So the feared attack had come after all, though in a form Sano hadn’t expected. The world darkened at the edges of his vision as the nightmare of his past investigations began again. Because of him, innocent people—including his only Nagasaki friend—had died. If he’d accepted Peony’s confession, if he’d resigned himself to his fate after his arrest, they would be alive now. Who had done more harm: the murderer of Jan Spaen—or Sano? Beneath his ostensible quest for honor, Sano perceived another, less noble purpose, which he’d never before considered. Had a selfish desire to prove himself right—to triumph through his own moral superiority—caused eleven deaths and a possible war?

Sano’s horrified guilt over his own motives turned to anger at the men who wanted him dead so badly that they didn’t care who else they killed to make his death look accidental. He stalked out the front gate to the street. Just as he’d expected, the troops were gone. They’d probably left to let the arsonist do his work, then not returned because they’d assumed Sano would perish in the fire. Sano approached a crowd of curious onlookers.

“Were any of you around when the fire started?” he asked.

“I was,” a young samurai volunteered. “I had firewatch duty last night.” He pointed to a roofed wooden platform that rose on poles above the houses in the next block. “I saw the flames and rang the bell.”

“Did you see anyone near the house then?”

The samurai nodded. “There was a man standing on the roof. When the flames went up, he jumped on top of the next house. I yelled at him to stop, but he ran away. By the time I climbed down from the tower and got over here, he was gone.”

“What did he look like?” Sano asked.

“I was too far away to see him very well, but he wore a big hat and a short kimono.”

And he must be fairly young and agile. It could not have been Governor Nagai, who would have delegated such dirty work. Though Abbot Liu Yun’s age excluded him, Chief Ohira, Urabe, Interpreter Iishino, and the Deshima guards were possible culprits who would want to minimize the slim chance that Sano might be acquitted by the tribunal and convince the Edo authorities to investigate their affairs. Sano clenched his jaws in frustration. The tragedy had scarcely even narrowed down his original list of suspects.

Yet a cold, determined fury solidified like a layer of ice below the surface of Sano’s anger. His enemies had made his work harder, but he would not give up. There was still the plan he’d formulated last night. He had more deaths to avenge now, and a guilty conscience to assuage.

If he lived long enough.

29

二九