Laura Joh Rowland - Sano Ichiro 07 - Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria

by Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria(lit)

  Yesterday, after we'd finished and were lying together in the moonlight, he whispered: "When winter comes to Hokkaido, the snow piles up in deep drifts that almost bury the houses."

  He ran his hand along my hip. "Your body is as white and pure and beautiful as those snowdrifts. I wish I could show them to you. How would you like to see Hokkaido?"

  My heart filled with joy, because I knew he was asking me to go away with him.

  "In Hokkaido you'll be my wife," he said. "You'll never come back to this place of shame and suffering."

  "But you can't afford to buy my freedom," I said. "And there's no escape from Yoshiwara."

  "Love will find a way," he said, and he smiled.

  Tonight is the night. All our plans are made. I will put the sleeping potion in Lord Mitsuyoshi's wine. After he's asleep, I will steal outside to my beloved. We will flee Yoshiwara forever. I know this is a dangerous undertaking. But he's clever. He has friends to help us. There's a man who owns a teahouse in Suruga. He'll let us stay there until I can buy new clothes and my beloved gets money and provisions for the journey. If the teahouse turns out to be unsafe, there's a noodle shop in Fukagawa that will take us in. But we won't stay around Edo for long. Soon we'll be on the northern highway, bound for the snows of Hokkaido.

  I tremble with excitement.

  How can I bear to wait the long hours until night, when my beloved will come for me?

  Ah, freedom!

  The excerpt from the pillow book lay in Sano's office, on the desk where Sano, Reiko, and Hirata had placed it after reading Lady Wisteria's story. They sat in silence, looking expectantly at each other.

  "This could be the key to finding Lady Wisteria and solving the case," Sano said as his hope vied with caution.

  "Just when we need it most," Hirata said.

  Sano had come home from Yoshiwara late that evening to find Reiko waiting for him. Hirata had arrived moments later, and they'd discussed the other results of their inquiries, which had reached a dead end. Sano had questioned the owner and employees of the Owariya, and they'd confirmed Fujio's story that he'd left the party for only an instant-not long enough to go upstairs, stab Lord Mitsuyoshi, and abduct Wisteria. Detective Fukida had turned up witnesses who'd seen Treasury Minister Nitta on the street in Yoshiwara, but none besides Fujio who could place Nitta near the Owariya after he'd left the party. Detective Marume had learned that Nitta was patron to many courtesans besides Wisteria. Sano had searched Fujio's home in Imado and found nothing. He and Hirata had reluctantly agreed that they couldn't pursue the leads on Lord Mitsuyoshi's enemies without angering the shogun. And since Reiko's efforts had failed to produce clues, the discovery of the pillow book was a welcome development.

  "It seems almost too good to be true," Reiko said, voicing the thought on everyone's mind. "And we've encountered false clues in the past."

  "I did think it was too coincidental that I ran into Gorobei and he happened to have the pages," Hirata said. "But after I bought them, I showed them to people at Wisteria's brothel. They thought the pages resembled what they'd seen in her book, but she was careful to keep anyone from getting a close look at it. Besides, most of the courtesans there can't read. Nor can any of the servants. They wouldn't recognize the text. But there's no reason to believe the pages aren't from Wisteria's book."

  He spoke as if trying to convince himself in spite of the lack of proof, and Sano guessed why Hirata wanted so much for his clue to be genuine. They'd not yet talked about the miai, but Hirata's careworn face told Sano that the marriage negotiations had gone wrong. Hirata must be anxious to make up for taking time off from his duties, and to succeed at his work even in the midst of a personal crisis.

  Reiko held a page closer to the lantern, examining it carefully. "The language is simple. The calligraphy is crude. And look at all the crossed-out mistakes. This is what one would expect of a peasant woman who'd learned a little reading and writing but had no formal education."

