anything you want!'
'Let's see if there's something we want that you can give us,' Sano said. He usually pitied helpless people and disapproved of physical coercion, but not this time. 'We're looking for two men, named Jinshichi and Gombei. Do they work for you?'
The proprietor's face twisted from side to side as he tried to shake his head and failed. Hirata pressed harder on his wrist, and his voice emerged in a strangled croak. 'Yes.'
'What do they do?' Sano asked.
Hirata eased his grip long enough for the proprietor to gulp a breath and say, 'They get women. For men who want special things.'
Now Sano understood Jinshichi and Gombei's sideline occupation and role in the kidnappings. Neither of the oxcart drivers had raped Chiyo, Fumiko, or Tengu-in; they'd procured the women for someone else. Someone who had sexual tastes that couldn't be satisfied in Edo's brothels.
'Was one of these women a nursing mother and another a nun?'
'I don't know who the women were,' the proprietor said, then gasped because Hirata had compressed his nerves again. 'No, I really don't, honest! All I did was set Jinshichi and Gombei up with my clients and take my share of the money. What they did after that was between them and the clients.'
'Tell me the names of your clients,' Sano said.
Fresh terror blazed in the proprietor's eyes. Sano could feel his body shaking inside, vibrating the floor, even though he was paralyzed. 'I can't tell you. They'll kill me.'
'If you don't tell us, I'll kill you,' Hirata said.
The proprietor crumpled into a heap as if his bones had dissolved. Sano couldn't begin to imagine what spell Hirata had wrought. The proprietor lay limp, gasping with panic. From outside the enclosure came the voices of the maids, chatting among themselves, unaware that anything untoward was happening.
'All right,' the proprietor said. 'If you'll just let me go, I'll talk.'
27
'You didn't let him go, did you?' Reiko said as she served Sano his dinner at home late that night.
'No, of course not.' Sano had begun the story of what had happened at the teahouse. Now he hungrily ate raw mackerel laid on rice balls and dumplings stuffed with vegetables. 'Hirata and I closed down the teahouse. We took the proprietor to Edo Jail. Later, I'll figure out exactly what crimes he's guilty of arranging and your father can put him on trial. I've put a watch on the Drum Teahouse, in case Jinshichi and Gombei should show up there.'
'Who were the clients?' Reiko asked eagerly.
Before he answered, Sano looked through the open doors that led to other rooms, to see if Masahiro was listening. He'd resolved not to let his son hear any more conversations about detective work. He saw Masahiro exactly where he'd been when Sano arrived home-sitting in bed two rooms away, Akiko curled up beside him. Masahiro was reading his sister a story. Even though he'd spent the whole day indoors, being punished, he seemed contented enough.
'The clients are three individuals who'll be in big trouble if I find out that they touched my cousin,' Sano said. 'Gombei and Jinshichi did dirty work for some prominent men. I'm not personally acquainted with them, but I've heard of them all. One is a rice broker named Ogita.'
'I've heard of him, too,' Reiko said. 'Doesn't he buy and sell rice from the shogun's family lands?'
'That's him. He's made a lot of money at it.' Enough to pay for women to be kidnapped and delivered to him for his pleasure, Sano thought. 'The second man is the official in charge of the shogun's dog kennels.'
Due to the law that protected dogs, and the public nuisance they caused, the government had established kennels for the strays. Someone had to maintain the kennels, and that duty had fallen to Nanbu Bosai. He was a Tokugawa vassal from an old, respected clan. But good family connections didn't preclude twisted sexual tastes-or crime.
'Who is the third suspect?' Reiko asked.
'A priest named Joju,' Sano said.
'The one who's famous for those rituals?'
Joju's unique, extraordinary rituals had captured the attention of the public, which was avid for new diversions. 'The very one,' Sano said. 'But we don't know if any of the three men is responsible for the attacks.'
He faced the disturbing possibility that Jinshichi and Gombei had kidnapped the women for other clients that the proprietor of the Drum Teahouse didn't know about. He recalled what he'd seen at Edo Morgue, and another disturbing possibility occurred to him. 'Dr. Ito examined Tengu-in's body,' he said, and told Reiko about the disease found on the nun.
'Oh, no.' Clearly stricken by horror, Reiko voiced Sano's fear: 'Does that mean Chiyo and Fumiko might have it, too?'
'Let's hope not,' Sano said. 'In the meantime, I intend to find out the truth about our suspects tomorrow.'
'I must warn you that Jirocho isn't content to leave the investigation to you,' Reiko said, and described the scene at Major Kumazawa's house.
Sano was glad his uncle had spurned the gangster's proposition that they join forces, but displeased by the thought of Jirocho running wild in pursuit of blood. 'That's bad news,' Sano said, 'but I won't let Jirocho get in my way.'
Hirata raced through the corridors of his mansion. His children stampeded after him, whooping and laughing. Their footsteps shook the floor. Hirata swerved around corners. Taeko and Tatsuo crashed into walls. Midori called from her chamber, 'All this noise is giving me a headache!'
But her tone was fond, indulgent. Hirata knew she loved having him at home, romping with the children. He'd been gone for too much of their short lives, and he'd had to win back their love.
He ran ahead of them and darted into a room. Taeko and Tatsuo sped toward him in hot, uproarious pursuit. Hirata jumped out of the room and shouted, 'Boo!'
They recoiled and screamed. Now he was chasing them. They all spilled out the door, down the steps into the dark garden. 'Try to find us, Papa!' Taeko called.
She and her little brother ran off to hide. Hirata ambled after them. The wet grass soaked his socks. Fireflies glimmered. In their weak, fleeting light Hirata spotted Taeko behind a stone lantern and Tatsuo peeking around a pine tree. He pretended not to see the children, but they screamed when he came near them and bolted. They rustled so loudly through the grass that Hirata didn't need mystic martial arts powers to hear where they went.
Midori appeared on the veranda and called, 'That's enough. Come inside. It's time for the children to go to bed.'
Taeko and Tatsuo let out woeful cries and begged her to let them play a little longer.
A pulse of energy traveled through the darkness, through Hirata. His breath caught. His flesh rippled as he detected the same presence that he'd encountered at Shinobazu Pond. It was inside Edo Castle, somewhere nearby.
Hirata froze, listening with all his might. The peaceful night vibrated with howls and screeches beyond the range of normal hearing. He moved his gaze from side to side in an attempt to see the invisible threat. His pupils dilated. His vision expanded. The whole interior of Edo Castle, its buildings, streets, and passages, formed an image like a distorted map, composed of echoes and memory, around the periphery of his eyesight. He couldn't locate the presence, but he could feel the danger.
'Taeko! Tatsuo! Get in the house!' he shouted.
He sped toward his children, scooped up Taeko with one arm and Tatsuo with the other. Frightened by his alarm and his rough handling, they started to cry.
'What's wrong?' Midori said. 'What are you doing?'
Hirata vaulted onto the veranda and threw the crying, screaming children in the door. He said to Midori, 'You,
