Lightning’s incredulous expression, contradicted her statement. With an utterance of fury, Lightning grabbed Wisteria by the shoulders and flung her against the wall. “Liar! That’s not how it was!”
He smacked her face. She screamed, her body twisting and arms flying up to protect herself. Sano considered rushing the gangster and seizing his weapons, but Lightning’s reactions were so quick, and his mood so combative, that Sano was likely to end up dead if he tried to disarm Lightning. Instead Sano said, “If she’s lying, then tell me what really happened.”
Teeth gnashing, face livid, Lightning wavered between the impulse to violence and the need to air his side of the story. He said, “She wanted me to help her get out of Yoshiwara and get revenge.”
“Revenge on whom?” Sano was more mystified than ever.
“Fujio. Her yarite, Momoko. Treasury Minister Nitta.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Wisteria pleaded, her eyes big with consternation as she hugged the wall. “He’s insane.”
“She stole Momoko’s hairpin,” Lightning said. “Then she waited until she had Lord Mitsuyoshi alone, and Fujio and Nitta were in the ageya. That night, after the kamuro let me in, Wisteria said the time was right, and we should go through with her plan. I would kill Mitsuyoshi. She would cut her hair and dress in the men’s clothes she’d hidden in the room, then walk out of Yoshiwara with me. Later, Momoko would be blamed for murdering Mitsuyoshi. She had other plans for Fujio and Nitta.”
The murder had been Wisteria’s idea? Astounded, Sano looked at her.
“You were only supposed to wound him,” she berated Lightning in a ragged voice. “He wasn’t supposed to die!”
Her gaze flew to Sano, and her jaw dropped because she’d thoughtlessly admitted her responsibility. Shock robbed Sano of speech. Lightning chuckled in cruel glee. “She knew Fujio and Nitta would be suspected of having something to do with the murder or her disappearance or both,” the gangster said. “Nitta was stupid enough to tell her he’d stolen from the treasury. She told Fujio, so that when he was questioned by the police, he would tell on Nitta, and Nitta would be put to death. Then I would kill a woman and put the body in Fujio’s house.”
“Who was she?” Sano said, as he began to fit the new revelations with what he’d already known about the crime.
“Just a whore from a bathhouse,” Lightning said.
Sano noticed scratches on the gangster’s wrists, where the victim had clawed them. “And Wisteria sent me the anonymous tip so I would find the body?”
Lightning nodded. “Fujio was supposed to be blamed for murdering Wisteria. Everyone was supposed to think she was dead and stop looking for her.”
“You should have put animal blood on my clothes and left them in the house, the way I told you,” Wisteria railed at Lightning. “But you can’t resist a chance to kill.” Flustered and defensive, she turned to Sano. “No one was supposed to get hurt except Momoko, Fujio, and Nitta. They deserved it. Momoko made my life hell when I was a young courtesan. Fujio and Nitta broke their promises to marry me. I had to pay them all back.”
Sano was astonished to learn that Wisteria was such a vengeful schemer. Her beauty and charm had disguised her true nature. He’d correctly guessed that Lightning had killed Lord Mitsuyoshi, while never suspecting that Wisteria was behind the crime. Now he recalled the clues that had hinted at the truth.
“The treasury minister confessed at his trial that you wanted him to marry you but he wouldn’t,” Sano said. “You ruined your mother’s clothes because she sold you to Yoshiwara. Now Momoko, Fujio, and Nitta are dead because they hurt you.” Magistrate Aoki had unwittingly aided Wisteria’s scheme. “And you might have escaped the consequences, except that you chose an accomplice you couldn’t control.” Her selfish depravity horrified Sano.
“Those weren’t the only people she meant to hurt,” Lightning said. “Do you want to know who her last target was?”
“Be quiet!” Wisteria shrilled. 'You’ve done enough wrong!”
Lightning jabbed a finger at Sano and grinned. “It was you.”
“Me?” Flabbergasted, Sano stared at Wisteria.
“She wrote in her pillow book that you’d plotted to murder the shogun’s heir so your son could rule Japan someday,” Lightning said. “Then she sent the book to the chamberlain. You should have seen how glad she was when we heard the news that you’d been accused of killing Lord Mitsuyoshi.”
