The Fire Kimono by Laura Joh Rowland Page B

shrine, the fallen tree, the grave exposed.
    “How on earth did he get there?” she said, bewildered.
    “Not by himself, obviously,” Oigimi said. “What Chamberlain Sano is trying to say is that Tadatoshi was murdered.”
    “Murdered?” Lady Ateki gaped at Sano. Her hands flew to her face. Her fingers trailed down her cheeks, pulling them farther downward. “But who would kill my son?”
    “I was hoping you could tell me. I’m investigating his murder, on behalf of the shogun.”
    Oigimi said, “Forgive my presumption, but I’d have thought the shogun had more important things to do than bother about Tadatoshi.” She had the traditional outspokenness of older women, despite her disfigurement. “Whatever happened to him happened long ago.” She eyed Sano suspiciously. “Have you a personal interest in this, may I ask?”
    Sano felt he owed these women honesty. “Yes. My mother has been accused of kidnapping and killing Tadatoshi.”
    Lady Ateki looked too dazed to speak. Oigimi threw Sano a sidelong, puzzled glance and said, “Who is your mother?”
    “Her name is Etsuko,” Sano said. “She was a lady-in-waiting to your mother. Do you remember her?”
    Recognition dawned on Lady Ateki’s face. “Oh! That pretty young girl.” She smiled. “I was very fond of her.”
    “You’re Etsuko’s son?” Oigimi said in surprise.
    “I always wondered what became of Etsuko,” Lady Ateki said. “She left us very suddenly.”
    Sano saw a chance to fill in some of the gaps in his mother’s story. “When did she leave?”
    “It was soon after the Great Fire,” Lady Ateki said.
    “What was the reason?” Sano asked.
    Lady Ateki squinted in an effort to bring the past into focus. “All I remember is that she went home to live with her parents.”
    Her parents-the grandparents Sano had never met. She’d told him they’d died in the fire.
    “I was sad but willing to let her go,” Lady Ateki said. “My husband was dead, his estate had burned down. Some relatives took me in. We lived in their summer villa in the hills, very crowded. There wouldn’t have been room for Etsuko.”
    “I never knew why she went,” Oigimi said, “but I had other things to worry about at the time.” Sano interpreted the bitterness in her voice to mean she’d been suffering from the burns, which must have been painful.
    Yet another mystery had arisen for Sano to solve. “Did you ever hear from Etsuko again?” he asked Lady Ateki.
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “It was as if she’d vanished off the earth,” Oigimi said.
    Was it a coincidence that she’d vanished from their lives shortly after Tadatoshi had? Uneasiness crept through Sano. How had his mother spent the months after she’d left them and before she’d married his father? He wondered whether she would tell him if he asked. “Did you have any suspicion that she was involved in Tadatoshi’s disappearance?”
    “None at all.” Oigimi sounded incredulous at the idea. “I thought he’d died in the fire.”
    “Dear me, of course not,” Lady Ateki said. “Etsuko was a good girl. She could never have hurt anyone.”
    “I agree.” Oigimi thought a moment, then said, “May I ask who accused Etsuko?”
    “It was Doi Naokatsu,” Sano said.
    “This is certainly a day for names from the past,” Lady Ateki said. “I remember Doi. He was my son’s bodyguard.”
    “He was also Etsuko’s fiance,” said Oigimi. “I always wondered why they never married.”
    Ignoring her hint for information he didn’t have, Sano said, “Have you any idea why he would accuse her?”
    “None.”
    “I remember how upset Doi was after Tadatoshi disappeared,” Lady Ateki said. “He fell on his knees and apologized to me for not being able to find him. He cried and begged my forgiveness. He was ready to commit seppuku.”
    Too bad he hadn’t, Sano thought. Doi’s ritual suicide would have saved a lot of trouble.
    “But I was sure Tadatoshi was alive,” Lady Ateki said. “I