“Open up,” Sano said. “I want to see Hoshina-san.”
The guards obeyed. Sano stalked into the dim room, whose stone walls exuded the transient coolness of night. Hoshina lay asleep on his futon, with his back to Sano. When Sano kicked his buttock, Hoshina jerked awake, let out a cry of alarm, and clambered to his feet. Groggy panic showed on his face as he reached for the sword he normally wore, and his hand clutched empty air. Then he saw Sano. Even as his breath puffed from him in relief, anger stimulated him to alertness.
“Why did you wake me up like that?” he said. “To torment me for your own amusement?”
“We need to talk,” Sano said, his sympathy for Hoshina depleted by everything he’d learned about the man since yesterday.
“What’s happened? Have you found out something?” Hope of rescue enlivened Hoshina’s haggard, unshaven face. “Have you caught the person who got me into this predicament?”
Pressed for time, Sano forbore to argue that Hoshina’s own execrable behavior was the root of his troubles. “No, I haven’t caught the Dragon King,” Sano said, “but I’ve found out plenty. Why didn’t you tell me about Anemone?”
“Who?” Hoshina regarded Sano in genuine bewilderment. Then recognition encroached. “Oh. Anemone,” he said in the perturbed tone of a man suddenly confronted by a ghost from his past.
“So you were her lover?” Sano said. When Hoshina nodded, Sano said, “Were you her husband Dannoshin’s lover as well?”
Again Hoshina nodded, warily.
“Dannoshin drowned Anemone because you and she cheated on him by having an affair with each other,” Sano said. “Were you the detective who investigated their deaths? Did you cover up your part in them to protect yourself from scandal and punishment?”
“Yes, but what has that got to do with anything?” Hoshina said, annoyed now.
Incredulity filled Sano as he beheld Hoshina. Did the man really not understand the significance of the events? “It’s a murder connected with you, that you should have mentioned when we made the list yesterday.”
“But we were focusing on people I killed, or sent to their execution,” Hoshina said, hands on his hips and feet planted wide in defensive obstinacy. “I didn’t kill Anemone. She didn’t belong on that list.”
“One might argue that you were indirectly responsible for her death,” Sano pointed out.
“I wasn’t responsible. Her murder was her husband’s doing, not my fault. They were just a pastime for me. I couldn’t help it if he overreacted.” An aggrieved whine tinged Hoshina’s voice. “How did you find out about her, anyway?”
It was just like Hoshina to disclaim culpability, Sano thought in disgust. “Never mind how I found out. You should have told me about Anemone’s murder, instead of hiding a source of potential suspects.”
“I wasn’t hiding anything,” Hoshina protested. “I haven’t thought of Anemone in years. I didn’t mention her because I’d forgotten her.”
“She and her husband died because of her affair with you, and you didn’t even remember her?” Sano thought he’d already learned the worst about Hoshina, but there seemed no limits to the man’s callousness.
“All right, I should have remembered. I should have told you about Anemone.” Hoshina flung out his arms in a gesture of mock surrender and glared at Sano. “What are you going to do, kill me?”
“It’s tempting,” Sano said, “but I need your help. I’ve got an army of metsuke agents searching for information on people connected with Anemone and Dannoshin, but that will take too long. Here’s your chance to make up for the lost time that your bad memory has cost us. You knew Anemone and Dannoshin. Who in their household would have wanted to avenge her death?”
Hoshina’s features went slack with astonished dismay. “It was ages ago that I knew them. That time is a blur in my mind. How am I supposed to remember anyone in their household?”
“Try,” Sano said. “Your life may depend on your remembering.”
Pacing the room, Hoshina clamped his hands to his head, as though to physically squeeze out facts. “Dannoshin had a couple of sons from his previous marriage. They were in the Miyako militia. We were on friendly terms-I don’t think they had a grudge against me. Dannoshin’s parents lived in his house, but they were so old, they’re probably dead now. I can’t think of anyone else.”
“Think harder!”
“I’m doing the best I can!” Hoshina stomped the floor, sounding close to tears.
Sano realized that his own impatience was only worsening the situation. “Let’s try a different approach,” he said. “Who besides Dannoshin knew about your affair with Anemone?”
“Nobody.” Hands falling limp at his sides, Hoshina seemed near the breaking point. “We were very discreet. She sneaked me into a cottage in the garden late at night, while everyone was sleeping.”
“Who knew?” Sano repeated, because somebody had known, and that somebody had transformed into the Dragon King twelve years later.
Hoshina shook his head in despair. Then his drooping posture straightened. “Wait,” he exclaimed, his dull eyes lighting. “Anemone had a son by Dannoshin. He was about fifteen years old-a strange, repulsive boy.” Hoshina made a moue of distaste. “Whenever I went to the house, he would creep around and stare at me. And once, when Anemone and I were making love, we heard a noise in the bushes outside the cottage. It must have been him, spying on us.”
At last they were making progress, Sano thought with relief. “What was the boy’s name?”
“Dannoshin Minoru,” Hoshina said, and grinned, proud of himself for remembering.
“The son of Anemone is a likely person to want her death avenged,” Sano said.
“He must be the Dragon King.” Hoshina bounced on the balls of his feet and smacked his hands together, obviously exhilarated by the thought that his ordeal might be nearing a happy end. “He must have been plotting my downfall ever since Anemone died.”
“Now all I need to do,” Sano said, “is find out what became of him, pick up his trail, and follow it to wherever he’s hiding the hostages. I’ll go tell the metsuke to start combing the archives for information on Dannoshin Minoru.”
“Don’t bother,” Hoshina said. His mocking attitude resurfaced. “I’ve just remembered something else: I saw the fellow recently. I know where he’s been.”
“When?” Sano said, frowning in surprise. “Where?”
“About two years ago. Here in Edo. He’s grown up and changed since we last met, and I couldn’t place him. But now it’s come back to me.” Hoshina said, “He’s an inspector for the Ministry of Temples and Shrines.”
Thoughts crystallized in Sano’s mind as he comprehended how the Dragon King, the Black Lotus, and the kidnapping fit together. The Ministry of Temples and Shrines was responsible for monitoring religious sects, making sure they obeyed the laws and didn’t rise up against the ruling regime. Therefore, the Ministry had a major share of the task of eradicating the Black Lotus and employed inspectors to travel around the city, looking for illegal religious activity.
“Dannoshin Minoru’s work put him in contact with Black Lotus outlaws,” Sano deduced. “That’s how he found the secret temple and met Profound Wisdom. But instead of reporting them to the police, he used them. He got Mariko to spy on Lady Keisho-in. He probably used his connections in the bakufu to plant the girl inside Edo Castle. He got a band of Black Lotus rōnin to help him ambush Lady Keisho-in’s procession and kidnap her.”