The Fire Kimono

by Laura Joh Rowland

  “Nothing you say can change the fact that my mother didn’t kill Tadatoshi,” Sano said, offended by Colonel Doi’s patently false claim.

  “How can you be so, ahh, certain, when you haven’t even heard his story?” the shogun said. “I order you to listen.” He waved an imperious hand at Doi. “Proceed.”

  Sano had no choice but to shut up and seethe. The evil smile on Lord Matsudaira’s face widened. Doi said, “I was Tadatoshi’s personal bodyguard. I lived in his estate.”

  Here was an ideal witness from those days, but not, unfortunately, with the testimony that Sano had hoped for.

  “So did a young woman named Etsuko. She was sixteen years old at the time,” Doi said, and pointed at Sano’s mother.

  “That’s impossible,” Sano interrupted although the shogun glared at him. “What on earth could she have been doing there?”

  Even as he spoke, doubt crept into his mind. He didn’t know where his mother had lived before she’d married his father. He didn’t actually know anything about her youth, which she never mentioned.

  “She was a lady-in-waiting to the women in Tadatoshi’s household,” Doi said.

  “She couldn’t have been.” About that, Sano was certain. “She comes from a humble family.” Which he’d never met; they’d all died during the Great Fire, before his birth. “Only girls of high rank are allowed to serve a Tokugawa-branch clan.”

  Doi permitted himself a smile that twitched one corner of his mouth. “You have a reputation as a great detective, Honorable Chamberlain, but perhaps you should have used your skills on your own kin. I knew your mother in those days. She belonged to the Kumazawa family. Her father was a respected hereditary Tokugawa vassal. Look in the court records. You’ll find her listed.”

  Too shocked to hide his amazement, Sano turned to his mother. “Is this true?”

  She didn’t answer. Her gaze evaded his. She tugged the sleeves of her robe down over her hands and pulled the collar tight around her throat. Sano’s mind teemed with questions.

  His father had been a rōnin—a masterless samurai—who’d scratched out a living by operating a martial arts academy. His clan hadn’t regained true samurai standing until Sano had been taken into the shogun’s service. If Sano’s mother was really from a Tokugawa vassal clan, then why had she married so far beneath her? Was her family really dead?

  Colonel Doi advanced on Sano’s mother. “You know me, don’t you, Etsuko-san?” He stopped in front of her. His gaze was hard, threatening. “Even though it’s been forty-three years since we last met.”

  As she squinted up at him, her cloudy eyes filled with wonder and fright. Her face blanched; she swayed. Sano put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

  “She recognizes me,” Doi said. The shogun nodded; Lord Matsudaira looked satisfied, as did his friend Lord Arima. “She knows the truth.”

  Sano had always taken his mother for granted, at face value. He was ashamed to realize that even though he loved her, he’d never been interested enough in her to think she’d had a life apart from him. Now she seemed a woman of mystery. The only fact that Sano could be absolutely certain of was that his parents had wed six months after the Great Fire. He’d seen the date written in their family record. What had happened to his mother between then and her stint as a lady-in-waiting in Tadatoshi’s household?

  “She knew Tadatoshi,” Doi said. “She saw him every day while she served his mother and sisters.”

  Sano couldn’t ask his questions even though Doi might very well have the answers. He couldn’t afford to expose more ignorance and put himself at a worse disadvantage with his enemies. And he had business more urgent than dredging up his mother’s hidden past. He had to defend her against Doi’s accusation.

  “Suppose she did know Tadatoshi,” Sano said. “That doesn’t mean she killed him.”

  “That’s not all there is to my story,” Colonel Doi said. “Your mother plotted to kidnap Tadatoshi.”

  More outraged than ever, Sano exclaimed, “That’s ridiculous! She would never have done such a thing.”

  “Perhaps not on her own,” Doi said, “but she didn’t act alone. She had an accomplice. He was Tadatoshi’s tutor, a young Buddhist monk named Egen. They wanted to extort ransom money from Tadatoshi’s father.”

  “How do you know?” Sano said.

