then asked Reiko, “What was Yugao in jail for?”
“She stabbed her family to death,” Reiko said.
Interest enlivened the Rat’s expression. “I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about that. Where did it happen?”
“In the hinin settlement.”
“Oh.” The Rat’s interest faded, as though crimes among the hinin were commonplace and unimportant. “Why is the chamberlain’s wife looking for an escaped outcast?”
Rather than tell the whole sad story, Reiko said, “My father asked me to find Yugao. He’s the magistrate who tried her for the murders.”
The Rat waggled his bristly eyebrows, hinting for more explanation. Reiko kept silent. The monkey whacked Lieutenant Asukai on the leg with his sword. Lieutenant Asukai yelped in pain. His comrades howled with laughter.
“Serves you right, teasing a poor animal,” the Rat huffed, then said, “The law moves in strange ways, and who am I to question it? But since I have the privilege of talking to the magistrate’s daughter, maybe you can tell me whether those other murders were ever solved.”
“What other murders?” Reiko said, impatient for the rain to stop so she could continue her search. Her mind drifted to Sano, and fear tightened inside her. Would the assassin’s death-touch take effect before two days passed?
“The ones that happened around here, about six years ago,” the Rat said. “Three men were stabbed within a few months of each other.”
Reiko’s attention snapped back to him. “What? Who were they?”
“Tokugawa soldiers. A lot of them come here to have fun when they’re off duty.”
“How did it happen?”
“The way I heard it, they got drunk in teahouses and they went out to the alleys to piss. They were found lying dead there, in pools of blood.”
An eerie sensation crept through Reiko. The murders had occurred while Yugao had been living in the district, and the victims had been stabbed, as had her family. “The killer was never caught?”
“Not that I know of,” the Rat said. “Last I heard, the police had decided that a roving bandit killed those soldiers. Their money pouches were missing from their bodies.”
It must be a coincidence that had placed Yugao and the stabbings in the same area during the same time period. Bandits did often kill and rob people. Furthermore, how could a woman murder strong, armed samurai? Yet Reiko didn’t trust coincidences.
The storm abated. The rain diminished to a sprinkle, although the sky remained overcast. People poured out of the stalls, onto the wet avenue.
“It was nice talking to you,” the Rat said. “If I hear any news about your escaped prisoner, I’ll send a message.” He jerked his monkey’s leash and told Reiko’s guards, “Fun’s over.”
Reiko spent an hour questioning people in the entertainment district, but no one had seen Yugao. She was apparently too smart to run to a place where the police were likely to look for her. But still she might have gravitated toward her home territory because she didn’t know where else to go. Reiko broadened her search into the neighborhoods near Ryogoku Hirokoji and eventually found herself in a familiar street of tenements and shops. She saw a teahouse she recognized. The maid she’d talked to yesterday was lounging against the same pillar.
“Well, look who’s back,” the maid said and held out her hand, palm up, to Reiko. “You owe me. I’ve found out where that girl Tama is.”
Reiko’s bearers set down her palanquin in an enclave in the Nihonbashi merchant district. Rain drizzled on mansions that rose two stories high; pines and red maples grew from spacious gardens hidden behind bamboo fences. The streets were quiet and unpopulated, remote from the bustle of commerce a few blocks away.
“A customer from the old days happened to stop by. He said Tama’s father drank himself to death, and Tama was left without a single copper to live on,” the teahouse maid had told Reiko. “She went to work as a servant in the house of a rich moneylender.”
The directions given by the maid had brought Reiko here. Maybe Tama could help her trace Yugao as well as shed light on the murders. Reiko watched through the window of her palanquin as Lieutenant Asukai dismounted, walked to the largest mansion on the street, and knocked on the gate. It was opened by a manservant.
“I want to see Tama,” Lieutenant Asukai said. “Send her out.”
Soon a woman emerged. Tama was so small that she looked like a child, although Reiko knew she must be near the same age as Yugao, in her twenties. Tama wore a plain indigo kimono; a white cloth bound her hair. She had a face as plump-cheeked and smooth as a doll’s. As she beheld Lieutenant Asukai and the other guards, fear widened her innocent eyes. He led her to Reiko’s palanquin.
Reiko said, “Hello, Tama-san. My name is Reiko. I’m the daughter of Magistrate Ueda, and I’d like to talk to you.” She opened the door. “Come inside so you don’t get wet.” She felt an instinctive urge to protect Tama, who seemed too sweet and defenseless to survive in the world.
Tama meekly obeyed. Inside the palanquin, she looked around as if it were some alien place. Reiko thought she’d probably never been in one before: Servants didn’t ride; they walked. She knelt as far from Reiko as possible and tucked her hands in her sleeves.
“Don’t be afraid,” Reiko said. “I won’t hurt you.”
Bashful, Tama avoided Reiko’s gaze. Reiko said, “I need to ask you some questions about your friend Yugao.”
Tama stiffened. She eyed the door, as if she wanted to jump out but didn’t dare. “I-I don’t know any Yugao,” she said in a whisper so soft that Reiko almost couldn’t hear it. Her face, honest and transparent, gave the lie to her words.
“I know that you and Yugao were friends,” Reiko said gently. “Have you seen her?”
Tama shook her head. Her eyes begged Reiko to leave her alone. She whispered, “No. Not since three years ago, when she…”
“Moved to the hinin settlement?” When Tama nodded, Reiko wondered if Tama was lying again. The girl’s nervousness made it hard to tell whether that was the case, or if she was just shy with strangers or afraid that her connection with a murderess would get her in trouble. “Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you,” Reiko assured Tama. “I just need to find Yugao. She escaped from jail yesterday, and she’s dangerous. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”
“Jail?” Tama gasped the word. Shock and dismay filled her eyes. “Yugao was in jail?”
“Yes,” Reiko said. “She murdered her parents and sister. Didn’t you know?”
Tama sat staring in open-mouthed horror: It was obvious she hadn’t known. Reiko supposed that crimes in the hinin settlement weren’t publicized. Tama buried her face in her hands and began to sob. “Oh no, oh no, oh no!”
Reiko took hold of Tama’s hands and gently pulled them down. Tama’s eyes were streaming and her face blotched with tears. She gazed helplessly at Reiko.
“I don’t know where Yugao is,” she cried. “Please believe me!”
“Have you any idea where Yugao could have gone? Are there any places that you and she went when you were children?”
“No!” Tama snatched her hands out of Reiko’s grasp. She wiped her tears on her sleeve.
“Try to think,” Reiko urged. “Yugao might hurt someone else unless she’s caught.” Tama only wept and shook her head. Reiko grabbed the girl by the shoulders. “If you know anything at all that might help me find Yugao, you must tell me.”
“I don’t,” Tama whimpered. “Let me go. You’re hurting me.”
Ashamed of bullying this innocent, helpless girl, Reiko let go of Tama. “All right. I’m sorry,” Reiko said. But even if she couldn’t find out where Yugao was, perhaps she could still make her hunt for Tama worthwhile.
“Tama,” she said, “there’s something else I need to ask you. Why would Yugao kill her family?”
The girl cringed in the corner of the palanquin, still and silent as a baby bird that hopes the cat will get bored and go away if it waits long enough.
“Tell me,” Reiko said, gentle yet firm.
Tama’s will crumbled under Reiko’s. At last she whispered, “I think… I think he drove her to it.”
