a good view of Tama, but since the front of the house was parallel to her line of sight, she couldn’t see the figure at the threshold.

“It’s about time you got here,” said Yugao’s voice. “I’m starved. What did you bring me to eat?”

Jubilation filled Reiko. She gave a silent prayer of thanks.

Yugao stepped out the door. Tama backed away from her. The light from the house clearly illuminated both women. “Is he here?” Tama asked in a tone breathless from exhaustion and trembling with nerves.

“Who?” Yugao crouched and started untying the bundle.

“That samurai. Jin.”

Yugao went perfectly still, her profile sharp as a blade. A moment passed before she rose, faced Tama, and said, “Yes. He’s here. So what?”

Reiko stifled a breath of elation. She’d found the Ghost.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was with you?” Tama cried, sounding hurt and betrayed.

“I didn’t think it was important,” Yugao said, but a note of caution crept into her voice. “Why does it matter?”

“You know I’m not supposed to let anybody in this house. I told you that if my master and mistress find out I did, I’ll be beaten. You talked me into letting you stay here. That’s dangerous enough. But for you to sneak that awful man in-” A sob interrupted Tama’s words. “I’ll lose my job. I’ll be thrown out on the street with nowhere to go!”

“Don’t worry,” Yugao said. “No one will ever know. You said your master and mistress never come to this house until summer. We’ll be gone before then. I need you to help us for just a little while longer.”

She reached out her hand to Tama in a supplicating gesture, but Tama recoiled. “He’s not the only thing you’ve kept secret from me. You said you ran away from home and you need a place to live. You didn’t tell me you’d escaped from jail!”

Yugao’s hand froze in midair. She carefully lowered it. “I thought it was better not to tell you. That way, if the police caught me with you, they wouldn’t blame you for helping a runaway prisoner because you didn’t know that’s what I am.”

She was lying, Reiko felt certain, despite her reasonable tone. To protect herself and her lover Yugao had deliberately, shamelessly taken advantage of Tama and lied to her.

“Oh?” Tama was weeping, near hysterics; Reiko could see that she didn’t believe Yugao either. “Is that why you didn’t tell me that you murdered your parents and your sister?”

“I didn’t murder them,” Yugao said, quick, defensive, and firm. “I was wrongly accused.”

A dizzying sense of revelation coursed through Reiko. Again she knew Yugao was lying. She was finally certain that Yugao had indeed committed the crime.

Tama regarded Yugao in tearful bewilderment. “But you were arrested. And if you didn’t kill them, then who did?”

“It was the warden from the jail,” Yugao said. “He broke into our house while we were asleep. He stabbed my father, then my mother and Umeko. I saw him. He had to run away before he got caught, or he would have killed me, too.”

Reiko was amazed at the way Yugao’s falsehoods showed the truth more clearly than her confession had. Reiko might never learn the reason behind the crimes, but she knew Yugao was the murderess she’d claimed to be all along.

“I was arrested because I was there and I was alive,” Yugao continued. “The police didn’t bother investigating the murders because I’m a hinin. It was convenient to pin the murders on me. But I’m innocent.” Now her voice took on a pleading tone; she laid her hand over her heart, then reached it out to Tama. “You’ve known me since we were children. You know I would never do such a thing. I couldn’t tell you before because I was too upset. You’re my best friend. Don’t you believe me?”

Even as Reiko silently scoffed at the act that Yugao was putting on, Tama flung her arms around Yugao and wept. “Of course I do. Oh, Yugao, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through!” They hugged each other. Tama’s back was toward Reiko. The girl couldn’t see Yugao’s face, but Reiko had a good view of her sly, smug expression.

“I’m sorry I was so distrustful,” Tama babbled. “I should have known you could never hurt your parents or your sister no matter how they treated you. When the magistrate’s daughter said you killed them, I shouldn’t have believed her.”

“The magistrate’s daughter?” Yugao asked in surprise and consternation. She withdrew from Tama. “It was Lady Reiko who told you about the murders?”

“Yes. She came to see me yesterday,” Tama said. “She asked if I knew where you are.”

“Did you tell her you’d seen me?” Yugao demanded.

“No.” Frightened and nervous now, Tama said, “I told her we hadn’t seen each other in years.”

Yugao stepped closer to Tama, who faltered backward against the veranda railing. “What else did you tell Lady Reiko?”

“Nothing.”

But Tama’s voice quavered; she looked everywhere except at Yugao. She was a terrible liar. Yugao clamped her hands around Tama’s upper arms, gazed down into the valley, and Reiko perceived her thoughts as easily as if she’d spoken them. Tama was too weak and guileless to stand up to more questions about Yugao. Therefore, she was a danger to Yugao, and Kobori, no matter that they needed Tama to feed and shelter them. One quick heave over the railing, and Tama could never lead their enemies to them.

Get out of there! Reiko wanted to shout at Tama. She’s going to kill you! Yet for Reiko to warn Tama would make Yugao aware of her presence. She couldn’t let Yugao know she’d found her hiding place and give her and Kobori a chance to escape.

Yugao hesitated, then let go of Tama. Once again Reiko knew what she was thinking: The fall might not kill Tama; the bushes on the slope might save her. Knowing that Yugao had tried to murder her, Tama would run away; she might even report Yugao to the police. And then where would Yugao and Kobori go? Reiko sighed in relief.