The Way of the Traitor: A Samurai Mystery (11 page)
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Authors: Laura Joh Rowland
Tags: #General, #Fiction
BOOK: The Way of the Traitor: A Samurai Mystery
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The paucity of clues discouraged Sano, as did the absence of blood. He looked under the futon, bed, and other furniture; he examined floor and walls for secret hiding places. But he found no knife, which could have been dumped into the sea along with Spaen's corpse. Sano peered out the window into the yard. The ground looked hard and smooth, the grass kept short by the barbarians' grazing cow. The soil in the vegetable garden seemed undisturbed. Sano guessed that a search for buried evidence would prove futile.
DeGraeff spoke. Iishino said, oHe asks if you're satisfied that he didn't kill Director Spaen.
Far from it, Sano thought, yet he was forced to admit temporary defeat. Identifying the killer "and incriminating the Dutch "wouldn't be easy. Keenly he regretted the inner drives that always endangered his life. What cruel god had endowed him with this fatal curiosity and desire for truth?
The servant returned with a tray of food, which the barbarian eyed hungrily.
oWell, ssakan-sama, Chief Ohira said, odo you still think you can solve the mystery?
With an effort, Sano kept his voice and expression untroubled. oThat will be all for now, he told the Dutchman. He nodded to the servant, who set the tray before deGraeff.
oWatch the barbarian eat, Interpreter Iishino said, giggling.
Thoroughly tired of Iishino, Sano nonetheless couldn't help staring as the Dutchman devoured the food. Instead of sipping soup from his bowl, he slurped it out of a wooden spoon. Instead of using chopsticks, he crammed rice, fish, and vegetables into his mouth with his hands. Between bites, he swilled huge, noisy gulps of water and sake. Such crude table manners disgusted Sano, while intuition told him that the Dutchman knew more about Director Spaen's death than he'd admitted.
Accompanied by Chief Ohira and Interpreter Iishino, Sano descended the stairs and walked down the street toward the residence of Dr. Nicolaes Huygens: Dr. Ito's trusted friend and Sano's last Dutch suspect, upon whom his hopes for a quick, successful end to the investigation now rested.
Chapter 8
THE DOOR TO Dr. Huygens's residence stood wide open and unguarded when Sano arrived there with Chief Ohira and Interpreter Iishino.
In the doctor's study, shelves held wooden boxes labeled in foreign script; leatherbound books; a human skull; cases displaying seashells, rocks, butterflies, and other insects; and clear glass jars in which floated preserved specimens, including a two-headed newborn kitten. On the floor sat shallow pans filled with water, in which lived crabs, snails, and sea urchins. Potted plants stood on the windowsills, and a samurai youth was watering them with a spouted pot. Two guards leaned on either side of the desk beneath the window, watching the Dutchman.
Dr. Huygens sat with his back to the door, his head bent over something he was working on amid a jumble of books and writing materials.
oWhat are we going to see now? a guard asked him.
The youth spoke to the doctor in Dutch, then translated the reply as he tended the plants. oA drop of pond water.
Ohira stalked over to the guards; they looked up in dismay. oFraternizing with a barbarian, he fumed. oDisgraceful! Get back to your posts. Now!
The men fled.
oI'll take over here, Iishino told the junior interpreter, who scurried from the room.
The doctor turned and rose. With his bulky physique and disheveled appearance, he looked not at all like the Japanese ideal of a refined, elegant scholar. His skin was very pink; his round nose and cheeks glowed like cherries. He must have passed his fortieth year, for white hairs streaked the long, coppery waves that receded at his temples. On the bridge of his nose sat a pair of clear glass circles, joined with a loop of gold wire: the famed barbarian eyeglasses that miraculously improved vision. From behind these, the Dutchman's pale amber eyes regarded Sano with intelligent curiosity. His hands had thick, blunt fingers that seemed unsuited to delicate medical procedures. In the right one he held a small metal object. The sight of this raised an instinctive flare of alarm in Sano.
oLook out! he shouted, drawing his sword. oHe's got a weapon!
Dr. Huygens shrank against the desk, his large, pink face aghast, eyes frightened behind his glasses.
oGuards! Ohira shouted.
They burst into the room. Dr. Huygens fell to his knees, babbling in Dutch.
oHe says it's not a weapon, Iishino said. oIt's a scientific device. He begs permission to show you how it works.
oHe's telling the truth, one of the guards said. With a nervous glance at Ohira, he added, oI've seen it myself.
