The Iris Fan

20

At the palace, the search for evidence and witnesses in the Large Interior continued. Masahiro ransacked chambers while Sano and Detective Marume questioned the women. So far none had seen or heard, or admitted to seeing or hearing, anything unusual during or immediately before or after the attack on the shogun. Sano had just finished another fruitless interview when a squadron of soldiers marched into the Large Interior.

“Chamberlain Yanagisawa sent us to help you with your investigation,” said the leader, a stiff-necked lieutenant named Haneda.

Sano saw that Yanagisawa’s help was a mixed blessing. “Come with me.” He herded the soldiers out of the Large Interior, to the wide corridor in the public part of the palace. “Now undress.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

The men reluctantly stripped while clerks, officials, and servants passing along the corridor gawked. All except one man unwound their loincloths. Sano gave him a stern look. As he peeled away the long white strip of fabric, out fell a small ceramic jar.

Sano picked up the jar and uncorked it. Inside was fresh red blood, probably from a horse. He asked the naked soldiers, “Where were you planning to sprinkle this?” They were silent, nervous. Sano didn’t waste his anger on them; they were only following orders from Yanagisawa. After they’d dressed, he took them back to the Large Interior and told Marume and Masahiro, “These are Yanagisawa’s men. They’ll help you move things around. Keep an eye on them, and search them before they leave. I’m going to talk to Lord Ienobu’s people.”

Leaving the Large Interior, he passed Madam Chizuru’s chamber. The old woman peeked out past the guard stationed by her door and beckoned Sano. When he entered the cramped, cluttered room, she stood with her hands clasped inside the sleeves of her gray kimono and said in a low, unsteady voice, “I want to confess.”

It was so unexpected that Sano tilted his head and frowned.

“Lord Ienobu told me to stab the shogun,” Madam Chizuru said.

Sano’s heart gave a huge, thumping leap. This was the answer to his prayers-a confession that not only solved the crime but incriminated Lord Ienobu.

It seemed too good to be true.

His instincts sent out a warning that sliced through his elation like a knife through a sail. He looked closely at Madam Chizuru. “Why are you confessing?”

Head bowed, she gazed at the floor. She gulped several breaths, then spoke in a rush. “Because I’m guilty.”

Suspicion bred in Sano. “That’s not what you said yesterday.”

“Yesterday … I lied.”

Sano thought she’d sounded more convincing then than she did now. “What changed your mind?”

Madam Chizuru lifted her head. Her eyes were rimmed with red. “I–I don’t want it on my conscience any longer.” Oddly, she also seemed more afraid that he wouldn’t believe her.

“Very well,” Sano said, still dubious. “Tell me what happened that night.”

“I waited in my room until everybody was asleep.” Now Madam Chizuru spoke too fast, too fluently, as if her speech were rehearsed. “Then I tucked the iron fan under my sash.” She pantomimed. “Then I-”

“Wait,” Sano said. “Where was the fan?” She responded with a worried, uncomprehending frown. “I mean, where did you keep it?”

Madam Chizuru glanced uncertainly around the room. “There.” She pointed at a shelf. “Behind those ledgers.”

“So you took the fan from behind the ledgers. What next?”

“I tiptoed through the palace.”

“Did you see anyone?” Sano wanted to know whether a witness he hadn’t located yet had seen Madam Chizuru and could corroborate her story.

“No.”

“It must have been dark. How did you find your way?”

Her breath made a little hitching sound. “I took a lamp with me. I forgot to say.” She hurried on. “I went in the shogun’s chamber.” Her jowls trembled, the loose flesh like empty, shaken sacks. “I–I shone the lamp on the bed. The shogun was asleep. I–I drew back the quilt. And then I took the fan and I stabbed him.” She sounded relieved to finish rather than upset because she was guilty of attempted murder.

“How many times?” Sano asked.

Panic glazed Madam Chizuru’s eyes. “Why, I–I don’t remember. I just did it. Then he started screaming, and I ran away.”

Sano wondered whether the number of stab wounds was a detail missing from the news that had spread through the castle. He urgently wanted a reason to believe her confession. “Let’s back up for a moment. When did Lord Ienobu ask you to stab the shogun?”

“A few days ago?” She spoke as if she hoped it was a good answer.

“How did he ask you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did he come here to speak with you? Did you go to see him?” Those were events that might have been witnessed by someone.

The fear in Madam Chizuru’s expression deepened. “Lord Ienobu sent me a letter?”

