Assassin's Touch (32 page)

Lord Matsudaira weighed the arguments for only an instant before saying, “Chamberlain Sano is absolutely correct that catching the Ghost should have high priority.” Hoshina’s face fell. “But Police Commissioner Hoshina is also correct that we can’t let security lapse in order to chase one of many criminals,” Lord Matsudaira continued. “Take the troops off the search and send them back to their regular duties, Chamberlain Sano. Do the best you can without them. And remember that I’m counting on you.”

Hoshina grinned, recognizing that this decision promised failure for Sano and more advantage for himself. Sano saw that there was no use arguing further with Lord Matsudaira. Only one person could override him now.

“Your Excellency,” Sano said, “this issue is so important that perhaps you would like to settle it instead of leaving it to us. You said you thought it was a good idea to have the troops search for the Ghost. If that’s your opinion, you can make it an order, and it will be done.”

The shogun looked alarmed to be put on the spot, yet gratified by the thought of his own power. Lord Matsudaira and Hoshina glared at Sano. Yoritomo leaned close to the shogun to whisper in his ear.

“A certain person had better keep out of this,” Lord Matsudaira announced in a quiet tone replete with menace. “Or else there may be a fatal accident to a certain other person on a certain distant island .”

Yoritomo sat back and bowed his head at the threat to his exiled father.

“Well? What do you say?” Lord Matsudaira asked the shogun. “Will you follow Chamberlain Sano’s advice or mine?”

Bereft of the support he needed to stand by his opinion, the shogun wilted. “Yours, Cousin,” he murmured, avoiding Sano’s gaze.

Sano accepted defeat with a frustration he could barely conceal. Hoshina relaxed. Lord Matsudaira said, “Before you leave, Honorable Chamberlain, I have one other problem to discuss with you. I hear that you’ve been absent from your office these past few days. Quite a few officials have mentioned that you’re never available to meet with them, you don’t answer your correspondence, and you’re letting your staff handle business they’re not qualified to handle.”

Sano turned on Hoshina. The police commissioner must have put his new friends up to informing Lord Matsudaira. Hoshina shrugged and smirked.

“You seem to think that the duties of second-in-command over the nation are beneath you,” Lord Matsudaira told Sano. “Unless you change your attitude, His Excellency may be forced to replace you, as quite a few of his officials have recommended. Is that understood?”

Stifling his anger, Sano said, “Yes, Lord Matsudaira.” He shot a venomous look at Hoshina, who sat gloating and eager to inherit his post. If he lived, Sano resolved, he would find a way to rid himself of this enemy, no matter how little he liked political warfare.

“It’s time to adjourn this meeting,” Lord Matsudaira told the shogun.

“This meeting is adjourned,” the shogun said.

“What do we do now?” Marume asked Sano as they walked through the palace garden.

“We mobilize the army and go out and hunt down the Ghost,” Sano said.

No matter that Lord Matsudaira had forbidden him to use the troops for the search; Sano reasoned that he was damned no matter what he did. If he neglected his job, disobeyed orders, or failed to catch the Ghost, the result would be the same: He would lose his post, whether to Hoshina or somebody else. He would be banished or executed, leaving Reiko and Masahiro in dire peril. He might as well finish the investigation.

Especially since it could be his last.

Sano and the detectives headed down the passage to fetch their horses at his compound. If he was going to die tomorrow, at least he would spend today doing the work he was meant to do, serving honor in the best way he could. He would deliver Kobori to justice and have his revenge if it was the last thing he did.

“Honorable Chamberlain Sano!”

Sano turned, and saw Captain Nakai hurrying toward him. He groaned inwardly. Although the last person he wanted to see now was Nakai, he resolved to be gracious after what Nakai had suffered on his account.

“Greetings,” Nakai said as he joined Sano and they walked together. His metal helmet and armor tunic gleamed in the sunlight; he looked the picture of a perfect samurai. “I hope all is well with you?

“Quite. And you?” Sano said courteously.

“Not bad,” Nakai replied with determined cheerfulness.

