insisted on taking the time to find out-she would have been executed before that fire.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Magistrate Ueda said. “It was my decision for you to investigate the murders, and neither of us could have foreseen the fire. In hindsight, I should have accepted Yugao’s confession and immediately sentenced her to death. The responsibility for her escape is mine.”
Guilt sickened Reiko nonetheless. “What are we going to do?”
“I’ve sent orders to the police to search for her.”
“But how can they find one person among the million in this city?” Reiko said, filled with despair. “Edo has so many places where a fugitive could hide. And the police are so busy hunting outlaw rebels, they won’t look very hard for Yugao.”
“True, but what else is to be done?”
Reiko rose. “I’m going to look for Yugao myself.”
Magistrate Ueda’s expression was sympathetic yet dubious. “It will be even harder for you than for the police. They at least have many officers, civilian assistants, and neighborhood officials they can set after Yugao, while you’re just one woman.”
“Yes,” Reiko said, “but at least I’ll be active instead of waiting for her to be found. And people who’ve seen her may be more willing to talk to me than to the police.”
“If you insist on searching, then I wish you luck,” Magistrate Ueda said. “I must admit that if you should find Yugao, you’ll be doing me a valuable service. That a murderess is on the loose because I delayed her execution is a black mark on my record. If she’s not captured, I could lose my post.”
Reiko didn’t want to hurt Sano-especially now, when his very life was threatened; nor did she want to hurt their marriage. Yet she couldn’t let her father suffer, any more than she could let a murderess go free. Her intuition told her that learning the motive behind Yugao’s crime was more important than ever. And looking for Yugao would distract her from her fear that Sano was going to die.
“I’ll find her, Father,” said Reiko. “I promise.”
Sano’s first stop was the administrative quarter of Edo Castle. He and Detectives Marume and Fukida dismounted outside Hirata’s gate, where the sentries greeted them. The mist was oppressive, the streets oddly deserted except for a few servants and patrol soldiers. As they walked through the courtyard to the mansion where he’d once lived, Sano felt a pang of nostalgia so intense that it hurt.
He remembered times when he’d come home to this place exhausted, discouraged, and in fear for his life and honor. Through them all he’d been sustained by the physical strength of his body. Even when it had been injured, he’d known he would recover. He’d taken his good health for granted and never really believed he could die, even though he’d often looked death in the face. Those times seemed idyllic in retrospect. Now mortality haunted Sano. He imagined an explosion in his head as a blood vessel ruptured, and his life extinguished like a snuffed candle flame. If indeed the assassin had touched him, all his wisdom, political power, and wealth couldn’t save him. Sano fought the urge to run as fast as he could in a vain attempt to escape the deadly force planted inside his own body. He must concentrate on catching the assassin. He must save other lives even if he was marked for death.
Hirata met him outside the mansion. Last night Sano had sent a message telling Hirata about the assassin’s attack, and Hirata looked devastated by the news. “Sano-san. I-” Emotion choked off whatever he’d meant to say. He dropped to his knees before Sano and bowed his head.
Sano was moved that Hirata could grieve for him even though he’d been the cause of Hirata’s terrible injury. He said in a falsely cheerful voice, “Get up, Hirata-san. I’m not dead yet. Save your mourning for my funeral. We have work to do.”
Hirata rose, visibly braced by Sano’s attitude. “Do you still want me to track down the priest and the water- seller and whoever might have been stalking Colonel Ibe?”
“Yes,” Sano said. “And we’ll proceed with the other plans we made yesterday.”
“Marume and I have already organized the hunt for the priest Ozuno,” said Fukida.
“I’ll do everything in my power to catch the assassin,” Hirata declared. “This is personal now.”
“If you avenge your master’s murder before he’s dead, you’ll win yourself a place in history,” Sano said.
Hirata and the detectives laughed dutifully at the joke. Sano felt the strain of keeping up their spirits as well as his own. “Let’s look on the bright side. Every misfortune brings unexpected benefits. What happened last night has provided new clues that I’m about to follow up on.”
The Tokugawa Army’s central headquarters was located within Edo Castle, in a turret that rose up from a wall high on the hill. The turret was a tall, square structure faced with white plaster. Tiled roofs protruded above each of its three stories. General Isogai, supreme commander of the military forces, had an office at the top. Sano and Detectives Marume and Fukida reached the turret via a covered corridor that ran along the wall. As they walked, they glanced through the barred windows, into the passages under them. Sano was surprised to see only the patrol guards and checkpoint sentries. The officials who usually thronged the passages were absent.
“This place is as deserted as your compound,” Marume said.
“Somehow I can’t believe Police Commissioner Hoshina is responsible for this, too,” said Fukida.
Nor could Sano, who had an uneasy feeling about it. They entered the turret and climbed the stairs, passing soldiers who bowed to them. Sano stood at the threshold of General Isogai’s office, where the general presided over a conference of army officers. Smoke from their pipes clouded the air and drifted out windows into the mist. General Isogai spied Sano, nodded in acknowledgment, and dismissed his men.
“Greetings, Honorable Chamberlain. Please come in.”
Sano told Marume and Fukida to wait outside, then joined General Isogai. Swords, spears, and guns hung mounted in racks on the walls, alongside maps of Japan that showed army garrisons.
“May I be of service to you?” General Isogai said.
“You may,” said Sano, “but first, please accept my condolences on the death of Colonel Ibe.”
The general’s jovial expression turned bleak. “Ibe was a good soldier. A good friend, too. Came up through the ranks with me. I’ll miss him.” General Isogai uttered a humorless laugh. “Remember our last meeting? We were pretty smug because we had things under control. Now one of my top men has been assassinated, and you’re on Lord Matsudaira’s bad side because you haven’t managed to catch whoever did it.”
He walked to the window. “Notice how empty the castle is?” When Sano nodded, he said, “Everyone’s heard that the assassin got to you last night. Here, in the one place we all thought was safe. People are afraid to go out. They don’t want to be next to die. They’re hiding at home, surrounded by bodyguards. Whole bakufu’s ground to a halt.”
Sano imagined communication cut off between Edo and the rest of Japan, and the Tokugawa regime losing its grip on the provinces. Anarchy would spawn rebellion. Not only would the remnants of Yanagisawa’s faction seize the chance to regain power, but the daimyo might rise up against Tokugawa rule. “This could be disastrous. Assign soldiers to escort officials on their business and protect them,” Sano said.
The general frowned, dubious. “The army’s stretched too thin already.”
“Then borrow some troops from the daimyo. Bring in more from the provinces.”
“As you wish,” General Isogai said, although still reluctant. “By the way, have you heard that the assassin has a nickname? People are calling him ‘the Ghost,’ because he stalks his victims and kills them without being seen.”
He gestured out the window. “Give me an enemy I can see, and I’ll send all my gunners, archers, and swordsmen after him. But my army can’t fight a ghost.” His cunning eyes glittered with desperation as he faced Sano. “You’re the detective. How do we find him and put him out of action?”
“By the same strategy that you would use to defeat any other enemy,” Sano said. “We analyze the information we have on him. Then we run him to ground.”
General Isogai looked skeptical. “What do we know about him except that he must be a madman?”
“His attack on me has taught me two things,” Sano said. “First, his motive is to destroy Lord Matsudaira’s regime by killing its key officials.”
“Haven’t you suspected as much since the metsuke chief died at the horse races?”
“Yes, but now it’s a certainty. I didn’t know any of the victims well; we didn’t have the same friends, associates, family ties, or personal enemies. We had nothing in common except that we were all appointed to Lord Matsudaira’s new regime.”
