“I want to escape.” She was leaning so close to me, I could feel her breath on my cheek.
“If you’re caught—”
“I know perfectly well what will happen if I’m caught. You think I have not considered this? All earthly punishment pales in the face of damnation.”
“Yes, of course,” I said. “But you must not think of this lightly. And before we can discuss it further, we must address another topic. I understand that someone from the harem was meeting with an Englishman in the palace gardens. Do you know anything about this?”
“An Englishman wouldn’t be allowed to speak to anyone from the harem,” she said, her ivory skin losing its creamy warmth.
“I suspect that Jemal was instrumental in arranging the meetings.”
“He would never allow a man in.”
“You’re wrong, Roxelana,” I said. “He did. I’ve the letters to prove it. I can see you know something. Whom are you trying to protect?”
“No one.” She looked at me. “There is no one in the harem I would care to protect.”
“This is serious,” I said. “Two people are dead. What if the murderer acts again?”
“Surely you don’t think the same person killed Bezime and Ceyden?”
“I think it’s extremely likely,” I said.
“It’s impossible. No one has access to both harems.”
“Jemal does.”
“Jemal is not a killer,” she said.
“You’re certain of that?”
“He’s as corrupt as anyone, but he’d never harm any of us.”
“Corrupt how?”
“Oh, nothing serious. He’s always willing to help us if we ask—bring books, sweets, organize entertainments.”
“Is any of that forbidden?”
“No, but he has ways of expediting things. If, that is, you make it worth his while.”
“He takes bribes?”
She shrugged. “Why not? It’s tedious here. Ennui has a funny effect on people. We learn to make our own intrigues so as not to go mad from boredom.”
“What sorts of intrigues?” I asked.
“Nothing pertinent in the ways you’d like. It’s all trivial. Trivial, but diverting. I’m not going to detail it for you—that would be nothing more than idle gossip.”
The way she set her jaw suggested it wasn’t all trivial. I changed the direction of my questions. “Tell me again about the night you found Ceyden’s body. I want to know every detail.”
“You already know. I had gone outside for a walk—it was a beautiful evening. The courtyard in which she was murdered has always been a favorite of mine. I say the rosary there every night I can. I’d gone straight there and nearly tripped over her. It was horrible.”
“Did you hear anything on your approach?”
“Nothing at all.”
“No one talking? No sound of footsteps or someone running?”
“I remember vividly being struck by how quiet it was.”
“Did you touch her body?”
“Of course not!”
“Not even to make sure she wasn’t alive?”
“No. Should I have? I was scared out of my mind and ran for help without even thinking.”
I thought back to the scene as it was when Colin and I arrived. Ceyden’s body was facedown, and given the atmosphere in which we found it—alerted by Roxelana’s screams—I admit that I assumed she was dead. But had I come upon her in quiet peace, I would have thought she’d fainted or fallen ill and would have turned her over to see.
Roxelana shifted her jaw. “At any rate, that hideous bruise on her neck was wholly unnatural. I knew something was wrong at once.”
And now I knew she was lying. Misremembering, perhaps, but I did not believe that. No one could have seen the bruises without first turning her over, and Perestu had taken Roxelana away before Sir Richard touched the body. Ceyden’s long hair was covering her neck until her father swept it out of the way, and even then, there were no visible marks there. The bulk of the bruises were on the front and sides.
“Have you heard what Perestu and I found in Ceyden’s room?” I asked.
“You were in her room?” Now she came alive. Her shoulders pushed back, hands clenched into fists, pupils constricted.
“That surprises you?”
“I hadn’t given it any thought.” She closed her eyes, mashed her lips together. “Was there anything of interest there?”
“As a matter of fact, there was. Do you mean to tell me there’s been no gossip about this in the harem?”
“Everyone had already been through her room—no sense letting her clothes go to waste.”
“There was a lot of clothing still there.” I studied her face. “I think you’d like me to believe you’re callous about her death. But the truth is, it’s frightened you. Why is that?”
“What did you find?”
“Notes. Trinkets.”
“What kinds of notes?” she asked.
“I’m sure you could tell me.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you look worried,” I said. “Did she know you wanted to leave the harem?”
“No one knows that.”
“Even Jemal?”
This gave her pause. “Of course not.”
“You’re certain?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “What else was in Ceyden’s room? You said trinkets?”
“Yes. Some lovely jewelry that apparently did not belong to her.”
All the color drained from her face; her lips were almost blue. “Whose was it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
“I—I—I cannot discuss this any longer.” She stood, walked a few paces, turned back to face me. “Some secrets are too dangerous to play with.”
Following this conversation, I sought out Jemal. Much to my relief, he was back at Yıldız, so I would not have to make my way across town yet again. We sat in another courtyard—this one on the opposite side of the grounds to the one in which I’d met Roxelana—full of roses not yet in bloom and lilacs whose scent filled the air with sugar.
“We cannot be overheard here,” Jemal said, standing close to me, directly in front of the tall fountain at the center of the garden.
“Water, yes,” I said. “It reminds me of Topkapı.”
“I am to talk to you. So says the sultan.” He pursed his full lips. “I do not like it.”
“Why not?”
“You do not understand our way of life.”
“I understand very well that two women have been murdered on palace grounds and am confident that no one’s way of life views such events as acceptable. I’m most interested in your relationship with Roxelana—”
“Relationship?” I could see a mask fall over his eyes. “An odd choice of word.”
“I can’t say I agree,” I said. “I think you’re closely connected to her in ways that might cause trouble for you with the sultan.”
