The Ronin’s Mistress

28

The gate of Edo Castle discharged a horde of officials on horseback and in palanquins, escorted by troops and servants. Among the horde were the supreme court judges. Inspector General Nakae, riding on a brown mare, led his colleagues, who were also mounted, except for old Minister Motoori in his palanquin.

Someone called, “There goes the supreme court! Hey, when are you going to condemn those forty-seven ronin criminals to death?”

Nakae saw traffic slow down as people turned to look at the judges and hear his response. Cries went up along the promenade, from the itinerant peddlers, beggars, and other commoners who always loitered outside the castle. “The supreme court? Where?” “They’re not criminals, they’re heroes! They ought to be pardoned!”

The commoners stampeded toward the officials, squeezed them together, and brought traffic to a halt. Eager, frantic faces bobbed below Nakae and the other mounted samurai. Voices shouted, “Pardon!” “Condemn!” Nakae felt Minister Motoori’s palanquin slam his left shoulder as the pressure increased. On his right side, someone else’s horse was jammed against his. Nakae felt a stab of panic.

“Chase those people away before we get hurt!” he called to his troops.

The troops urged their horses toward the crowd, shouting, “Move back!”

The crowd pushed harder even though people within it screamed in fright. Nakae saw a beggar go down, trampled. A woman frantically lifted her baby above the packed bodies that surged toward the judges.

“Stop!” Nakae yelled.

Minister Motoori screamed as his palanquin swayed and its bearers struggled to hold it up. Troops and crowd began fighting. The supreme court was caught in the middle of the riot.

* * *

In the early evening, Sano returned to Magistrate Ueda’s house. He found Reiko sitting at her father’s bedside. The doctor was checking the pulses at various points on Magistrate Ueda, who was still unconscious.

“Has there been any improvement?” Sano asked.

“He came to for a few moments this morning,” Reiko said, her face drawn, her eyes underscored by dark shadows.

“What are his prospects?” Sano asked the doctor.

“It’s hard to say. There may be bleeding inside his skull. His brain may be permanently damaged. If he doesn’t revive within the next day or so…”

Reiko’s eyes welled. Sano patted her hand, wishing he could offer more comfort.

“You should go home to your children and rest,” the doctor told Reiko.

Sano agreed. “You’ll notify us if there’s any change?”

“Of course,” the doctor said.

Reiko touched Magistrate Ueda’s arm, said, “I’ll be back tomorrow, Father,” and let Sano lead her out of the room.

On the way back to Edo Castle, Sano rode alongside her palanquin through the cold streets where lights burned at gates and smoke veiled the moon. Detectives Marume and Fukida and his troops followed. Sano asked, “Has there been any progress toward finding the attacker?”

“I don’t know,” Reiko said. “Hirata-san never came back.”

Sano was surprised because he hadn’t heard from Hirata, either.

“Have you learned anything?” Reiko asked.

Sano told her his theory that the attack on her father was connected to the forty-seven ronin case. “The supreme court judges claim they’re innocent. Yanagisawa says he is, too.” Yanagisawa’s accusations had left a festering cut inside Sano. He was ashamed to tell Reiko what Yanagisawa had said, afraid that it was true. “I checked with my spies. There’s no sign that Yanagisawa ordered the attack on your father, although he’s still my favorite suspect.”

“If he did, I’ll kill him.” Reiko’s face, visible through the window of her palanquin, was fierce.

Yanagisawa had better pray he never fell into her hands, Sano thought. “I asked around the castle to see if any information has leaked from the supreme court. But even the biggest know-it-alls don’t seem to have heard anything about the judges’ opinions. The confidentiality of the court hasn’t been breached, as far as I can tell. Then I went to the scene of the attack and looked for witnesses.” Sano and the detectives had knocked on every door, questioned every resident. “Some people heard shouting last night, but nobody saw anything.”

None of the people he’d interviewed had mentioned being interviewed before, and many had been surprised to hear about the attack. Shouldn’t Hirata have interviewed them when he’d gone to the crime scene earlier? And where was Hirata?

“I have some information.” Reiko said that her father had told her about a tattoo he’d seen on his attacker’s arm. She showed Sano a list she’d written. “I got these names of repeat offenders from the Court of Justice records.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” Sano was glad for Reiko’s initiative. “But I can’t believe the attack was about a small-time criminal with a grudge against your father.”

“Neither can I, now that I’ve heard your theory. Maybe the repeat offender was hired by someone else.”

As they neared Edo Castle, Sano heard shouting and saw a crowd massed outside the gate. The shouting sounded angry, interspersed with cries of pain. Palanquins bobbed above troops who were fighting a horde of peasants.

“Wait here,” Sano said.

Leaving Reiko with her guards, he and his men rode toward the riot. The troops outside the castle lashed their swords at the peasants. A young man fell, his head cleaved open. People on the ground screamed as the crowd trampled them.

“Get back! Everybody, go home!” Sano herded peasants away from the riot. His men dispersed them with threats and waving swords.

“Help!” Minister Motoori cried from his palanquin.

Beside him were Inspector General Nakae and Lord Nabeshima, on horseback. Lord Nabeshima flailed his sword. Nakae yelled as he dodged his friend’s blows. Nearby, Superintendent Ogiwara struggled to stay on his bucking, whinnying mount. As Sano fought through the mob to rescue the supreme court, Minister Motoori’s bearers went down. The palanquin sank below the riot and crashed.

Someone shouted over the hubbub, “Open the gate!”

It was Hirata. Standing on the roof above the gate, he yelled to the sentries to let the officials inside the castle. The sentries ignored him. They stood with their backs against the gate, keeping the mob out. Hirata jumped down inside the gate and opened it. As officials swarmed in, Sano and his troops scattered the rest of the crowd. The last officials and their entourages fled inside the castle. Sano looked around.

Corpses littered the promenade. Groans came from people who lay injured. Minister Motoori’s palanquin had broken into pieces. Sano jumped off his horse and uncovered the old man. Minister Motoori was curled up on the ground, keening in pain. Attendants carried him into the castle. Sano ordered the sentries to fetch doctors for the wounded, then escorted Reiko’s palanquin through the gate.

“What was that all about?” Reiko asked.

“I’m going to find out,” Sano said.

When she was safely on her way home, Sano and Hirata joined the remaining supreme court judges. The twelve men huddled together inside a guardhouse, unharmed but shaken.

“What happened?” Sano asked.

“We were leaving the castle, and those ruffians got wind of it. They wanted to tell us what they thought our verdict should be. They started a riot.” Inspector General Nakae was furious. “We might have been killed.”

Superintendent Ogiwara looked around, counting heads. “Where’s Minister Motoori?”

Sano explained that Motoori had been hurt. Colonel Hitomi said in dismay, “That’s two of us down now.”

“We’d better not leave the castle until the forty-seven ronin business is settled,” Lord Nabeshima said. “But we’ll have to postpone our verdict until Minister Motoori and Magistrate Ueda can rejoin us.”