Black Lotus

21

Haru-san?” Reiko called, walking down the corridor through the private quarters of Magistrate Ueda’s mansion.

Night had fallen by the time she’d traveled from Shinagawa to Edo, and lanterns shone behind paper walls, but the chamber she’d given Haru was dark. Reiko, come to tell Haru what she’d learned today, slid open the door. She found clothes and sundries on the floor, but no Haru.

“She’s gone,” said Magistrate Ueda.

Reiko turned to see him standing near her. “Gone?” she asked, first puzzled, then alarmed. “Where?”

Shaking his head, Magistrate Ueda regarded Reiko with somber pity. “Let’s sit in the parlor. We can have tea while I explain, hmm?”

“I don’t need any tea.” His stalling increased Reiko’s alarm. “I just want to know what happened to Haru.”

“She is in Edo Jail,” Magistrate Ueda said reluctantly. “This morning your husband arrested her for the crimes at the Black Lotus Temple.”

“What?” Reiko stared in horrified disbelief.

“Sano-san interrogated Haru,” he said, then described how Haru had railed against her husband and Commander Oyama, admitting she’d wanted them dead because they’d hurt her.

“That’s not proof of her guilt,” Reiko cried, though she knew how bad it made Haru look even if it wasn’t exactly a confession.

“There was sufficient other reason to arrest Haru,” Magistrate Ueda said. “She flew into a rage and attacked your husband and Hirata-san. Your husband received minor scratches on his cheek, but Haru managed to claw Hirata-san’s eye.”

The girl who seemed so pathetic and harmless to Reiko presented such a different face to other people, and had now behaved in such a way as to reinforce Sano’s antagonism toward her.

“Attacking my husband and Hirata-san was wrong of Haru, but it isn’t proof that she’s killed anyone,” Reiko said.

Magistrate Ueda frowned. “If you were not so partial to Haru and hostile toward the Black Lotus you would see that her behavior indicates guilt rather than innocence, hmm?”

Reiko did see, but the injustice of persecution based on prejudice and inconclusive findings alarmed her. “My husband’s haste will be our undoing. Why did you just let him arrest Haru?”

“I concurred with his decision. As I told you before, I believe there’s a strong chance that Haru is guilty. What happened here today confirmed my opinion that she’s dangerous and belongs in jail.”

“I can’t believe you took my husband’s side against me.”

Now the magistrate’s expression turned sad. “I would do almost anything for you, Daughter, but I cannot shield a criminal. You must leave Haru to the law. Go home and make peace with your husband.”

Upset and frantic, Reiko ran from the house. Her father had turned against her, but she couldn’t give up and let killers go free.

When Sano rode though the gate of his estate with Hirata, they found Detectives Kanryu, Hachiya, Takeo, and Tadao standing in the torch-lit courtyard. Kanryu and Hachiya still sported the tattered kimonos in which they’d disguised themselves as pilgrims. Sano dismounted, and all four prostrated themselves at his feet. “Please pardon us, Sōsakan-sama,” they chorused. “What’s going on?” Sano said. “You’re supposed to be at the temple.” Just then, the gate opened, and bearers entered the courtyard, carrying a palanquin. Consternation jolted Sano. Where had Reiko gone, and what had she been doing out so late?

“The Black Lotus discovered that we were spies,” Kanryu said. “There was no use trying to conduct a secret surveillance any longer, so we came home.”

The bearers set down the palanquin, and Reiko climbed out. Her stricken eyes told Sano that she knew about Haru. She walked into the mansion, her back straight and head high.

“Rise,” Sano ordered his men, who obeyed. Already his heart had begun pounding in anticipation of a scene with Reiko. “Tell me what happened.”

“I had sneaked into the area of the temple where the clergy live,” Kanryu said, “when a priest suddenly appeared. He said, ‘I must ask you to leave, ’ and escorted me out the gate.”

“The same thing happened to me when I was looking for secret tunnels under the buildings,” Hachiya said.

“We told the priests we wanted to join the sect,” Tadao said. “They put us in a room with twelve other men who also wanted to join. They asked us about ourselves, fed us a meal, then left us so we could meditate on whether we belonged with the Black Lotus. After a while, the priests came back and took Takeo and me outside. They told us we weren’t suited for the clergy, so we must leave.”

“I could see in their eyes that they knew who we really were,” Takeo said.

“It’s no coincidence that they threw us all out,” Kanryu said. “They’d identified us all. They knew why we were there.”

Suspicion troubled Sano. “Who else besides Hirata-san and myself knew you were doing surveillance at the temple?”

