Reiko walked from her palanquin into her house, and sighed in frustration as the maids removed her cloak. Despite her hope of finding Lady Wisteria and her Hokkaido lover, the morning’s inquiries had ended in failure.

None of the women she’d visited seemed to know anything of the mystery lover. Reiko had then gone to her father’s estate in the official district near Edo Castle. Magistrate Ueda, who alternated duty with Edo ’s other magistrate, was spending a month off, while his colleague, Magistrate Aoki, presided over trials. Reiko had asked her father if a man from Hokkaido had ever come to his attention. He consulted his records and his staff, but none of them produced any clues. She began to think that the pillow book Hirata had found was a fake.

Disconsolate now, Reiko wandered into the nursery and found Masahiro napping. The maid O-hana sat beside him, looking bored, but when she saw Reiko, she perked up.

“Lady Reiko-san! You’re back at last,” she said, smiling. “Are you cold from being outside? Shall I bring you hot tea?”

“Yes, please, that would be nice,” Reiko said.

The maid hurried off. Reiko sat watching Masahiro sleep while she wondered how to proceed now that none of her usual sources had yielded clues. Soon O-hana returned and placed a steaming bowl of tea in her hands.

“Thank you,” Reiko murmured absently.

“You and the sōsakan-sama are looking for Lady Wisteria, aren’t you?” O-hana said.

“Yes.” Reiko eyed the nursemaid in surprise. She never discussed Sano’s cases with servants, and though she supposed they eavesdropped, they’d never crossed the bounds of propriety by mentioning what they’d heard.

“Maybe I can help you,” O-hana said.

Reiko took a closer look at O-hana, appraising her cunning smile, eyes bright and sharp as black quartz, and stylish red sash. O-hana was Reiko’s least favorite of the nurses, although the girl was an efficient worker, kind to Masahiro, and he liked her. Reiko had always thought O-hana a little conceited, a little too eager to ingratiate herself with her employers.

“How could you help?” Reiko said.

“I know Wisteria’s family.”

“How can you know them?” Reiko said, recalling what Sano had told her about the courtesan. “They live far away in Dewa Province.” She also recalled that O-hana was a native of Edo and had never been outside the city.

“Excuse me, but I must disagree,” O-hana said. Her tone was humble, but her faint smirk showed her enjoyment of pointing out someone else’s mistake. “Lady Wisteria isn’t from the country, even though that’s what she tells people. Her parents live right in Nihonbashi. My mother used to be a maid in their house. I knew Wisteria when we were children.”

“Why would she lie?” Reiko was skeptical of O-hana’s news even as it intrigued her.

O-hana’s smile turned mysterious. “Lies sometimes sound better than the truth.”

And the truth about Wisteria’s past might reveal truths about the murder, Reiko thought. Excitement quickened her heartbeat. “Might her family know where Lady Wisteria went?” she speculated aloud.

“I could introduce you to them,” O-hana suggested eagerly. “We could ask. Shall we go now?”

She leapt to her feet, and Reiko noted how quick O-hana was to abandon her nursemaid duty and presume a closer relationship between them. Reiko liked her less for it, and didn’t trust O-hana. Yet she had to stop distrusting people just because her trust had once been abused. Just because the evil influence of the Black Lotus had threatened her didn’t mean everyone meant her harm. She couldn’t disregard an opportunity to help Sano solve a case because she disliked the person who offered it. And there seemed no other opportunities at hand.

“All right,” Reiko said. “Let’s go.”

“There it is,” O-hana said as the palanquin carried her and Reiko down a street lined with large houses. “The next one on the left.”

Reiko called to the bearers to stop. She was glad they’d reached their destination, because the trip from Edo Castle to the Nihonbashi merchant district had been unpleasant. The cold had seeped into the palanquin and through the quilts that covered Reiko and her companion. And O-hana had chattered all the way here, clearly enjoying her ride in the palanquin, and striving to rise above her station by attaching herself to Reiko. Stifling her dislike and trying to feel grateful toward the poor nursemaid, Reiko climbed out of the palanquin. She and O-hana walked up to the house.

The house and its neighbors were residences of the affluent merchant class. Built of wood and whitewashed plaster, they fronted directly onto the street. Heavy brown tile roofs peaked above their second stories and sheltered recessed entrances. The district wasn’t what Reiko had expected, because Sano had said Wisteria came from a poor family who had sold her into prostitution.

A young maid, dressed in a blue kimono and carrying a broom, appeared in the doorway. She gazed in surprise at O-hana, Reiko, and the troops who’d escorted them. “O-hana? Is that you? What’s going on?”

“My mistress wants to see yours,” O-hana said in a self-important tone. “Go tell her that the wife of the shogun’s sōsakan-sama is here.”

The maid hurried to comply. Soon two older maids seated Reiko and O-hana in a warm, stuffy parlor full of ornate lacquer tables, chests, and screens, silk floor cushions, shelves of porcelain vases.

“Isn’t this beautiful?” O-hana whispered to Reiko as they waited for Lady Wisteria’s mother.

Reiko nodded, although the decor exemplified the vulgar taste of the merchant class.

Into the room minced a small woman perhaps forty years old, trailed by two different female servants. Her face, round with a pointed chin, was covered with heavy white powder. Rouge dotted her cheeks; scarlet paint brightened her thin, prim lips. Painted brows arched over unusually round eyes. Clad in a gaudy red floral kimono that would have better suited a younger woman, she was pretty in the same vulgar way as her parlor.

“Welcome, Honorable Lady!” Bowing to Reiko, she smiled, revealing teeth cosmetically blackened in the manner of highborn wives. She ignored O-hana. “This is an unexpected honor.”

“Allow me to introduce Madam Yue-san,” O-hana said to Reiko, looking miffed at their hostess’s slight.

Madam Yue knelt near Reiko and offered refreshments; maids served tea and expensive cakes on fine dishware. Reiko had counted six attendants by now. If this family could maintain so high a standard of living, how could they not have afforded a daughter’s keep? Was this really the home of Lady Wisteria?

While Reiko and O-hana ate and sipped, Madam Yue chatted with Reiko about the weather. She spoke and smiled with affected elegance. Presently she said, “May I ask what brought you here to see me?”

“I’ve come about your daughter,” Reiko said.

The woman’s smile vanished; displeasure thinned her lips. “My daughter isn’t here. It’s been many years since she’s lived in this house.”

“She is Lady Wisteria, the courtesan?” Reiko said, wanting to make sure they were both talking about the same person.

Madam Yue looked away and nodded.

“You know she disappeared from Yoshiwara the night when the shogun’s heir was murdered?”

Another nod from Madam Yue; she twisted her dainty hands together at her bosom and frowned into space.

“My husband needs to find Wisteria,” said Reiko. “I was hoping you could help us.”

“I haven’t seen her, and I don’t know where she’s gone,” Madam Yue said. Her elegance had deserted her; she spoke in a flat, common voice. “I’m not surprised she’s in trouble, though. If you find her, I would appreciate it if you would tell her not to expect any help from me.”