Part 13 (1/2)

oWhat are you doing here? demanded a loud male voice. oThis area is off-limits to clients.

The women shrieked when they spied Sano. Peony dropped the teapot; it shattered on the veranda. Turning, Sano faced a swarthy man with the pugnacious scowl of a carved temple dog, dressed in expensive silk robes. He berated first Peony for breaking the teapot, then the servant for bringing Sano inside.

oI'm Sano Ichir, the shogun's ssakan, Sano explained. oI'm here to ask Peony about the last night she spent on Des.h.i.+ma. Are you the proprietor?

oYes. Minami Hideo, at your service. The proprietor's manner turned obsequious. oBut Peony has already been questioned by Chief Ohira. She didn't know anything, so he let her go. Isn't that right? He bent a menacing gaze on Peony, who nodded mutely, ducking her head and clasping her big hands.

oIs there a place where she and I can talk in private? Sano asked.

oCertainly. But you're wasting your time. Shrugging, the proprietor started across the garden. Peony shuffled after him, humble and downtrodden. Then Minami halted and stared at her bosom. oWhat have you got in there? Boldly he thrust his hand down the front of Peony's kimono and pulled out a silk fan.

oThat's mine! shrieked the bathing courtesan. oI've been looking all over for it.

The other women watched avidly. The nude one sat up, not bothering to cover her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Minami slapped Peony's face; she cowered, whimpering. oStealing again! That's what got you here in the first place, or have you forgotten? Well, there's a merchant in the Arab settlement who likes to hurt women. None of the other houses will accept his business, but I'll let him have you. That will teach you to behave.

Grabbing Peony's arm, he dragged her across the garden. Sano, though dismayed at this harsh treatment, didn't intervene. Brothel owners could do as they pleased with the women, who had no legal rights. Sano followed Minami and Peony to the veranda opposite, where Minami admitted them into an unoccupied guest room, spa.r.s.ely furnished with a low table and a cabinet. Sunlight filtered through a latticed window overlooking a busy side street. The proprietor shoved Peony onto the floor, closed the door, and left. Sano exhaled in relief, glad to escape the other courtesans. Their beauty had evoked in him an intense s.e.xual longing for Aoi. Since she'd gone, he hadn't taken another lover. Somehow the deprivation of celibacy kept her memory alive. But personal torments had no place in a murder investigation. Now he studied the witness ”or suspect ”who promised its possible success.

Peony lay motionless, a hand clasped to the cheek where Minami had struck her. Her hair, which had tumbled down, gleamed richly. Her silent misery filled the room like an audible wail.

oI won't hurt you, Peony, Sano said rea.s.suringly. oSit up.

She did, scooting backward to kneel in the corner, as far out of reach as possible. Sano glimpsed a spark of cunning in her eyes, a spirit not quite crushed.

oNow tell me everything that happened the last night you spent with the barbarian, he said.

oI already told Chief Ohira. I didn't see Spaen-san go. Don't know where he went. Face downcast, she spoke in terse mumbles, as if her puffy lips impaired her speech. oHe was alive when I last saw him. I didn't kill him. I couldn't have. Harsh sobs wracked her body; she buried her face in her hands. oBecause I ”I loved him!

Sano knelt beside her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. Suspicion cooled his sympathy when he felt hard muscles: She had the strength to maim a man's body.

Peony must have sensed his doubt, because she shrank away, weeping harder. Sano pulled her hands away from her face. He shook her until the sobs turned to gasps and she stared at him in fearful woe. Tears streamed down her cheeks; mucus oozed from her nostrils. Sano took a cloth from beneath his sash and wiped her face, feeling both pity and disgust. He sympathized with her suffering, but also understood how her ugliness invited abuse.

oDirector Spaen was cruel to you, Sano said. oHe insulted you. He beat you. How can you expect anyone to believe you loved him?

His accusing tone restored Peony's composure. She held her head up and retorted, oIt was a game. He would act mean to me in front of other people. Later, when we were alone, I would tie him up. Hit him. He would scream and cry, but he liked it. I liked it, too.

oYou mean it was Director Spaen the guards heard screaming, while you beat him?

oYes! Peony's slitty eyes dared Sano to disbelieve.

Sano knew that some people derived s.e.xual pleasure from humiliation and pain. Peony's story explained the bruises on Spaen's body and the ropes in his room, as well as what the Des.h.i.+ma guards had observed. But was it a clever lie? Had she in reality suffered Spaen's abuse, then taken revenge?

In answer to his unspoken questions, Peony untied her sash and dropped her kimono, revealing a strong torso with small, pointed b.r.e.a.s.t.s and a thick waist. Her sallow skin was unmarked. She turned to display her back, also unbruised and unscarred. oHe never struck me.

Yet shame could hurt worse than blows. oCover yourself, Sano ordered, disappointed by the evidence that weakened his case against her. oI want to know everything you did from the time you got to Des.h.i.+ma until the time you left.