“Just the detective corps,” Hachiya said.

After dismissing the men, Sano said to Hirata, “There must be a spy among us who’s reporting to the Black Lotus.” That a trusted retainer would betray him disturbed Sano greatly. So did the knowledge that the Black Lotus thought it necessary to spy on himcosmic forces driving-and eject his spies from the temple. Could there be truth to the accusations against the Black Lotus? But if the sect was evil, wouldn’t it have killed his spies? Then again, perhaps it feared retribution.

“We’ll have to find out who the spy is and get rid of him,” Hirata said, dabbing a cloth against his eye. It was red, swollen, and runny from Haru’s clawing. He said unhappily, “I thought I knew those men, and I’ve never had cause to question their loyalty to you. If the Black Lotus can corrupt a samurai’s honor, it must be strong-and dangerous.”

“We’ll continue looking into the sect until we discover the truth,” Sano said as they walked toward the mansion. “But at least we’ve got the person who’s responsible for the deaths we were assigned to investigate.”

Inside, they found Reiko in the parlor with Midori. The pretty maid O-hana was pouring tea for them. When Sano and Hirata entered the room, the women bowed. Midori and O-hana murmured polite greetings, but Reiko neither spoke nor looked at Sano. She sat rigid, her lips compressed. Sano braced himself for a confrontation.

Midori gazed up at Hirata with a joy that turned to surprise. She exclaimed, “What happened to your eye?”

“I got injured working on the investigation,” Hirata said proudly.

“Let me see.” Jumping up, Midori leaned close to examine the wound. “Does it hurt much?”

“Oh, it’s not too bad.”

A peculiar expression crossed Midori’s face, and she flounced away from Hirata. “Well, don’t let it drip on anything,” she said, her anxious concern turned to coldness.

Sano and Hirata both stared at her, bewildered. A muscle twitched in Reiko’s cheek. O-hana hurried over to Hirata.

“But of course it hurts,” she cooed. “Come to the kitchen, and I’ll make an herb poultice for you.”

As the pair left the room, Hirata glanced over his shoulder at Midori. She hesitated, then hurried after him. Sano knelt opposite Reiko.

“What’s the matter with Midori?” Sano asked.

Reiko gazed fixedly at the tea bowl in her hands. She shrugged. Hostility radiated from her.

“Where’s Masahiro?”

“In bed asleep.”

Her quiet voice was tight, and Sano saw on the surface of her tea the reflected lantern light quivering with the tension of her grip. Silence descended upon them, ominous as a coming storm; the faraway voices of the maids tinkled like wind chimes in a gale.

“How could you arrest her?” Reiko said, still not looking at Sano.

“How could you go to the temple and then to Shinagawa after I told you not to?” Sano said, offended by her discourteous manner and implied criticism of his actions. “You did go, didn’t you? That’s why you were out so late.”

Reiko ignored his questions, but Sano knew he was right. “You didn’t even tell me,” she said bitterly. “Had I not stopped at my father’s house, I wouldn’t have known about Haru.”

Sano forced down the anger that roiled in him. Although he thought Reiko should accept defeat with grace, he must be generous if he wanted to restore peace. “I’m sorry for not telling you, but I didn’t know what was going to happen when I questioned Haru, and afterward, there wasn’t time.”

“You knew you were going. You could have at least told me that much.”

With an effort, Sano ignored the rebuke, and his guilty notion that maybe he’d been unfair to his wife. “Do you know that Haru attacked Hirata and me?”

Reiko nodded, unrelenting.

“It was important to put Haru in jail where she couldn’t hurt anyone else,” Sano said. “If you’d been there, you would have agreed.”

“If I’d been there, it wouldn’t have happened!” Now Reiko lifted her furious gaze to Sano and set down her tea bowl.

“You mean you would have prevented her from confessing,” Sano said as exasperation overcame his good intentions. “You would have foiled my attempts to get the truth from her. That’s why I didn’t tell you I was going to interview Haru.”

“I beg to disagree,” Reiko said with icy politeness. “I would have prevented you from bullying Haru into saying what you wanted her to say. That’s what you did, isn’t it? And that’s the real reason you didn’t want me there.”

Maybe he had been rough with the girl, Sano thought, but not excessively. “She said plenty on her own. She did her best to direct my suspicion toward Dr. Miwa and Abbess Junketsu-in. “ Sano described Haru’s stories about the doctor threatening Chie and the abbess trying to get rid of the woman.

“I think Haru was telling the truth about them,” Reiko said, convinced by her personal knowledge of the pair.

