Sano Ichiro 6 Black Lotus (2001)

by Laura Joh Rowland

  The ominous quiet that followed his reading seemed to reverberate like the echo of a bomb just exploded. Sano realized that the senior elder had been hoarding the letter to use when the right opportunity arose. He guessed what Makino meant to do to him, and his mind raced to construct a defense.

  The shogun exclaimed in bafflement, "But what does this mean?"

  "I was informing Chamberlain Yanagisawa about the Black Lotus situation," Sano said, striving to stay calm. "I hoped that he could persuade Your Excellency that the sect is dangerous and we must protect the nation from it."

  "What you were really doing was inviting the honorable chamberlain to join you in persecuting a subsidiary of the Tokugawa family temple," Makino countered. "You want him to help you destroy the Black Lotus and thereby eliminate a rival in your quest for control over the bakufu." Makino turned to the shogun. "Your Excellency, this letter is conclusive evidence that the sōsakan-sama is plotting against you."

  Pressing a thin, delicate hand to his chest, the shogun stared at Sano. His eyes reflected the appalled horror that Sano felt. "Is this true?"

  "No!" Hirata burst out in impassioned outrage. "My master is your loyal, devoted servant!"

  "Of course he would deny the truth, Your Excellency," Makino said reasonably. "As the sōsakan-sama''s chief retainer, he is part of this treasonous plot."

  Sano could hardly believe that he'd come here for permission to rescue Midori and ended up accused of a crime for which execution was the punishment. Makino was a clever, ruthless adversary, and Sano had to fend him off without injuring him and provoking future retribution.

  "There's been a misunderstanding," he said. "The honorable senior elder has read into my letter a meaning I never intended. It was an honest mistake, and I suggest that we all agree to forget his accusation and resume discussing the rescue of Niu Midori."

  "We cannot forget treason," Makino huffed. "Your Excellency, he is trying to talk his way out of punishment like the cowardly, dishonorable traitor he is."

  "Don't you insult my master!" Hirata glared at Makino.

  The senior elder continued railing against Sano while Hirata shouted angry objections and Sano tried to quiet him. The argument raged until the shogun flung up his arms and shouted, "Stop! I cannot take any more of this noise!" Abrupt silence fell. Pressing his palms against his temples, the shogun winced. "You have given me a terrible headache. I cannot believe that my, ahh, sōsakan-sama would plot against me, but neither can I believe that Senior Elder Makino would, ahh, slander a comrade. I do not know what to think!"

  He fluttered his hands at the assembly. "Get out! Everyone! Leave me in peace!"

  Sano, Hirata, Makino, and the frightened officials bowed hastily and leapt to their feet.

  "Your Excellency," Makino ventured cautiously.

  "If you, ahh, really believe that Sano-san is a traitor, then show me some, ahh, proof besides that letter," Tokugawa Tsunayoshi said with uncharacteristic decisiveness born of pique. To Sano he said, "And if you want me to let you fetch the lady from inside the Black Lotus Temple, then bring me proof that she needs rescuing. For now, I refuse to think any more about either subject!"

  * * *

  32

  Those who will not accept the true law of the Black Lotus

  Will be plunged into the deepest hell,

  A place dark and foul,

  Beset by evil spirits,

  To suffer fot countless eons.

  ----FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA

  "We can't rescue Midori without defying the shogun and dishonoring ourselves, but we can't leave her at the mercy of the Black Lotus," Hirata said in despair. "What are we going to do?"

  Sano walked beside his chief retainer through the stone-walled passage leading downhill through Edo Castle. Though still shaken by Makino's surprise attack on him, he applied his mind to their immediate problem.

  "Haru is our key to solving the case, defeating the Black Lotus, and saving Midori," he said.

  Hirata stared, incredulous. "But she's proved herself good for nothing except telling lies and turning you and Lady Reiko against each other. We can't stake Midori's safety upon her!"

  "There's one last way to get the truth out of Haru and get Midori out of the temple with the shogun's permission," Sano said.

  When they entered the courtyard of his estate, he called a groom to bring their horses.