  Sano heard uncertainty in her voice. In the past Reiko had been quick to make up her own mind, and he realized how much self-doubt the Black Lotus case had instilled her. During that investigation he'd battled her convictions and wanted her to yield to his; yet he now regretted that she was deferring to his judgment at a time when he needed an independent opinion. Sano wished he could be sure of the pillow book's authenticity, for he had his own doubts about it.

  "Would you please read a page aloud?" he said to Reiko.

  She complied. Sano listened, frowning because what he'd noticed while reading the words grew more apparent upon hearing them. They didn't sound like Wisteria, though he couldn't define exactly why not.

  Reiko ceased reading. "What is it?" she said, looking curiously at Sano.

  What he'd omitted telling Reiko about the case now enmeshed him in a thickening tangle of deceit. He couldn't voice his concerns about the pillow book without admitting he'd known Wisteria. If he did admit he'd known the courtesan, Reiko would ask why he hadn't said so before. And if she learned the reason now, his evasiveness would hurt her more than honesty would have at the start.

  "It's too bad the pages came without the cover," he said. "That would have been easily recognized by people who'd seen Lady Wisteria's pillow book."

  Reiko wore a quizzical expression that told him she knew he hadn't said what he was really thinking and wondered why. But she didn't ask. Sano saw Hirata watching him. Hirata had known about Sano's relationship with Wisteria since Sano had told him on the way home from Yoshiwara that first day, and Sano was glad he could trust Hirata to keep the secret, even from Reiko.

  "I searched for the cover," Hirata said, "but the garbage had been taken away and burned, and the alley swept clean. If the cover was ever there, it's gone now."

  "That brings us to the question of why the pages were in the alley," Sano said.

  "Wisteria could have thrown them away," said Hirata. "Maybe she didn't need to write anymore because she was starting a new life. But she didn't want anyone to read her private thoughts, so she tore up the book, then put the pages in the garbage as she and her lover were leaving the Owariya."

  "But she was a runaway courtesan," Reiko said, "and she would know her master would look for her." Brothel proprietors hired searchers to track down fugitives, and added the cost of the search to the debt of women who got caught. "Why would she leave clues to where she planned to go? Why not take the book with her, or burn it?"

  "Maybe she wasn't smart enough to think of that," Hirata said.

  "The book could be a fake, with misleading details about her lover and her plans, that she put in the alley, to thwart anyone looking for her," Reiko said.

  Hirata defended his find: "Maybe she just didn't think anyone would care enough about getting her back that they would bother looking for her pillow book."

  "Probably no one would have cared that much, if Wisteria hadn't left Lord Mitsuyoshi dead in her room." Sano followed this line of reasoning to a thought that disturbed him. "What if she didn't know he'd died? That would explain why she carelessly tossed away the pages-if indeed she did. Maybe she'd already left Yoshiwara by the time Mitsuyoshi was stabbed. Certainly, there's nothing in the pillow book to indicate that she witnessed the murder."

  Reiko and Hirata's somber silence acknowledged the possibility that he was right.

  Sano picked up the pages, then set them down. "In that case, these would do us no good, even if they're for real, because finding Wisteria won't help us identify the killer."

  The house was so quiet that they could hear the coals in the braziers crumbling into ash. The lantern's flame flickered as the oil burned low. Yet Sano needed to keep hope alive.

  "Still, I believe Lady Wisteria was in some way involved with the murder and does have knowledge that's critical to our investigation," he said. "The pillow book could be a genuine clue to her whereabouts. We'll treat it as such, while we try to verify whether it is or isn't.

  "Hirata-san, tomorrow I want you to check ou
t the Suruga teahouses and the noodle shops of Fukagawa. Also, send out a notice to the neighborhood headmen throughout Edo, ordering them to report any men from Hokkaido seen in their areas. I'll send search parties out on the northern highway to look for a traveling couple, in case Wisteria and her lover have already left town."