“Haru voluntarily incriminated herself,” Sano said. “It was my duty to arrest her.”

“Pardon me, but that was no confession.” Reiko rose. “You choose to believe so, but… ” She drew a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, then said in a forced conciliatory tone, “Please don’t persecute Haru just because you’re angry at me.”

“I’m not!” Sano shouted. He stood too, incensed at her suggestion that he would let a marital feud provoke him to accuse someone unfairly. “I’m trying to serve justice, and you’re obstructing it!”

“You’re rushing to judgment, and I’m trying to save you from a terrible mistake!”

Hirata came into the room, holding a thick, damp cloth pouch over his injured eye. A tearful Midori followed. They watched Sano and Reiko in dismay.

“You will stop trying to sabotage my case by meddling with witnesses as you did at the temple today,” Sano said.

“I’m not sabotaging you,” Reiko said. “I want justice, too, and I’ve found information that contradicts what Haru’s enemies have said about her. High Priest Anraku says her character is good.”

“That’s not what he told me,” Sano said, recalling his interview with Anraku that afternoon. “When I told him I’d arrested Haru, he said it was for the best and offered whatever help he could provide in concluding the investigation.”

Reiko’s expression went from shock to disbelief, then grim understanding. She said, “Anraku must have turned against Haru after I talked to him. The Black Lotus is protecting itself by sacrificing Haru. The sect must have committed the crimes, under Anraku’s orders.”

Her manipulation of logic annoyed Sano. “Either Anraku is a good character witness or he’s an evil slanderer. You can’t have it both ways. And he didn’t seem dangerous. A bit odd, but no more so than many priests.”

“You would think differently if you’d seen him with Lady Keisho-in,” Reiko said.

“You shouldn’t have seen him with Lady Keisho-in. I told you to stay away from her. While I’m trying to protect our family’s safety and livelihood, you deliberately endanger us!”

Reiko averted her gaze for an instant. In a swift change of subject, she said, “After leaving the temple, I went to Shinagawa.” She described poisoned wells, noxious fumes, a mysterious epidemic, more reported kidnappings, then an explosion and fire in a building owned by the Black Lotus. “Minister Fugatami believes the sect is working up to even more serious trouble. He’s going to speak to the Council of Elders tomorrow, and he invited you to attend the meeting.”

“That’s out of the question,” Sano said, appalled that Reiko had again attempted to involve him in Minister Fugatami’s crusade. “For me to publicly ally myself with a man of such shaky reputation in the bakufu would damage my standing in the shogun’s court and strip me of power to accomplish anything at all.”

“I beg you to go.” Reiko extended her hands to Sano in a gesture of desperate entreaty. “We must stop the Black Lotus’s attacks and make sure we find the real killer!”

“I already have found her,” Sano retorted. Reiko started to protest, but Sano cut her off: “Whatever facts Minister Fugatami has, he can present them at Haru’s trial. We’ll have no further discussion.”

A patter of footsteps penetrated the lethal atmosphere. Everyone turned as Masahiro trotted through the parlor door. Clad in a blue nightshirt, his hair tousled from sleep, he carried a small wooden container.

“Mama. Papa,” he said. Beaming at them, he rattled the contents of the container. “Play!”

“Not now,” Sano said.

A nursemaid hurried into the room, murmuring apologies. Reiko said, “Go back to bed, Masahiro-chan, that’s a good boy.”

The maid reached for him, but he scampered away, shrieking, “No! Me stay!”

He stuck his plump little hand inside the container and hurled into the air a fistful of the black and white pebbles used in the game of go. As Reiko and the maid chased Masahiro, begging him to stop, he gleefully pelted them with pebbles. Hirata stepped over to Sano.

“Sumimasen-excuse me, but I think you should meet with Minister Fugatami,” Hirata said in a low voice that the others wouldn’t hear. “If there’s the slightest chance that the Black Lotus set the fire and murdered those people, you can’t afford to disregard the minister’s information until the trial. By then, it will be too late for Haru, if she’s innocent. We must examine all the evidence beforehand.”

Hirata was right, Sano acknowledged with a reluctant nod. In the Tokugawa legal system, most trials ended in a guilty verdict; persons tried were virtually condemned in advance. Even a wise, fair man like Magistrate Ueda wasn’t immune to making errant judgments based on his ingrained faith in tradition. As strongly as he believed her to be the culprit, Sano wanted to ensure a just trial for Haru.

