“Kill him,” Sano told Marume.
Marume, Fukida, and the Rat looked astonished by the savagery in Sano’s voice, but an order was an order. Marume shrugged. “Here goes.”
He seized Daigoro in a tight hug and put the blade to his throat. Daigoro wriggled and shrieked for help. None came; his employees were probably too scared. He clawed at Marume’s arm, trying to pry it off his chest, his eyes goggling with fear.
“Wait!” he screamed. “Don’t kill me. If you want to figure out who killed Tekare, I’m worth more to you alive than dead.”
“Why? Do you know who did?” Sano said in spite of distrusting Daigoro and understanding that this was his last-ditch effort to save himself.
“Not exactly.” Feral with desperate cunning, Daigoro said, “But I have a good idea.”
“Because it was him that killed her,” Fukida said. “Don’t let him manipulate you, Sano-san.”
But Sano wasn’t so possessed by desire for violence that he’d lost his instincts, and they said not to kill Daigoro yet. “How is that?”
“I was there. When Tekare died.”
Sano said to Marume, “Let go of him, but keep that sword handy.” Marume obeyed; Daigoro slumped and groaned in relief; Fukida looked askance. Sano turned to the Rat. “Start counting from one to a hundred.”
“What for?”
“Convince me that you were there,” Sano told Daigoro. “If you haven’t by the time he’s finished, you’re dead.”
“One… two… three…” the Rat began.
Daigoro gulped and spoke rapidly: “That night, I went to the castle to collect on a debt. My man met me at the back gate and paid me with a bag of tobacco he’d stolen from Lord Matsumae.”
The Rat continued counting. Daigoro hurried to say, “I started back to town, along the road that goes down the hill behind the castle. I stopped to urinate, and I’d just finished when I heard someone coming. It was two women. They were arguing. One of them ran past me, into the woods. I didn’t turn around fast enough to see who it was. The other came running.”
“Thirty… thirty-one… thirty-two…”
“Her I did see. It was dark, but there was a full moon. It was Tekare. I hadn’t seen her since she moved on to Lord Matsumae, but I still wanted her. When she passed me, I thought, ”Here I am, there she goes, tonight’s my chance.“ I followed her.”
A dirty gleam of lust appeared in his eyes; saliva pooled in his grin-Sano was revolted. As the Rat counted past fifty, Sano said, “You don’t have much time left. What happened?”
“I could hear Tekare running and panting ahead of me. Then suddenly she screamed. There was a thud. It sounded like she’d fallen. I kept going until I saw her. She was on the ground. She was moaning and flipping around. I didn’t know what to make of it. She screamed again. Then she stood up and staggered toward me. I was scared. I backed into the woods to hide.” He saw Sano frown. “What?”
Tekare had obviously been hurt, and Daigoro hadn’t even thought to help. Sano said, “Never mind. Go on.”
“She fell again. She thrashed and made awful noises. Pretty soon she stopped, though. She just lay there. I tiptoed over to her.” Daigoro swallowed a retch. “And oh, merciful gods.”
“One hundred,” said the Rat.
Sano raised his hand, signaling Marume to wait.
Daigoro said, “There was blood all over her. I knew she was dead. So I got out of there. I ran all the way home.”
“Well, I have to say that sounds just like him,” Fukida said to Sano.
Marume said, “I think he’s finally telling the truth.”
So did Sano, but he was furious at Daigoro. “You not only neglected to mention this to Hirata-san when he came to see you about the murder, but you never told anyone else, either.”
“After how Tekare treated me, I was glad she was dead,” Daigoro hastened to excuse himself. “When I found out she’d been murdered, I figured someone had done me a favor. Why turn them in? I thought I’d better not say I’d been there because Lord Matsumae might think I did it. And I didn’t want him looking into why I’d been at the castle that night. Later, when he went crazy-” Daigoro paused, then said with a shamefaced grin, “Well, I was too scared.”
These excuses failed to placate Sano. He grabbed Daigoro by his fur coat. “If you’d reported it at once, maybe none of this would have happened. Lord Matsumae wouldn’t have gone mad. He wouldn’t have murdered my son.” Almost choking on his rage and grief, Sano said, “He wouldn’t have declared war on the natives. This is as much your damned fault as the murderer’s!”
“I beg to disagree,” Daigoro said haughtily. “Who’s to say what would or wouldn’t have happened if I’d told? I didn’t kill Tekare. What I saw wouldn’t have helped Lord Matsumae. I don’t know who did it.”
“But you have a good idea, as you said yourself. That other woman you heard lured Tekare to the spring-bow. She must have set it.” Sano shook Daigoro so violently that his head whipped. “Who was she?”
“Hey, you’re hurting me.”
“Want me to start counting again?” suggested the Rat.
“Was it Lady Matsumae?” Fukida asked.
“If you want me to say any more, you have to let me live,” Daigoro bleated. “You have to pardon me for stealing from Lord Matsumae.”
Marume slapped his face. “You’re in no position to bargain.”
“So then kill me. When I’m dead, you’ll be sorry.”
Sano was not only running short on time, he was sick of Daigoro, a small fish compared to the one he wanted. “Oh, all right.” He gave the man a last, hard shake, then released him. “Now talk.”
Daigoro giggled with triumphant relief. “The women were speaking Ezo language.”
“Then she was a native,” Sano said. “Which one?” He’d already guessed the identity of the woman most at odds with Tekare, whom Tekare would have followed into the night. But he needed to be sure.
“I never saw her. She just disappeared.”
She’d hidden in the forest until she heard Tekare scream and fall, which had told her the trap had sprung. Then she’d returned to the castle as if nothing had happened.
“But I can tell you what I heard,” Daigoro said. “I understand Ezo. She said something like, ”You always make me do everything for you. You take everything from me. You won’t even let me have somebody you don’t want. Well, I’m not going to put up with your selfishness anymore!“
“Tekare said, ”Oh, yes, you will. I’m the shamaness. I’m Lord Matsumae’s mistress. You have to do what I say.“ The other one said, ”You’ll have to catch me first.“”
It was Wente who had murdered Tekare.
Accompanied by the two guards from the keep, Wente plodded across the back courtyard of Fukuyama Castle, leading four dogs harnessed to a sled laden with a big, lumpy bundle covered by a blanket. “Hey,” the sentry at the gate said to her, “where do you think you’re going?”
Wente bit her lips, too frightened to speak, so one of the guards answered for her. “She’s going out for a ride.”
“Oh, no, she’s not,” the sentry said. “Nobody leaves the castle, on orders from Gizaemon-san.”
“I have Lord Matsumae’s personal orders to let her go,” the guard bluffed.
Reiko, curled under the blanket on the sled with provisions that the guards had given her and Wente for their journey, felt her heart seize with fear. If she and Wente couldn’t get out of the castle, how would they rescue Masahiro? There was nothing she could do except stay hidden in the cramped darkness under the scratchy blanket. If the sentry found her trying to escape, all was lost. Hugging her knees to her chest, Reiko listened and tried not to breathe.