“How was the letter delivered? By messenger?”

“I–I don’t know. I found it in my room. He-he must have had someone put it there.”

“Where is this letter?” Sano asked skeptically.

“It said to burn it after I read it. So I did.”

Disappointed, and more skeptical than ever, Sano asked, “Where did you get the fan?”

“In a shop in Nihonbashi.” She sounded as if she were on firmer ground.

Sano had seen similar fans for sale in the merchant district. She probably had, too, even if she’d never bought this one. “Which shop?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What is the design on the fan?”

Her hands twisted together like a small, frightened animal under her sleeves. Sano thought she didn’t know because she’d never seen the fan and hadn’t heard about the painted irises. She blurted, “Why must you ask me all these questions?”

“I’m trying to make sure you’re telling the truth.” And the truth was in the details.

“I am!”

Never had Sano met a criminal so determined to convince him of her guilt or so inept at it. “Did somebody put you up to confessing?”

“No.” Madam Chizuru met Sano’s gaze for a moment before averting her eyes. “It was my own idea.”

Sano leaned out the door to ask the guard if anybody had visited Madam Chizuru since yesterday. He saw the crowd of people eavesdropping in the passage-Masahiro, Detective Marume, and Yanagisawa’s troops.

“I’m not answering any more questions!” Madam Chizuru cried. “I stabbed the shogun. I confessed. That should be enough.”

“It’s enough for me,” Lieutenant Haneda told Sano. “Arrest her. Tell the shogun.”

“Not until I’ve checked out her story,” Sano said. “It’s as full of holes as your head.”

Glowering at the insult, Haneda advanced. “If you won’t, I will.”

Madam Chizuru moaned and covered her mouth with her hands. She seemed to realize for the first time what trouble she was in. Sano blocked the door and said, “You’re not in charge of the investigation. Get out.”

“Sano-san, listen.” Marume inserted himself between Sano and Haneda. “She confessed. The shogun deserves to be told.”

“This is our chance to get Lord Ienobu!” Masahiro called over Marume’s shoulder.

Now Sano found himself set against his son and his retainer. “I won’t let her or Lord Ienobu be condemned until I’m sure they’re guilty.” According to his code of honor, even Ienobu, damn him, deserved fair play.

“It’s not up to you,” Haneda said.

Yanagisawa’s other men invaded the room and dragged Madam Chizuru out. She began howling. Her legs collapsed. The troops carried her down the corridor. Women emerged from their chambers, gasping and murmuring as they watched.

“Lock her in the tower,” Haneda told the troops. “Tell Yanagisawa-san what happened. I’m going to the shogun.” He said to Sano, “You and your people can come if you like.”

* * *

The physician met Sano, Marume, Masahiro, and Lieutenant Haneda at the door of the shogun’s bedchamber. “His Excellency is asleep. He shouldn’t be disturbed.”

“He’ll want to wake up for this.” It was Yanagisawa, arriving with Yoshisato, both short of breath from running and jubilation.

“Did you force Madam Chizuru to confess?” Sano asked. When he saw Yoshisato, he did a double take. Yoshisato was groomed as a samurai-shaved crown, oiled topknot, and silk robes. Except for the tattoos, it was as if he’d never left the court.

“You give me too much credit,” Yanagisawa said. “Not even I could make that tough old bag put her neck on the chopping block.”

He swept past the physician into the chamber where two bodyguards sat by the shogun’s bed. Yoshisato followed; he seemed occupied with his own thoughts. Sano eyed him curiously as he entered with Marume and Masahiro.

Yanagisawa knelt beside the shogun. “Your Excellency?”

The shogun opened sunken, crusted eyes in a gray face. He’d declined since morning. A different smell tainted the air-the smell of decay.

“Good news,” Yanagisawa said. “The person who stabbed you has been arrested.”

Interest animated the shogun’s groggy expression. “Who is it?” His voice was a croak.

“It’s Madam Chizuru, the otoshiyori. She confessed.”

Sano stepped forward. “It’s not certain she’s guilty. Her confession-”

The shogun spoke over him. “Why did she do it?”

“Excuse me, Your Excellency,” Sano said, “but her confession is extremely dubious.”

“Because Lord Ienobu told her to,” Yanagisawa said. “He wanted you dead so that he could be shogun. He sent Madam Chizuru to assassinate you.”

“Merciful gods, it’s true.” The shogun’s face turned grayer. “My nephew is responsible.”

