“I’ll ask you again,” Sano said. “Where were you the night Spaen disappeared?”

Dr. Huygens took a step backward, but his eyes met Sano’s bravely. “In my room; sleep. I no kill Spaen.”

“Did you smuggle goods from the Deshima warehouse to a cove in the harbor?”

“I no smuggle. I no kill!”

“Did you plant the bullet in Spaen’s body?”

“No! No!” Clumsily Huygens dropped to his knees before Sano, hands clasped in entreaty. “Friend,” he said, weeping. “I sorry I no tell you Spaen hurt me. But I no kill. I know nothing of smuggling. Please, trust. Forgive.”

Sano puffed out his breath in angry frustration. There was no physical evidence tying Huygens to Spaen’s murder or the smuggling, yet Sano was now convinced of the doctor’s guilt. Huygens had once killed a fellow student in a fit of drunken temper. If he hadn’t really reformed, he could have done the same to Jan Spaen. His betrayal of Sano’s trust finalized the case against him. Sano should never have trusted a barbarian; their worlds were too far apart, their values too different. The whole investigation was compromised, the evidence tainted. And unless Sano’s next actions yielded good results, he would lose his life and honor.

“I have to go,” he said.

He stripped off the unconscious guard’s helmet, long sword, armor tunic, robe, and leg guards. He removed his own outer clothes and donned the stolen uniform, keeping his short sword. The guard was bigger than he, and the armor fit too loosely, but he needed the disguise. He crammed the inert body into an empty cupboard, threw his rope and hook in, and shut the door.

“If anyone comes, tell them the guard went outside,” Sano told Dr. Huygens, who nodded as if eager to please. Then he slipped out the back door.

30

三十

His face partially hidden by the visor and side flaps of his stolen helmet, Sano crossed the yard. His heart tripped when the three guards outside the barbarians’ house looked up at him. He nodded as he passed. They nodded in reply, then returned to their card game. Sano released his breath: the first obstacle cleared. Reaching the fence, he opened the gate and stepped into the perimeter passage, nerves taut.

Here lay the peril of a face-to-face confrontation with someone who could identify him as an imposter, while he was trapped between the fences. Would that he could subdue any passing patrol guards he met without adding murder to his list of crimes!