Peony's defiance faded under his stern gaze. Pulling on her kimono, she huddled inside it, face hidden behind curtains of hair. oThe palanquin left me at the gatehouse. I went inside. The guards searched me and wrote my name in the book. They laughed and said I was lucky the barbarian wanted me, because no one else did.

oDid you take anything onto the island?

oNo. She sniffled, weeping again. oThe police took all my things when I was arrested. To pay back the people I stole from. Minami checks to make sure I don't take anything from the house when I leave. And now that Spaen-san is dead, I have nothing left. Nothing.

Sano doubted whether anyone could have smuggled a gun and knife past the Des.h.i.+ma guards. But although Peony's grief seemed genuine, he couldn't imagine a j.a.panese woman loving a barbarian. Could the same person who'd helped dispose of the body also have furnished the weapons?

oWhat happened next? Sano asked.

oThe guards took me to Spaen-san ~s room. I went inside. He was there. We... Sobbing, she gasped out, oWe drank. Then we... pleasured each other. Afterward, I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, the guards were shaking me awake. Asking where Spaen-san was.

The last part of her speech sounded rushed, as though she'd glossed over important details. oSo you slept all night, Sano said, owithout hearing or seeing anything that happened in the room, or outside?

oYes.

The reply, m.u.f.fled behind her heavy hair, was barely a whisper. Sano, sensing a new wariness about her, pressed the point. oDidn't the storm wake you? Peony. Look at me. Grasping her chin, he forced her head up. oTell me what happened to Director Spaen.

Her features were blurred with weeping, her nose red and swollen, her cheeks blotchy. But her eyes darted slyly between their puffy lids.

oI had five cups of sake, she mumbled. oI slept very soundly. I didn't even hear the storm. But I wish it had wakened me. Because then I might have saved Spaen-san.

Her face twisted, and she tried to turn away. Sano grabbed her shoulders. oDirector Spaen treated you like filth. You didn't love him ”you hated him. That night, you decided to take your revenge. You shot Spaen and mutilated his body to make it look like he'd been stabbed to death. But you couldn't have done it alone. Someone gave you the weapons after you were on the island. Someone opened the water gates for you. Much as he feared this, he couldn't ignore the obvious possibilities. oWho was it, Peony? A guard? Chief Ohira? Talk!

oYou're hurting me, Peony blubbered, writhing in Sano's grip. oI didn't kill him. I wouldn't. I loved him. I didn't see anything. I don't know anything. Pulling free, she crawled away and sat with knees hunched, head cradled in her arms. A high, keening moan rose from her as she rocked back and forth.

Sano sat back on his heels, frustrated and torn. If she was innocent, then he was needlessly brutalizing her. A Des.h.i.+ma guard might have conspired with deGraeff ”or Dr. Huygens ”to kill Spaen. However, if Peony knew something about the murder, he couldn't stop now.

oWho put the crucifix around Spaen's neck? Sano demanded, standing over her. oYou or your accomplice? And why? Because you're Christians?

Abruptly Peony's moans stopped; she went still. oI'm not a Christian, she muttered. oIt's against the law.

Either she hadn't known about the crucifix, or its mention had struck a nerve. oThe Christian doctrine forbids killing, Sano said, oand requires people to love one another. Did you atone for your sin by putting the crucifix on Director Spaen and praying for his soul after you killed him? Do you love him now, because he can't hurt you any more? Did your hatred die with him?

oI never hated Spaen-san. Peony raised her head, tossing back her hair. Her teary eyes glistened with new defiance and cunning. oBut I can tell you who did. Urabe, the foreign-goods merchant. Because Spaen-san cheated him. And he was on Des.h.i.+ma that night, too.

oBut yours was the only name listed in the visitors' ledger, Sano said.

She laughed scornfully. oThen the ledger is wrong. I saw Urabe with my own eyes. Not everything that happens on Des.h.i.+ma is recorded, you know. Then she looked stricken, as if she'd said more than she had intended. Ducking her head, she whimpered, oI'm tired. I have work to do, and Minami will starve me if I don't finish. Please, leave me alone. I've told you everything I know.

When questioned about the staffs and the other barbarians' relations with Director Spaen, she pleaded ignorance. oThe guards don't let me see everything they do. And I can't understand what the barbarians say.

Finally Sano rose to go, more confused than ever. The scope of the investigation kept growing. How many secrets must he expose before discovering the truth about Spaen's murder? How did the Christian element fit into it? Sano didn't trust Peony's veracity any more than the guards'. She was hiding something; he could tell. But he must at least check out her story about Urabe, his latest j.a.panese suspect.

Chapter 10.

PEONY REMAINED IN the room, listening to the sound of the ssakan's receding footsteps. She heard him speak and Minami reply. Then their voices faded as they left the garden. Hurrying to the door, Peony looked outside. The courtesans had gone from the veranda. Maybe no one would miss her for the moment. As much as the forced s.e.x with strangers, she hated the constant demands made upon her by the brothel's residents. But now a path to liberty had opened. Soon she would no longer be a prost.i.tute by night, a servant by day, despised and scorned.

Wiping the tears from her face, Peony slid open the door leading to the corridor, looked both ways, and saw no one. She tiptoed down the corridor. Through the paper-paned walls, she heard courtesans chattering while they bathed and dressed for the night's festivities. She cringed, antic.i.p.ating shrill voices calling her name. Miraculously, no summons came. She was free to plot her escape.