Concubine's Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland

reactions. Was the poisoning really news to them? Keisho-in's swoon had seemed genuine, but Sano wondered if the otoshiyori had known or guessed about the murder.

"Who would want to kill poor Harume?" Keisho-in said in a plaintive voice. She puffed on her pipe, and a tear rolled down her cheek, leaving a track in the thick white makeup. "Such a sweet child; so charming and vivacious." Then Keisho-in's flirtatious manner returned. With a dimply smile at Hirata, she said, "Harume reminded me of myself when I was young. I was once a great beauty, and a favorite with everyone."

She sighed. "And Harume was the same. Very popular. She sang and played the samisen wonderfully. Her jokes made us all laugh. That's why I chose her to be one of my attendants. She knew how to make people happy. I simply adored her, like a daughter."

Sano looked at Madam Chizuru. The otoshiyori pressed her lips together; a single breath eased from her: it was obvious that she didn't share Keisho-in's view of the dead girl. "What did you think of Lady Harume?" Sano asked Chizuru. "What kind of person did she seem to you?"

"It's not my place to have opinions about His Excellency's concubines," Madam Chizuru said primly.

Sano sensed that Chizuru could tell him plenty about Lady Harume, but didn't want to contradict her mistress. "Did Lady Harume have any enemies in the palace who might have wanted her dead?" he asked both women.

"Certainly not." Keisho-in blew out an emphatic puff of smoke. "Everyone loved her. And we're all very close here in the Large Interior. Like sisters."

But even sisters had disagreements, Sano knew. Past quarrels in the Large Interior had resulted in murder. For Keisho-in to claim that five hundred women, crowded into such a tight space, lived together in complete harmony, she must either be quite stupid-or lying.

Madam Chizuru cleared her throat and said hesitantly, "There was a feud between Harume and one of the other concubines. Lady Ichiteru. They... didn't get along."

Keisho-in gaped, showing her missing teeth to unfortunate advantage. "No! This is the first I've heard of it."

"Why didn't Lady Ichiteru and Lady Harume get along?" Sano asked.

"Ichiteru is a lady of fine lineage, " Chizuru said. "She's a cousin of the emperor, from Kyoto." This was where the imperial family lived in genteel poverty, though stripped of political power and under the complete domination of the Tokugawa regime. "Before Harume came to Edo Castle eight months ago, Lady Ichiteru was the honorable shogun's favorite companion... at least, among the women."

Stealing a nervous glance at her mistress, Chizuru put a hand to her mouth. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's preference for men was common knowledge, but not, apparently, discussed in his mother's presence.

"But when Harume came, she replaced Lady Ichiteru in the shogun's affections?" Sano guessed.

Madam Chizuru nodded. "His Excellency stopped requesting Ichiteru's company at night and started inviting Harume to his chamber."

"Ichiteru should not have minded," Lady Keisho-in announced. "My darling son has the right to enjoy any woman he chooses. And it's his duty to beget an heir. When Ichiteru failed to produce a child, he was correct to try another concubine." Keisho-in giggled. Winking at Hirata, she said, "One who is young and saucy and fertile-like I was when I met my dear, deceased Iemitsu. You know the kind of girl, don't you, young man?"

A bright red spot of embarrassment burned on each of Hirata's cheeks as he blurted, "Sumimasen-excuse me, but was there anyone among the servants, guards, or attendants who didn't get along with Lady Harume?"

Shaking her head, Keisho-in waved away the question with her pipe, scattering ash onto the cushions. "The staff are people of excellent character and disposition. I personally interviewed them all before they were permitted to work in the Large Interior. None would have attacked a favored concubine."

Madam Chizuru set her jaw and looked at the floor.