Then Priest Ryuko said,
“Have you any real cause to believe that the Black Lotus kidnapped the women?”
“Black Lotus clergy and followers are mad enough and brazen enough to have committed the crimes,” Sano said.
The priest gave him a sardonic smile. “But you’ve no proof that the sect is involved in the crimes.”
“Years of detective experience tell me that it is.” Now Sano guessed what Ryuko was up to, and he grew angry at the priest’s scheming.
“It appears that the sosakan-sama has spent the day chasing people in the absence of evidence against them,” Ryuko said, his voice inflected by an odd mixture of gloom and glee. “I begin to think he would rather persecute old enemies than find the real culprits.”
“That’s not true,” Sano said, incensed at the unjust accusation.
The shogun ignored his denial and beheld him with shock and outrage. “How could you betray my trust?” he demanded. “After everything I’ve, ahh, given you?”
Before Sano could defend himself, Ryuko spoke: “The sosakan-sama’s behavior is deplorable, but a more serious issue troubles me. Your Excellency, I fear that all the inquiries are headed in the wrong direction.”
His critical gaze moved to Yanagisawa and Hoshina. Sano watched them try to hide their alarm: They, too, understood Ryuko’s motives. The priest wanted Lady Keisho-in back because she was the source of his power, and he wanted everyone to do a better job of rescuing her. But in case she didn’t come back, Ryuko must protect himself from people he feared would strike him down. Thus, he meant to undermine Sano, Yanagisawa, and Hoshina in the eyes of the shogun.
In his years as sosakan-sama, Sano had often been the target of detractors during assemblies like this; but never had he shared the dubious honor with Yanagisawa and Hoshina.
“Perhaps it is you, not our inquiries, that are headed the wrong way,” Yanagisawa said. He flicked a venomous glance at Ryuko but forbore to openly attack the priest.
“We have other avenues of inquiry besides the Black Lotus,” Hoshina said. His belligerent expression dared Ryuko to fault him. “I’ve seen Suiren, the maid who survived the massacre. That fool of a doctor prevented her from talking to me, so I’ve been questioning the palace women about her. If she was an accomplice in the kidnapping, I’ll soon find the culprits among her associates.”
“If she was an accomplice,” Ryuko said with disdain. “You seem to have no more proof that Suiren is guilty than the sosakan-sama has evidence that the Black Lotus is.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Hoshina clenched his fists; his eyes blazed at Ryuko. “A gadfly only hinders men of action.”
The priest made a moue of contempt, then addressed the shogun: “My duty is not to solve the crime but to point out to Your Excellency that the sosakan-sama and police commissioner have made serious errors of judgment.”
Sano and Hoshina looked at each other, flabbergasted by the priest’s nerve. They burst into protest, but the shogun waved his hand, angrily silencing them. “Yes, you have, ahh, made terrible mistakes,” he said. “You are so blinded by, ahh, prejudice that you would be lucky to find a fish in a bucket!” Saliva sputtered from his mouth. He turned a beseeching look on Chamberlain Yanagisawa. “At least I can rely on you to, ahh, rescue my beloved mother?”
“Of course, Your Excellency.” Yanagisawa kept his voice smooth, but Sano sensed his agitation. “I have identified several suspects. One of them probably masterminded the kidnapping. I expect results very soon.”
The shogun looked perturbed by this reassuring yet vague answer. Sano had often seen Chamberlain Yanagisawa use the shogun’s fear of seeming stupid to keep him from pressing for more information than Yanagisawa wanted to give. Sano guessed that Yanagisawa’s suspects included Lord Matsudaira and other Tokugawa clan members, who might have abducted Lady Keisho-in as leverage to force the shogun to eject Yanagisawa from the regime. Clearly, Yanagisawa had no solid evidence against the shogun’s relatives and therefore hesitated to accuse them.
A flash of comprehension in Ryuko’s eyes said he realized all this. His full lips thinned in a sly smile. “Who are these mysterious suspects?” he asked Yanagisawa.
