Chapter 48

“We re all here. Taso gestured to the villagers gathered around the hearth of the ryokan’s common room. “Now, please explain why the foreigner grabbed my wife.”

“I did not grab her,” Father Mateo said. “I—”

Ana entered the room from the hallway, wearing the robe in which she slept. Her hair hung down her back in a thin, gray braid, and she blinked like a child unexpectedly awakened from a deep, sound sleep.

“Hm.” She looked around the room. “Has everyone in this village lost his mind?”

“It’s all right, Ana,” Father Mateo said, “go back to bed. It’s the middle of the night.”

“I noticed.” As she turned away, she muttered, “Might as well make myself some tea.” She glared at them over her shoulder. “The rest of you can get your own.”

“I demand to know what’s going on here,” Otomuro declared as Ana shuffled back down the hall.

“I will gladly tell you.” Hiro moved toward the samurai, as if to speak to him directly, but really to place himself between the villagers and the exit. “Father Mateo and I can now reveal who stole the missing silver, as well as who killed Ishiko and Masako. What is more, I can prove this village is not cursed, and there is no yūrei.”

“How does he know?” Mume whispered to her sister.

Kane shushed her.

“No ghost?” Saku snorted. “Of all people, I would think that you’d know better.”

Hiro reached into his obi, removed the bag of coins, and handed it to Noboru. “I believe you will find that holds not only what you knew was missing—twenty-four silver coins—but quite a bit more, most likely taken a little at a time in the months since your marriage.”

“My marriage?” Noboru glanced briefly at Kane before he opened the bag and looked inside. His eyes grew wide. “Where did you find this?”

“Ask your wife.” Hiro shifted his gaze to Kane. “Think carefully before you deny your guilt. I heard everything from behind the mausoleum.”

Mume covered her mouth with her hands. “He knows. He knows.” Taso stared at his wife. “Are you involved in this?”

“Your wife is not the thief,” Hiro said.

“Kane?” Noboru gave her a disbelieving look. “You stole from family?”

“Your family, not mine.” She squared her shoulders. “And I only took what should have belonged to us already. Your mother never gave us a single coin to call our own.”

“But why?” Noboru asked. “You never mentioned any need. . .”

“Would it have mattered? Your mother treated me like a slave, and you did nothing. She yelled at me. She called me names. She beat me. And you went off to the teahouse like you didn’t even care.” Kane pointed at her sister. “I also stole the coins for her.”

Mume raised her hands to cover her entire face.

Taso laid a hand on her shoulder. “If you needed money, why didn’t you talk to me?”

“She wanted the money to run away from you, and move to Edo,” Kane said.

Taso looked crushed. He removed his hand from Mume’s shoulder and stepped away. “Is this true? You want to leave me?”

Mume lowered her hands. “Kane said I had to.”

“Stop lying, Mume,” Kane stared at her sister as if urging her to cooperate. “Admit it. You wanted to go to Edo.”

Mume nodded slowly. “I want to see Edo.”

“Do you think I can’t see what you’re doing?” Taso narrowed his eyes at Kane. “My wife did not think of this herself. You manipulated her for selfish reasons.”

Hiro was glad to see that Taso did not fall for the ruse.

Kane’s cheeks turned pink, but her eyes were hard. “You act offended now, but your love for her will not last. You’ll treat her just as badly as Ishiko treated me, as soon the novelty wears off and her simplemindedness ceases to amuse you.”

“Your sister is not simple.” Taso put a defensive arm around Mume’s shoulders. “She is kind. And honest. Which is more than I can say of you.”

“Fine, I admit it. I stole the money because I planned to run away—and take her with me.” Kane’s expression softened a fraction. “I promised our parents that I would take care of her. Alone, I could have lived by my wits. But I needed money in order to take her with me.” Kane looked around as if for support, but found only varying degrees of anger and disapproval.

“Mume is no longer your responsibility.” Taso lowered his face to look at his wife. “I take care of her now.”

Hiro suspected the laborer added the final sentence to make sure his wife would understand.

“You want to leave?” Noboru seemed to have trouble assimilating the information.

“Not any more. I changed my mind.” Kane’s voice took on a pleading urgency. “Everything changed when Ishiko died. I told Mume tonight that I wanted to stay in the village. Mume, tell him.” Mume frowned at her sister. “How do I know that wasn’t another lie?”

Noboru looked expectantly at Hiro. “Did she say she had changed her mind?”

Among other things. Hiro saw no reason to cause more trouble with irrelevant details. “Yes, she did.”

Noboru inhaled deeply as if preparing himself for an additional blow. “You said you solved the murders too. Did Kane kill my mother?”

“No,” Hiro replied. “Your lover did.”