The Perfumed Sleeve

33

At Senior Elder Makino’s estate, Hirata led Okitsu into the chapel where Sano waited with Agemaki and his watchdogs. “I found her hiding in the coal storehouse,” Hirata said.

Some two hours had passed since Sano had told his detectives to bring Okitsu to him for interrogation. They’d discovered that the concubine was missing, presumably because she’d heard that Sano had come back and she’d run for her life. Now, as Hirata propelled her toward him, Sano saw that her face and clothes were smudged black with coal dust. Her terrified gaze lit on Agemaki, who knelt where Sano had forced her to confess her actions the night of Senior Elder Makino’s murder. Agemaki had calmed herself, but her poise looked brittle and thin, like ice near a fire. Okitsu ran to her and collapsed beside her.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Okitsu whimpered, clutching Agemaki’s arm. “You’ll protect me, won’t you?”

Agemaki pulled away from Okitsu. She brushed grime from Okitsu’s hands off her sleeve. The concubine stared at her, then everyone else, in uncomprehending fright.

“Every time I’ve talked to you about Senior Elder Makino’s murder, you’ve lied to me,” Sano said. “Now is your last chance to tell the truth.”

“But I-I did tell the truth,” Okitsu said breathlessly. “I was with Koheiji that night… we didn’t see Makino.” Her forehead wrinkled and her eyes darted as she tried to remember everything she’d said. “I saw Daiemon in the study.”

“You lied,” Agemaki said in a voice that dripped acid. “You and Koheiji were playing games with my husband. I heard you. I saw you. And I told them.” She flung out her hand, indicating Sano, Hirata, and the watchdogs.

Okitsu turned to Agemaki. Her expression displayed confusion, then hurt. “You told them? But how could you? I thought you were my friend.”

“I’m not.” Agemaki snarled. “Only someone as stupid as you are would think I could like a woman who stole my husband.” While Okitsu shrank away, as though struck a wounding blow, Agemaki said, “Well, your fun is over. These people know that Koheiji was hired to assassinate Makino. They think you helped. I can’t wait to watch you lose your head at the execution ground. I’ll laugh while you die, you dirty little whore!”

A mewl arose from Okitsu. “Please, please spare me,” she begged Sano, throwing herself on hands and knees in front of him. “Koheiji and I didn’t kill Makino. We’re innocent. You must believe me!”

“If you expect me to believe you, then you have a lot of explaining to do,” Sano said. “Begin with the sex show that you and Koheiji performed for your master.”

Okitsu scuttled away on all fours. “I can’t!” she cried. “I promised Koheiji I wouldn’t tell.”

“That you lie to the shogun’s detective for Koheiji shows what a fool you are,” Agemaki said with withering disdain. “He doesn’t love you. He’ll never marry you. He’s just leading you on so you’ll protect him.”

“You’re wrong! He does love me! We are getting married!” Okitsu reared back on her heels as she shouted at Agemaki.

“I caught him making love to a woman in his dressing room at the theater,” Hirata said.

“No! He didn’t! He wouldn’t!” But the quaver in Okitsu’s voice belied her defiant words.

“Koheiji is due to take the punishment for Senior Elder Makino’s murder,” Sano said. “Unless you want to share it with him, you’d better start talking.”

For a moment Okitsu sat silent, her face bunched into a pout. Then she wilted under the knowledge that her friends had betrayed her and she was on her own. She uttered a querulous sob.

“You and Koheiji performed for Makino that night…” Sano prompted.

Okitsu nodded. “We did our usual routine,” she said in a weary, toneless mumble. “I gave Makino some cornus berry tea.” This was a potent aphrodisiac. “Then he watched Koheiji and me while we undressed and started making love. Pretty soon he joined in with us.”

Sano imagined Makino eagerly sipping the aphrodisiac, watching the amorous couple, then the grotesque entwining of sleek young bodies and the wrinkled, emaciated one.