“All right, Masahiro-chan, that’s enough,” Reiko said, lifting her son and hugging him before she handed him to the maid. “Back to bed. Good night.”

Watching, Sano saw another reason to meet with Minister Fugatami. He and Reiko and Masahiro were a family, and Sano must hold them together, even if it meant making a concession.

After the maid had taken Masahiro away, Sano said to Reiko, “I’ll go to the council meeting tomorrow.”

“You will?” Surprise lifted Reiko’s voice as she turned to him. She looked as though she wanted to ask why, but feared that questions might change his mind. Then her face lit up with the lovely, radiant smile Sano had missed. “Thank you,” she said, bowing with dignified grace.

Sano nodded, hiding mixed feelings. Hope for their marriage cheered him, though he feared they would never agree about Haru.

“Hirata-san and I have work to do,” Sano told Reiko. He edged toward the door, eager to leave before another argument could start. Besides, he and Hirata did have to talk about how to identify the spy in their midst. “I’ll see you later.”

“What was that about?” Midori said.

“All is not lost. When my husband talks to Minister Fugatami, I’m sure he’ll come around to my point of view.” Reiko laughed in exhilaration. The world seemed suddenly bright. “There’s still hope of proving the Black Lotus guilty of the crimes.”

Midori sighed. “I wish I had some hope. I don’t think I’ll ever mean to Hirata-san what he means to me. You should have seen him flirting with O-hana just now.” Her voice trembled, and her eyes teared.

Reiko put a consoling arm around Midori. “What about your plan to pretend you don’t care for him? Give it time to work. Don’t follow him around like you just did.”

“It’s no use,” Midori said glumly. “I can’t help myself. Besides, I’m not fooling Hirata-san. When I went into the kitchen, he laughed and said, ‘Why do you try so hard to be aloof? I know you like me. ’ How I wish there were some way to win his love!”

As Midori brooded, Reiko turned her thoughts back to the investigation. “Today Minister Fugatami found many more examples of the Black Lotus hurting people outside the temple,” she said, “But there’s no one to say what goes on inside the temple because the priests and nuns won’t talk. Pious Truth is gone. My husband couldn’t find anything when he was there, and his detectives were caught spying. I’m afraid that unless he gets definite proof of the sect’s wrongdoing, he’ll disregard the accusations against it and continue persecuting Haru. I wish there were some way to see inside the temple!”

“I could go there and try.”

“What?” Reiko stared at Midori, who gazed back at her with eyes now bright with hope. “You?”

“Why not? It would solve your problem, and mine.” Excited, Midori continued, “I’ll hang around the temple and watch the nuns and priests. If I can see bad things happening, the sōsakan-sama will have to do what you want.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t involve you,” Reiko said firmly. “The Black Lotus is too dangerous. I believe they kidnap people, poison, torture, and kill them.” Reiko described what she’d heard in Shinagawa and from Pious Truth. “If they catch you spying, there’s no telling what they might do.”

“Oh, I’d be careful. I wouldn’t let them catch me.” Daring and confidence replaced Midori’s desolation.

“My husband would never allow it,” Reiko said, not wanting to mention that she didn’t think Midori could handle the task.

“He wouldn’t have to know until I was done,” Midori said.

“Hirata-san will get angry at you for doing something his master wouldn’t approve of,” Reiko said.

“Looking pretty and acting aloof has gotten me nowhere with Hirata-san, and I don’t know what else to do.” Midori flung out her arms in a reckless gesture. “What have I got to lose?”

“Your life,” Reiko said.

Hurt dimmed Midori’s expression. “You think I wouldn’t be a good spy, don’t you?” Her voice quaked; tears welled in her eyes. “You think I’m stupid.”

“No, of course not,” Reiko hastened to assure her.

“Then let me spy on the Black Lotus!”

Reiko was caught in a serious dilemma. Refusal would injure Midori’s feelings and ruin their friendship; acquiescence could put Midori in grave peril. Still, Reiko couldn’t help noting the advantage of employing Midori as a spy. She looked so harmless and ordinary; the Black Lotus would never look twice at her, let alone guess that she was spying…

Common sense and concern for Midori prevailed over Reiko’s need to know what was happening inside the temple. “Midori-san, you must promise me never to go near the temple or anyone associated with the Black Lotus,” Reiko said sternly.

When Midori continued pleading, Reiko talked about the sinister people in the sect and all the evil things she believed they had done. At last Midori bowed her head and nodded, stifling sobs. Reiko tasted the bitter knowledge that although she’d made the right choice, the investigation had created bad feelings between herself and yet another person close to her.