  Maybe it’s true, the detective part of his mind whispered. You can’t decide that a suspect is innocent just because you want her to be. And how well do you really know your mother?

  “I overheard Egen and your mother talking,” Doi said. “They said they needed money and Tadatoshi’s father was rich. Your mother said, ‘He’d do anything to save Tadatoshi.’ Egen said, ‘We’ll watch Tadatoshi and wait for the right moment.’”

  The dubiousness of this evidence didn’t ease Sano’s fears for or about his mother. “This conversation took place when?”

  “About a month before Tadatoshi disappeared.”

  “That would be forty-three years ago,” Sano said. “What a memory you have, if you can remember an entire conversation after that long.”

  “My memory is good,” Doi said, refusing to be shaken.

  “Then let’s test your memory a little further. Did you actually hear my mother and this tutor say they were going to kidnap Tadatoshi and collect ransom?”

  “Well, no,” Doi admitted reluctantly. “But that’s what they meant to do.”

  “If so, then why didn’t you stop them?” Sano said. “You were Tadatoshi’s bodyguard. Why did you just twiddle your thumbs and let him be kidnapped?”

  “I didn’t realize what their conversation meant,” Doi said, defensive now. “Not until yesterday, after the skeleton was found. Before then I’d always thought Tadatoshi died in the Great Fire. So did everyone else. But now I know better.”

  “Was there any ransom demand ever made?” Sano said.

  “Well, no, but—”

  “You didn’t hear my mother and the tutor admit they killed Tadatoshi, did you? Because if you did, you’d have taken action against them then.”

  Doi’s testy expression was his answer. “When they kidnapped him, something must have gone wrong and they killed him instead of ransoming him. He was murdered, and she did it.”

  He pointed at Sano’s mother. Lord Matsudaira and Lord Arima nodded judiciously. The shogun followed their example.

  “Those are some pretty big leaps from a vague conversation you heard forty-three years ago to kidnapping to murder,” Sano said disdainfully. The shogun frowned as if vacillating, and Lord Matsudaira started to look wary. “Have you any proof that things happened as you expect us to believe?”

  “I don’t need any.” Doi’s posture stiffened with anger. “I know what I know.”

  “That’s not good enough.” Sano said, “Your Excellency, this man has made up his whole story.”

  “That’s a lie,” Doi declared. “Why would I?”

  Sano couldn’t say, Because you’re Lord Matsudaira’s lackey and it would benefit him if my mother was condemned. For the shogun to learn about their fight for control of the regime would be worse for Sano than for Lord Matsudaira, whose blood ties to the shogun might shield him from execution for treason. He could live to fight another day, but Sano, an outsider, would be put to death.

  Instead Sano said, “Maybe you feel guilty because Tadatoshi died on your watch and you need someone to blame. But I bet you have an even more personal reason for accusing my mother. You killed him, and you’re trying to protect yourself.”

  “I didn’t!” Offense darkened Doi’s face. “I was loyal to Tadatoshi. I would never have touched him!”

  “My findings indicated that Tadatoshi was hacked to death with a sword. Does my mother look capable of that? It sounds more in your line.”

  Doi tightened his features, masking alarm. The shogun said timidly, “Sano-san has a good point.”

  “Sano-san is just trying to save his mother,” Lord Matsudaira said. “Don’t listen t
o him. She killed Tadatoshi. She deserves to be condemned.”

  “Not on such flimsy evidence from a man who looks to be an even better suspect,” Sano said.

  “I’ll vouch for Colonel Doi’s truthfulness, Honorable Cousin,” Lord Matsudaira said with a narrow-eyed glare at Sano. “I advise you to execute this woman at once. Furthermore, the murder of your relative constitutes treason. By law, her whole family should share her punishment. That includes her son—Chamberlain Sano.”

  Sano’s men, who’d been listening in appalled silence, stepped forward to protect him. Lord Matsudaira’s men surged at them. Sano was sick and tired of being threatened with death during investigations. He swore a private oath that this was the last time Lord Matsudaira would ever put him in that position. But first he had to get out of this mess.