It occurred to Sano that when a man expected to die soon, he should make amends to people he’d hurt. He quickened his pace, leading Nakai ahead of the detectives, so they could talk privately. He said, “Captain Nakai, I want to apologize for suspecting you of the murders. I’m sorry you were accused and humiliated in front of the shogun and Lord Matsudaira. Please forgive me.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Nakai said. “It’s water under the bridge. No hard feelings.” He smiled and clapped Sano on the shoulder. “Besides, I’ve begun to think it was a blessing in disguise. After all, it gave me the privilege of making your acquaintance.”

Sano saw that Captain Nakai now viewed him as a person who could help further his ambitions. “My acquaintance may not be as much of a blessing as you wish,” Sano said. He might not be around long enough to hand out any promotions, even if he was still alive tomorrow.

Nakai laughed as though Sano had made a joke. “You’re too modest, Honorable Chamberlain.” He obviously didn’t know about Sano’s precarious position. “By the way, how is your investigation going? Have you found out who the Ghost is?”

“Yes,” Sano said, tolerating this chat, but walking faster to end it soon. “His name is Kobori. He was once employed by the former chamberlain. There’s a citywide manhunt going on for him as we speak.”

“Kobori?” Captain Nakai stopped in his tracks. A stupefied look came over his face. “That’s who it was,” he muttered to himself. His strong features had gone slack with amazement.

“What’s the matter?” Sano was so puzzled by this odd reaction that he also halted.

“You said that Kobori is the Ghost? And you’re trying to find him?” Nakai’s tone was breathless; he seemed frantic to verify what he’d heard. When Sano nodded, Nakai whispered, “Merciful gods. I saw him.”

“You did?” It was Sano’s turn to be amazed. He stared at Nakai; so did Detectives Marume and Fukida, who’d caught up with them. “When? Where?”

“This morning,” Nakai said. “On the street, in town.”

Sano thought to wonder if Nakai was making up a story in order to curry favor. Yet his words had the ring of honesty. “How did you recognize Kobori?” Sano demanded even as wild hope surged within his heart.

“I used to know him,” Nakai said. “Remember I told you that I have family connections with Yanagisawa? My cousin was his weapons master. He was killed in the battle. I used to visit him at Yanagisawa’s compound. I thought he might help my career, seeing as he was close to the chamberlain. Sometimes he introduced me to people who happened to be around. One of them was Kobori.”

Captain Nakai smiled with the air of a man who has just solved a mystery that had been puzzling him. “When I saw Kobori today, I couldn’t remember who he was or where I’d seen him before. We’d only met once, years ago. But when you said his name, I suddenly knew.”

This sounded not unreasonable, but Sano had a hard time believing that Kobori, subject of a massive search, was just walking about town, where a passing acquaintance had stumbled onto him. “How did you happen to spot Kobori?”

“I was just riding along, minding my own business,” Nakai said. “I’d heard that Lord Matsudaira planned to go into town this morning, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk to him. You see, I knew I’d made a bad impression on him at the meeting the other day, and I wanted to show myself in a better light. So I followed him and his entourage.”

Sano pictured Nakai tagging after Lord Matsudaira, still desperate for a promotion and more foolhardy than ever. Momentary gloom clouded Nakai’s face. “Well, his bodyguards told me to get lost or they’d beat me up. So I turned around to ride back to the castle, and that’s when I saw Kobori. He was standing beside the road, in a crowd of people who were waiting for Lord Matsudaira to pass.”

Shock emptied the breath from Sano as he realized that the Ghost had been stalking Lord Matsudaira while Sano had been combing the streets around the Jade Pavilion in search of him. “Where exactly did you see Kobori?”

“On the main avenue.”

“Did you speak to him?”

“No. I waved to him, but he didn’t see me. He walked away.”

“I don’t suppose you know where he went,” Sano said. One sighting put him no closer to catching the Ghost. Kobori could have gone anywhere in the city during the half a day since Nakai had seen him.

Captain Nakai raised his finger and beamed. “Oh, but I do. I wanted to figure out who he was, and I thought that another, closer look might jog my memory. Besides, there was nothing better to occupy my time. So I rode after Kobori. He went to a house. A girl let him in.”

Sano experienced a second, even more profound shock as he comprehended what Nakai had seen: the Ghost going to ground in his lair, which he shared with a girl who had to be Yugao. A malcontent’s aimless rambling about town had produced better results than many a focused, diligent inquiry. Sano shook his head in wonder at the mysterious permutations of fate. That his original prime suspect should turn up with the clue that would lead him to the murderer!