  "Shall I find out if any of the women I know have heard anything about Wisteria's secret lover from Hokkaido?" Reiko said. She looked chastened by her failure to learn anything today, and eager for a second chance.

  "That's a good idea," Sano said. "The lover is a potential witness, and his name, or even a description of him, would help us find him and Wisteria."

  Nodding, Reiko smiled in thanks.

  "We'll keep the pages a secret," Sano said. "Police Commissioner Hoshina is shadowing every bit of ground I cover, interrogating the same people. The pillow book is the one clue we have that won't fall into his hands."

  Sano rose, adding in grim conclusion, "It could also be our only hope of beating him to the solution to the case before he sabotages us."

  13

  Chamberlain Yanagisawa's estate was isolated in a separate compound in Edo Castle, high on the hill and near the palace. Around this fortress within a fortress, spikes protruded from the top of the stone wall to discourage trespassers, and the cold, clear night vibrated with the alertness of many guards at the gates, perched on the roofs of the buildings, and hidden in the grounds. The mansion they protected was a maze of interconnected wings, with soldiers' barracks surrounding principal retainers' quarters. At the center lay the private domain of the chamberlain.

  Here, Police Commissioner Hoshina stood at the threshold of the bedchamber. The doorway framed a view of Yanagisawa, who reclined on cushions inside, his elegant profile outlined by the lantern-light. With his silk kimono, trousers, and surcoat arranged in still, lustrous folds, he looked as perfectly composed as a painting. Deep in thought, he didn't appear aware that Hoshina had come. Yet Hoshina knew Yanagisawa had heard the alarm given by the nightingale walk-the specially constructed floor that emitted loud chirps under approaching footsteps. Yanagisawa knew whose arrival the alarm signaled, because Hoshina was the only person welcome in his bedchamber.

  But their relations had been strained since the murder of Lord Mitsuyoshi, and Hoshina hesitated, wondering whether to interrupt Yanagisawa's reverie.

  Then Yanagisawa lifted a silver tobacco pipe to his lips. He exhaled smoke, and turned toward Hoshina. As their gazes met, Hoshina felt his heartbeat quicken and his senses come alive, as they always did when he was with Yanagisawa, even after two years together. But Yanagisawa wore an air of abstracted calm; he merely gestured for Hoshina to join him.

  "I looked for you earlier," Hoshina said, entering the room and kneeling near Yanagisawa.

  "I had business to attend to," Yanagisawa said.

  That he didn't say where he'd been irked Hoshina. Although Hoshina accepted that he was accountable to Yanagisawa while the chamberlain owed him no explanations, Hoshina often found his subordinate status difficult to bear. His passionate love for Yanagisawa only worsened the damage to his pride and the hurt caused him by Yanagisawa's cool greeting.

  Nonetheless eager to please his master, Hoshina said, "I spent the day investigating the murder, and I've turned up some interesting facts. Treasury Minister Nitta has implicated a hokan named Fujio. Unfortunately, Sano got to Fujio before I did. But what Sano doesn't know is that one of my spies-a maid at the Owariya-saw Fujio on the stairway just before the murder was discovered. She saved the information for me."

  The chamberlain nodded as if he'd not really listened, his expression inscrutable. During their affair, Yanagisawa had been generous about sharing his money, his authority, and his bed with Hoshina; yet sometimes he became aloof and taciturn. Hoshina never knew when these moods would occur, or what caused them. He suspected that his lover adopted the moods to keep him at a distance, because a man so powerful yet so insecure as Yanagisawa didn't like anyone to get too close.

  "Nor does Sano have the facts that my other spies have uncovered about Treasury Minister Nitta and Lady Wisteria's chaperone." Hoshina heard himself speaking louder to bridge the distance between him and Yanagisawa. "When Nitta left Yoshiwara the night of the murder, he didn't go straight home. He rode a short distance with his entourage, then returned alone to the quarter and bribed the guards to let him back in. The guards didn't tell Hirata when he interviewed them, because he only asked whether they'd let Nitta out, and they're in my pay. Nitta could have sneaked back inside the Owariya and stabbed Lord Mitsuyoshi."

