Arabesk

people would only take a little interest in their own noble past, perhaps they might be able to free themselves from, what to him, appeared to be the most awful cultural servitude.

When he returned, Soylu was carrying a large glass container that looked like something in which one might brew beer. It contained a darkish yellow liquid.

'I have all I need here,' he said as he held the vessel aloft for Suleyman to see.

The policeman walked over to the man and, taking the cork out of the top of the bottle, sniffed at the liquid inside. Bitter almonds, unmistakable.

'I take it' he said as he replaced the stopper firmly in the neck, 'that you don't carry this with you to and from your various jobs.'

'No. I decant it into smaller bottles. Raki are the best'

Suleyman went back to his seat while Mr Soylu put enough cyanide down on the floor to kill most of the inhabitants of that district.

'So when you've killed the rats or wasps' nest or whatever, if there is any poison left over…'.

'I leave it there,' Soylu said simply. 'All my people have greenhouses. I leave it there.'

'In old raki bottles.'

'Yes.'

Suleyman rolled his eyes to heaven in disbelief. 'Doesn't it worry you that someone might mistake it for drink?'

Soylu shrugged. ‘I hide it well and at the Emin house it is clearly marked what it is.'

A frown creased Suleyman's brow. 'Only at the Emin house? Why only there?'

Although he was obviously not terribly bothered about what he said next, Soylu exhibited just a little shame when he lowered his eyes briefly to the ground. 'I can't read or write so Miss Emin writes the labels for me. None of my other employers take as much interest in the garden as she does.'

Suleyman felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he asked his next question. 'This is, I take it, Miss Latife Emin and not her sister Tansu?'

Soylu grinned. 'Yes,' he said, 'she just loves to tend the plants and trees, you know. A proper country girl.'

Suleyman felt the gravity of expression that overtook his face as he asked, 'And is cyanide at the Emin house now?'

'Oh, yes. Enough to kill another nest if need be. They do have a lot of problems with wasps and so that's quite possible.' He lit a cigarette and then threw the dead match down beside the bottle of cyanide. 'Just not worth bringing it back here when I've got all this lot anyway, is it?' he said as he patted the side of the sinister receptacle.

Suleyman watched, fascinated, as the gnarled peasant stroked his gently lapping personal lake of death.

Orhan Tepe, whilst not having anything against his colleague, Isak Coktin, was not exactly his best friend either. And although the man was pleasant enough to pass the time of day with, being incarcerated in a hot car with him was not easy. As the sun began to set over the distant fortress of Rumeli Kavagi and both men started to contemplate a long night together, conversation finally came to a standstill.

It was impossible to deduce from Coktin's fixed, blank expression anything of what he was thinking but Tepe's far more mobile face eloquently illustrated the strains and boredom inherent in long stretches of observation. Quite often such work would, once those being observed began to move, involve some sort of action on the part of the officers looking on. Pursuit of those moving on was quite common, as was the investigation of the property recently vacated. But not this time. The task at hand was merely to watch, take note and call in any outside activity or unusual occurrence within the property. To say that it was dull was an understatement After all, a person can only look at an old Ottoman gateway and ugly house beyond for so long.

'So what's Tansu Hanim actually like, then?' Tepe asked, for want of anything more interesting to say.

Coktin, his eyes still fixed on the gateway, shrugged. 'I don't know.'

'Well, you met her, didn't you?'

'Yes.'

A little aggravated by his partner's short and uninterested answers, Tepe said, somewhat aggressively, 'And so?'

Turning briefly to look at the dark, annoyed man at his side, Coktin replied, 'So she's a middle-aged woman who has a young lover, what do you want me to say?'

'It's said she's got a bad temper, that she's controlling.'

‘I met her only briefly,' Coktin said. 'What would I know?'

Coktin's tone, which was decidedly sulky, finally got to Tepe, who raised his voice. 'I don't know why you're so hostile about it!'

'I'm not hostile!' Coktin said as he turned a very hostile face on his colleague. I'm as tired and bored as you are! Plus, considering the fact we've allowed Tansu Hanim to go because we have no reason to detain her, I don't actually see the point of all this.'

'But if Suleyman ordered it-'

'He ordered it under the direction of Ikmen and we all know,' he said, his face resolving into a scowl, 'what he's like.'

Tepe frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean he goes off onto his own private missions.'

'Which frequently prove to be very valuable. And if I do eventually get to work with him I will feel very honoured.' Tepe eyed Coktin closely. 'Anyway, I thought you liked him, I thought you got on well.'

'I do like him.' He lit a cigarette and then puffed hard on it for a few moments. 'I just don't always understand what he's thinking.'

Tepe laughed. 'That's the whole point,' he said. 'He's an enigma. He likes it that way, it's part of his legend.'

'I find it unnerving,' Coktin said with an almost visible shudder.

'If you have something to hide then it probably is,' Tepe replied, unwittingly bringing to a close any discussion of that particular topic.

Coktin cleared his throat as he watched several lights come on at the front of the Emin house. It had been a long day for all of the residents and he wondered, in view of recent events, whether Erol had now rushed to Tansu's side. That he loved her was evident. But whether or not he would now break his vow to keep some, distance between them was not clear. Coktin could not see Erol's car, though it might be parked at the back of the property.

'So do you have any ideas about who might have killed the Urfa woman?' Tepe said as he turned the air conditioning up a notch.

'No. Do you?'

Tepe shrugged. 'I'd still put money on Tansu.'

Coktin turned to look at his colleague. 'Why?'

'Female rivalry. In my opinion, most women will content themselves with just one man.' He smiled. 'They're not like us. I mean men lived very happily with harems for centuries. It was the women who fought and plotted against each other. They don't like sharing and they don't usually, have the wit to look elsewhere.'

'If they do we call them sluts.'

'Which they are.' He stopped speaking to peer closely at the long driveway that led to Tansu's house. 'Is that some movement down by that garage or…'

Coktin, too, looked in the direction indicated and then tipped his head slightly backwards to signify his assent. 'Yes.'

'You can't see who it is, can you?'

At the distance they were from the scene it was almost impossible to identify people as anything more than just blobs. 'No. Except that there are two of them.'

'The car looks like a…' Tepe considered just what exactly the low-slung, bright red sports model might be for a few seconds before he said, 'a Ferrari, I think.'

‘Mmm.'

As the two officers watched, someone switched the car lights on and, moments later, the vehicle started