I knew I would be punished if anyone found out what I’d done, so I decided to make it look as if he’d run away. I dressed him in his trousers. I hung his crucifix around his neck and wrapped his body in bedclothes. I dragged him outside, to the water gates. It was raining very hard, and no one was around. I unbarred the gates and pushed Spaen-san into the sea. I threw the knife and gun in after him. Then I ran back to his room. I washed myself, made up a clean bed, and pretended to be asleep until the guards came in the morning.

May the spirit of my lover forgive me for what I have done. May we meet again in paradise, and spend all eternity together.

Peony

“So I guess this ends our problems,” Yoriki Ota said. “I’ll have her body wrapped up to deliver to the Dutch captain. I’ll tell the harbor patrol to arrange the ship’s escort, and Chief Ohira to prepare for its landing.”

Sano didn’t answer. The scenario Peony described seemed as believable as the apparent circumstances of her death. He could close the case and mend Dutch-Japanese relations. He and Hirata could begin the inspection of Nagasaki and restore their former harmony.

But he couldn’t overlook the obvious discrepancies he saw. With much regret, but no less resolve, he turned to Yoriki Ota and said, “Director Spaen’s killer hasn’t been caught yet.”

Ota’s eyebrows shot up. “But the whore confessed. She killed herself out of remorse. What more proof do you need?”

“When I met Peony yesterday,” Sano said, “she poured tea and combed another courtesan’s hair—using her right hand. Don’t you think it odd that she would stab herself with her left hand?”

Ota shrugged. “So people do strange things when their minds are troubled.”

“The divers haven’t recovered a gun or knife from the waters off Deshima. And about this letter.” Striding over to Ota, Sano held it before the yoriki’s face. “Very nice and neat; it accounts for all the evidence. But Peony was a peasant girl. I’d be surprised if she could write at all, let alone this well.”

“So she had someone write it for her.” Ota stood his ground, but his ruddy complexion darkened. “She had a miserable life. Uglier than a pig; bedding dirty foreigners. Minami, the clients, the other courtesans, and even the servants treated her like dung. Death probably seemed better than all that. Killing her lover pushed her over the edge. I’ve been in the police service for twenty years. Are you telling me I don’t know my business?”