The Way Of The Traitor Part 18

oBe quiet, or I'll arrest you, Ota told him, then greeted Sano with a perfunctory bow. oSo here you are. Come. I'll take you to Peony.

They entered the house. More dos.h.i.+n and a.s.sistants lounged in the lamp-lit reception room, smoking and talking. In the dim corridors, frightened servants shrank against the walls to let Sano and Ota pa.s.s.

oHow did she die? Sano asked.

oSuicide. You'll see.

Yoriki Ota led Sano upstairs to the courtesans' living quarters, a series of tiny chambers behind paper-paned walls. From somewhere came the sound of a woman's hysterical weeping.

oShe's in there, Ota said, stopping outside a door where another dos.h.i.+n stood guard.

Gingerly Sano slid back the door. The fetid, metallic smell of blood and death poured out, polluting his skin, his lungs. Fighting nausea, he entered the room. The guard brought a lantern and hung it on the wall. Sano saw that the window had been opened to let in fresh air, but the cramped chamber was still hot and stuffy. Peony lay sprawled against the wall, knees bent, in the tangle of her blood-soaked garments. Flies alit on the thickly clotted gash that slanted down the left side of her neck and across her throat. More blood had dribbled from her mouth, caked her long hair into sticky strands, and fanned across the tatami. Her clouded eyes bore an expression of terrified shock. Her left hand gripped the plain wooden handle of a knife that protruded from the fatal wound.

Sano shook his head pityingly. oWho found her, and when? he asked Ota, who stood in the doorway behind him.

oOne of the maids. Around noon, Ota said.

Sano turned. oNo one missed her until then? Now he understood Minami's impatience to remove Peony, before the stench permanently tainted the house.

Ota shrugged. oMinami said she must have sneaked away from the party last night, come up here, and killed herself. There was a disturbance "some guests got in a fight and had to be expelled from the quarter. No one noticed that Peony was gone. Her chambermates were entertaining clients in the guest rooms. The maids didn't like Peony "she was a mean girl and a sloppy worker "so when she didn't show up for her ch.o.r.es this morning, they didn't bother looking for her. Then the cook noticed blood leaking through the pantry ceiling. We kept her just the way she was found because we thought you'd want to see.

The explanation sounded reasonable, yet a sense of wrongness nagged at Sano's mind when he recalled Peony serving the other courtesans, and the meeting at Governor Nagai's office. He walked around the corpse to the table. It held a mirror, comb, lamp, and a lacquer box containing a sheet of thin paper covered with inked characters.

oHer suicide letter, Ota said as Sano picked it up.

Sano noted that while the table and other articles all bore spatters of dried blood, the letter was clean. It read: I must die to pay for killing the man I loved. It was an accident, but I blame myself.

During our love games, Spaen-san often brought out a gun he'd hidden in his room. He would lie on the bed, and I would mount him and point the gun at him while we coupled. We both enjoyed this. But last time, I got too excited. My finger pulled the trigger. The gun went off: boom! Spaen-san screamed. And through the smoke, I saw him lying dead, with a b.l.o.o.d.y hole in his chest.

I was so scared I didn't know what to do. I took Spaen-san's knife and tried to cut out the bullet, thinking I could bring him back to life. My hands shook so much that I stabbed his chest many times.

I knew I would be punished if anyone found out what I'd done, so I decided to make it look as if he'd run away. I dressed him in his trousers. I hung his crucifix around his neck and wrapped his body in bedclothes. I dragged him outside, to the water gates. It was raining very hard, and no one was around. I unbarred the gates and pushed Spaen-san into the sea. I threw the knife and gun in after him. Then I ran back to his room. I washed myself, made up a clean bed, and pretended to be asleep until the guards came in the morning.

May the spirit of my lover forgive me for what I have done. May we meet again in paradise, and spend all eternity together.