“Where is this house?” Sano said, gripped by excitement at the thought that he was on the brink of capturing Kobori.

Nakai started to answer, then abruptly closed his mouth. His eyes gleamed with cunning as he realized that he had knowledge crucial to Sano. “If I tell you where the house is, you have to give me something in return. I want a promotion to the rank of colonel and a stipend twice as large as I’m getting now.” He swelled with rash, greedy exuberance. “And I want a post in your retinue.”

Incredulous, scornful laughter burst from Marume and Fukida. “You have a lot of nerve,” Marume told Nakai.

“You should be ashamed of trying to extort favors from the chamberlain,” Fukida said.

Sano was offended by Nakai’s crassness, but he desperately needed the information, and he owed Nakai a favor. Even though Nakai had his character flaws, Sano wouldn’t begrudge him a place in his retinue. He could do much worse than a man capable of single-handedly killing forty-eight enemy troops in battle.

“Very well,” Sano said. “I’ll get you your official promotion and increase your stipend when I have time. But as of this very moment, you’re mine to command, and I order you to tell me where that house is.”

“Thank you, Honorable Chamberlain!” Breathless and ecstatic, Nakai bowed. He didn’t notice the dark looks that Marume and Fukida gave him. He gazed at Sano with a combination of possessiveness, reverence, and eagerness to please. “I can do better than tell you where the Ghost is hiding. I’ll lead you there myself.”

29

An old woman, dressed in a torn, dirty cotton kimono and a battered wicker hat, swept the back alley that ran between two rows of mansions in the Nihonbashi merchant district. With her body hunched as if from decades of spine-breaking work, she crept along. Her broom gathered up vegetable peelings spilled from waste containers and debris blown in by the wind. Her feet in straw sandals shuffled through puddles of water that dripped from laundry hung on lines stretched across balconies and leaked from night soil bins. Servants came and went through the mansions’ back gates, but they paid no attention to her. Street-cleaners were virtually invisible to citizens higher on the social scale.

Reiko peered out from under the hat that hid her face, watching for Tama. She’d been cleaning this alley for two hours, moving back and forth, sweeping the same debris into her dustpan then scattering it, but Tama had yet to return from the fish market. The sky faded and shadows immersed the alley as twilight approached.

When she’d left the mansion earlier, Reiko had been certain not only that Tama was hiding the couple, but that the girl must eventually take them more food. Reiko believed that Yugao hadn’t wanted her to talk to Tama because Tama would tell her about Yugao’s relationship with Kobori. She’d stationed some of her guards near the mansion, then outfitted herself as a street-cleaner and returned to the alley on foot, her remaining escorts trailing her at a distance. The guards who’d stayed to wait for her had pretended not to know her, but had covertly shaken their heads to indicate that Tama still hadn’t shown up. Now Reiko’s back ached from stooping. She was tired of foul odors, and she’d memorized every radish peel and crumb she’d collected. A stray dog wandered into the alley, sniffed the garbage containers, then squatted and defecated. Reiko wrinkled her nose at the foul dung as she hobbled past it and hoped Tama would soon appear. The alley resounded with the noise of maids preparing dinner and chattering among themselves. Smoke infused with the savory odors of garlic and soy sauce wafted over Reiko. Her stomach growled with hunger. She’d reached one end of the alley and turned to begin another monotonous sweep, when she saw Tama walking toward her from the opposite end, followed by a porter laden with a covered wooden bucket. Reiko’s spirits soared as high as the moon that shone in the sky over the alley. As Tama and the porter entered the gate, Reiko kept her head down, sweeping industriously, warning herself that she might have a long wait for Tama to lead her to the fugitives.

But soon the gate opened and Tama slipped out. She wore a cloak and carried a bundle tied at the corners. She scurried down the alley, casting a furtive look toward the house she’d just left. She passed Reiko without noticing her.

Reiko shouldered her broom, picked up her dustpan, and followed Tama. Outside the alley, the district was filled with townspeople hurrying to get home before dark. Merchants hauled sliding doors closed across their storefronts. Soldiers on night patrol populated the streets. Reiko darted through the crowds, straining not to lose sight of Tama’s small, quick figure. She glanced around for her escorts.

“We’re right behind you,” Lieutenant Asukai murmured.