straight, her ears perked. 'It's my father!'
She jumped up and scurried out of the room.
'What can Jirocho be doing here?' Reiko said as she and Chiyo followed.
They went to the reception room, from which Jirocho's and Major Kumazawa's voices emanated. Fumiko would have rushed inside, but Chiyo held her back, gesturing her to be quiet. Reiko, Chiyo, and Fumiko cautiously peeked in the open door. Major Kumazawa was seated on the dais, Jirocho and his bodyguards on the floor below it. The women stepped back, so as not to be seen, and listened through the lattice-and-paper wall.
'Why have you come to call on me?' Major Kumazawa said in an unfriendly tone.
'Because you and I have common interests,' Jirocho said, unruffled by Major Kumazawa's cold reception.
'What might those be?'
'We've both suffered insults to our clans.'
'A mere coincidence. It doesn't justify relations between us.'
'We have something else in common,' Jirocho said. 'Neither of us likes how Chamberlain Sano is conducting the investigation.'
'That hardly makes us comrades.' Sarcasm tinged Major Kumazawa's voice. 'Why impose on me to talk about it? State your business.'
'I'm here to make a proposition,' Jirocho said. 'We join forces and hunt down the kidnapper ourselves.'
There was a short silence in which Reiko could sense Major Kumazawa's surprise. Major Kumazawa said, 'I'm conducting my own search. Why would I want to cooperate with you?'
'Because you haven't managed to catch the bastard yet,' Jirocho said.
'You haven't, either,' Major Kumazawa retorted.
'True,' Jirocho admitted. 'I don't have enough men to search the whole city. Neither do you. But if we put our troops together, we can cover twice as much area without going over the same ground twice.'
That would surely interfere with Sano's inquiries. Reiko shuddered at the idea of Jirocho's gang and Major Kumazawa's troops rampaging through the city, more avid for vengeance than for the truth.
Major Kumazawa said, 'That's not a good enough reason. I know what you are, I know how you do business. Joining forces with you would bring me nothing but trouble.'
It might well, Reiko thought. Jirocho said, 'Before you refuse, listen to this. Have you ever wondered why you haven't been able to find out who kidnapped your daughter?'
'It's only been a few days since she was taken,' Major Kumazawa said. 'All I need is more time.'
'Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you're not getting anywhere because there are places in the city that you don't know and people who won't talk to you?'
'I know the city like the palm of my own hand,' Major Kumazawa said, growing more irritable. 'I can go everyplace, make everybody talk.'
'You're mistaken,' Jirocho said evenly. 'You high-ranking samurai live in your own little world. There are many people you never even see because they're careful to stay out of your way. People in my world, for instance.'
Major Kumazawa laughed, a sound of pure, arrogant scorn. 'Even if that's true, it's my problem. Why should you care?'
'Because I have the same problem. There are places that I can't go, and people who won't talk to me.' Jirocho added, 'People of your class.'
Reiko risked another peek through the door. She saw Jirocho lean toward Major Kumazawa as he said, 'It seems that there are two different kidnappers. One raped your daughter, the other, mine. What if the man you're hunting is a commoner who's hiding among other commoners, being protected by them? What if the man I'm hunting is a samurai that I can't go near?' His tone grew urgent, intense. 'Alone, we're at a disadvantage. Together, we can get the vengeance we both want.'
'Oh, I see what this is about. It's not that I can't get vengeance without you; it's that you can't without me.' Disdain edged Major Kumazawa's words. 'Your offer is an insult. This conversation is finished. Get out.'
Jirocho didn't reply, but Reiko could feel his anger and frustration, like heat from a fire burning on the other side of the wall. She and Chiyo pulled Fumiko down the passage, lest they be caught eavesdropping. But as Jirocho and his men stalked out the door, Fumiko called, 'Father.'
His head turned; he saw her and halted. A strange expression came over his wolfish features. Fumiko didn't run to her father, even though every line in her body strained toward him; she hesitated like a dog whipped too often. Chiyo held her in a protective embrace. Jirocho swallowed; his jaw shifted. His gaze absorbed her new clothes, her clean face. His men looked at him, awaiting his reaction. Beneath his surprise, Reiko detected other emotions she couldn't identify.
Major Kumazawa appeared in the door of the reception room. Jirocho pointed at Fumiko and demanded, 'What's she doing here?'
'She lives in this house now.' Although Major Kumazawa was, as Reiko knew, far from happy with the arrangement, he seemed pleased to see Jirocho disconcerted.
'Why-how-?' The gangster's face went blank and stupid with incomprehension.
'My daughter insisted on taking her in,' Major Kumazawa said. 'Have you a problem with that?'
Jirocho didn't speak or move for a moment. Reiko, ignored by everyone, could feel him floundering in unfamiliar waters. It was unheard of for the child of a notorious gangster to be virtually adopted by a high samurai official, and the clash he'd just had with Major Kumazawa obviously didn't make Jirocho any more comfortable with the situation. Reiko watched Jirocho struggle to frame it in a way that made sense according to the laws of his world.
At last he blurted, 'You stole my girl.'
'You threw her out,' Major Kumazawa reminded him. 'Which means you haven't any right to object to my giving her a home. But if you want her back, you're welcome to take her.'
Reiko felt Fumiko holding her breath, tense with hope. Chiyo hugged the girl close. From the instant Jirocho had first laid eyes on his daughter he hadn't taken his gaze off her, even while he spoke to Major Kumazawa. Now, without a word to her, he stalked away down the hall, his men following. Fumiko hid her face against Chiyo's shoulder and sobbed.
'I'll get my vengeance, and I'll do it without your help,' Jirocho said over his shoulder to Major Kumazawa. 'And I would wager my entire fortune that you'll never be able to do the same without mine.'
26
The road to the oxcart stables led Sano, Hirata, and their entourage past poor tenements that clung to the outskirts of Edo like a dirty, ragged hem. It was twilight by the time Sano and his men arrived at the compound of wooden barns. The yard around them was muddy and trampled, pocked by hoof marks filled with rainwater. The area stank of urine and manure. The fenced and roofed enclosure for parking the carts was empty. Through the open doors of the barns Sano saw empty stalls and idle stable boys.
'I don't suppose our suspects are hanging around waiting to be caught,' Sano said. 'Their colleagues should be back soon, though. Maybe they can point us in the right direction.'
A distant sound of clattering wheels vibrated through the dusk. It grew louder and nearer, punctuated by bellows. The streets around the stables disgorged oxen pulling carts, drivers aboard, returning home for the night. They converged on the stables like a slow, malodorous, and rackety invading legion.
'Divide and conquer,' Sano told his men.
They circulated, asking the drivers if they knew the whereabouts of Jinshichi and Gombei. Drivers shook their heads. Finally, Sano's luck changed for the better.
'Jinshichi and Gombei, what a pair of good-for-nothings,' said the eighth driver Sano questioned.
Naked except for a dirty loincloth, a rag tied over his head, and straw sandals on his feet, he had skin so tanned and leathery that one could have made a good saddle out of it. As he and his fellows parked their carts under the shelter, he spat on the ground in disgust.
'Why do you have such a poor opinion of Jinshichi and Gombei?' Sano asked.