"Peony oSo I guess this ends our problems, Yoriki Ota said. oI'll have her body wrapped up to deliver to the Dutch captain. I'll tell the harbor patrol to arrange the s.h.i.+p's escort, and Chief Ohira to prepare for its landing.

Sano didn't answer. The scenario Peony described seemed as believable as the apparent circ.u.mstances of her death. He could close the case and mend Dutch-j.a.panese relations. He and Hirata could begin the inspection of Nagasaki and restore their former harmony.

But he couldn't overlook the obvious discrepancies he saw. With much regret, but no less resolve, he turned to Yoriki Ota and said, oDirector Spaen's killer hasn't been caught yet.

Ota's eyebrows shot up. oBut the wh.o.r.e confessed. She killed herself out of remorse. What more proof do you need?

oWhen I met Peony yesterday, Sano said, oshe poured tea and combed another courtesan's hair "using her right hand. Don't you think it odd that she would stab herself with her left hand?

Ota shrugged. oSo people do strange things when their minds are troubled.

oThe divers haven't recovered a gun or knife from the waters off Des.h.i.+ma. And about this letter. Striding over to Ota, Sano held it before the yoriki ~s face. oVery nice and neat; it accounts for all the evidence. But Peony was a peasant girl. I'd be surprised if she could write at all, let alone this well.

oSo she had someone write it for her. Ota stood his ground, but his ruddy complexion darkened. oShe had a miserable life. Uglier than a pig; bedding dirty foreigners. Minami, the clients, the other courtesans, and even the servants treated her like dung. Death probably seemed better than all that. Killing her lover pushed her over the edge. I've been in the police service for twenty years. Are you telling me I don't know my business?

Sano faced the gruesome tableau. oWhat if she came up here last night not to commit suicide, but to meet someone? He came; they argued. He stabbed her. Sano turned to Yoriki Ota. oThen, before he left, he put the letter "free of blood, because he'd kept it inside his clothes "in the box.

Ota guffawed. oThat's ridiculous. The knife came from the kitchen downstairs "the cook identified it. Minami says Peony stole things all the time, including the box. And who would want to kill that ugly wh.o.r.e?

oJan Spaen's murderer, Sano said. oPeony was on the island with Spaen the night he disappeared. She might have seen something. Sano recalled her sly reference to things happening on Des.h.i.+ma that weren't recorded. oIf she knew who the killer is, he couldn't let her live to tell. If he shot me, he wouldn't have hesitated to silence Peony.

oAny idea who this person might be? Ota asked disdainfully.

oThe merchant Urabe, Sano said. oPeony is the only witness to his presence on the island. He's having financial troubles, and might have killed her to avoid blackmail. Remembering Urabe's explanation for Peony's grudge against him, Sano added, oHe's also a client of this house. He could have attended the party last night and sneaked up to the women's quarters.

Then another, more ominous possibility loomed in Sano's mind. What if Peony had also possessed dangerous knowledge about someone in Nagasaki's administration "Chief Ohira, another Des.h.i.+ma staff member, or even Governor Nagai himself? Had this person arranged a osuicide for Sano's benefit? Unfortunately there were many men in the bakufu capable of murdering a helpless citizen for personal gain.

Sano didn't voice his suspicions to Ota, who might be an accomplice, if not the killer. Instead he fervently hoped that his plan for tonight would lead to the truth, so he needn't launch an investigation of Nagasaki officialdom and court the political danger it would entail.

oWhat about the barbarians? Ota said with an exaggerated sneer perhaps intended to hide worry. oAre you going to tell me they escaped Des.h.i.+ma and killed the wh.o.r.e?

oNo, Sano said. oBut there's at least one other suspect besides Urabe who was free to move about town, and might have wanted Peony dead.

Chapter 18.