  "Where are we going?" Hirata asked.

  "To see Magistrate Ueda."

  Soon they were in the Hibiya official district, seated in the magistrate's office. Sano said to his father-in-law, "I wish to convene Hanu's trial. Will you oblige?"

  "Certainly," said Magistrate Ueda. "Have you found definitive evidence of her guilt?"

  "No," Sano admitted, "but there are compelling reasons for forcing Haru to reveal what she did and what she knows about the Black Lotus." He described how Midori had disappeared, the shogun had ordered him to stay away from the temple, and Senior Elder Makino had accused him of plotting against the shogun. "A trial could produce facts that will convince the shogun that Midori is in danger, before Makino can manufacture evidence to prove I'm a traitor."

  "Putting Haru on trial will work only if she is in possession of the facts and can be persuaded to reveal them," Magistrate Ueda pointed out.

  "I know she knows more than she's admitted." Deep instinct told Sano he was right. "And a trial can pressure a person into cooperating when all other methods have failed."

  "When would you like me to conduct the trial?" Magistrate Ueda asked.

  "This evening, at the hour of the rooster."

  "But that's too long to wait!" Hirata burst out. "Every moment Midori stays at the temple endangers her more." He looked anxiously from Sano to Magistrate Ueda.

  "We can't rush things and ruin our last chance to secure Hanu's cooperation," Sano said. "We must prepare carefully, which will take time."

  He only hoped that Midori would survive the delay.

  The absolute darkness of the Black Lotus's underground prison was like a monstrous live creature, breathing a draft redolent of human misery, its heartbeat the pulsing bellows. It filled the cell where Midori lay curled in a corner. The chill dampness penetrated her thin robe, and she shivered. No one had said what her punishment would be for spying on the sect, or spoken to her at all after the priests had imprisoned her here. Would they torture her, force her to dig tunnels, or use her in evil rites? Would they kill her, or just leave her to go mad?

  At first Midori had mustered her courage and tried to escape. She'd pounded at the heavy wooden door, which refused to yield. Groping in the darkness, she'd located a square opening high in the door, and an air vent in the wall, but both openings were too small to crawl through. Midori had torn planks off the low ceiling and tried to dig her way up, but the clay was too hard. She'd shouted for help, but no one above-ground could hear her. There seemed to be no other prisoners in this branch of the tunnel, and finally Midori had wept in exhausted, helpless solitude.

  Now she had no idea how many hours she'd spent in this cell. Once, she'd seen light outside, and someone had shoved a meal tray through the crack under the door. Too famished to worry about poison, Midori had devoured the rice, pickles, and dried fish. She'd slept, then awakened blind and terrified in the darkness. Midori did not know whether each passing moment bettered her chances of survival or brought her closer to death. Her hope of deliverance rested upon Reiko.

  Reiko was the only person who had any way of knowing she'd come to the temple and figuring out that she'd been caught. Surely Reiko would come looking for her. Yet even as Midori sought comfort in the idea, doubts plagued her mind. What if Reiko didn't find the note? Even if she did, and even if she sent a rescue party, how would it find Midori?

  She thought of Hirata, and her heart ached. If only she'd been satisfied with the crumbs of attention he'd tossed her! Now she would probably never see him again.

  Footsteps approached her cell. Hope and terror collided wit
hin Midori. She yearned for human contact, yet she feared the punishment that High Priest Anraku had promised. Light shone through the square hole in the door, brightening as the footsteps neared. Sitting up, Midori fought an urge to leap toward the welcome illumination. She wrapped her arms around her knees, helplessly waiting for whatever would happen.

  In the opening appeared the side of a round paper lantern, like the curve of the moon. It shone into Midori's cell, momentarily blinding her. Then her vision returned, and she saw beside the lantern a portion of a face, containing a single eye focused on her with dark, gleaming concentration. It belonged to Anraku.

  A whimper issued from Midori; her heart thudded in terror. She wanted to look away, but Anraku's gaze held hers captive. Pleas for mercy rose to her lips, but she couldn't speak.

  Then a woman said, "Why must we keep her?" Midori recognized the sharp, irritated voice of Abbess Junketsu-in.

