“I want to hear all about it.” Grandmother’s eyes sparkled with eagerness. “Come inside.”
They sat in the tent, where the old woman served murky soup that reeked of onions, fermented fish, and vinegar. Reiko said, “None for me, thank you,” and described her attempt to pump Lady Ogyu about her husband and the murders.
“Well, you really flubbed your chance,” her grandmother said. “You should have been more subtle.”
“Like you?” Reiko couldn’t resist saying.
Her grandmother waggled a finger at Reiko. “Now, now, don’t be sarcastic, my girl. Was my letter of reference completely wasted?”
“Not completely.” Reiko described how she’d eavesdropped on Minister Ogyu and his wife.
“That’s exactly what I’d have done. Maybe you did inherit a few of my wits. So what did you hear?”
Reiko related the Ogyus’ conversation. “I think the old woman named Kasane may be able to supply the proof that Minister Ogyu is the murderer.”
“And you want my help finding out who she is and where she is.” Grandmother shook her head. “Can’t you do anything without me?”
“I would be very grateful for your assistance,” Reiko said humbly.
Grandmother pondered. “Kasane, Kasane. Give me a moment.” Reiko imagined the old woman sorting through pages of history stored in her capacious memory, the paper yellowed but the writing still black and clear. “The Ogyu family had a nursemaid named Kasane.”
Reiko wasn’t surprised that her grandmother knew the servants employed by high-society families. She poached them whenever she fired her own unsatisfactory servants.
“There was something odd,” Grandmother went on. “Kasane was given a yearly income and went to live near relatives in Mitake. It must have been more than fifteen years ago.”
“That is odd,” Reiko said. Usually, longtime servants either were allowed to stay on with the family, which supported them in their old age, or were cast off to fend for themselves. It was a rare, benevolent employer who let a servant go her own way on his payroll.
“So.” Grandmother gave Reiko a smug look that proclaimed her own superiority and Reiko’s indebtedness to her. “Hadn’t you better go home and prepare for the trip?”
After he finished exchanging respects with the officials who’d welcomed him back to court, whether they were glad to see him or not, Yanagisawa entered the guesthouse and headed toward the shogun’s chambers. He’d been away too long. How superfluous he’d made himself, how vulnerable! But he’d needed to let his grief have its way with him so that he could rise again, stronger than ever, when the time came. That time was now. He must fight to reclaim the place that was rightfully his, and here was the first obstacle to surmount.
Ienobu stood in the corridor. His small, hunched figure blocked Yanagisawa’s path. His ugly face was twisted with displeasure.
“Greetings, Lord Ienobu.” Yanagisawa stopped and bowed.
Ienobu demanded, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to call on His Excellency.” Yanagisawa thought it was too bad he hadn’t arranged a fatal “accident” for Ienobu a long time ago. He’d wrongly assumed Ienobu would never crawl out from under his rock.
“But you haven’t left your house in almost a year.” Ienobu had apparently thought that grief had done Yanagisawa in and he needn’t worry about competition from the shogun’s old friend. “You’ve taken no interest in my uncle. ” He emphasized his relationship to the shogun. “Or in government business.”
“That’s all changed.” Yanagisawa smiled at Ienobu’s vexation. He advanced down the corridor, forcing Ienobu to shuffle backward. “You have only yourself to blame.” If not for Ienobu’s order to leave the capital, Yanagisawa might still be lying in bed, a threat to no one.
“You mustn’t bother my uncle,” Ienobu protested. “He doesn’t want to see anybody.”
“He’ll see me.” Yanagisawa kept going, with feigned confidence. How would the shogun take his sudden reappearance?
“You had better get your affairs in order for your trip to your new post in Tosa Province,” Ienobu said, shuffling faster. “You’re supposed to leave in a few days.”
Yanagisawa snorted. That this grotesque insect thought to dispense with him so easily! “I’m not going.”
“My uncle ordered you to go. You have to obey.”
“We both know who those orders really came from.” Yanagisawa jabbed his finger at Ienobu as he bore down on him. “I don’t obey you. ”
Ienobu stopped with his back against the closed door to the shogun’s chambers. “You can’t go in there.” His eyes bulged with his fear that Yanagisawa would undo his efforts to secure his place as heir to the dictatorship.
“Who’s to stop me?” Yanagisawa said.
“Guards!” Ienobu called. Two soldiers came. “Take this trespasser outside.”
Yanagisawa gave the guards a look that concentrated the power of his personality, that bespoke his reputation as a man to be feared. “You’re dismissed. Leave.”
The guards went. Yanagisawa said to Ienobu, “Step aside.”
Furious yet impotent, Ienobu obeyed.
A victory always energized Yanagisawa, and this first one over Ienobu reassured him that he hadn’t lost his touch. But his heart raced as he entered the room, shut the door behind him, and approached the shogun, who lay on cushions on the dais with his eyes closed. Two pages hovered. Yanagisawa shot them a glance; they tiptoed from the room. This might be the most important conversation he’d ever had. He waited, tense with nerves.
“Who’s there?” the shogun said.
“It’s I,” Yanagisawa said.
Surprise fluttered the shogun’s eyes open. “Yanagisawa- san?” He sat up, squinting in disbelief, then smiled. “You’re back!” He held out his hand to Yanagisawa. “Ahh, it’s good to see you again!”
He’d obviously forgotten that he’d ever been upset with Yanagisawa, ever demoted him. Yanagisawa breathed easier. He mounted the steps to the dais, knelt, and took the shogun’s soft, moist hand. That quickly he was back where he belonged.
“Where have you been?” the shogun asked. “Why did you leave me for so long?”
“I was in mourning for Yoritomo.” Yanagisawa’s voice cracked.
“Who?” The shogun frowned in confusion, then said, “Ahh, yes, your son.”
Yanagisawa felt hot outrage roil inside him. Yoritomo had been the shogun’s lover for nine years. He’d died trying to save the shogun’s life, and the shogun barely remembered who he was! Yanagisawa compressed his lips in a tight, false smile. He reminded himself that he’d always known how selfish and callous the shogun was and that he’d often taken advantage of it. He warned himself that losing his temper would get him in trouble, which Ienobu would love.
“I’m here now,” he said. “Ready to serve Your Excellency.”
He hated having to suck up to the shogun. Someday he wouldn’t have to anymore. When that day came, he would be safe at the top of the regime.
“Well, ahh, I’m glad. So many, ahh, terrible things have happened. The earthquake, and all the problems. I’m at my, ahh, wit’s end.” The shogun clung to Yanagisawa’s hand. “But now that you’re here, I feel better. You’ll tell me what to do, won’t you?”
Yanagisawa’s smile turned genuine. “Oh, I certainly will.”
The door scraped open. Ienobu poked his head into the room. Trust him to intrude when things were going so well, Yanagisawa thought with annoyance.
“Nephew, I don’t need you now,” the shogun said. “My old friend Yanagisawa is back.”
An angry flush worsened Ienobu’s looks. He started to withdraw, but Yanagisawa said, “Wait a moment.” Ienobu froze, suspicious. “Your nephew sent me an order stamped with your signature seal,” Yanagisawa told the shogun. “It said I’m supposed to leave Edo and take up a new post in Tosa Province. Is that what you want?”
“What? For you to leave?” The shogun shook his head, bewildered and dismayed. “No.” He clung harder to Yanagisawa.
“Then you rescind the order?” Yanagisawa asked.