Shock reverberated through Sano. The book he’d deemed a forgery was genuine. Police Commissioner Hoshina was guilty of nothing except using the book to his advantage. Wisteria herself had mixed lies about Sano with authentic details of their affair, then delivered her slander to Hoshina. Enlightenment removed Sano’s last illusions about Wisteria Horrified fascination propelled him a step closer toward the wicked stranger who’d been his lover.
“Why?” he said, his voice hushed and his brow creased with his effort to understand Wisteria.
Her lips trembled in a smile that begged for mercy; she looked small and harmless. But Sano likened her to a woman in a No drama, played by an actor wearing a mask with moveable parts that shift, turning her beautiful face into an ugly one and revealing her as a demon. Wisteria’s mask had shifted.
“It was a mistake. Please let me explain,” she said, breathlessly eager. “Four years ago, you asked me questions about a murder. I was punished because men in high places didn’t want you investigating the case or anyone to help you. I was demoted to hashi-the bottom rank of courtesans. My private room and nice kimonos were taken away from me. I had to live in a crowded attic infested with lice, eat leftovers from other people’s plates, and wear cheap clothes. I lost my rich clients. I had to serve the poorest, crudest men-three or four a night. I suffered because of you.”
Sano acknowledged his culpability, yet marveled at the lengths she’d gone to retaliate.
Memory and hatred darkened Wisteria’s eyes. “Then I learned that you’d risen in the world and meant to free me. I thought you would take me to Edo Castle to live with you. But you just sent someone to pay off the brothel and give me money.” Her voice turned jagged with ire. “And later, you visited me and took your pleasure from me, as if it didn’t matter that you’d left me to struggle on my own.”
Now Sano understood why Wisteria had acted cold toward him during those visits. She’d expected more of him, and he’d disappointed her.
“She got in trouble and went back to Yoshiwara.” Lightning paced around Wisteria and Sano, clearly enjoying the drama he’d provoked. “She thought you owed it to her to rescue her again. But you didn’t, and she wanted to make you pay.”
A spark of anger within Sano ignited as he recalled what Yuya had told Reiko.“You squandered the money I gave you,” he reminded Wisteria. “You ran up debts and became a thief. I compensated you for suffering on my account. What you did afterward was your fault, not mine.”
Anger blazed into outrage. Fists clenched, Sano advanced on Wisteria. “You framed me for murder and treason because you couldn’t handle your freedom. You almost destroyed my whole family instead of taking responsibility for your own mistakes!” His offense against Wisteria didn’t justify her attack on him. The last of his sympathy toward her vanished. “To think I risked my life to rescue you!”
“I know now that I did wrong. I’m sorry I hurt you,” Wisteria said in a wheedling tone. She gave him a coy smile that faltered, exposing her terror of his wrath. “Please forgive me.”
Dropping to her knees, she clutched Sano’s hands against her bosom. Her attempt to propitiate him repelled Sano. He yanked his hands out of hers, just as Lightning seized her by the hair.
“You think you can blame me for everything and save your own hide,” Lightning shouted. “Well, you won’t get away with it. This is all your fault, and now you’ll pay!”
He smote her face. He threw her to the floor and kicked her. Wisteria curled up, sobbing.
“Help!” she screamed to Sano. “He’ll kill me!”
Sano was tempted to walk out and leave Wisteria to Lightning. As he thought of how she would have condemned his wife, son, and all his retainers to execution just to punish him for sins she’d magnified out of proportion, her agony gladdened him. Yet his honor deplored his own thirst for vengeance. He couldn’t permit another murder, and Wisteria was still a witness he needed alive. Tokugawa law would mete out justice to her.
Now Lightning drew his sword and raised it high over Wisteria, who shrieked in terror. “Stop!” Sano ordered. He lunged, and seized the gangster’s arm. Lightning wrenched free; he slashed at Sano. As Sano dodged, Wisteria crawled away toward the stairs. Lightning charged at her, sword poised to kill. Sano dashed after Lightning, when
