He leans back and lets Julia read. The news article is from an online Turkish newspaper report three years ago. An unsolved rape of a western woman in Istanbul. Barely a one-liner.
“I did another search and pulled up four more cases, again small mentions, two a year. The last rape was three months ago.”
“You think Toni could have been taken by a serial rapist?”
“Who knows? There may be no connection but at the moment anything’s possible.” He lifts a piece of paper. “I sent an email to the reporter pretending to be another journalist asking for her to get back to us.”
Julia’s pleased and she’s about to suggest they search for the journalist’s telephone number so they can contact her directly when Julia’s cell phone rings. She looks at the screen. Local number. She picks up.
“Julia speaking.”
The male voice on the other end is muffled, like he’s walking against the wind. There’s a thick Turkish accent, too. Julia can barely make him out. She manages to catch three words. Information. Missing. Girl.
Julia shoots Leo a hopeful look. “You have information about Toni Norris?”
“Yes.” The line is clearer now. “Best information. You come to Karakoy. One hour.”
“Karakoy? Where’s that?”
Leo frowns, shakes his head no. He points to the floor and mouths. “Hotel. Here.”
“Can you come to my hotel instead?” says Julia.
“No hotel. We meet on Karakoy only.”
Julia shakes her head at Leo.
“Let me speak to him,” whispers Leo, holding out his hand for the phone.
Julia turns her back on him and faces the poster of Anzac Cove in Gallipoli.
“Okay, we’ll come to you.” She hears Leo curse behind her. “Where exactly in Karakoy do you want to meet?”
The line goes silent and for one anxious moment Julia thinks she has lost him. Then she realizes he’s put his hand over the phone and is talking to someone else. He comes back on the line and gives her an address. A place by the waterfront. She repeats it back to him and Leo writes it down.
“How will I know who you are?” she says.
“Come alone,” he says and hangs up.
29
Istanbul’s overland tram system, Julia is quickly learning, is efficient, reliable, and the best way to get around. The tram, which looks more like a highspeed modern Japanese bullet train than the old-fashioned trolley trams she’s used to back in San Francisco, appear at regular ten-minute intervals and stop in the main areas, including over the Galata Bridge to Karakoy, where she and Leo need to go.
After changing some Turkish lire into orange plastic tokens at the self-service vending machine, Julia and Leo squeeze into the full tram. Julia stands near a young Japanese guy in a Cure T-shirt, working his way through a tube of strawberry Mentos. She keeps a close eye on the LED screen displaying the name of each approaching stop. There are four stops before they need to disembark and Julia doesn’t want to make a mistake and end up miles from where they are supposed to be.
She glances at Leo, who’s wedged between an overweight teenage girl and a middle-aged woman laden with grocery bags. He looks tired. They both are. She’s heading into a third night without proper sleep and she can feel her skull shrinking around her brain by the minute. She knows they should both rest, especially after last night’s drama with the protests and the knocks to the heads they had taken, but she has to keep going for Toni. With any luck, this caller might just have what they need for a breakthrough.
She knows Leo is doubtful. Earlier at the hotel, he’d made it clear he didn’t think it was a good idea to meet the man.
“How do you know it’s not some sort of scam?” Leo had said.
“We don’t. But we don’t know it’s not either, and that’s why we put the flyers up, isn’t it? To get information?”
“We should call Christine Fletcher or Detective Muhtar and let them handle it.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She deflected, not yet ready to share her misgivings about Christine Fletcher. “We’ll tell them afterward if we get any worthwhile information.”
“You’re a doctor, Julia, not an investigator. It could be dangerous.”
“We’ll let Ada know our plans. If we’re not back by eleven p.m., she can call Detective Muhtar and give him our location.”
But when Julia told Ada where they were going and why, Ada looked concerned.
“You should not go there.”
Leo had crossed his arms. “That’s what I said, but she won’t listen to me.”
Ada looked serious. “Bad area of Istanbul. Very unsafe.”
Julia felt her gut clench. “I understand, Ada, and thank you for your concern, but we’ll be careful and I still think it’s worth the risk. We’re all assuming the caller has bad intentions, but what if he doesn’t? What if he has critical information that leads to Toni? I’m not passing up that opportunity. Leo, you have every right to stay here if you want. The choice is entirely yours.”
He studied her face. “You’re killing me here, Julia.”
In the end, he gave in and came with her and she was grateful. She hadn’t relished facing this unknown caller on her own.
Julia bends to look out the window as the tram crosses the Galata Bridge, busy with traffic and pedestrians at this time of night. Julia pushes her way through the crowded carriage until she reaches Leo.
“We need to get off at the next stop.”
When the tram pulls into the platform, they disembark. Most of the other passengers get off here too and Julia and Leo stand watching as the crowd heads uphill.
“What’s up there?” says Leo.
Julia looks at the map. “It must be the open-air mall called Istiklal Caddesi. We, on the