HIGH IN THE hills above Nagasaki, evening rites had ended at the Chinese temple. In his austere room, Abbot Liu Yun knelt on the floor to meditate. The lamps mellow, soothing light warmed the plaster walls. Once this had been Liu Yun's favorite time of day, when peace filled his soul and spiritual enlightenment seemed within reach. But his brother's death had destroyed his serenity, and his faith. The past had returned to haunt him.

Liu Yun began to chant, willing the ritual to calm him, but the ceaseless lament howled in his mind: Hsi! My brother. Gone, forever! As he stared at the wall, scenes from another time and place appeared there.

Spring, sixty-five years ago, on the Liu family's estate in Shantung Province. The scent of flowers drifted through the window of the study where Liu Yun and Liu Hsi, aged ten and eight, took their lessons. Old Teacher Wu fixed his shrewd gaze on Liu Hsi. oWhat are the five cardinal virtues of Confucius?

oThe five virtues are, uh... Hsi gulped, then blurted, oWhat good is school, when I want to be a soldier?

oDon't talk back to teacher! Liu Yun exclaimed, mortified because he was the good son who wanted to please his elders. Also, he'd coached Hsi in his lessons, and his brother's failure reflected poorly on him.

Teacher Wu pummeled Hsi's head and shoulders with his cane. oYou will apologize for your rudeness!

As Hsi sobbed, a wild, contradictory impulse seized Liu Yun. He'd often tried to beat sense into Hsi, but couldn't bear for anyone else to hurt his brother. An invisible cord "stronger than love, hate, or blood "joined them. Liu Yun shot out of his seat and jumped on Teacher Wu's back, shouting, oLeave him alone!

Teacher Wu screamed and whirled and struggled, trying to dislodge Liu Yun, while Hsi laughed and clapped his hands.

oWhat a good fighter you are, elder brother! he cried. oLet's run away together and become soldiers! And Liu Yun, though horrified at his own behavior, roared in triumph.

Their victory was short-lived. Teacher Wu resigned; Liu Yun's father beat both sons for driving away their tutor. Still, the early pattern held. Liu Yun would coach, beg, and punish Hsi, trying to mold him into the Confucian ideal of scholars.h.i.+p and filial piety. Hsi would resist. Liu Yun would defend his brother, and they would both suffer....

Now Abbot Liu Yun acknowledged the impossibility of meditation and sleep. Tonight other matters besides grief troubled his mind. The shogun's detective was investigating Jan Spaen's murder. Liu Yun feared that his alibi and statements wouldn't withstand close scrutiny. Furthermore, he'd recently embarked on a venture that could bring him great satisfaction "or disaster. He longed to know which.

He carried the lamp to his study, a chamber lined with shelves of holy texts and doc.u.ments concerning the temple's administration. From the cabinet he took a cylindrical lacquer container, incense, writing materials, and a book wrapped in black silk. He would consult the I Ching "the Oracle of Change, which revealed the secrets of the universe, used by Chinese philosophers, statesmen, warriors, and scientists for some four thousand years.

Liu Yun spread the silk on the table. Upon it he laid the Book of Changes, the ancient text that interpreted the oracle's messages, and bowed to it three times. He ground the ink and readied paper and brush. He lit incense in a bra.s.s burner. While the fragrant smoke rose to the ceiling, he sat at the table, opened the lacquer container, poured out fifty long, thin yarrow sticks, then voiced his question to the oracle: oShould I proceed with my planned venture?

He performed the elaborate ritual of dividing, counting, discarding, and grouping the sticks until he had three piles. On the paper, he inked a broken line, which corresponded to the numbers of sticks in the piles. Then he repeated the process. His hands moved automatically; his thoughts drifted. Once again, memory carried him into the past.

He saw himself and his brother as young men "Hsi, tall and robust; Liu Yun the slight, refined scholar "walking together down a country road beneath golden autumn foliage, returning home from the provincial capital where they'd taken the civil service exams that would determine their futures.

oI don't care about failing those stupid exams. Scowling, Hsi kicked a rock.

oBut what will you do? Liu Yun said. oYou'll never get a government position now.

