by Susan Spann
“I noticed.” As she turned away, she muttered, “Might as well make myself some tea.” She glared at them over her shoulder. “The rest of you can get your own.”
“I demand to know what’s going on here,” Otomuro declared as Ana shuffled back down the hall.
“I will gladly tell you.” Hiro moved toward the samurai, as if to speak to him directly, but really to place himself between the villagers and the exit. “Father Mateo and I can now reveal who stole the missing silver, as well as who killed Ishiko and Masako. What is more, I can prove this village is not cursed, and there is no yūrei.”
“How does he know?” Mume whispered to her sister.
Kane shushed her.
“No ghost?” Saku snorted. “Of all people, I would think that you’d know better.”
Hiro reached into his obi, removed the bag of coins, and handed it to Noboru. “I believe you will find that holds not only what you knew was missing—twenty-four silver coins—but quite a bit more, most likely taken a little at a time in the months since your marriage.”
“My marriage?” Noboru glanced briefly at Kane before he opened the bag and looked inside. His eyes grew wide. “Where did you find this?”
“Ask your wife.” Hiro shifted his gaze to Kane. “Think carefully before you deny your guilt. I heard everything from behind the mausoleum.”
Mume covered her mouth with her hands. “He knows. He knows.” Taso stared at his wife. “Are you involved in this?”
“Your wife is not the thief,” Hiro said.
“Kane?” Noboru gave her a disbelieving look. “You stole from family?”
“Your family, not mine.” She squared her shoulders. “And I only took what should have belonged to us already. Your mother never gave us a single coin to call our own.”
“But why?” Noboru asked. “You never mentioned any need. . .”
“Would it have mattered? Your mother treated me like a slave, and you did nothing. She yelled at me. She called me names. She beat me. And you went off to the teahouse like you didn’t even care.” Kane pointed at her sister. “I also stole the coins for her.”
Mume raised her hands to cover her entire face.
Taso laid a hand on her shoulder. “If you needed money, why didn’t you talk to me?”
“She wanted the money to run away from you, and move to Edo,” Kane said.
Taso looked crushed. He removed his hand from Mume’s shoulder and stepped away. “Is this true? You want to leave me?”
Mume lowered her hands. “Kane said I had to.”
“Stop lying, Mume,” Kane stared at her sister as if urging her to cooperate. “Admit it. You wanted to go to Edo.”
Mume nodded slowly. “I want to see Edo.”
“Do you think I can’t see what you’re doing?” Taso narrowed his eyes at Kane. “My wife did not think of this herself. You manipulated her for selfish reasons.”
Hiro was glad to see that Taso did not fall for the ruse.
Kane’s cheeks turned pink, but her eyes were hard. “You act offended now, but your love for her will not last. You’ll treat her just as badly as Ishiko treated me, as soon the novelty wears off and her simplemindedness ceases to amuse you.”
“Your sister is not simple.” Taso put a defensive arm around Mume’s shoulders. “She is kind. And honest. Which is more than I can say of you.”
“Fine, I admit it. I stole the money because I planned to run away—and take her with me.” Kane’s expression softened a fraction. “I promised our parents that I would take care of her. Alone, I could have lived by my wits. But I needed money in order to take her with me.” Kane looked around as if for support, but found only varying degrees of anger and disapproval.
“Mume is no longer your responsibility.” Taso lowered his face to look at his wife. “I take care of her now.”
Hiro suspected the laborer added the final sentence to make sure his wife would understand.
“You want to leave?” Noboru seemed to have trouble assimilating the information.
“Not any more. I changed my mind.” Kane’s voice took on a pleading urgency. “Everything changed when Ishiko died. I told Mume tonight that I wanted to stay in the village. Mume, tell him.” Mume frowned at her sister. “How do I know that wasn’t another lie?”
Noboru looked expectantly at Hiro. “Did she say she had changed her mind?”
Among other things. Hiro saw no reason to cause more trouble with irrelevant details. “Yes, she did.”