  “Don’t let your cousin or his flunky manipulate you, Your Excellency,” Sano said. “Don’t let me, either. Use your own judgment. Look at my mother. Does she seem guilty to you?”

  “Well, ahh—” The shogun walked around her, inspecting her from all angles. She huddled, forlorn and passive. “I must say she looks like a nice, harmless old lady.”

  Lord Matsudaira started to speak, but Sano said, “Would you want your mother condemned to death based on forty-three-year-old hearsay?”

  Everyone knew the shogun was devoted to his own mother. Stricken, he said, “Certainly not. Perhaps I’ve made a mistake.”

  He spoke as if that were something new. Sano dared to think his mother was safe. So did Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi, judging by their sour expressions. But the shogun said, “Sano-san, forgive me if I mistreated your mother, but I’m taking very seriously the, ahh, charges against her. You may continue your investigation, but if you don’t exonerate her, I will be forced to execute you both.”

  “Don’t forget his wife, his children, and all his close associates,” Lord Matsudaira said, brightening. “In the meantime, I’ll take his mother to await her fate in Edo Jail.”

  Sano was alarmed at the thought of her in that hellhole. “She belongs to a samurai clan. That entitles her to house arrest instead of jail. With your permission, Your Excellency, I’ll take her to my estate.”

  “Granted,” the shogun said.

  Sano gently raised his mother. “It’s all right, Mother, you’re coming home with me.”

  She leaned against him as he walked her toward the door. Colonel Doi watched, his eyes calculating losses and strategies, like a commander on a battlefield. She didn’t look at him or anyone else. Sano couldn’t begin to think how to exonerate her. His first concern was her health.

  “Don’t let her get too comfortable at your estate,” Lord Matsudaira said, confident that although he’d lost this battle with Sano, he would win their war. “She won’t be staying there long. And neither will you.”

  “Excuse me, Lady Reiko?” said Lieutenant Asukai. He hovered in the door of her chamber.

  “Yes?” Reiko knelt at her dressing table, where she’d just finished applying her makeup. “What is it?”

  Asukai’s expression was somber. “Bad news, I’m afraid.”

  Reiko glanced at the open wall partitions. In adjacent rooms, Masahiro recited a lesson to his tutor, and Akiko teased the maids while they swept the floor. Reiko pointed to the children and put her finger to her lips as she beckoned Asukai to enter.

  “One of my informants has told me that Lord Matsudaira has a spy planted in this house,” he whispered.

  The news didn’t exactly surprise Reiko. She knew that Sano had spies in the Matsudaira house, people who worked there but were also secretly in Sano’s pay. Why shouldn’t Lord Matsudaira have done the same? But Reiko was dismayed nonetheless.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry to say I have no idea. My informant doesn’t know.” Asukai added, “But it’s someone who has free run of Chamberlain Sano’s domain.”

  Matters were worse than Reiko had initially thought. She didn’t like the idea of anyone snooping and eavesdropping in her house, but this spy was apparently someone she and Sano trusted, who had easy access to them, their business, and their family. And Lord Matsudaira might turn his spy to other, more dangerous purposes.

  “Try to find out who it is,” Reiko said. “In the meantime, I’d better tell my husband what you’ve learned.”

  No sooner had Asukai left than Reiko heard a commotion of quick footsteps and loud voices from the women’s quarters. Fearing that something else was wrong, she hurried to see what was happening.

  Reiko entered the women’s quarters to find Sano carrying an old woman down the hall. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Who—?”

  The woman lay limp in Sano’s arms, her complexion sickly pale. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed oblivious to the world. Then Reiko recognized her. “Honorable Mother-in-law,” Reiko said in surprise, then turned to Sano. “What is she doing here? Is something wrong?”

  Her relationship with Sano’s mother was cordial but not close. As a new bride Reiko had tried to befriend her mother-in-law, who always seemed nervous around her. The old woman had endured rather than warmed under Reiko’s attentions, and they didn’t have much to say to each other. Sano’s mother had never spent a night in this house during his marriage, and she seldom visited.

  “My mother has been accused of the murder of Tokugawa Tadatoshi and placed under house arrest,” Sano said. He looked more stunned than Reiko had ever seen him.