Hsi flung down his pack of books and clothing and glared. oElder brother, how many times must I tell you? I don't want to be a bureaucrat. Anyway, it's over. You pa.s.sed your exams "you be the family success.

oRepeat the exams, Liu Yun pleaded. Since childhood, he'd dreamed of their getting posts in the same government office. oI'll tutor you. Your score will be higher next time. Please "

Hsi grasped Liu Yun's shoulders. oListen. A war is coming. When we were in the capital, I heard that the Manchus have already conquered Shensi and Honan Provinces. Eventually they'll invade Peking. I plan to join the emperor's army and save our kingdom from this foreign scourge. His childhood dream "of being a soldier " hadn't changed, either.

Liu Yun had dismissed the news as gross exaggeration. oThe Ming emperors have ruled China for almost three hundred years. The northern tribesmen will never take Peking. Father will never let you join the army. Nor will I!

Hsi shouldered his pack and stalked down the road; Liu Yun hurried to catch up. oNo regime is invincible, elder brother, Hsi retorted. oThat much history I've learned, even though I failed the exam. Then he halted in his tracks and pointed. oWhat's that?

From over the hill drifted black smoke. The brothers broke into a run. They reached the family estate to find the house and outbuildings on fire. Through the wreckage galloped mounted Manchu troops, clad in leather and fur, long queues waving as they carried away loot and trampled fleeing servants.

oFather! Mother! Liu Yun cried.

The old couple lay at their door, throats slashed. Sobbing, Liu Yun knelt beside his parents. Hsi launched himself at the nearest horseman, yelling, oYou'll die for this!

The Manchu soldier laughed and drew his sword. Aghast, Liu Yun hurried to his brother's rescue. oNo! he shouted, pulling Hsi out of the blade's path.

The soldier rode off with the family silver chest. Hsi struggled in Liu Yun's restraining grip. oWe must avenge our parents' death! he cried. oWe must save our lands.

oDon't be foolish, younger brother. There are too many of them, and we have no weapons. We must flee!

Liu Yun dragged the reluctant Hsi to the village to seek shelter " only to discover that the Ming army had arrived. In the marketplace, commanders drafted local men to help fight the invaders. Hsi broke away from Liu Yun, pushed his way to the head of the line of conscripts, and enlisted.

oGood-bye, elder brother, he called from astride the horse the army had given him. His eyes, filled with dreams of glory, shone brighter than the blade of his new sword. oWe'll meet again when the war is over. Then he galloped after his new comrades, leaving Liu Yun standing alone with tears in his eyes and a raw emptiness in his soul.

Now Abbot Liu Yun completed another round of the I Ching ritual. He drew a line on the paper, above the first. Through the old pain burned a fresh anger. Hsi's death had taught him what their parents' had not: the consuming desire for vengeance, which no amount of prayer or meditation could banish. He wanted to kill everyone connected with the ma.s.sacre of Hsi's rebel band on Taiwan. Though his Confucian beliefs forbade him to punish the Chinese government, he hated himself for submitting to Manchu rule and not defending Hsi. His impotent anger, seeking an external target, had focused on the Dutch, who had slaughtered Hsi and the other rebels to gain trade privileges with China; on Jan Spaen, the ruthless adventurer who had tortured Hsi to death.

As Liu Yun counted and arranged the sticks, he hoped he'd managed to conceal his emotions from the shogun's ssakan. Surely he had, after a lifetime spent perfecting the art of negotiation and manipulation...