Sano sheathed his sword, ashamed of his mistake and horrified at what had almost happened. Overreacting after too many unsettling encounters with barbarians, he might have slain an innocent man and provoked the war he was trying to prevent. Vowing to keep a tighter grip on his self-control, he nodded at Dr. Huygens.
oAll right. Show me.
The doctor got clumsily to his feet, cradling in his palm the strange device. It consisted of two rectangular brass plates, sandwiched together by rivets at each corner. A clamp at one end held a long, threaded bolt parallel to the plates along their lengthwise axis. The bolt ended at a flat metal crosspiece with a tiny screw at one end and a pointed probe sticking out of its center. An even smaller screw pierced the probe at a right angle. Directly opposite the probe's tip, set into a hole in the plates, was a minute circle of glass. Sano almost forgot his troubles as he watched his first demonstration of foreign science.
Dr. Huygens sat at the desk and bent over a cleared space surrounded by pages of foreign script and beautiful ink drawings of sea life. He evidently occupied his days with the study of nature, when he wasn't acting as ship surgeon and his comrades didn't require medical care. Ceramic dishes held grains of dirt and other specimens brought to him by the Deshima staff. Dr. Huygens held the scientific device upright by the flared end of the long bolt. Into a dish of clear water, he dipped a pick and transferred a drop to the device's probe. He faced the window and brought the device to his eye. He looked through the glass while adjusting the screws on the probe and crosspiece. Then he turned to Sano, proffering the device.
Warily Sano grasped the bolt between his thumb and finger. The guards watched him with expectant smiles. Was this a joke? He raised the device to his eye, peered through the glass "and cried out in shock.
In the center of his field of vision squatted a lumpy green monster, rapidly spinning a wheel-like appendage. Around it floated long, undulating worms and prickly spheres.
Sano dropped the device and leapt backward. Dr. Huygens, with surprising agility for such a stout man, caught the instrument before it hit the floor. Sano snatched up the water dish and looked into it, but saw no sign of monsters. What kind of barbarian magic had he witnessed?
The guards and the doctor burst out laughing. Even Chief Ohira smirked. oThe device is a magnifier, a magnifier, Iishino explained with a superior smile. oIt works on the same principle as Dutch spyglasses, making small creatures in the water look big.
Embarrassment burned Sano's face. oGet out, he told the guards. Mustering his dignity, he glared at Iishino and Ohira.
The guards slunk away, hands over their mouths. The chiefs and interpreter's expressions turned respectfully serious, but Dr. Huygens kept laughing. oHo ho, hee hee, hoo hoo! His belly shook; his face turned even redder.
oShut up! Sano commanded.
Then his eyes met the barbarians, and saw there good-natured enjoyment and pride in the scientific miracle, but not spite. And Dr. Huygens's jolly foreign chortles were comical. Sano smiled, then laughed, too. Shared mirth formed a bond between them. Liking the Dutch physician, Sano regretted that Dr. Huygens was a murder suspect, whom he must incriminate if he could.
Chief Ohira frowned; Iishino shook his head in disapproval. Sano ended his laughter on a rueful sigh. oHonorable Doctor, I have bad news for you. And I must ask you some questions.
THE INTERVIEW REVEALED that Dr. Huygens had joined the East India Company twelve years ago, accompanying Jan Spaen as ship surgeon on voyages since. Huygens had spent the evening of Spaen's disappearance working in his study, and the night fast asleep. No motive for murder emerged, and Sano searched his quarters without result. Secretly Sano had hoped to clear Dr. Ito's friend of suspicion, yet by doing so he'd lost a chance to save himself.
Now, as Sano contemplated the barbarian, who sat meekly at the desk, an idea dawned on him. Inclined to trust this man because Dr. Ito did, he believed in Dr. Huygens's innocence. And he needed his help.
oWill that be all? Interpreter Iishino asked. Chief Ohira waited impatiently.
What Sano wanted to do was dangerous, illegal "treasonous. But he wanted the truth about Spaen's murder. He wanted the personal and professional triumph of delivering the killer to justice. If he didn't solve the case, he would lose the shogun's favor and cause a war. And he wanted to know the barbarian doctor and explore the world of foreign science denied him by the Japanese laws he abhorred.
oI'd like a moment alone with Dr. Huygens, he said.
