"Very well. I suppose you have a good reason for summoning us?" Lady Setsu's voice hinted that it had better be good. Even though he was the shogun's second-in-command, her age, her pedigree, and the irritability caused by her pain made her insolent.

"Yes," Yanagisawa said. "I've a proposal to make."

Suspicion narrowed her good eye. "What sort of proposal?"

"For a collaboration that would benefit us both."

Lady Setsu permitted herself a thin, bad-humored smile, which only appeared on the side of her face not distorted by the headache. "What can you offer that would induce us to collaborate with you?"

She pronounced the last word as if she thought him a demon incarnate, which she probably did. Yanagisawa didn't mind. He would rather be feared and reviled than discounted.

"I can offer you a chance at what you most want in the world," he said.

Lady Chocho tugged Lady Setsu's sleeve. "What's he talking about?"

"Quiet," Lady Setsu ordered. To Yanagisawa she said, "Why do you think that we want for anything? We're quite comfortably situated."

"That could change." Yanagisawa paused to let her absorb the ominous impact of his words. "The shogun's health is uncertain."

Lady Setsu regarded him suspiciously. "His Excellency was well enough to attend the martial arts tournament yesterday."

She was well informed, Yanagisawa observed. "Just last month he was wretchedly ill. You must be aware that he grows feebler with every passing year."

"Well, yes. But he often fancies himself ill when he isn't really."

"Still, he's an old man. He's expected to die sooner rather than later."

Lady Setsu hastened to say, "He's been threatening to die for ages." Just as Yanagisawa had hoped, the prospect of the shogun's passing deeply worried her. "He hasn't yet."

"Nobody lives forever," Yanagisawa pointed out. "And when he does die, the regime will change hands. The new dictator will have little use for people close to the past shogun." In case she missed his hint, he added, "People such as you."

Fear flashed across her expression. Yanagisawa knew he had her in his grasp now. "People such as yourself," she retorted.

"True," Yanagisawa said. "I'd like to know that when the dictatorship does change hands, I'll be safe. Wouldn't you?"

Lady Setsu said grudgingly, "I see your point."

"I don't," Lady Chocho said, pouting because they'd left her out of their discussion.

Yanagisawa turned to her with his most charming smile. "My point is that we have so much in common that we're destined to be great friends."

"Oh, I'd like that." Lady Chocho simpered.

Lady Setsu flicked a tolerant glance at her companion, then said to Yanagisawa, "What is your proposal?"

He hid his glee that he'd coaxed her this far. He must exercise caution. "The first step would involve a wedding."

"I love weddings!" Lady Chocho clapped her hands in delight. "Who's getting married?"

Comprehension dawned on Lady Setsu's face. "Your nerve is astounding. You take my breath away."

"He takes mine away, too," Lady Chocho said with a giggle.

"So you don't like my plan?" Yanagisawa prepared to argue, cajole, and eventually convince.

"I didn't say that." Lady Setsu's manner expressed reluctant admiration for his ingenuity. "But you realize there are serious obstacles."

"None that I can't get around."

Her painted eyebrows rose in surprise; she shook her head. "I always knew you were ruthless, but until this moment I didn't realize how much so."

"Well, what do you think?" Yanagisawa said. "Shall we be partners?"

"I say yes," Lady Chocho said, ready to join him in anything he proposed whether she understood it or not.

But Lady Setsu said, "I refuse to make a major decision in such a hurry. There are other people whose future is at stake."

"Of course," Yanagisawa said. "I didn't mean to imply that the interests of all parties wouldn't be taken into account. Forgive me if I gave you that impression. I was about to suggest that everyone involved should meet and have a chance to approve of the plan."

For a moment Lady Setsu beheld him with silent outrage that he would forsake all sense of propriety and ask her to be his accomplice. But they both knew how much she dreaded the future, the unknown. Better to ally herself with a demon who was familiar than to depend on the whim of strangers.

"I will take the next step, but that is all I will commit to now," she said.

"Good enough," Yanagisawa said. "Shall we have a drink?"

"Oh, yes," Lady Chocho said.

Yanagisawa poured cups of sake from a decanter on the table. Lady Setsu covertly removed a vial from her sleeve and dosed her sake with opium potion. Yanagisawa said, "Here's to our joining forces in the near future."

"I can't wait," Lady Chocho said, batting her eyes at Yanagisawa.

"We'll see about that," Lady Setsu said.

They drank and bowed. The women left the teahouse first. Then Yanagisawa and his men took their leave. As they rode home in the rain, he congratulated himself on a mission almost accomplished.

In the alley outside the teahouse, beneath the window of the room where Yanagisawa had met the two women, a pile of trash stirred. Broken planks shifted; an old bucket foul with rotten fish entrails rolled free as a man dressed in beggar's rags emerged. Toda Ikkyu stood and flexed his cramped muscles. He'd overheard everything Yanagisawa and the women had said. The paper panel that covered the window had blocked out sights but not sound. Now Toda had interesting news to report to Chamberlain Sano-or not.

12

Below the highway between Asakusa and Edo, raindrops pattered into the rice fields. Sano and his entourage rode past pedestrians who looked like moving haystacks in their straw capes. Ahead Sano saw Hirata galloping on horse back toward him from the city.

"Any luck?" Hirata said as he turned his mount and rode alongside Sano.

"Yes and no," Sano said. "We located the place where my cousin Chiyo was dumped by her kidnapper. An oxcart was seen there, but we couldn't find it."

"When you don't want oxcarts, they're all around, blocking the streets and stinking up the city," Marume said. "When you do, there's not a single blessed one in sight."

Sano had led his men back to the construction site where they'd seen oxcarts yesterday, only to find the site deserted due to the rain. Sano and his men had combed the Asakusa district, but all the oxcarts seemed to have vanished.

"We'll have to go to the stables and track down the drivers who were working in Asakusa yesterday and when Chiyo was kidnapped," Sano said.

"Maybe I can save you the trouble," Hirata said.

Sano had figured that Hirata must have good news or he wouldn't have come looking for him, but he was surprised nonetheless. "Don't tell me the police actually investigated Chiyo's kidnapping and turned up some suspects?"

"No," Hirata said, "but their chief clerk says that two other women were kidnapped before your cousin was. Both were missing for a couple of days. Both were found near the places where they were taken."

Sano felt a mixture of excitement and dismay. He hated the thought that two more women had suffered, but the other crimes might provide clues. "Who are these women?"

"One is an old nun named Tengu-in," Hirata said. "She lives in a convent in the Zj Temple district."

"Merciful gods," Fukida said. "Who would rape a nun?"

"She was taken on the first day of the third month and found two days later," Hirata said. "The other is a twelve-year-old girl."

That shocked the detectives speechless. Sano, thinking of his own young daughter, felt sick with horror.

"She was kidnapped on the third day of last month, found two days later. Her name is Fumiko," Hirata said. "I happen to know her father. His name is Jirocho."