confidently. 'I'll sort it out with Aksoy so that we'll all be happy and well.'
'I want Erol in my arms now!' Tansu hollered as she leaned forward to grab a cigarette from the table. 'Then we will open that champagne!'
Just before Goktepe got through, the distinctive sound of the electronic doorbell floated through from the front of the building. Knowing that the little maid would get it, all those involved in Tansu's latest drama stayed where they were.
As soon as Goktepe. started to speak it was evident that he was communicating only with an answering service. Tansu dissolved into more smoke-wreathed tears.
'Hello, Ibrahim,' Goktepe said with a smile on his lips if hot in his eyes. 'Listen, my brother, I know it will be a trouble but you and I really need to talk urgently. I am right now here with my lady who is, I do not joke, dying for love of your Erol.'
Yilmaz, who was genuinely touched by Goktepe's words, began to join his sister in tears.
'So you see, I must speak to you, Ibrahim,' Goktepe continued. 'Insallah, between us we can find a solution to this problem.' Then he clicked the phone off, muttering 'You prick' under his breath, smiled at the family and sat down.
A knock on the door announced the arrival of the maid.
'Come in, Belkis,' Latife called.
The door opened to admit a girl who looked as if she was only about twelve years old. She wore a very plain grey tunic which only served to accentuate the thinness of her figure; plus a loud floral headscarf.
With halting steps she approached the disarrayed figure on the sofa; 'There are two gentlemen to see you, madam,' she said as she made a movement that might have been a bow.
Rearing dramatically, Tansu swung round to grab Galip's hand. 'It's him! It's my beloved with Ibrahim Aksoy.'
'Now, Tansu, my soul, let us not get too excited.'
The little maid looked down sadly at the floor. 'Actually it is two policemen,' she said. 'An Inspector Suleyman and another man.'
As quickly as she had taken Galrp's hand, Tansu released it with a disdainful flicking motion. 'What?' she said to the girl violently. 'What did you just say?'
'Your visitors are policemen, madam. An Inspector-'
'Fuck off!' Tansu snarled and waved the little girl away. 'Don't tell me what I don't want to hear! And tell them to fuck off too. I-'
'Tansu!' Latife hissed She moved round in order to attempt to silence her sister. 'You cannot tell the police to go away!'
'I can! I'm a fucking star, I can do whatever I like!'
Goktepe who had, until now, been silent upon this matter, cleared his throat 'Yes, you are a star, my darling, no one can deny that, but where the police are concerned…' He shrugged as if giving in to the inevitable.
Latife was now hunkered down at Tansu's side. She took hold of her sister's hand and kissed it. 'If you don't see them, darling, they will think all sorts of thoughts that are just not true. And besides, as Turkey's only true beloved star, you must lead the way in being a good citizen, mustn't you?'
A strange moment passed during which Tansu's mood, as the rest of the party all knew, could have moved in either direction. But as her breathing began to settle, they started to have hope.
'Mmm.' It was said through sobs and with little enthusiasm, but as Latife gently shifted some stray hairs out of Tansu's eyes, the singer leaned forward and kissed her.
'Now can I ask Bellas to show them in?'
Tansu swung her legs down onto the floor and reached for a tissue from the table. 'Do I look OK?' she asked, much as she must have done when pleading for approval as a child, Ferhat Goktepe thought.
Latife smiled. 'Not even tears can spoil your lovely face,' she soothed as she gently touched that face once again. Turning back to the maid, Latife said, 'Please show the gentlemen in now, Belkis.'
'Yes, madam.'
'And when you've done that,' Tansu said as she ground her cigarette out in the ashtray, 'you can collect your things from your room and go.'
‘Tansu!'
Within a split second the eyes had hardened yet again. 'That is my last word on the subject, Latife,' Tansu said imperiously. She surveyed the trembling girl once again with extreme distaste and shouted, 'Go!'
'Now, Tansu,' Goktepe began. 'No!'
The girl began to cry, 'Oh, but beloved lady-' 'With your hateful eyes of blue and the bad news you always seem to bring, you are a devil indeed! Now get out of my sight, bringer of policemen!'
As the girl ran weeping from the room, Tansu took a deep breath and then lit another cigarette. 'I may not be able to control the world,' she said darkly as she surveyed all of those around her, 'but I will rule over my house without question.'
And with that she settled herself against the back of the sofa to await the police.
'Bulent! Bulent!' Ikmen shouted as the front door slammed shut behind the retreating back of his son. Then with a sigh he let his upraised arms flop to his sides in despair. Zelfa Halman, who had observed all that had passed between father and son from the door to Ikmen's balcony, walked into the hall and took the inspector gently by the arm.
'Come on,' she said forcefully, 'let's get outside.'
'I'm sorry you had to see that,' Ikmen said as he allowed himself to be led into the living room and then out into the thick summer air once again, 'but that boy appears so rarely that I feel I must try to make him listen to reason when I do see him.'
'Growing up is never easy,' the doctor said as she flopped down onto the only comfortable chair to be had. 'He's a teenager. What can I say? I mean, we've all done it, haven't we?' She reached across the table for her cigarettes and then lit up.
'Done what?'
Zelfa Halman smiled. 'Rebelled.' She seemed, to Ikmen, to revel in the sound of the word. 'When I was your son's age my parents had just split up so I was sent to live with my Uncle Frank. Oh, and I'd just started college too. It was rough but do you know what stands out about that time now? Remembering, of course, that Uncle Frank is a priest and therefore very pious.'
Ikmen shrugged. 'No, I can't imagine.'
'What stands out, Ikmen, is the way that I and my friends broke both civil and religious laws. Basically, whenever anyone went across to England, he or she would bring back a whole load of condoms for us.' Seeing Ikmen, or so she thought, blush a little, Zelfa added, 'Not that we ever used the bastard things, we were much too scared and ignorant to do that. But, for myself, I'd make sure that Uncle Frank got a look at them from time to time and I did once blow one up in front of his housekeeper. What your son is doing is quite normal.'
'Mmm.' Ikmen looked unconvinced, but before the doctor could comment upon this he changed the subject. 'So you were brought up a Catholic then, were you?'
'Yes. Mum was religious and Dad didn't care much so she got her way. And anyway it was Ireland in the nineteen fifties, for God's sake. My father might just as well have been from another planet.'
'So although you are Turkish you would, I assume,' Ikmen said slowly and with seemingly some difficulty, 'prefer, for the sake of ease, I suppose, to have serious friendships with fellow Roman-'
'Stop digging, Ikmen! I'll tell you nothing, as well you know.'
– Ikmen, thoroughly chastised and thwarted in his attempt to review Halman's intentions vis-a-vis Suleyman, looked down at the floor. 'Sorry. That was both clumsy and prurient of me. I keep on doing such things these days. I must be getting old.'
Zelfa Halman took a long drag on her cigarette and then said, ‘So why did you ask me to come? Not, I hope-'
'No, no.' He sighed. 'No, although connected with Inspector Suleyman, my need to see you doesn't pertain to his private life. It is as a professional that I wish to consult you, Doctor.'
'For yourself? Your own problems?'
'No.' Ikmen took a cigarette from his packet and lit up. 'Basically something which may or may not be irrational