Penniless and homeless, the young Liu Yun had traveled to Peking, which remained peaceful, unchanged. The emperor still resided within the Forbidden City's great complex of lavish palaces surrounded by bloodred walls; merchants, scholars, entertainers, and outlaws still sought their fortunes in this center of commerce and culture. Forced to support himself by begging, Liu Yun almost died of cold and hunger that winter. Then, when his exam score finally reached Peking, the government awarded him a clerks.h.i.+p in the Bureau of Foreign Relations, where he exhibited a talent for languages and diplomacy and began his climb up the civil service ladder. Over the next nine years, he heard distressing news of Hsi. The Ming army was losing ground; the Manchus had taken Szechuan and f.u.kien Provinces. Famines and peasant uprisings plagued the country. Hsi got wounded, recovered, and became a general. He went missing; was presumed dead. Then one day his prediction came true.

Forty-six years ago, peasant rebels had attacked Peking. The weak, corrupt Ming government was powerless to resist. The emperor hanged himself. In desperation, the bureaucrats asked the Manchus to quell the rebellion, ceding the capital to them as a reward. Manchu troops entered the Forbidden City, cutting down peasants armed with sticks. As Liu Yun and other Ming officials, now under Manchu domination, rescued doc.u.ments from a burning building, Liu Yun looked up at the sound of a familiar voice. His heart lurched.

Into the courtyard rode his brother, leading troops resplendent in Ming army regalia. oHsi! Liu Yun cried as gladness filled his heart. oYou're alive!

Then he watched in horror while Hsi's troops attacked the Manchus. oYounger brother, what are you doing?

b.l.o.o.d.y sword still raised, Hsi turned on Liu Yun. The battle raged around them. oI could ask you the same question, elder brother. Hsi's stern face showed no joy at their reunion. oHow can you serve those who slew our parents and stole our land?

oYounger brother, your war is over, Liu Yun said, stung by Hsi's hostility. oThe Manchus have won. The Ming rulers have lost the Mandate of Heaven to them. Surrender.

oCoward! Fool! You're not my brother anymore! As more Manchu soldiers stormed the courtyard, Hsi launched another offense, shouting orders to his troops.

Within days, the Manchus had slain the last peasant rebel. They occupied Peking, completing their conquest of China. Liu Yun and his colleagues transferred their allegiance to the new rulers. China's civil service machine ground on. Liu Yun rose to the position of minister of foreign relations. He married; fathered children. Later, with his wife dead and his sons grown, he took religious vows and began his second career as an overseas priest. He tried to forget the brother who had spurned him, whom he never saw again after that meeting at the besieged palace.

Still, Liu Yun had secretly followed his brother's desperate exploits: the renegade army's victories at Amoy and Quemoy; the raid on Chekiang; the defeat at Nanjing and flight to Taiwan. Finally he'd received news of Hsi's death.

Then, two years ago, fate had brought him and Jan Spaen together in j.a.pan, where Abbot Liu Yun had conceived his plan. He knew about Spaen's greed and ambition; he knew j.a.panese who shared these traits. He provided the juncture at which they would come together and he could achieve his revenge. Yet Spaen's murder had failed to satisfy him. The invisible cord still pulled, even though there was no brother at the opposite end, and nothing except his own death could reunite him with Hsi. Therefore, he'd decided to proceed with his plan; to reap more vengeance.

Now Abbot Liu Yun finished the ritual, inking the sixth and last line on the paper. He drew a sharp breath of dismay when he saw the completed pattern, the oracle's decision: Hexagram number twenty-nine. K'an, the Perilous Chasm, which presaged evil for him should he pursue his current course of action.

With dread clutching his heart, Liu Yun opened the Book of Changes. The oracle spoke in oblique references and vague allusions; a hexagram must not be interpreted too literally. Each line contained shadings that might modify the decision. Liu Yun turned the pages and located the K'an hexagram.

oDanger lies ahead like an abyss filled with rus.h.i.+ng water, he read. oYour desired result may never come to pa.s.s. Liu Yun's throat constricted as he imagined two years of painstaking work culminating in his own destruction. Then he found fragments of cautious optimism inserted amid more warnings. Hope kindled.

oProgress can be made if obstacles are encountered with an att.i.tude of sincerity and a sharp mind. Patience is essential. Eventually order will be restored.