  "She is special," Anraku said quietly.

  Midori realized that they were talking about her.

  "What makes her different from anyone else?" Junketsu-in said. "And haven't you enough women already?" Midori heard jealousy in her tone. "I think you should have gotten rid of her as soon as we found out she was a spy."

  The high priest didn't answer. Alarm flared in Midori.

  "She's no problem as long as she's down here," said a man's rough voice. It was Priest Kumashiro. "But if she somehow escapes, she could cause trouble. Keeping her alive is too risky. Please allow me to eliminate her at once."

  Midori's alarm turned to horror. But Anraku spoke again. "Remember what my vision has foretold. Three signs shall herald our day of destiny. We have already witnessed human sacrifice and persecution against our kind, but we still await the third sign. And I have had a new vision."

  Anraku exuded mystical energy like a fire radiating heat through the door. Midori cringed from it.

  "The Buddha said that the capture of Niu Midori presages the third sign," Anraku continued, "and we shall not achieve glory unless she remains alive to perform a critical role."

  "What role? Why her?" demanded Junketsu-in.

  "How long must we tolerate an enemy in our midst?" Kumashiro said, clearly displeased.

  Anraku's tactile stare probed Midori. "Question me no more. You shall know soon enough."

  His face and the lantern vanished from the peephole. Darkness immersed the cell as footsteps receded down the corridor. Anraku's spell over Midori relaxed like kite strings when the wind ceases, and she hurled herself against the door.

  "Please don't leave me! Come back!" she cried.

  The darkness and solitude seemed even worse now. Her terror was more acute because although she now knew she would live awhile, she didn't know how much longer, or for what terrible purpose.

  "Help, help!" Midori screamed. Bursting into wild sobs, she pounded on the door. "Let me out!"

  There was no response except the echo of her own desperate voice resounding through the tunnels.

  * * *

  33

  If you among the faithful should encounter trouble with the law

  Face punishment, about to forfeit four life,

  The Bodhisattra of Infinite Power will break

  the executioner's sword in pieces.

  ----FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA

  "The trial of Haru shall commence," announced Magistrate Ueda.

  He was seated upon the dais in the Court of Justice, a cavernous hall with barred windows set in paneled walls, illuminated by lanterns. Sano sat at his right; secretaries flanked them. All wore black ceremonial robes.

  The magistrate continued, "Haru is accused of four crimes: arson, and the murders of Police Commander Oyama, a peasant woman named Chie, and a small boy of unknown identity."

  The secretaries wrote, recording his words. Sano hid anxiety behind a cool facade. He'd spent the day preparing for the trial. Now, as twilight dimmed the windows, he hoped to secure a conviction and elicit facts that would convince the shogun to authorize a rescue expedition to the Black Lotus Temple, but the outcome of the trial was by no means certain.

  A large audience sat in rows on the floor, in a haze of smoke from tobacco pipes. Sano eyed Hirata, who knelt among other Tokugawa officials, apart from a delegation of civilian town leaders. Hirata's features were strained with worry about Midori.

  Magistrate Ueda addressed the guards stationed at the door at the far end of the court: "Bring in the defendant."

  The guards opened the heavy, carved door. Through it walked two soldiers, with Haru between them. Her hands were bound by ropes, and her ankles shackled in iron cuffs joined by a thick chain. She wore a gray muslin kimono and straw sandals, and her hair was braided. The bruises around her eyes had darkened to violet; her puffy nose and raw, split lips rendered her face almost unrecognizable to Sano. As the guards led her toward the dais, she moved stiffly, as if in pain.

  Uneasy murmurs swept the audience. Magistrate Ueda's calm didn't waver, yet Sano doubted that this father of a beloved daughter could remain unmoved by the injured girl. She might induce sympathy in the man designated to judge her.

  The guards positioned Haru on her knees on a straw mat on the shirasu, an area of floor directly before the dais, covered by white sand, the symbol of truth. Haru bowed low. Looking down at her bent back, Sano could pity her himself.

  "Look up," Magistrate Ueda ordered her.

