“I always wondered what became of Etsuko,” Lady Ateki said. “She left us very suddenly.”
Sano saw a chance to fill in some of the gaps in his mother’s story. “When did she leave?”
“It was soon after the Great Fire,” Lady Ateki said.
“What was the reason?” Sano asked.
Lady Ateki squinted in an effort to bring the past into focus. “All I remember is that she went home to live with her parents.”
Her parents—the grandparents Sano had never met. She’d told him they’d died in the fire.
“I was sad but willing to let her go,” Lady Ateki said. “My husband was dead, his estate had burned down. Some relatives took me in. We lived in their summer villa in the hills, very crowded. There wouldn’t have been room for Etsuko.”
“I never knew why she went,” Oigimi said, “but I had other things to worry about at the time.” Sano interpreted the bitterness in her voice to mean she’d been suffering from the burns, which must have been painful.
Yet another mystery had arisen for Sano to solve. “Did you ever hear from Etsuko again?” he asked Lady Ateki.
“No, I didn’t.”
“It was as if she’d vanished off the earth,” Oigimi said.
Was it a coincidence that she’d vanished from their lives shortly after Tadatoshi had? Uneasiness crept through Sano. How had his mother spent the months after she’d left them and before she’d married his father? He wondered whether she would tell him if he asked. “Did you have any suspicion that she was involved in Tadatoshi’s disappearance?”
“None at all.” Oigimi sounded incredulous at the idea. “I thought he’d died in the fire.”
“Dear me, of course not,” Lady Ateki said. “Etsuko was a good girl. She could never have hurt anyone.”
“I agree.” Oigimi thought a moment, then said, “May I ask who accused Etsuko?”
“It was Doi Naokatsu,” Sano said.
“This is certainly a day for names from the past,” Lady Ateki said. “I remember Doi. He was my son’s bodyguard.”
“He was also Etsuko’s fiancé,” said Oigimi. “I always wondered why they never married.”
Ignoring her hint for information he didn’t have, Sano said, “Have you any idea why he would accuse her?”
“None.”
“I remember how upset Doi was after Tadatoshi disappeared,” Lady Ateki said. “He fell on his knees and apologized to me for not being able to find him. He cried and begged my forgiveness. He was ready to commit seppuku.”
Too bad he hadn’t, Sano thought. Doi’s ritual suicide would have saved a lot of trouble.
“But I was sure Tadatoshi was alive,” Lady Ateki said. “I told Doi that he must be ready to serve him when he came back.”
Sano wondered if Doi’s behavior meant he’d felt guilty about more than failing in his duty. “Do you think Doi could have killed Tadatoshi?”
Lady Ateki exclaimed, “Oh, no. He was devoted to my son.”
“The idea of him kidnapping my brother is ridiculous,” Oigimi said. “But so is the idea that Etsuko did, and not just because she was too good. Tadatoshi wasn’t a baby who could have been easily carried off and killed. He was strong enough to put up a fight. How does Doi say that Etsuko managed to kidnap him?”
“He says she had help,” Sano said, “from Tadatoshi’s tutor.”
The women sat motionless, stunned by this news on top of the rest. At last Lady Ateki said, “I suppose Tadatoshi did have a tutor. Who was he?”
“That monk,” Oigimi said impatiently. “His name was Egen.”
“Oh. Oh, yes, I remember now.”
“I didn’t know him at all, but he must have been a decent person or my father wouldn’t have hired him,” Oigimi told Sano. “Have you asked him if he did it?”
“Not yet,” Sano said. “I’m looking for him. Do you know where he is?”
Lady Ateki shook her head. Oigimi said, “We haven’t seen him in all these years. He left after the fire.”
Perhaps not just because he’d lost his pupil, Sano thought. Maybe Egen had been involved in a kidnapping gone bad. Sano hoped Hirata was making progress toward finding him. For now, Sano needed suspects closer at hand. “Do you know of anyone who would have wanted Tadatoshi dead?”
Mother turned to daughter. Sano saw astonishment in both their profiles. Lady Ateki said, “Could it be?” Oigimi said, “Of course. We should have suspected him ages ago.”
“Who?” Sano said.