“But Makino couldn’t get excited,” Okitsu said. “No matter what we did, he stayed limp as a dead worm. Koheiji even tried playing rough. He tore my clothes off me and tied my wrists and pretended to hit me. That usually got Makino going, but this time it didn’t. He asked for more cornus berry tea. I gave it to him. We started the game again. I sucked on Makino while Koheiji took me from behind.”

She spoke without shame, as if discussing the weather. Sano recognized the scene Agemaki had told him she’d witnessed while spying on the trio.

“Pretty soon, Makino was as hard as iron,” Okitsu continued. “He said he was ready. Koheiji lay down on the bed. I got on top of him and took him into me. Makino stuck himself in my backside.” Okitsu leaned forward, knees apart, balancing on her hands, and unconsciously pantomimed the mating. “Makino went wild. He was moaning and ramming me so hard and fast that it hurt. All of a sudden, he made a sound like he was choking. Then he fell on top of me.” Okitsu dropped flat on the floor, her voice and expression conveying the surprise she must have felt when crushed between her two partners. “Koheiji said, ‘What happened?’ We pushed Makino off us. He flopped onto the bed. We sat up and looked at him.”

Okitsu suited action to words. Sano pictured Koheiji beside her, both of them gazing in puzzlement upon their inert master. “He didn’t move,” Okitsu said. “There was spit oozing out of his mouth. His eyes were open, but they had a sort of empty look. Koheiji called his name, but he didn’t answer. I shook him, but nothing happened. Koheiji said, ‘He’s dead.’ ”

Sano heard in her voice the echo of Koheiji’s, replete with horror. Amazement filled Sano. If she was telling the truth-and he thought she was this time-then this death he’d been investigating wasn’t a murder. Makino hadn’t died by foul play, a victim of his enemies, as his letter had claimed. Nor had Daiemon hired Koheiji to kill him. Someone had planted the note in Daiemon’s secret quarters and the story at the Floating Teahouse to make Daiemon appear responsible for Makino’s death. And Sano could guess who. Chamberlain Yanagisawa, with all his spies, must have discovered the secret quarters. The scheme to incriminate his enemy fit his devious nature. He must have expected Sano to find the false evidence during the course of the investigation. Sano was certain that if he hadn’t, Yanagisawa would have devised an alternate plan for bringing the note to light. But Yanagisawa couldn’t have known that his false evidence would lead Sano to the truth.

“I thought Makino had died because he’d strained himself too hard,” Okitsu said. “Koheiji said it was the extra cornus berry tea.”

Or perhaps his death had resulted from a convulsion due to both aphrodisiac poisoning and strenuous sex, Sano conjectured.

“But we didn’t kill him,” Okitsu said, hysterical with her need to convince. “We didn’t mean to hurt him. It was an accident!”

Relief showed on Otani’s face, and chagrin on Ibe’s. Hirata looked disappointed. Agemaki beheld Okitsu with loathing, obviously upset that her husband’s death wasn’t her rival’s fault. Sano shook his head. That the investigation should turn out like this! He’d crossed Lord Matsudaira and Chamberlain Yanagisawa, and risked his wife and son’s safety, all because Senior Elder Makino had succumbed to his own lust. Yet the investigation wasn’t over. A gap in the story divided the moment of Makino’s demise and the instant when Agemaki had found his corpse in the study.

“What happened after you discovered that Makino was dead?” Sano asked Okitsu.

“I told Koheiji that we should get help, we should tell someone,” Okitsu said. “But Koheiji said, ‘No! We can’t!’ " She grabbed her arm, as he must have done. “He said there was nothing anyone could do to save Makino. He said people might blame us for Makino dying. We could be put to death.” Her eyes grew round with the fear Koheiji had instilled in her. “I said, ‘What shall we do?’ Koheiji said he had an idea. He told me to get dressed fast. The sleeve of my kimono had gotten torn off during our game, and he wiped himself on it before he put on his clothes.”

Sano saw the actor carelessly tossing aside the sleeve, which would later turn up in Makino’s bedding.