Abbot Liu Yun smiled as he closed the book. He was deadly sincere in his purpose. Years of scholars.h.i.+p, diplomatic service, and meditation had honed his mind. He'd waited this long, and could afford to bide his time. The shogun's ssakan would not thwart him in his drive to avenge his brother's death, thereby restoring order to the universe and peace to his soul.

Chapter 19.

AFTER A FRUITLESS search for witnesses to Peony's murder, Sano returned home at twilight, walking his horse because his sore shoulder could no longer bear the constant jolts of riding. A glowing apricot of a sun spread soft, pink radiance upon a teal blue ocean rent with waves like slits in wrinkled silk. Over the city, a long violet cloud ma.s.s advanced westward, resembling a mounted army with banners waving: the legion of night. However, Sano couldn't afford the time to admire the beauty of this imperiled place. This was the end of the first day of the two that the Dutch captain had given him to solve Jan Spaen's murder. He needed more medicine and a fresh bandage for his wound, a bath, and a meal before testing his theory about Des.h.i.+ma.

As he entered his street, he performed an automatic security check "and saw the paunchy guard strolling behind him. Uneasily he wondered whether the man had followed him all day. He must be more careful of spies tonight.

oHirata? Sano called down the corridor of his mansion.

Old Carp came to meet him. oYoung master is out, he said. When Sano asked where Hirata had gone and when he'd be back, Old Carp replied, oHe didn't say, ssakan-sama.

It was just as well, Sano decided while he ate a hasty meal, bathed, had his wound attended to, and donned clean clothes. He wanted to know whether Hirata had broken Abbot Liu Yun's alibi for the night of Spaen's disappearance, and to a.s.sign him the task of checking on Liu Yun's and Urabe's whereabouts at the time of Peony's murder. But tonight he intended to discover the truth about the mysterious lights. He didn't need Hirata's interference.

As Sano started down the street toward the harbor, the skin on his back tingled. Someone was following him "someone more adept than the paunchy guard he'd easily spotted earlier. Sano returned to his mansion and found Old Carp in the kitchen. oI need your help, Sano said.

A short while later, he watched from an upstairs window while bearers set down a palanquin outside the gate. Old Carp, wearing Sano's cloak stamped with the Tokugawa crest, a spare set of swords, and a wide-brimmed hat that covered his face, climbed into the palanquin. The bearers carried it off toward the hills. A shadowy figure slipped out of an alley and followed. Sano smiled. He left the house and headed for the harbor.

ABOVE THE WATERFRONT, the moon shone softly white, its edges hazy in the moist air. Lamps burned in the harbor patrol station and on a barge on the water. Night.w.a.tchmen paced by the warehouses, their wooden clappers punctuating the ocean's murmur with sharp clacks: All was well. Patrol officers strolled the promenade and docks. Soldiers drove oxcarts laden with cannon and ammunition for a possible battle against the Dutch s.h.i.+p. Sano avoided notice by staying in the shadows beneath the eaves of closed teahouses and shops as he worked his way down the promenade toward Des.h.i.+ma. Not knowing who might be involved in illicit activities there, he couldn't trust anyone.

A hundred paces from the guardhouse, he sprinted across the road. He darted between two warehouses and followed a dank pa.s.sage to the water's edge, where a dock jutted into the harbor. It was the last one before Des.h.i.+ma, and gave an un.o.bstructed view of the island's water gates. Sano looked around. Seeing no one, he tiptoed to the edge of the dock.

A rowboat was moored to a piling. It appeared empty, except for what looked to be an old blanket spread on the bottom. Sano lowered himself into the boat. His feet had just touched the blanket, when suddenly it s.h.i.+fted under him. He bit back a cry of surprise and shot backward onto the dock. Sword drawn, he leapt to his feet. In the boat, a human figure sat up and threw off the blanket. The moonlight caught the man's face. Sano's relief turned to anger.