– FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA
Reiko sat in the round, sunken tub in the bathchamber, submerged up to her neck. She’d opened the window and lit lamps around the room; the hot water steamed in the cool breeze and reflected wavering flames. Sick horror still knotted her stomach, though hours had passed since she’d seen the corpses of the Fugatami; her mind continuously revisited the bloody scene. When Sano entered the chamber, she looked up at him with eyes swollen and sore from weeping.
“I keep thinking about Hiroko and Minister Fugatami,” she said in a ragged voice. “This is the third bath I’ve taken since I left that house, but I still don’t feel clean.”
“I understand,” Sano said gently. “The aura of death always lingers.”
He stripped off his clothes. Crouching on the slatted wooden floor, he poured a bucket of water over himself, then washed his body with a bag of rice-bran soap. His vigorous scrubbing bespoke his own desire for purification.
“This afternoon I went to tell Hiroko’s father what happened.” Sorrow welled inside Reiko as she remembered how the dignified old man had tried to hide his grief over Hiroko’s death and his anxiety about his missing grandsons. She wondered guiltily whether her contact with Minister Fugatami had somehow triggered the murders.
“Thank you for sparing me the task,” Sano said, his expression bleak and strained as he washed his hair.
“What happened with the shogun?” Reiko asked.
“He refused to shut down the sect. He ordered me to stay away from the temple.”
“Oh, no. What are you going to do?”
“What can I do but obey orders?” Sano said unhappily. He rinsed himself, then climbed into the tub. The water shifted and rose around Reiko as he sat opposite her. “I’ll look for evidence outside the temple that will convince the shogun to change his mind. And I’ve sent a message to Chamberlain Yanagisawa, explaining the situation and asking him to come back to Edo. I think he’ll consider the Black Lotus problem serious enough to deserve his attention.”
Reiko was both glad and alarmed that Sano had taken the major step of summoning Yanagisawa, but feared that the chamberlain might not return in time to prevent a disaster. “At least some good has come of Minister Fugatami’s death,” she said. “You finally believe he was right about the Black Lotus.” That she and Sano were at last on the same side comforted Reiko. “And Haru can be released from jail,” Reiko added, now more certain than ever that the sect was guilty, which argued in favor of the girl’s innocence. “She can’t go back to the temple, so we’ll have to find a place for her to live.”
Then Reiko noticed a disturbed look on Sano’s face. “What’s wrong?” she said.
“Haru isn’t going anywhere.” Sano’s tone was cautious yet decisive. “She’s staying right where she is.”
“But you can’t keep her locked up when the case against her has weakened so much.” Reiko couldn’t believe she’d heard him right.
Sano shook his head. He inhaled deeply as if mustering the energy for an argument he’d hoped to avoid. “What happened today doesn’t clear Haru.”
“You agree that the sect killed Minister Fugatami and attacked people in Shinagawa. Isn’t it logical that they also killed Commander Oyama, Chie, and the child?”
“Logical,” Sano said, “but not certain. That the Black Lotus is evil doesn’t necessarily mean Haru is good. Whatever the sect has done, my case against Haru remains the same.”
“Then you’re still sure she’s guilty?” Incredulity jolted Reiko. “You still intend that she should be tried for the crimes?”
“I do,” Sano said.
His expression was regretful, but Reiko heard the finality in his voice. The steaming water around them seemed to grow cold as she realized that she and Sano weren’t on the same side after all. He was still in danger of condemning the wrong person, ruining his honor, and letting killers escape justice.
“Minister Fugatami probably died because he knew too much about the Black Lotus and was a danger to the sect,” Reiko said. “I think the same conditions apply to Haru, Commander Oyama, and Nurse Chie. They must have seen and heard things inside the temple. High Priest Anraku decided he couldn’t trust them to keep his secrets. He had Oyama and Chie murdered, then framed Haru so she would die too.”
“I understand how much you want to believe that,” Sano said, “but there’s no proof.”
Reiko perceived obstinacy beneath his gentle tone. She drew up her knees, avoiding contact with him. “Have you asked Haru what she knows of the sect’s business?” When Sano shook his head, Reiko said, “Neither have I, because I didn’t have the chance. Maybe if we go to the jail and ask her now, she’ll give us information that will clear her and persuade the shogun to let you investigate the Black Lotus.”
A current rippled the water as Sano folded his arms. “I’ll not give Haru another opportunity to invent tales about other people or pretend she doesn’t know what she did the night before the fire. I don’t trust her to tell the truth about the Black Lotus, so I won’t bother asking.”
“That’s unfair,” Reiko said, angry now. “Haru deserves a chance to save herself, especially since the Fugatami murder is evidence in her favor.”
Temper flared in Sano’s eyes. “She’s had plenty of chances to tell a better story about what happened to her. She’ll get another chance at her trial. And I’ve been more than fair to her-and to you-at my own expense. I put off arresting Haru so I could check out all the possible leads. My hesitancy gave Senior Elder Makino the means to destroy my reputation. I’ve also delayed Haru’s trial so I could hear Minister Fugatami’s report on the Black Lotus, as you wished. The shogun has ordered me to convene the trial, and I intend to do so before he can punish me for disobedience. Haru is guilty, and I shall welcome her conviction.”
Discord seemed to saturate the water like foul poison. Suddenly Reiko could no longer bear to stay near Sano. Rising, she climbed out of the tub in a cascade of dripping water.
“Reiko-san, wait,” Sano said.
She heard anguish in his voice but ignored his plea. There was nothing more to say that would alter his opinion or hers. Reiko snatched a cloth from a shelf and swathed her wet body. She hurried out of the room and down the hall to her chamber. Shivering with cold and agitation, she dried herself and donned a dressing gown. Then she knelt by the charcoal brazier and tried to think how to find the Fugatami children and thwart the Black Lotus’s schemes before the trial, when the machinery of the law would claim Haru. Now that neither she nor Sano could go back to the Black Lotus Temple, they had no way to see into the sect.
The thought stimulated Reiko’s memory of Midori proposing to spy on the temple. Reiko suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen or heard from her friend all day. Disturbed to think Midori was so offended that she was avoiding contact, Reiko decided she must seek out Midori first thing tomorrow and try to repair their friendship.
At the Black Lotus Temple, nuns herded a hundred novices through the precinct. The young women, dressed in white robes, their long hair loose, marched in pairs past dark, silent buildings. Their eager faces shone in the fitful light from lanterns carried by the nuns. No one spoke. The only noises were their rapid breaths, the scuff of sandals on the gravel path, and the whine of cicadas in the shrubbery. In the middle of the line, Midori walked beside Toshiko. Excitement permeated the group like an invisible force. Midori trembled with anticipation, sure that tonight she would learn something of major importance about the Black Lotus.
After she’d been accepted into the temple, she had expected the nuns to assign her the menial chores that novices usually performed at temples. She’d thought she could look around and talk with sect members; however, that hadn’t happened. Instead, Midori had spent the day closed up in the nunnery with the other novices. An elderly priest had taught them verses from the Black Lotus Sutra. All speech except chanting the verses had been forbidden. Nuns armed with wooden paddles rapped the heads of anyone who talked during meals. Still, whispers buzzed among the novices. Toshiko had sat beside Midori and passed on gossip: “Enemies are slaughtering our kind.” “All the nuns and priests and Black Lotus followers have been ordered to come to the temple. No one is allowed to leave.” “The temple is closed to outsiders.” “It will happen soon!”
“What are they talking about?” Midori whispered to Toshiko.
A paddle rapped their heads, silencing them. Through the window bars Midori saw nuns and priests hurrying by,