“Then he told me to help him dress Makino.” Okitsu shivered and grimaced. “It was weird, like dressing a big doll. Afterward, we moved him to the study. You wouldn’t think a skinny old man like him could be so heavy, but it took both of us to carry him. We laid him on the floor. Koheiji broke the window latch. He said that would look as if someone had sneaked into the house and killed Makino. Then he ran outside and trampled the bushes.”

That explained who had planted the signs of an intruder and why, Sano noted.

“When he came back, he brought a wooden pole,” Okitsu said. “He told me to mess up the room. While I was throwing papers and books around"-Okitsu winced-“Koheiji was hitting Makino with the pole, to make it look like he’d been beaten to death.”

Sano wondered if, when Makino had written his letter, he had considered the possibility that his death would result from a natural or accidental cause rather than assassination. Probably he had. Makino had been an opportunist who must have viewed his own inevitable death as a final opportunity to exploit, a last chance to make trouble for the enemies he left behind. A murder investigation by Sano would have suited his purpose. He’d have relished the thought of his enemies harassed and persecuted as suspects, even if nobody was ever punished for his death because it turned out not to be a murder. He couldn’t have known that his death would involve his sexual games and the suspects would include his two partners.

“Koheiji hit Makino’s head. It bled all over the floor,” Okitsu said.

Her words reminded Sano of what he’d learned while examining corpses with Dr. Ito at Edo Morgue. He also remembered the bruises they’d found on Makino’s corpse. His idea of what had happened to Makino, which had changed time after time throughout his inquiries, suddenly shifted again.

“Koheiji put out the lanterns in Makino’s chambers,” Okitsu said. “He took me to his room. He said we should stay there until morning, and if anyone asked, we should say we’d been together the whole night and we hadn’t been near Makino at all. I said, ‘What if Agemaki heard us? She’ll know we’re lying.’ ”

Okitsu gave Agemaki a peevish look. Agemaki smirked. Okitsu said, “Koheiji told me not to worry about her because he could keep her quiet. So we did as he said. We pretended we didn’t know how Makino died. Later, Koheiji told me to say I’d seen Daiemon in the study.” She lifted her clasped hands, then let them plop apart on her lap. Disillusionment and tears clouded her charcoal-grimed face. “Things didn’t work out the way we planned. But we didn’t kill Makino.” She addressed Sano in a timid, pleading voice: “I swear it’s the truth.”

Hirata, Ibe, and Otani nodded, accepting Okitsu’s confession. But although Sano believed that she’d finally revealed all she knew-and she truly believed all she’d said-Makino hadn’t died the way Okitsu claimed. She and Koheiji weren’t as innocent as she thought.

“Makino’s death was nothing but an accident brought about by his own lust,” Otani said with relief. “And Daiemon didn’t conspire to assassinate him. Lord Matsudaira will be glad to know that he and his clan are no longer under suspicion.”

“Because Makino wasn’t murdered,” Ibe said, disgruntled. “The investigation has proved that no one is guilty.”

“I disagree,” Sano said. “Makino didn’t die when he collapsed during the game. He was alive until Koheiji hit him with the pole. The dead don’t bleed.” Nor do their bodies bruise when struck. “He must have had a fit and passed out while having sex. Koheiji’s beating finished him off.”

Okitsu gasped. “I didn’t know,” she wailed. “I thought he was already dead!”

Otani blew out his breath through pursed lips with an expression that said, What next? A smile glimmered around Agemaki’s mouth. “So Koheiji did do it,” she said triumphantly. “And Okitsu helped him cover up what happened. I told you she was an accomplice. I was right.”

“Makino’s death was murder after all,” Ibe said in a tone of stunned comprehension.

“Accidental murder,” Sano said. "Koheiji didn’t realize Makino was still alive when he beat him. He didn’t intend to kill Makino; he made a mistake. So did Okitsu.”

“A mistake that cost Makino his life,” Ibe said. “If Koheiji hadn’t beaten Makino to a bloody pulp after he fainted, and if this stupid girl had fetched a doctor instead of going along with that no-good actor, Makino might have survived.”

“Okitsu is guilty of interfering with an official investigation at the very least,” Hirata told Sano.

