Chief Ohira exhaled in a moan. “You don’t know the whole story. And I can assure you that when you do, you won’t be so willing to help Kiyoshi.”

“I visited him in jail this morning. He was like a madman, but he regained his senses long enough to tell me everything. Two months ago, he chased the mysterious lights because a fortune-teller told him they were ghosts who could give him enough money so he could marry the girl he loves. Kiyoshi saw the lights go to Deshima and followed them to the cove, where he saw the smugglers. Later he overheard me telling the guards to relax Deshima security on nights when the smuggling occurred. He didn’t know that Governor Nagai and other officials were involved. He assumed I commanded the ring myself. On the night of his arrest, he went to the cove to persuade me to give it up.”

So it was his father whom Kiyoshi had gone to “stop” and “warn.” Sano’s guess was confirmed.

A mournful laugh caught in Ohira’s throat. “My poor, devoted, naive son. Yes, he protected me, but not just by lying. He began prowling the waterfront at night because he was afraid the police would catch me—how was he to know they were accomplices?” Ohira paused, as if gathering courage. “Kiyoshi fired arrows at anyone who went near the harbor.”

“He shot me?” Sano said, amazed. Not Nirin or the Deshima guards, then; not an assassin sent by Chamberlain Yanagisawa. He’d guessed Kiyoshi’s motive, but not how far the boy had gone to shield his father. Now his incoherent rambling made sense. He’d “placed personal interests above those of the shōgun and nation” not by smuggling, but by protecting his family instead of reporting the crime. The “blood on his hands” was neither Jan Spaen’s nor Peony’s, but Sano’s.

“I apologize for my son,” Ohira said. “He intended no harm; he only meant to frighten you. When you wouldn’t leave the harbor, he panicked. His shot went wild and hit you.” The chief shook his head sadly. “But that’s no excuse. He attacked a representative of the shōgun, which is treason. Therefore he must be punished. As must I, and the rest of our family.”