“She couldn’t tell me how many times you were stabbed,” Sano said. “She couldn’t describe the fan.”

Detective Marume whispered, “Sano-san, for the love of all of us, be quiet.” Masahiro whispered, “Father, please.” Yoshisato observed the spectacle with dawning distrust.

Sano was well aware that he was arguing against his own interests, but his hunger for justice had become so entrenched. He was too stubborn to change, or too old. “I think it’s because she doesn’t know. She may be innocent, and so may Lord Ienobu.”

“Yesterday you were ready enough to believe that Ienobu was responsible for the attack.” Yanagisawa gave Sano a look that reminded him of their pact, threatening him with mayhem if he didn’t cooperate.

The opium spread blankness across the shogun’s expression. Yanagisawa hurried to press his case. “It’s for Your Excellency to decide. Madam Chizuru confessed. Either she’s guilty and she’ll be punished, or she’s not and you may never get revenge on the person who stabbed you.”

“Those aren’t the only outcomes,” Sano said, sick and tired of Yanagisawa’s fast talk. “If Your Excellency accepts her confession without letting me verify it, you could be condemning innocent people while letting the real assassin go free.”

The shogun’s gaze moved back and forth between Sano and Yanagisawa, his eyes skittering like pebbles in their hollow sockets. “Nobody in her right mind would confess if she were innocent. She must be guilty.” He moaned at a spasm of pain.

He was impatient to know his attacker’s identity; delay was a luxury that a man gravely injured couldn’t afford. It was Sano’s duty now, more than ever, to give the shogun what he wanted. Vengeance might be the shogun’s last wish-a solemn demand that Sano couldn’t refuse to fulfill. It came down to a choice between his lord versus Madam Chizuru and Lord Ienobu.

That was no choice.

But although Sano still disbelieved the confession, he must give it the benefit of the doubt. “Let’s hear what Lord Ienobu has to say for himself.”

“Find him. Bring him here,” Yanagisawa told Lieutenant Haneda. “Don’t tell him why.”

Soon Haneda and his troops brought in Lord Ienobu, accompanied by Manabe. Excitement flushed Ienobu’s usually sallow complexion. His lips stretched over his big teeth in a grin. “You sent for me just in time, Uncle.” He obviously thought the shogun meant to take him back into his favor. “I was ready to vacate the heir’s residence. Now I won’t have to-”

He noticed Yanagisawa and Yoshisato. Yanagisawa smiled a wolfish smile at him. Yoshisato’s straight face was equally malevolent. Ienobu looked around the room and saw Sano, Marume, and Masahiro. Alarm inverted his grin. “What’s going on here?”

Sano almost felt sorry for Ienobu. “I’ve found evidence that you conspired to assassinate the shogun.”

“You’re under arrest,” Yanagisawa said in a tone vibrant with glee.

“What are you talking about?” Lord Ienobu demanded.

Yoshisato spoke in a cold voice as sharp as the needles that had etched the tattoos on his skin. “Your accomplice betrayed you.”

“What accomplice?”

“Oh, spare me the innocent act,” Yanagisawa said. “You know it’s Madam Chizuru.”

Sano wasn’t so sure Ienobu was acting. He seemed genuinely flabbergasted. Then again, Ienobu’s talents had surprised Sano in the past.

“Madam Chizuru?” Ienobu’s eyes bulged as he realized that the connection between him and his spy in the Large Interior was an open secret.

“She confessed that she stabbed the shogun and you told her to do it,” Yoshisato said.

Ienobu sputtered. “She’s lying! I never told her any such thing!”

“I believe her,” the shogun said weakly through a fog of opium, fever, and pain. “You tried to have me assassinated! You, my own nephew!”

“Uncle, I swear on my honor I didn’t!” Ienobu said.

With a strength born of anger, the shogun lifted his head from his pillow. “You have no honor! You flattered me and pretended to love me so that I trusted you. And then you betrayed my trust.” The pain constricted his voice. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

Ienobu turned on Sano. “You made Madam Chizuru incriminate me!”

Stung by the accusation and the insult to his honor, Sano was forced to defend the confession. “I didn’t make her. She confessed voluntarily.”

“That’s right,” Yanagisawa said. “There are plenty of witnesses.”

“Uncle, this is a trick! They’re all in league against me! They’ve set me up to take the fall so that he can inherit the dictatorship!” Ienobu pointed his bony finger at Yoshisato.