  “What?” Reiko said. “How can that be?”

  She gazed in bewilderment at her mother-in-law, the most harmless person she knew. She felt as if the world had turned upside down.

  Sano called to the servants who loitered in doorways: “My mother will be staying here. Prepare a bed for her. And fetch her maid.”

  He carried her into a guest chamber. Reiko followed. The servants hurried to obey his orders. He gently laid her on the futon that they spread on the floor. Hana rushed in and took charge. Sano and Reiko stepped out to the corridor while Hana got the old woman settled. There Sano described how his mother had been dragged out of her house and brought before the shogun, how Colonel Doi had told his incriminating story about her. Reiko listened in shock.

  “Who is this Colonel Doi, and why is everybody taking his accusation seriously?” she asked.

  “He’s a big man in Lord Matsudaira’s army,” Sano replied.

  “I should have guessed,” Reiko said. “Lord Matsudaira is behind everything bad that happens.” She remembered the matter that had been foremost in her mind just moments ago. “I know you don’t need more problems, but there’s something I must tell you that can’t wait. My bodyguard has discovered that Lord Matsudaira has a spy in our house.”

  Sano lifted his eyes skyward, simultaneously alarmed, vexed, and overwhelmed. “You’re right, I didn’t need that now. But thank you for alerting me. I’ll mount a search for the spy as soon as I have a free moment.”

  Reiko said, “Planting a spy in our midst is bad enough, but now Lord Matsudaira has attacked your poor, helpless mother. This is preposterous! Of course she didn’t kill that boy.”

  “Of course.” But Sano’s expression was grave, conflicted.

  “You can’t think there’s any chance she did it?” Amazement filled Reiko.

  Sano’s frown deepened. “I really don’t know what to think.” He expelled a deep breath. “It seems I don’t really know my mother. She led me to believe she was a peasant, but I just now learned that she’s from a Tokugawa vassal clan.”

  As Sano related how this fact had come out, Reiko shook her head. That her meek, shy mother-in-law had a secret past!

  But as Reiko recovered from her initial shock, she wasn’t really surprised. She remembered things about Sano’s mother that had never fit her persona. Her manners had the effortless grace of a lady. Her speech was more refined than a typical commoner’s. Although she dressed plainly, her clothes had an elegance that had less to do with expensive fabric and the latest fashion
than with the wearer’s style. Sano wouldn’t have noticed such things; men seldom did. Reiko hadn’t told Sano because she hadn’t thought it important enough and he would have scoffed at the idea that his mother was someone other than she seemed. But the revelation about his mother explained a lot.

  “How did her life turn out the way it did?” Reiko asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s one question I mean to ask her.” Sano’s expression was stony with hurt because his mother had deceived him, and grim because he now must contend with her troubles as well as his own. “And believe me, I have plenty of others. I have to determine who really killed Tadatoshi, and at the moment she’s my only source of clues.”

  He turned toward the guest room. “She should be settled by now.”

  “Shall I come with you?” Reiko asked, filled with curiosity.

  “No,” Sano said. “I’d rather talk to her alone. Whatever she says, I’ll tell you later.”

  Reiko resisted the temptation to eavesdrop. As Sano entered the guest room, she drifted down the corridor, marveling at the turn of events. Last night she’d offered to help him with his investigation if something arose that she could work on at home. Now it had. The investigation had come to her, in the form of the one and only suspect.

  Sano’s mother lay in bed, propped on cushions, guarded by Hana. Her expression was desolate. She gazed into space, her hands limp on the quilt that covered her. She hadn’t touched the tea set on the table. But at least she was calm.

  “Mother?” Sano knelt at her feet.

  She blinked, and her eyes focused on him. In them appeared the same expression with which she’d beheld him since his childhood—a mixture of love, pride, and maternal anxiety. But there was something new.

  It was fear.

  Of him.

  Sano didn’t want to think what her fear might signify. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, murmuring, “I’m sorry to make so much trouble for you.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Sano said with affection. She’d always put him first. “I want to help you. I need to ask you some questions about what’s happened. Do you feel up to that?”