CHAPTER 15

Hiro returned to the Jesuit’s home to find Father Mateo sitting alone in the common room. A kettle hanging over the fire sent a curl of steam into the air.

The shinobi approached the hearth as Ana emerged from the kitchen bearing a tray with a teapot, a cup, and a plate of rice balls.

The housekeeper looked at Hiro. “Hm. I suppose you’re hungry too.”

“He can share my plate,” Father Mateo said. “Please bring a second cup. That’s all we need.”

Ana set the tray in front of the priest. “The way he eats? You won’t get a bite. I will make another plate.”

Gato trotted in from the kitchen as Ana left the room. The tortoiseshell cat gave a trilling mew and bounded toward Hiro, tail high with excitement.

Hiro knelt and extended a fist. Gato butted his hand with her head, then whipped her face upward and bit the shinobi’s knuckles.

“Hey!” Hiro pulled his hand away as Gato swatted it with her paw. She fell on her side and waved her legs in the air.

Hiro reached for the cat’s white belly. Gato grasped his wrist with her paws, sank her teeth in his sleeve, and kicked at his arm. Her purr rose up through a mouthful of silk.

“Don’t let Ana catch you,” Father Mateo warned. “You’ll never hear the end of it if Gato rips your robes.”

Hiro scooped the cat into his arms. She tightened her grip on his sleeve and bit down harder.

“That’s enough.” He laughed and stroked the cat.

Gato kicked at his sleeve once more, released her grip, and sniffed in the direction of the food.

“Don’t let her near the rice balls either,” Father Mateo said. “She licked the last ones.”

Hiro laughed again.

“Hm. That isn’t funny.” Ana returned with a second tray of rice balls and a cup for Hiro’s tea. She set the tray down and took the cat from his arms.

Gato’s purr increased in volume.

“I have something for you in the kitchen,” Ana told the cat as she turned to leave. “A nice little fish. I’d rather you had it than Luis.”

Father Mateo sneezed. As usual, Gato’s presence made his nose turn red and his eyes water. Even so, the priest allowed the cat to stay. He seemed to like her, despite the discomfort she caused him.

“Did Jiro meet you as he promised?” Father Mateo asked.

Hiro nodded. His mouth was full of rice.

“I’m surprised,” the Jesuit said, “but at least we know he’s innocent.”

Hiro swallowed. “Not at all. Running would prove he had something to hide. Talking gives him a chance to lie.”

“Or tell the truth.” Father Mateo lifted the steaming kettle off its chain and poured hot water into the teapot. “What did he tell you about the coin?”

“Nothing new.” Hiro watched a tendril of scented steam rise up from the pot. “He claimed he hadn’t seen it before and said he wouldn’t have given it to a girl.”

“Seems reasonable,” the Jesuit said. “A golden coin is a rich man’s bauble. To a poor man, it’s a meal.”

“If true, it suggests the girl had another patron,” Hiro said, “or perhaps a client.”

Father Mateo frowned at the implication—that Emi worked as a prostitute. “Or else that Satsu is correct, and the killer left the coin as a warning.”

“Possibly,” Hiro said, “though I find the other options more compelling. Still, I believe she knew her killer. She wouldn’t let a stranger close enough to put a rope around her neck.”

“That much matches Jiro’s story.” Father Mateo poured Hiro’s tea and then his own. “He claimed he fell asleep on the bank and woke up to find Emi dead beside him. She wouldn’t go willingly with a stranger, and even a man in a drunken slumber would have heard her scream.”

“Why would the killer drag her back to Jiro?” Hiro asked. “No killer strangles a girl in the open, where passersby could see. Few enough would risk returning her to a spot so near the path.”

“It seems to me the killer wanted Jiro to take the blame,” the Jesuit said.

“Or Jiro is the killer,” Hiro countered. “He might have dragged the body up the bank to throw suspicion off himself.”

“Why would Jiro kill a girl and then lie down to sleep beside her body?” Father Mateo asked.

“We don’t know that he did,” Hiro said. “We have only his word that he fell asleep at all.”

“This is impossible,” Father Mateo said. “We don’t even know where to start with a list of suspects.”

“We have Jiro,” Hiro said, “and Emi’s sister, Chou, can tell us more about the people Emi knew.”

Father Mateo sipped his tea. “She didn’t say much this afternoon.”

“She wouldn’t, in front of her parents.” Hiro raised his teacup and inhaled the fragrant steam. He sipped and paused to enjoy the delicate flavor of the tea.

Muffled barking outside the house announced the approach of someone in the street. Hiro loathed the neighbor’s Akita, but, at least in this, the dog was useful.

The front door creaked, and heavy footsteps thumped across the entry.

“Good evening, Luis,” Hiro said without turning.

“How do you always know it’s me?” The merchant entered the common room.

“The rest of us are home already,” Father Mateo said.

Hiro would have answered the question differently, but let it pass. Father Mateo wouldn’t approve of him saying Luis had the grace of a drunken ox.

Luis leaned over Father Mateo’s shoulder to inspect the tray of snacks. He straightened with an indignant sniff. “Rice balls again. I should have known. This country needs some decent food, like bread, and meat, and Portuguese wine.”

Hiro considered the merchant’s rounded belly and puffy face. For all Luis’s complaining, the Japanese diet hadn’t harmed his girth.

“I ate near the warehouse anyway.” The merchant started toward his room. “Big day tomorrow. I have a shipment coming from Yokoseura.”

“Yokoseura?” Hiro remembered Ozuru’s warning. “You say it arrives tomorrow?”

Luis turned back. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” Hiro lied. “I was being polite.”

“Oh.” Luis scratched his stomach. “Well, since we’re being polite, I’ll answer. The shipment won’t arrive for a couple of days, but I need to make room in the warehouse, which means a very long day tomorrow, supervising lazy peasants who’d rather nap in the corner than do the job I’ve paid them for.

“And now, I need my rest. Good night, Mateo.”

Luis went into his room and closed the door.