  Instead of replying, Yanagisawa gazed into space, smoking his pipe. Hoshina wondered whether the mood indicated boredom with their affair. Was he about to become one of Yanagisawa's many cast-off paramours? Hoshina experienced a pang of dismay, because his career, as well as his happiness, depended on Yanagisawa.

  "And Mitsuyoshi had been carrying on a flirtation with the yarite." Hoshina, aware that he'd begun nervously clenching and unclenching his muscles, stilled himself. "It seems that he promised to take Momoko as his concubine. He liked to toy with people, but the old fool took him seriously, and when she found out he'd been joking, she was furious. So she did know him, and she had good reason to want him dead, which contradicts what she said earlier."

  "So you have incriminating evidence against all three suspects," Yanagisawa said. "That makes one as likely a culprit as any other. Therefore, you're no closer to solving the case than you were yesterday,"

  Praise from his lover always exhilarated Hoshina; criticism like this was torture. As he gazed at Yanagisawa, resentment tinged his desire, because their sexual bond gave Yanagisawa all the more power over him.

  "Sooner or later, my evidence will accumulate and point to the killer," Hoshina defended himself. "Don't you care?"

  "I care as much as the case deserves," Yanagisawa said.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Hoshina demanded, stung by his lover's indifference. That they'd often exchanged private confidences seemed forgotten now; Yanagisawa was deliberately shutting Hoshina out. Hoshina rose, unable to sit still any longer. "Are you saying that the murder of the shogun's heir doesn't matter to you? That you don't care whether the killer is caught? After I've been chasing clues and witnesses for the past two days?"

  He saw a warning gleam in Yanagisawa's eyes, but plunged recklessly ahead: "Or don't you care whether it's Sano or I who solves the case?"

  Yanagisawa tilted his head, regarding Hoshina with detachment. "Why are you so angry at me?"

  "I'm not angry." Turning away, Hoshina took a deep breath, swallowing his emotions. "Just confused. I expected you to take my side in the meeting with Sano and the shogun. But you left me flapping in the wind like a flag on the back of a soldier who rides into battle thinking he's leading a charge, while his army sits on the sidelines. Why didn't you join my attack on Sano?"

  Whining like a petulant woman was no way to retain Yanagisawa's interest or respect; but Hoshina couldn't help himself. He heard the rustle of silk as Yanagisawa came to stand behind him. Their closeness increased his agitation.

  "I'm sorry if you feel hurt because you think I deserted you," Yanagisawa said, "but remember that I'm the one who leads the charges. If you dash off on your own, don't expect me to follow. That was the wrong time to expose your rivalry with Sano. My silence should have made that obvious to you. If you're disappointed by the results of your actions, that's what you deserve."

  The rebuke struck fear into Hoshina, for he had much more to lose than Yanagisawa's affection. The chamberlain had ruined men unwise enough to cross him, and those banished, executed, or assassinated included former partners. Though their affair had begun with mutual expectations of true, eternal love, and Yanagisawa had at first seemed happier and more tolerant than before, Hoshina knew old habits died hard.

  "I don't understand your objections," Hoshina said, facing Yanagisawa. "I came to Edo to advance my career in the bakufu and prove myself capabl
e of managing the police force." While he enjoyed his privileged status as Yanagisawa's lover, he needed to show he was worthy of his post and hadn't just seduced his way to a high rank. "But Sano is a constant hindrance. How will I demonstrate what I can do, while he and his private army of detectives are always getting the important cases, winning the major victories, and reaping all the shogun's esteem? Don't you want me to succeed in the job you brought me to Edo to do?"

  "I thought you came here to serve me as my chief retainer," Yanagisawa said, and disapproval shadowed his face.