“I promise,” said Nash. “But you say Masuyo killed her own children?”
“Yes, they were the offspring of her English husband and thus unpure. She did not love him, and she did not love them.” She paused. “But that is not the worst of it, Dillon-san.”
“How could it get any worse?” Nash exclaimed.
In a trembling, halting voice Hiroko said, “Masuyo convinced. . .Victoria-san that she indeed. . .vanquished her siblings.”
Nash gaped. “What, thatshekilled her siblings? How is that possible?”
“Masuyo is very experienced in such things. In manipulating others.”
“What, you mean hypnotism?”
“No, that is foolish and ineffective. Masuyo used certain medicinal herbs.”
“You mean hallucinogens?”
“That is what Westerners call them, yes. But it was not only that.”
“What else?”
“Masuyo used her mind and her words to convince her daughter that she committed these terrible acts. Over and over she told Victoria-san lie after lie until my dear Victoria-san believed every word.”
“How could she do that to her?” Nash asked. “Ms. Steers is too smart.”
“I saw her do it, Dillon-san. I watched her destroy Victoria-san’s will. I saw her rid her mind of all truth and logic and replace it with her lies, her cruel lies. And that knowledge? It changed Victoria-san. She was no longer the shy little girl that I knew. And I simply stood there and did nothing to stop it. Nothing,” she added quietly.
“You could have told her later—the truth, I mean.”
“I was. . .afraid, Dillon-san. That. . .she would not believe me. And if her mother had found out I told her? I. . .I am ashamed at my cowardice.” She began to quietly weep.
He reached out and gripped her hand. “I understand how incredibly difficult that would have been. But what about her husband? How could he possibly—”
She interjected, “He was a kind man, but he did not have what it requires to stand up to a woman like Masuyo, Dillon-san. But after she went away, he came out of his shell. He began to be a better influence on his daughter. I believed things were turning for the good with Masuyo gone. And I also knew that Masuyo would not like that at all. Which is why I am so distraught that she has returned.”
“Why did she even marry him?”
“Because no one would suspect that she worked for the Chinese if she had an Englishman as a husband.”
“I see,” said Nash.
Hiroko said thoughtfully, “I believe Masuyo’s mother was Japanese. She knew the language and took after her mother in her physical features. That is why she was selected to go to Japan to do her duty. But then she became what she is. A. . .terrible, merciless person.”
“If what you say is true about Masuyo, why would she want her daughter, or anyone else, to succeed her?”
“In our culture, Dillon-san, we prepare the next generation for the responsibilities of family. Masuyo was no different in this. And she had many enemies and one of them could vanquish her. But she would not allow the empire, which she had so painstakingly built, to topple. She could name Victoria-san as her successorandstill control her.”
“But then Masuyo went away. How did that happen? I know now that she ended up in a prison in Myanmar.”
“All I know, Dillon-san, is that she went on a trip and never returned. Soon after that, the plane Victoria-san and I were on fell from the sky.”
“So someone was trying to topple the Steerses’ empire. But you don’t know who?”
“No.”
Nash leaned forward. “Hiroko-san, I know that you say Ms. Steers would not hurt people. But I witnessed her kill a woman right in front of me. In her penthouse. Lynn Ryder. Did you know her?”
Hiroko gave him a whimsical look, unlike any she had expressed so far. “Dillon-san, you are a very intelligent man, I am sure. But what you must always remember is that no matter whether a cow looks like a cow, and moos like a cow, and gives milk like a cow, there is no guarantee whatsoever that it is indeed a cow.”