there’s Ivan.”
Leon followed her glance through the doors to Melnikov, head bent in conversation with Colonel Altan.
“He’s found a friend,” Leon said. “Maybe he’s a better mixer than we think.”
She moved toward the doors, intercepting him before he could reach Melnikov, and led him to the dining room, gliding, a sequence of perfect dance steps. Why? So Melnikov and Altan could talk? The meeting she’d arranged? Melnikov seemed to be doing most of the talking, Altan simply taking him in, barely nodding, his eye now over Melnikov’s shoulder, catching Leon’s, just a flicker, then back, everyone noted.
“What a story,” Kay said. “Did you ever meet him, the husband?”
“Yes,” Leon said, still trying to watch Melnikov.
“And was she? His
“Mm. What she didn’t say is that she was fourteen when she caught his eye. So you wonder what he was seeing.”
“Fourteen?”
Leon nodded. “It takes some of the romance out of it, doesn’t it? But Lily made it last. And now look. The rumor was that she caught Ataturk’s eye too.”
“And?” Kay said, intrigued.
“I doubt it. Refik lent the treasury a lot of money in the early days, and they really were friends.”
“And he had his Russian dancers.”
Leon smiled. “And then some. Of course, Lily loves to keep the rumor going. Part of her myth.”
“It’s all made up?”
“No, no, it’s true. Refik was crazy about her.”
“And a few others.”
“No, only her. The others didn’t matter.”
“Do you think that’s possible? An affair that doesn’t matter?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked up, ready to joke, then met his eye. “I think it would have to, somehow,” she said, her voice steady. “Unless both of them agreed that it wouldn’t. Just be something that-happened. Something you could walk away from after. No harm to anybody.”
He waited a minute. “You don’t mean that.”
“Why not? The good wife?” she said wryly.
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, looking away. “So what am I doing? Why you? I don’t even know that. How do people do this? Give a room number?” She shook her head. “I am a good wife. So say good-night, Kay, and thank you for the party.” She stopped. “But I thought that. What would it be like?”
“With me.”
She lowered her head. “God, look at your face. I know. I’m embarrassing you. Bored wife. Away from home. Lily’s right, in the garden, like a play. No moon, though, at least give me that. I haven’t gone completely corny.”
He took her elbow, leaning closer. “Stop.” Aware of her again, even a simple touch.
“Just pretend I had too much to drink, all right? And tomorrow I’ll be myself again. Not say things like that.” She looked up. “I never did before, for what that’s worth. To anyone.”
A silence, both of them just looking, night sounds behind, glasses tinkling.
“So,” she said, moving her arm. “We’d better go inside. Before you say anything. Make it worse. There’s that man who was talking to Frank yesterday,” she said, spotting Altan. “He’s always around.” Talking, just to fill up space, then stopping, turning back to Leon. A small smile. “It wasn’t all me, though, was it? Maybe we both wondered, a little.”
“Mrs. Bishop,” Altan said, leaving the terrace step. “Murat Altan. We met at the funeral.”
Again the thin moustache until he stepped into the light.
“Yes, I remember,” Kay said.
“Mr. Bauer,” Altan said, nodding.
“I was just taking Mrs. Bishop in. It got chilly all of a sudden.”
“The Bosphorus is like that,” Altan said.
Which meant what? Did anything show in his face? Kay a little breathless, but that could be the cold.
“You’ll excuse me?” Altan was saying to her. “A quick word with Mr. Bauer?”
“I was just getting a wrap,” she said, sounding relieved to get away.
“Mr. Bishop has gone back to Ankara?” Altan said to Leon, watching her go inside. “A courtesy, to escort her.”
“Frank asked me to.”
“Ah,” Altan said, his eyes moving with some private amusement but his face blank. “Part of your new job?”
“No job. Just helping out until they send a replacement.”
“It makes one wonder,” Altan said, “what assignments they thought had prepared you for this.”
“I think the biggest qualification was not having any. Frank wanted someone new. Outside the consulate.”
“Put the cat with the pigeons. Well, an idea. Assuming he can rely on you.” He glanced again toward Kay’s back.
“Frank tells me we’re working together. Emniyet, I mean.”
“We cooperate with everybody. But yes, a special case this one. The elusive Mr. Jianu. So, my new colleague, what do you think?”
“Officially or personally?”
“They’re not the same?”
“Personally, I think he’s dead.”
“You do? I doubt that.”
“That he’s dead?”
Altan nodded. “And that you think so.”
“Why not dead?”
“By whose hand? His own? Jianu? Not, I think, the suicide type. The Russians? They would be the first to tell the world, a great feather in their caps. A spit in your eye-is that exact? And they are looking for him.”
“Is that what Melnikov said? Is that why you wanted to talk to him?”
“Well, he talked. I listened. Not a subtle man. Would he pretend to look, if they had him?” He shook his head. “He would gloat. And the Americans? Making demands in Ankara. Extra men at the ports, at the border. Such expense. But of course we have to do it. So, not dead.”
“Extra men?” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.
“You insist,” Altan said, a waiter’s nod.
“But you can’t cover the whole coast.”
“You think he would leave in a rowboat? It’s possible, I suppose. Depending on who is helping him.”
“Helping.”
“He can’t speak Turkish. Even Jianu would need help here.”
“Any idea who?” Leon said carefully, feeling the familiar twitching at the back of his neck.
Altan gave a listless shrug. “He came to Turkey during the war. Perhaps someone he met then.”
“He came here? Istanbul?”
“Not here. Ankara once. Edirne twice,” Altan said, familiar with the records. “Government business. Or so his papers said. Only a day each time. A courier, perhaps,” he said, glancing up at Leon. “So maybe a friend from the old days. We are checking the Romanians here. A long job, more men.”
“But he can’t go back to Romania.”
“No. So where then? If he went east, it would have to be by train, easy to check. The drive is too long to risk. He would be seen. And Baghdad for Jianu? Not so attractive, I think. I would say Greece. He made trips to Edirne. The first stop coming from Romania, but also from Greece, so maybe some Greek business those trips, old
