has been found!'
Fukida groaned. Marume cursed and said, 'Why couldn't it have happened just a few hours sooner?'
Sano felt as much foreboding as relief. 'How? By whom?'
The soldier shook his head. 'All I know is that she was found lying in the Ginza theater district.'
'That's a long way from Chomei Temple,' Sano said.
Her abduction hadn't followed the same pattern as the others, when the victims had been dumped near the places they'd been taken. But the two oxcart drivers weren't the culprits this time. There was another kidnapper, still at large.
'Where is Lady Nobuko?' Sano asked.
'She's being taken to the palace.'
Sano and his men rode at a gallop through Edo Castle. They arrived at the palace in time to join a crowd of officials and troops watching four guards carry Lady Nobuko on a litter up the path to the entrance. Her thin body was covered by a blanket, her black hair matted. Her eyes were closed, but Sano could tell she was conscious. Pain, misery, and humiliation played across her pale, quivering face, which was contorted on the right side.
The shogun scurried out of the palace, trailed by attendants. When the guards brought Lady Nobuko to him, he squinted at her as if he didn't quite recognize her. He said, 'Take her to her chambers. Call the court physician.'
At the entrance, her maids and the other court ladies surrounded Lady Nobuko in an exclaiming, weeping horde.
Then the shogun saw Sano, and his expression turned furious. 'My wife is home, no thanks to you! I understand she was found by some policemen who, ahh, just happened to stumble upon her.' Sano started to apologize, but the shogun cut him off. 'The police said my wife has been violated. I've been dishonored.' He seemed more angry at Sano than glad to have Lady Nobuko back alive. 'And it's all your fault because you didn't rescue her in time!'
He seemed to have forgotten that he'd previously thought Yanagisawa shared the blame for the kidnapping. Yanagisawa was nowhere to be seen. The shogun jabbed his finger at Sano's face. 'You'll pay for letting me down. As soon as it can be arranged, you and your family and all your close associates shall die!'
'Your Excellency,' Sano began.
After twelve years during which Sano had loyally, unstintingly served him, the shogun turned his back on Sano and stalked into the castle.
Everyone's gazes avoided Sano. The crowd moved away from Sano, Hirata, and the detectives like the ocean receding from an island at low tide.
Reiko hurried toward him. Her expression said she'd heard the shogun's pronouncement. Masahiro also came running. Sano was aghast that his wife and son had not only witnessed his public humiliation, but would die because he had failed.
'Don't worry,' he said more confidently than he felt. He didn't want to frighten Reiko and Masahiro, but he feared that this time they were all lost.
'I have to tell you what else happened.' Breathless with excitement, Reiko said, 'Nanbu and Ogita are dead.'
She poured out a story of blackmail, an ambush and a battle in a cemetery, and the shocking outcome. Sano's men listened with amazement. Sano could barely absorb what he was hearing.
'Where have you been?' Reiko asked.
Sano didn't have a chance to answer, because Masahiro tugged his sleeve and said excitedly, 'Father, I've seen that lady before!'
'What lady?' Sano asked.
'The shogun's wife. Remember how I spied on Chamberlain Yanagisawa? She's one of the three ladies he met.'
This latest revelation was too much on top of too much for Sano. He and Reiko stared at Masahiro in surprise.
'Yanagisawa had a miai with the shogun's wife?' Reiko said.
She sounded as confused as Sano felt. But now Sano began to understand what Yanagisawa was up to. The sheer audacity of it took his breath away.
Masahiro pointed at the crowd of women around the shogun's wife. 'And there are the two other ladies!'
Sano spotted an old woman with a babyish face, and a tall, plain younger one. They walked close beside Lady Nobuko as the guards carried her litter into the palace. Sano had never seen them before, but the fact that they clearly outranked the other women told him their identities.
'Who are they?' Reiko asked.
'The elder is Lady Oden, a former concubine of the shogun,' Sano said. 'The younger is Tsuruhime, his daughter by Oden.'
A sudden thought struck him. Masahiro hadn't been the only witness to their meeting with Yanagisawa. The spy Toda Ikkyu had been there, too.
Reiko gasped. 'Yanagisawa wants to marry the shogun's daughter to Yoritomo!'
'Yes, because if that happens, it will move Yoritomo way up in the succession,' Sano said, enlightened at last. 'That's how he plans to seize power.' His plan explained why Yanagisawa had stopped embezzling from the Tokugawa treasury: He thought the money would be all his someday. 'He had to get Lady Nobuko's permission for the match because she's in charge of all business concerning Tsuruhime, her stepdaughter.'
'But the shogun's wife told Yanagisawa no,' Masahiro said, pleased by his parents' reaction to his news even though Sano doubted he understood its significance. 'He said he could get a divorce. But she said it would be incest.'
Sano recalled Masahiro asking him what those words meant. Now he knew why. He also knew why Lady Nobuko had refused Yanagisawa's proposal. 'Tsuruhime is already married, to a member of a Tokugawa branch clan. They don't have any children, so Yanagisawa must have thought a second marriage for her would be acceptable to everyone. But a divorce apparently couldn't remove all Lady Nobuko's objections to remarrying her stepdaughter to Yoritomo, who is her father's lover.'
'I suppose that could be called incest,' Hirata said.
'Yanagisawa was very angry,' Masahiro said.
And Yanagisawa never let anyone who crossed him go unpunished. Sano saw a dreadful picture taking shape, a horrifying answer to questions in his mind.
'What are you going to do?' Reiko asked.
'I'm going to have a talk with Yanagisawa,' Sano said, 'and not just about his marriage scheme.'
But Yanagisawa wasn't the only person Sano meant to confront. Sano also intended to get an explanation from Toda Ikkyu.
If he lived long enough.
43
Sano had his chance at Yanagisawa and Toda four days later. During those days, an upheaval rocked the government's highest echelon and altered the circumstances of Sano and everyone close to him. And although he'd suffered drastic losses, he and his family were alive, and he was thankful.
Now he, Marume, and Fukida stood among a huge crowd gathered in the grounds of Joju's temple to witness the punishment of the famous exorcist.
The chief official from the Ministry of Temples announced, 'Joju has been found guilty of nyobon.' That was the offense termed 'woman crime,' which meant fornication and breaking a vow of celibacy. 'He has been sentenced to inu-barai.'
'That's a harsh punishment,' Marume said as a rumble of awe swept the audience.
'Not as harsh as he deserves,' Sano said, 'but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.'