Ohira frowned. oThis is highly irregular. The rules forbid me to allow it.
oBecause it's dangerous to be alone with a barbarian, Iishino chimed in, overy dangerous. Why, people might think you were plotting against the government together! And how can you communicate with him by yourself?
The doctor watched curiously, waiting for a translation.
oI'll take full responsibility for my actions, Sano said. oGo. I'll meet you at the gate when I'm done.
He watched from the balcony as Ohira, Iishino, and the guards descended the stairs and walked down the street. Then, with a sense of stepping ever deeper into jeopardy, he went back inside the study, closing the door behind him. Through the window, he surveyed the yard. Two guards patrolled there, safely out of hearing range. Sano turned to Huygens. Taking Dr. Ito's letter from beneath his sash, he handed it to Huygens, who looked puzzled, but adjusted his glasses, read silently, then smiled and nodded.
oIto Genboku, he said, pointing to the letter, then at Sano. oIto Genboku!
They'd established their mutual acquaintance with Dr. Ito, but how to proceed? Sano spoke loudly in an attempt to induce comprehension. oI need your help examining Director Spaen's body. To see if the killer left any clues. He gestured in vague pantomime, then shook his head. oThis is hopeless!
Without an interpreter, the doctor would never understand what he wanted; he could never learn anything from Huygens. More than ever Sano missed Dr. Ito, who not only had the requisite scientific expertise but had also learned Dutch from forbidden books.
oI help Ito friend, Dr. Huygens said. oI look body. His pronunciation was strange, but the words intelligible. oI maybe see how die. Who kill.
Sano stared in amazement. oYou speak Japanese!
Glancing at the door, the doctor put a finger to his lips, then said, oTwo years I here. People talk. I listen. Learn. Now I help friend. Yes?
oCome on. Jubilant, Sano led Dr. Huygens to the house where Spaen's corpse lay. To the guards outside, he said, oThe doctor will prepare his comrade's body for the funeral now. Bring it to his surgery.
The guards hesitated. oChief Ohira told us to keep the body here, and the barbarians away from it, one demurred.
oI'll take responsibility, Sano said.
The guards brought out the corpse, now shrouded in white cloth. They carried it into Dr. Huygens's ground-floor surgery near the east guardhouse. The room ran the whole depth of the building, with large windows overlooking both street and back garden. Cabinets and shelves lined the walls; two long, waist-high tables with accompanying seats occupied the center. The guards unloaded the corpse onto a table. Servants appeared and started to open the shutters.
oNo. Light the lamps. Sano wanted no witnesses. oBring water and cloths.
The servants obeyed. Sano ordered the staff away. At last, he and the barbarian doctor were alone.
oUnwrap the body, Sano told Dr. Huygens. He had no intention of physically handling the examination if he didn't have to. Already he sensed death's foul aura seeping through the white shroud, suffusing the dim, hot surgery.
The barbarian seemed not to share the Japanese distaste for death. Gently, but without squeamishness, he uncovered Director Spaen's head, then peeled back the cloth to reveal the mutilated torso and stiff limbs. He didn't flinch at the nauseous odor of decay; he surveyed the killer's work with calm detachment.
Sano experienced a sudden qualm. Shouldn't the barbarian show surprise at Spaen's wounds, or display respect for his dead superior? Or had he known what to expect? Sano tried to dismiss these disturbing thoughts while he watched Dr. Huygens examine the crucifix around Spaen's neck, then the stab wounds. Perhaps the doctor had merely seen so many terrible deaths that he'd grown hardened to such experiences.
Dr. Huygens shook his head. oThis not kill, he said, pointing to the crucifix's chain. oBody swell up in water. Then " He pantomimed choking, then indicated the stab wounds. oI think this not kill, too.
Taken aback, Sano said, oWhat do you mean? Surely that alone " he pointed to the hacked area below Spaen's breast " owould have been fatal. And he was badly beaten.
oNo. No. Dr. Huygens waved his hands and muttered in Dutch, obviously frustrated by his lack of Japanese vocabulary. oBeating not enough kill. And see? He raised an imaginary knife and pretended to stab Sano, who instinctively threw up an arm to shield himself and reached for his sword. oYou protect, you fight. But Spaen "
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