Noboru inhaled deeply as if preparing himself for an additional blow. “You said you solved the murders too. Did Kane kill my mother?”
“No,” Hiro replied. “Your lover did.”
Chapter 49
Noboru’s cheeks turned red. “What—What lover?” The blush spread all the way to his ears, which turned as red as sliced tomatoes.
“You know perfectly well what I mean, and who.” Hiro gestured to the woman at Noboru’s side. “Hanako.”
The teahouse owner stepped backward in dismay. “I am not a prostitute!
Noboru looked stunned. “Hanako killed my mother?”
“Of course not,” she retorted. “I was at the teahouse with you and your guests the night she died.”
“So you wished us to believe,” Hiro said. “While Masako entertained us with the shamisen, you left the teahouse, killed Ishiko, and hid her body in the woods. After we left for the night, you retrieved the body and posed it, to make it look like the yūrei was responsible.”
“The yūrei was responsible,” Hanako insisted. “And she will not stop until she takes revenge on everyone connected with her death.”
“There is no yūrei,” Hiro repeated.
Hanako looked around the room. “This stranger cannot understand—”
“On the contrary,” Hiro said, “I understand you all too well. You were prettier and more talented than Riko, but she was Yuko’s heir and you were merely an apprentice. You hated that she would inherit the teahouse, while you faced a life of servitude. But you found a way out. You began an affair with Noboru, thinking you could persuade him to marry you, at which point you would become the mistress of the ryokan.”
“That would never have happened,” Noboru said. “My mother would never have consented to me marrying a teahouse girl. Both of us knew that, even before Mother learned about the affair and insisted—” The innkeeper covered his mouth with his hand.
“—that you marry quickly, so Hanako knew she had no chance.” Hiro finished the sentence for him. “I suspected as much when you told me about your marriage.” And when I eavesdropped on your conversation after the meal today, I knew for certain, about the affair at least.
“I never did figure out how Mother learned about Hanako,” Noboru said.
“Riko told her.” The teahouse owner spit out the name as if it tasted foul. “She was jealous, and told your mother because she knew Ishiko would stop it.”
“A grudge you held to the day she died,” Hiro added. “To the point that you even refused to help when Riko lay dying of her injuries.”
“How did you know that?” Hanako demanded. “I told you Masako—”
Hiro cut her off. “You lied, though you made the mistake of basing the lie on a truth I heard from a more reliable source. Masako tended Riko’s wounds, while you refused to enter the room and help a dying girl. A fact that would have guaranteed your death, had Riko truly returned as a vengeful ghost.”
“You think you know everything,” Hanako sneered.
“On the contrary,” Hiro said, “there are many things I do not know. For example, did Yuko die of natural causes, or did you kill her also?” Hanako’s shoulders slumped, though her voice held no remorse. “I found her lying dead on her futon the morning after Riko died. She had trouble with her heart for years—it’s why she left Kyoto. She kept it a secret here, because no one pays for a sickly entertainer.”
“How would you know why she left Kyoto?” Noboru asked. “You were not here when
she returned.”
“She made me walk to Fujisawa twice a year to buy her medicine. A week’s hard walk each way, because she was too cheap to pay for a palanquin. Before I came, she sent a servant so dear little Riko wouldn’t have to hurt her feet and ruin her complexion. Clearly, mine weren’t nearly so important.”
“If you didn’t kill her,” Father Mateo said, “why did you blame her death on a ghost?”
“And settle for inheriting a tiny, impoverished teahouse?” Hanako pointed at Noboru. “He took my virtue and promised to make me mistress of the ryokan. Yuko’s death gave me the chance to seize what I was promised, and to avenge myself on the people who tried to deprive me of what I deserved.”
“You created the ghost?” Noboru was horrified. “You made up a yūrei to justify a murder?”
“The ghost is real,” Saku objected. “I saw her.”
“And Noboru was married before you killed Ishiko,” Kane added.