  Haru lifted a woeful face.

  "Do you understand that the purpose of this trial is to determine whether you are guilty of the arson and murders for which you were arrested?" Magistrate Ueda said.

  "Yes, master." Haru's voice was a barely audible whisper that the audience strained forward to hear.

  "First we shall hear the facts of the crimes and evidence against you, presented by His Excellency the Shogun's sōsakan-sama," said Magistrate Ueda. "Then you may speak in your own defense. Afterward, I shall render my decision." He nodded to Sano. "Proceed."

  "Thank you, Honorable Magistrate." Sano described the fire at the Black Lotus Temple, how the victims found in the cottage had died, then how the fire brigade had discovered lamp oil, a torch, and Haru at the scene. "Haru claimed to have lost her memory of the time preceding the fire. She insisted that she didn't set the fire or kill anyone. But my investigation has proved that she is a liar, arsonist, and murderess."

  Haru sat with eyes humbly downcast, like a martyr resigned to persecution. Sano was glad that Reiko wasn't here. He hadn't seen her since morning, when she'd told him Midori was missing; he hadn't told her about the trial because he didn't want her around to interfere. Next he related Haru's probable involvement in her husband's death, and what Abbess Junketsu-in and Dr. Miwa had said about her misbehavior at the temple. He mentioned that the two girls from the orphanage had seen Haru go to the cottage.

  "Therefore, Haru had both the bad character and the opportunity necessary to commit the crimes," Sano said.

  Still, he feared that his argument would be weakened by his failure to produce the witnesses to speak for themselves. Magistrate Ueda understood that the shogun had prohibited him from contact with Black Lotus members, but if he had the least uncertainty about whether the witnesses had told the truth or Sano had accurately reported their statements, he might give Haru the benefit of the doubt.

  "Now I shall show that Haru also had reason to kill," Sano said. "After further interrogation, she admitted that Commander Oyama once forced her to have sexual relations with him. There is a witness who can prove that she hated him for mistreating her. Will Oyama Jinsai please come forward?"

  The young samurai rose from the audience, knelt before the dais, and bowed. Under Sano's questioning, Jinsai described how Commander Oyama had used the girls at the Black Lotus Temple and introduced him to Haru, who had glared and spat at the commander.

  "I say that on the night of his murder, Commander Oyama again violated Haru, and she killed him in revenge," Sano concluded. "Afterward, she set fire to the cottage to disguise th
e circumstances of his death."

  Just then, the door opened, and Reiko slipped into the room. Sano beheld her in dismay. As she knelt behind the audience, her level gaze met his. Sano experienced a stab of alarm.

  "Honorable Magistrate, I recommend that Haru be condemned," Sano said, hiding his concern about what Reiko might do.

  "Your counsel will be given serious consideration," Magistrate Ueda said.

  Yet Sano knew that Haru's lack of apparent connection with the other victims was the major flaw in his case, which Magistrate Ueda wouldn't miss. Because the murders were obviously connected, if she hadn't committed them all, then perhaps she hadn't committed any of them. As much as the magistrate wanted to serve justice, he required evidence to support a guilty verdict.

  The men in the audience whispered among themselves. Reiko leaned forward, her expression avid. Haru sat meekly, the picture of wounded innocence. Sano fought rising anxiety as he observed the desperation on Hürata's face. Time was speeding by; Midori was still inside the temple, and he might neither secure Haru's conviction nor extract the truth from the girl.

  "I shall now hear the defendant's story," Magistrate Ueda said.

  An expectant hush descended upon the audience. Reiko clasped her hands tightly under her sleeves. Anger at Sano twisted inside her. How could he waste time persecuting Haru when he should be trying to rescue Midori? And he hadn't even done Reiko the courtesy of telling her he'd scheduled the trial! She'd learned about it by chance, when she'd come to ask her father to use his influence to get Sano permission to enter the Black Lotus Temple, and a clerk had told her the trial was under way. But of course Sano didn't want her to interfere with his destruction of Haru. He was cutting her out of the final stage of the investigation and ending her involvement in his work forever.