“And Koheiji is guilty of killing Makino whether he meant to or not,” Ibe said. “He should pay for Makino’s death and all the trouble it’s caused.”

“Someone has to,” Otani added.

They were right, Sano knew. Although he hated to punish anyone for an honest error of judgment, the shogun would expect retribution for Makino’s death from everyone involved. Sano summoned four of his detectives. As he told them to take Okitsu to jail, she wept. Agemaki watched with delight.

“You’re going, too,” Sano told her. “You’re just as guilty of interfering with the investigation as she is. And you’ll be tried for the murder of Makino’s first wife.”

She fumed and Okitsu sobbed as the detectives led them away. Sano experienced a massive relief because the end of this difficult investigation was in sight. Soon the only task left to him would be to solve the murder of Daiemon.

“Let’s catch Koheiji’s last performance at the theater,” he said to Hirata and the watchdogs.

“I want to see Lady Yanagisawa,” Reiko said to the guards stationed outside the chamberlain’s compound.

The guards opened the gate. Reiko marched in, followed by four of Sano’s detectives she’d brought. She hungered for her clash with Lady Yanagisawa as a warrior headed into combat hungers for blood. Attendants led her and her escorts to a reception hall in the mansion. Here, on painted murals along the walls, lightning bolts pierced clouds that floated above the expanse of tatami floor. Reiko could hear gunfire, war drums, and conch trumpets echoing from the distant battlefield. Soon Lady Yanagisawa hurried into the room.

“Welcome, Reiko-san,” she said breathlessly.

Reiko stared at Lady Yanagisawa. The woman had undergone an astonishing transformation. She wore a satin kimono printed with orange and crimson flowers instead of her customary drab garments. Its neckline and the white under-robe dropped low around her shoulders, exposing creamy white skin. A blood-red flush colored her cheeks and lips. Her bearing was sinuous instead of rigid as usual. She looked almost pretty, but she gave off an air of corruption that repelled Reiko.

“Have you come to tell me your decision?” Her gruff voice had acquired a strange, husky sweetness.

“Yes,” Reiko said, wondering what in the world had happened to Lady Yanagisawa since the previous day.

Lady Yanagisawa’s broad lips moved in a sensual smile. “May I assume that you will do as my husband wishes?”

“You may not,” Reiko said.

For a moment Lady Yanagisawa looked disconcerted. Then cruelty radiated like poison from her. “You’ll live to regret your defiance. If you’ll excuse me, I have something to tell your husband.” She moved toward the door.

Reiko stepped in front of Lady Yanagisawa. She said, “I, too, have something to tell my husband. He’ll be very interested to hear that you were at the Sign of Bedazzlement the night Lord Matsudaira’s nephew was murdered there.”

Lady Yanagisawa’s features jerked, as if someone had sneaked up behind her and startled her. She said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you do,” Reiko said. “I have a witness who saw you coming out of the house shortly after Daiemon went in.”

“It must have been someone else who looks like me.” But Lady Yanagisawa’s eyes shifted away from Reiko’s, as if they were windows through which she feared Reiko might glimpse the dark places in her mind and her memory of the crime she’d committed.

“The witness followed your palanquin home,” Reiko said. “He saw you in the courtyard with Kikuko.”

Lady Yanagisawa’s face acquired a look that Reiko had seen when she was cornered once before. The skin tightened around her eyes, narrowing them. She resembled a cat with its ears pricked back in alarm.

“You stabbed Daiemon because your husband told you to, didn’t you?” Reiko said. Lady Yanagisawa wheeled in a circle, avoiding Reiko’s scrutiny. Reiko shifted her own position, keeping them face to face. “There’s no use denying it.”

Suddenly Lady Yanagisawa flung up her head. “You think you’re so clever.” Sardonic amusement and naked malice shone in her eyes. “You must be congratulating yourself because you think you’ve found out something that you can use against me. What good fortune you always have!”

Quickening breaths hissed from her like steam; her cheeks flushed redder. She moved closer to Reiko. “But you’re not the only clever, lucky one.” A reckless daring swelled her countenance. “Would you like to know how I did it?”