Hiro ignored Saku’s comment in favor of the one that did not require him to reveal Emiri’s nocturnal visits. “Hanako intended to kill you too, as soon as Father Mateo and I had left the village.”
“I merely invited her to dinner. . .” Hanako trailed off as if wondering how much Hiro actually knew.
“At which you planned to poison her, as you did Noboru’s father,” Hiro said.
“My father’s heart gave out when he saw the ghost. . .” Noboru’s words grew softer as he spoke.
“Is that what happened?” Hiro asked Hanako. “Or is it just a story you invented to disguise the truth? What did Emiko really see that night?”
“Noboru’s back was to the door. He did not realize—” Hanako stopped abruptly. “How did you know what Emiko saw?”
“Perhaps I, too, can speak with ghosts.” Hiro redirected the conversation. “Did you kill Noboru’s father?”
“I poisoned his saké,” Hanako said, “but he really did clutch his chest and call out Riko’s name, as if he saw her in his final moments. Later, I used the story of the ghost to cover up the real reason Emiko fled—she saw me. . .with Noboru.”
The innkeeper’s cheeks flushed red.
“But I saw the ghost!” Saku repeated, louder than before.
Hiro had hoped to avoid this detail, but fabricated an explanation that avoided mentioning Emiri. “You saw Masako, sneaking out to meet Chitose in the woods. They were in love, but had to hide it from Hanako.”
Saku narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What I saw did not look like Masako-san.”
“Grandmother,” Chitose said, “last week you thought a tree stump was an ox.”
The murmur of amusement that passed through the room made Hiro hope that no one else would question Saku’s sighting of the ghost.
“I still don’t understand,” Noboru said. “If you wanted the ryokan, and me, why did you wait a year to kill my mother? And why did you still kill her, after I’d already married Kane?”
“I planned to kill her earlier, but after you got married I could never catch her alone.” Hanako pointed at Kane. “She followed her daughter-in-law around like a dog chasing after a fleeing rat. But I knew she would take an offering to the grave on the anniversary of her daughter’s death. She believed the ghost had killed her husband, and didn’t want to follow him to the grave.”
“But she might have taken Kane with her to present the offering,” Noboru said, “or taken me along.”
“I had a plan, and then the foreigner arrived, and I had to change the plan again.” She glared at Noboru. “You almost ruined everything when you refused to let Masako entertain you while you ate.”
“Speaking of which, why did you kill Masako?” Chitose asked. “She had no part in this at all.”
For the first time, Hanako seemed uncomfortable. “Her death was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Chitose started forward.
Akako restrained his son. “Let her explain.”
“A little while before Ishiko died, Noboru started acting strangely. He came to the teahouse less often, and when he did, he seemed so distant. . .I thought, with Ishiko gone, he would feel free to be with me openly, but he refused.”
“My mother had just died!” the innkeeper interjected, “and I am married!”
Hanako ignored him. “A few months ago, Masako started acting strangely too. I suspected she was sneaking out at night to meet a man, but could never catch her. Then, when Noboru’s behavior changed, I thought he had fallen in love with her, and that she was trying to steal him away from me.”
“Masako-chan did not care about Noboru.” Chitose’s nose turned red. “It was me she loved!”
“I do not care who she loved.” The regret disappeared from Hanako’s voice. “I could not allow anyone to deprive me of the ryokan.”
“Deprive you of the ryokan,” Noboru repeated softly.
Hanako continued as if she had not heard him. “On the night it happened, Masako left the teahouse right after Noboru did. I saw them whispering near the latrine. He waited while she went inside. I couldn’t watch what happened next. . .I found the rope I used to strangle Ishiko and got it ready. When Masako returned to the teahouse, I confronted her. She claimed innocence, but I knew better. So I killed her.”
“Masako was afraid of the yūrei,” Noboru said. “She asked me to stand guard outside the latrine, to keep her safe.”
“That’s the story she told me, too,” Hanako admitted. “At the time, I thought it was a lie.”
