“I told the Deshima guards that my father wanted them to stay away from the warehouse. I got the goods and carried them to the water gates.” Kiyoshi’s voice quavered; his tremors shook the floor. He did not look at Sano or the assembly. Chief Ohira’s face was a rigid mask that concealed all emotion. The aides wrote diligently. “The sōsakan-sama ordered me to help him and his assistant load the goods into a boat.” Kiyoshi seemed reluctant, but determined, to speak. “He made me row to the cove. When I tried to run away, he attacked me. Then the police came.”

Sano couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I was trying to catch the smugglers. I thought Kiyoshi was one of them.”

Ignoring Sano, Nagai addressed Yoriki Ota. “Has Hirata been found yet?”

“No, Honorable Governor.”

“Send out the troops,” Nagai told one of his aides. “He must be punished for his part in the crime.”

The aide bowed and departed. “We’ve committed no crime!” Sano argued vehemently, more worried for Hirata’s sake than his own. When the troops caught Hirata, they might kill him. After all Sano’s efforts to protect the young retainer! “The smuggling has been going on since before we came to Nagasaki. Jan Spaen was killed in the cave. The boat we used to follow the lights is still on the—”

At last Nagai met his gaze. “Any more such outbursts can only make matters worse for you,” he said coldly. To Kiyoshi, he said, “Because you were forced to break the law, I shan’t punish your family for your crime, as would be the usual penalty for smuggling.” Chief Ohira’s eyes closed briefly; otherwise his expression didn’t change, and he made no move to defend his son. “But you must pay for allowing yourself to be coerced. You shall be held in Nagasaki Jail until your execution.”

Supported by two guards, the weeping youth stumbled from the hall. Comprehension fed Sano’s anger. Kiyoshi was not evil, just very young and frightened. Surely he’d incriminated himself and Sano to protect someone else. But who? His father, Chief Ohira, his teacher, Interpreter Iishino, or his patron, Governor Nagai—the men to whom he owed his greatest duty and loyalty? Which of them had he wanted to “warn”? Sano studied the faces of the assembly; all remained closed, giving nothing away.

“Now we shall hear the testimony of the other witnesses,” Governor Nagai said.

In turn, they spoke. “I followed the sōsakan-sama on his inquiries in town,” said one of the strange samurai. “He interrogated the merchant Urabe and the courtesan Peony, as if he was looking to punish a Japanese for the barbarian’s murder, instead of the Dutch.”

“I followed the sōsakan-sama to Nagasaki Jail, where he had a private conversation with a prisoner, who converted him to Christianity,” stated the next stranger.