The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria Read Online Free PDF Page A

Momoko had responded to the implication that Wisteria had been hurt or killed, then perceived an accusation. “Did you?” he asked.
    “No! I don’t know where she is, or what’s happened to her. I swear I never saw her after I left the room!”
    “Let’s talk about Lord Mitsuyoshi. How did you feel about him?”
    “Feel about him?” The yarite ’s face reflected puzzlement, although whether feigned or genuine, Sano couldn’t tell. “Why, I hardly knew the man. I only saw him at parties, and when I brought courtesans to him for appointments.”
    “Did you see him again that night?”
    “No—that is, not until I found him—” Momoko averted her gaze from Sano and murmured, “Dead.”
    “How did you happen to discover his body?” Sano said.
    “Well, I went upstairs, and I noticed that the door to his room was open. I glanced inside, and I saw him lying there.”
    “Why did you go upstairs?”
    “I needed to check on another courtesan who was entertaining a client. These girls behave better when they know someone is listening. And I wanted a moment alone. The party was noisy, and I had a headache, and it was quieter on the second floor.”
    That she’d offered multiple reasons when one would suffice warned Sano to doubt them all; yet Momoko was so agitated that he couldn’t tell if she was lying, or just nervous. And anyone would be nervous while facing the threat of execution.
    “Your hairpin was the murder weapon,” Sano said. “Can you explain that?”
    “My hairpin? It was?” Momoko gave a shrill titter of confusion and surprise, but Sano guessed she’d recognized the hairpin when she’d discovered Mitsuyoshi’s body. “Oh, well, I lost that hairpin ages ago—I don’t remember when. I have no idea how it got there.”
    A scornful male voice from the doorway halted her stammering: “I suggest that you stabbed it through Lord Mitsuyoshi’s eye.”
    Sano looked up to see Police Commissioner Hoshina stride into the room, followed by Yoriki Yamaga and Yoriki Hayashi. They must have been listening all along. Now Hoshina loomed over the yarite , who recoiled in terror.
    “You went upstairs last night,” he continued, “and when you saw that Lord Mitsuyoshi was alone and asleep, you killed him. Then you ran downstairs and pretended you’d found him already dead.”
    “No! That’s not what happened!” Though clearly aghast, Momoko smiled and batted her eyes at Hoshina, employing flirtation in self-defense. “I didn’t kill him!”
    Anger rose in Sano, because he needed information from Momoko, not frantic denials produced by intimidation. He said evenly, “Hoshina- san , I am conducting this interview. Stop interfering, or leave.”
    Hoshina didn’t bother to reply. “Arrest her,” he told Yamaga and Hayashi.
    The policemen advanced on the yarite , and she scuttled backward, crying, “No! I’m innocent.” She simpered in a desperate attempt to ingratiate herself with them. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”
    Sano stood between Momoko and the men. “The evidence against her isn’t proof that she murdered Lord Mitsuyoshi,” he said, glaring at Hoshina.
    “It’s enough for a conviction,” Hoshina said.
    This was an accurate statement: In the Tokugawa legal system, virtually all trials ended in guilty verdicts, sometimes based on less evidence than that against Momoko. Sano had to forestall persecution of someone who might be innocent. “She has no apparent motive for killing Lord Mitsuyoshi. You’ll not arrest her, at least until I’ve finished questioning her.”
    A sneer twisted Hoshina’s mouth. “I’ll finish questioning her at Edo Jail.”
    At Edo Jail, prisoners were tortured into talking. “Forced confessions aren’t always true,” Sano said, enraged by Hoshina’s attitude. Hoshina was well aware of the realities of Tokugawa law, but so eager to show Sano up and impress their superiors that he would risk mistakes. “And the investigation has barely begun. There