“I did not love Masako.” Noboru looked at the floor as if embarrassed. “But you are right that I no longer loved you either. As my feelings for my wife grew stronger, the ones I felt for you withered and died.” He looked up. “But I still liked your food.”
“Would she really have killed me too?” Kane asked.
Hiro nodded. “She invited your husband to bring you to the teahouse for a meal. I do not think you would have survived her hospitality.”
“You cannot prove that,” Hanako said.
“I do not need to.” Hiro turned to Otomuro. “I believe you have sufficient proof of this woman’s guilt.”
“Enough that we do not need a magistrate,” the samurai agreed. “She will hang at dawn.”
Chapter 50
After Otomuro led Hanako out the door, an unsettled silence filled the room.
“Well,” Akako said, with an artificial lightness that fell flat, “I think we should all go home and get some sleep.”
Chitose started for the door. Saku walked beside him, leaning heavily on her cane. Akako bowed to Hiro and Father Mateo before following his family from the room.
Taso removed his arm from Mume’s shoulders and stepped in front of her. “I need to know the truth. Do you want to be my wife, or not?”
Mume turned her head to look at Kane.
Taso gently cupped Mume’s cheek in his hand and turned her face to his once more. “Not what your sister wants. What you want.” He lowered his hand. “I will not hurt you, or be angry, no matter what you say. But you need to tell the truth.”
Mume started to lower her face, but raised it again. “I do not like having an ox in the house. He smells.”
“If he lived outside in the winter he would freeze,” Taso replied. “Can we buy incense?” Mume asked. “To hide the smell?”
“Of course.”
“Can I have a baby?” Her cheeks grew red.
Taso laughed. “I cannot promise, but I’ll gladly try.”
“Then I want to be your wife.” Mume bit her lip. “Kane said you did not care for me. But I think you do.”
“I care for you very much,” Taso said gently. “Do you still want to go to Edo?”
“By myself?” Worried wrinkles appeared on Mume’s forehead.
He smiled. “No, with me. Last week, I received a message from a cousin there. He has a growing business that needs a porter, and an ox, to help with deliveries. We would have a better house and a better future.”
Far away from her sister’s influence
, Hiro silently agreed.
“Did you hear that, Kane?” Mume beamed. “I get to go to Edo after all!”
“That’s nice for you. But where does this leave me?” Kane gave her husband a worried look.
“Did you truly steal the money only to escape my mother’s cruelty?” Noboru asked.
“Yes. I swear it is the truth.”
“Then prove it.”
“How?” She spread her hands. “I gave the money back.”
Noboru gestured to Hiro. “He gave it back. But you can prove your sincerity by helping me run the ryokan without complaining. . .and you can start by learning to cook a meal that’s edible.”
“You want me to learn to cook?” She looked aghast.
“I will hire a servant to teach and assist you.”
“Why can’t she just do the cooking?” Kane asked.
“As mistress of the ryokan, that duty falls to you.”
Kane looked unable to believe what she was hearing. “If I do, can you forgive me?”
“I am willing to,” Noboru said. “Whether or not I can depends on you.”
The following morning, Hiro and Father Mateo prepared to leave. When Hiro set the traveling basket on the floor and opened the lid, Gato flattened her belly against the tatami and flattened her ears against her head.
“I think she knows we’re leaving.” Father Mateo nodded at the cat. “And doesn’t like it.”
“You wouldn’t either, if you had to travel in a basket,” Hiro said. “Getting to ride instead of walk? I would gladly take her place.” Hiro smiled. “I suspect Ana wouldn’t be quite as willing to carry you.”
Before the Jesuit could respond, the ryokan’s front door opened. A moment later, Otomuro appeared in the guest room’s doorway, with Noboru at his back.
“Good morning,” the samurai bowed to Hiro and the Jesuit. As they returned the gesture, he continued, “I have come to release your servant from her arrest, so you may leave.”
Hiro raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Thank you for acknowledging her innocence,” Father Mateo said.
When neither the samurai nor Noboru withdrew, Hiro asked, “Is there something more?”