The words spread a malevolent net of danger. Sano’s heart skipped. Hoshina drew a sharp intake of breath. Yanagisawa stared, furious because he saw Ryuko’s trap yet was powerless to avoid it.
“To reveal the names of the suspects now would jeopardize the investigation,” Yanagisawa said in a voice cold enough to freeze fire. “We must not put the kidnappers on their guard, nor panic them into harming their hostages.”
Priest Ryuko chuckled, seeing through Yanagisawa’s evasion. “There’s little danger of that, because you obviously have no suspects at all. You can’t name them because they don’t exist.”
He couldn’t name them-nor defend his competence-because casting aspersion upon his Tokugawa enemies would impugn his loyalty to the shogun, Sano understood. A muscle twitched in the chamberlain’s jaw, and anger roiled like lava in his dark eyes. The rare experience of watching someone outmaneuver Yanagisawa gave no pleasure to Sano, because this time they were on the same side.
Yanagisawa said cautiously, “Your Excellency-”
“Be quiet!” the shogun shrieked.
Amazed silence paralyzed the assembly. Yanagisawa looked dumbfounded that the shogun would speak to him thus. Hoshina sat with his jaw dropped and his gaze disbelieving. Sano knew his own expression must appear similar. A smug smile crept over Priest Ryuko’s lips.
“Not another word from you!” The shogun pointed at Yanagisawa; his voice and hand trembled with ire. He jabbed his finger at Sano and Hoshina. “Nor you, either. You have all, ahh, disappointed me. You do not deserve to be heard!”
Sano, Yanagisawa, and Hoshina sat speechless, afraid to move. The shogun held the power of life and death over everyone, and years of faithful service or even sexual companionship wouldn’t excuse a retainer who angered him. He’d executed men for minor offenses, and in his current bad mood, he might condemn his chamberlain, police commissioner, and sosakan-sama for talking out of turn. Sano experienced deep distress and a terrible urge to laugh. None of Chamberlain Yanagisawa’s expertise at manipulating the shogun would do them any good if he wasn’t allowed to speak.
The shogun turned to Priest Ryuko. “The men I counted on have let me down,” he lamented. “Will you help me?”
Ryuko’s dignified, somber mien didn’t hide his satisfaction. “I’ll try my humble best, Your Excellency.” He slid a sly glance at Yanagisawa, whose countenance was livid with suppressed, murderous rage.
“Then tell me how I can save my mother,” the shogun said, ready to place in Ryuko the faith he’d lost in Sano, Yanagisawa, and Hosh-ina.
“With your permission, I shall divine the answer from the oracle bones,” said Priest Ryuko.
He summoned three monks and murmured orders to them. They fetched a brazier filled with hot coals, and a black lacquer table that held incense burners, candles, sake in a cup, fruit, a bowl of cooked rice, cherry-wood sticks, and the cleaned, polished undersides of five turtle shells. The monks lit the incense and candles. One placed a turtle shell in Ryuko’s hands; the others heated sticks in the coals.
“Oh, deities of fortune, I respectfully entreat you to tell us, where is the honorable Lady Keisho-in?” Ryuko said.
A monk handed him a stick whose tip glowed fiery red. Priest Ryuko pressed the tip into a hollow bored on the turtle shell’s inner side. The shogun watched in avid anticipation, and Sano with the same disapproval that marked the faces of Yanagisawa and Hoshina. Although fortune-tellers had performed such rites on turtle shells or animal bones since ancient times, and oracles had revealed secret truths and governed the actions of emperors and generals, divination could be used by charlatans to trick the gullible.
“What must His Excellency do to bring his mother safely home?” Priest Ryuko intoned.
His assistants fanned his stick, which flamed against the turtle shell. The stench of burnt bone mingled with the sweet incense.
Sharp cracking noises erupted as the heat fissured the shell. Priest Ryuko repeated the process until the sticks had burned down to stubs, smoke hazed the chamber, and all five shells bore multiple cracks.
“What does the, ahh, oracle say?” the shogun asked eagerly.