“You’re trying to trick me!” The shogun’s voice was shrill with fury. “Haven’t you hurt me enough already?” He sobbed and moaned. “Can’t you at least be honest?”

“I didn’t tell Madam Chizuru to kill you. She’s lying!” Ienobu was too distraught to think up a better defense than denying his guilt. “I’m being framed!”

Doubts about Madam Chizuru’s confession, suspicion about Yanagisawa’s possible role in it, and the passion in Ienobu’s manner nudged Sano toward deciding, against his wishes, that Ienobu really was innocent.

“Lord Ienobu would say the sky was green if he thought it would save his ugly skin,” Yanagisawa said.

“Lord Ienobu had your daughter killed. He had me kidnapped,” Yoshisato reminded the shogun. “You were the last remaining obstacle between him and the dictatorship.”

Easily persuaded while in his miserable state, anxious to believe the person responsible for it had been unmasked, the shogun said, “He’s right! You never cared about me. All you wanted was my position. Well, I won’t let you have it. Take him away! Put him to death!”

“Wait!” Ienobu turned to Sano, the man he’d tormented for more than four years, now his only ally among the company. “Tell my uncle he’s wrong! Make him understand!”

Sano was sorely tempted to let matters take their course. Masahiro put his finger to his lips, and Marume waved his hands, urging Sano to give Ienobu up, but Sano couldn’t stand by while a possibly innocent man was framed. “Your Excellency, suppose you put Lord Ienobu to death. If something happens to Yoshisato, who will inherit the regime?”

The shogun was dumbstruck by this new concern. He’d apparently forgotten that Lord Yoshimune was third in a long line of relatives eligible for the succession.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” Yoshisato said quickly; he’d perceived Sano’s intention.

“Surely my son won’t die before I do,” the shogun protested feebly. “Look at me.”

“He’s already been kidnapped,” Sano reminded them.

Yanagisawa had caught on, too; he hurried to head Sano off. “That was Lord Ienobu’s doing, Your Excellency. All the more reason to get rid of him-so that Yoshisato will be safe.”

“Safe from man-made danger, perhaps,” Sano said, “but he could be killed by a disease or an earthquake, and then who will be your heir, with your nephew gone?”

The shogun paled with consternation. “Why, I, ahh, haven’t had time to think about it.”

“You should think about it.” Sano spoke bluntly; he had no time for tact. “You need Lord Ienobu.”

Ienobu scowled, insulted because Sano had styled him as nothing but a backup for the shogun’s preferred choice of an heir, but he knew better than to deride the hole-ridden logic that Sano was weaving like a net to catch him as he fell.

“Your Excellency doesn’t need the man who tried to have you assassinated.” Yanagisawa brought the subject back to Ienobu’s alleged guilt. Furious and exasperated, he said, “This discussion is so far off the point!”

Sano was only borrowing a page from Yanagisawa’s book: Yanagisawa would steer a discussion to the far ends of the earth to achieve a desired aim. “The point is, Your Excellency has a choice.” He talked fast and loud before Yanagisawa or Yoshisato could get a word in. “Decide who should be your alternate heir or have the decision made for you later.”

The shogun groaned as if his wounded gut were a rope in a tug-of-war. “Merciful gods, I’m too ill to think about it.”

“But you could delay Lord Ienobu’s death until I find out whether Madam Chizuru’s confession is true,” Sano said, “and if it’s not, then you’ll be glad you waited.”

“Those aren’t the only choices!” Yanagisawa protested.

“I only ask Your Excellency to delay it for one day.” Sano knew this was an impossibly short time. He hoped it was enough for him to verify or disprove the confession.

“Very well,” the shogun said. “One day. I may not have much longer.”

Yanagisawa said, “But Your Excellency,” and Yoshisato began, “Honorable Father,” as the shogun convulsed in dry heaves. “I can’t bear any more talk!” He begged the doctor, “Merciful gods, give me some more opium, I’m in agony!”

Lord Ienobu scrambled for the door, followed by Manabe, before the shogun could change his mind. He gave Sano a grudging look that said, I owe you.

Outside the chamber, Yanagisawa said to Sano, “Knock down that confession and we’ll see each other in hell.” As he and Yoshisato walked away together, Yoshisato flung Sano a backward, enigmatic glance.

Masahiro stalked off, his expression stormy, without a word. Marume opened his mouth. Sano said ruefully, “Don’t say it. I know.”