Arabesk

But before Suleyman could answer, there was a knock at the door.

'Come in,' he called as he lit another cigarette.

Ann Kavur's face was a flushed as she put her head a little nervously round the side of the door. 'Oh, Inspector, you're with somebody.'

'Yes? And?'

'Ah…'

Seeing what amounted to an unaccustomed reticence in her expression, Suleyman got up from his desk and walked over to her.

'What is it?' he asked quietly as he took her elbow in his hand and moved her out into the corridor.

'It's Commissioner Ardic,' she said. 'He wants to see you.'

'All right, when I've finished.'

'No, now, Inspector,' she said and then turning her head to make sure that nobody else was about to hear what passed between them she added, 'It's about those two Erturk girls.'

Suleyman smiled. 'Ah, the obsessed fans.'

'Their brother has complained about their being detained.'

Suleyman muttered angrily, 'Oh has he? It was Mr Kemal Erturk who told me to hold on to them!' 'Yes, well

'And until you went around to the house and spoke to the gardener, what choice did I have? The stupid children just came out with cyanide… And the gardener did indeed have some, didn't he? None was, so far as he could tell, missing but…'

Kavur shrugged. 'He wants to see you anyway.'

'Well, when I'm done with Mr Urfa, I'll be along.'

'Mmm.' She looked nervous and unsure – common reactions amongst Ardic’s inferiors.

Suleyman sighed and then smiled weakly. 'I'm expecting the Temiz's lawyer, Mr Avedykian, here at any minute,' he said. 'If you can go and greet him for me, I'll finish with Mr Urfa and then telephone Ardic…'

'Yes, but-'

'If you are with Avedykian, Ardic, will not bother you.' He put one hand encouragingly on her shoulder. 'Have courage and keep out of sight. Oh, and when Mr Avedykian does appear, get hold of Sergeant Coktin. I know he's in this building somewhere; I'll need him for the Temiz interview.' 'Does he know that?'

'Yes.' And then with a small bow Suleyman took his leave of Kavur and re-entered his office.

As he resumed his seat and apologised to the singer for his absence, he made a mental note to ask Erol about the officer he had just been speaking of with Kavur. Isak Coktin had worked over and above his duty hours after Erol's broadcast and when he and the singer's entourage had entered the station the previous evening, they had looked extremely comfortable in each other's company. Perhaps too much so. There was also the issue of the apparently illiterate Ruya's possession of a pen – covered in her prints. That was strange. Suleyman commenced this new line of questioning in a spirit of inquiry, but also aware it was a way of postponing the evil moment when he would have to talk to Ardic,.

Chapter 9

Like Ikmen, Cohen was not overly fond of physical exertion and so as a group of younger officers began digging up Madame Kleopatra's rig tree, both the inspector and the perennial constable sat in comfortable wicker chairs with the old woman's doctor. The undertaker who had called to collect Madame's body some hours ago had lingered in order to reminisce about the glory days of the Iskender Hamam, but now he had gone, leaving only those who needed to be in the garden for the purposes of what could be grim work ahead. One of the neighbour women had occasionally looked out of her window and into the garden, but a couple of sharp ripostes from Ikmen had, seemingly, brought her inquisitiveness to a halt.

'So did you know Madame's husband, Doctor?' Ikmen asked after he had taken a deep draught from his water bottle.

'Yes,' Katsoulis replied, 'I did. He was a miserable bastard.'

'I only ever remember her being alone,' Cohen observed as through half-closed eyes he watched the young men dig.

'Well, you're both somewhat younger than myself,’ the doctor said, 'although Mr Kleopatra must have taken his leave during your lifetimes.'

Ikmen turned and faced the doctor with a frown upon his face. 'Do you remember my mother, Doctor? She used to see a lot of Madame when I was a child. Ayse Ikmen?'

Katsoulis laughed. 'As if I could forget!' Then leaning forward towards Ikmen, he said, 'Forgive me, Inspector, but your mother was a most notable woman. Everybody knew that the gift of sorcery was most finely perfected in her. If one wanted to know one's fate in life one had only to go to Ayse Ikmen and it would all become clear. There were many said she was in league with Shaitan, she was so accurate!'

'Perhaps she was,' Ikmen said as the cloud that was the manner of his mother's early death passed across his face.

'Oh, don't say that!' Katsoulis cried, crossing himself several times as he spoke.

Ikmen laughed. 'I'm only joking. Besides, she was always far too fond of chicken to be a true believer.'

'Oh, that is appalling!' Katsoulis laughed. 'She was Albanian, wasn't she, your mother?'

'Yes.'

The doctor mopped his brow with his handkerchief. 'She'd be in good company now with all these Kosovans in the country.'

Cohen, who had been puzzling over an earlier remark of Ikmen's, said, 'What do you mean, she was far too fond of chicken to be a true believer?'

'The so-called Shaitan worshippers, or Yezidis-'

'A sect from the east somewhere, I believe,' the doctor put in.

'Yes,' Ikmen said, 'well, they have some strange habits which accord, apparently, with their beliefs, one of which is not eating chicken.'

‘Oh, I see,' Cohen said. 'I didn't know that.'

'Yes, it is one of those-' Suddenly Ikmen stopped mid-sentence, as if a thought of some sort had occurred to him. But just at that moment he was unable to articulate it because with a loud whoop of victory, one of the young diggers signalled that the party had indeed found something.

'Is it what we're looking for?' Cohen asked as he rose out of both his stupor and his chair.

'Looks like it,' the young man said as he leaned heavily across the handle of his spade.

'Come on, let's go and have a look,' Ikmen said. He took hold of Katsoulis's arm and pulled the elderly man to his feet.

The thing the young officers had exposed was not directly under the tree but just in front of it As they approached, Ikmen, Katsoulis and Cohen could see what appeared to be a very stained and rotted piece of cloth which, as they drew nearer, seemed to be caught under something long and thin. One of the youngsters had jumped down into the hole containing what was, presumably, a skeleton and, as the three men reached the site, he was bending down to examine it more closely.

'This'll have to go to forensics now, I suppose’ he said as Ikmen staggered down to join him in the pit.

'If you'll help me down, I should be able to give you a positive identification,' the doctor said as he wavered nervously on the side of the pit.

Ikmen frowned. 'Well, I know you knew him, Doctor, but he is a bit, well, desiccated.'

'That's all right,' Katsoulis said with some confidence, 'I will know.'

With Ikmen and the young officer pulling from below and Cohen pushing from up top, it was slow work manoeuvring the elderly man into position but after a bit of effort and a lot of sweating they eventually managed to achieve their aim. Once in the hole, Katsoulis looked down at the long, stick-like things before him and then sucked thoughtfully on his lip.

'Now the head is…'