Selcuk winked at me to indicate that he was ready to step in. I winked back, as we’d agreed beforehand, to let him know that it was still too early and that everything was going as planned.
Ziya was dumbfounded. He’d even stopped crying, and was staring at Okan.
“You bloodsucking leech!” he said. “You did it. It’d be just like you…”
For some reason Refik was the most affected. Tears streamed down his cheeks. I wondered why. What was it to him?
Nimet continued playing her role to perfection in a flat voice devoid of emotion, hands folded in her lap. She’d pause from time to time to look over our guests, then look directly into the eyes of the person concerned as she resumed her speech. There wasn’t a hint of malice, hatred, pity, or condemnation in her voice or words. She was enviably austere and unpretentious. She turned to Okan.
“It was through you that we learned about the blackmail of your brother’s clients, the money that was extorted. His death would have meant a new life for you. Only your brother stood between you and what you would have considered to be a fortune.”
“And your income from the minibus wasn’t half bad either,” I added.
“What do you mean? Are you accusing me now?” asked Okan, in a panic.
Refik had frozen. Mouth open, jaw slack, tears halted midway down his cheeks, he stared at Nimet.
“No,” said Nimet. “We’re not accusing you. We only point out that you had motives of your own. That doesn’t necessarily mean you did it. And it would also, in a sense, have meant killing the goose that lays the golden egg. You’re too smart for that.”
“It wasn’t him then, was it?” asked Refik. At a sign from me, he contentedly returned to loud sniffing and crying.
“This thing is dragging on longer and longer. And the longer it goes on, the more disagreeable and messy it’s becoming,” said Ponpon.
“Shut up and listen,” said Hikmet, surprising everyone with his beautiful baritone. He had huge fingers and big hands. Turning to Nimet, he added, “Please, go on.”
Nimet looked at me. It was my turn.
“If I may continue,” I said, clearing my throat. “It gets a little confusing at this point, because we haven’t yet put all the pieces together. But it involves Canan Han?m.”
There was no special reason for my voice to crack when I mentioned her name. I wasn’t used to sitting near an open fire. Or it may have been the smoke, those fumes.
Canan Hanoglu Pekerdem’s cold eyes latched onto mine like a lethal weapon.
“Nonsense,” she said, tossing her head. “You can’t prove a thing.”
Reaching into her jeweled evening bag, she pulled out a cigarette. Her hands didn’t tremble once as she lit it with a Dupont lighter. Crossing her legs, she looked at Nimet. What perfect legs!
“We can prove it,” said Nimet, sounding a bit excited for the first time. “The telephone records tell us a lot. You arranged everything. You had your eye on your brother’s-my husband’s-money. Faruk had to bail you out after all your failed business schemes. Just to protect the family name, our name. The slightest whiff of scandal and it would have been over for us all. You were always the darling of the family, and Faruk may have had a soft spot for you, too. I don’t know. You tell me. Faruk gave you free rein. Never held you to account. But you kept sinking one business after another. You took on too much, more than you could handle. And it always ended in catastrophe. It’s all been recorded in Faruk’s ledgers and notebooks. Hard facts and cold sums. How much Faruk spent to bail you out… I’ve got it all upstairs.”
Unfolding before my eyes was a regular family feud, one that had probably been brewing for years.
“Like you said, we’re a family and he bore responsibility for the family name. Of course he backed me up,” said Canan.
“But then things changed,” said Nimet, who was now looking directly at Canan. “Sami, in his capacity as junior partner, noticed what was going on. Capital that could have been bringing in high returns was being used to bankroll you. Someone had to stop it. He confronted you. But you knew all about his weakness for gambling and for strapping young men! You set him up by arranging gambling partners, and drove him into debt. He couldn’t play openly because he had a reputation and a business to protect. And as he got in deeper and deeper, he became your plaything. As for the young men, we don’t know how you met Volkan, or who slept with him first. But we have receipts for the hotel rooms you both shared with him.”
I needed more than one pair of eyes at that moment. I wanted to see the reactions of Ziya, Refik, Sami, Canan, and Haluk all at once.
Gritting her teeth, Canan listened. Her face had tensed to the point where she looked like a plastic surgery victim: slitty eyes, a projecting forehead, elevated eyebrows, lips stretched thin, and a squared-off chin! She didn’t say a word. And if she had, her clenched lower jaw might have shattered into a thousand pieces.
Poor Haluk Pekerdem looked stunned. I wanted to fold him into my arms and comfort him. A man like him, cheated on! And with a gigolo, no less. But then again, this was no ordinary gigolo…
“Canan introduced me to Volkan!” cried Sami, springing to his feet and playing the victim. Hikmet pressed him back down into his seat.
Canan produced an artificial burst of laughter. It was so forced!
“So what if I did?” she exclaimed brazenly. “Sami needed a strong man in his life, and Volkan was certainly that. A real pro. They were the perfect match… So what?”
She shot out a cloud of smoke. She was visibly shaken. Her crossed leg swung to and fro irritably.
“I warned him. I told him to stay away from you society types. I took him in, gave him everything he wanted. But he didn’t listen. If he’d just listened,” bawled Ziya.
“That’s an important point,” I said. “But, in fact, there was no harm in Sami seeing Volkan. Excuse me, Refik, I don’t say this to break your heart. But it’s the truth. The problem was Sami’s fear and self-loathing. He was ashamed. Just as he is now.”
I stopped and looked at him. He was industriously wiping his glasses.
“That’s enough. Stop sweating and stop wiping your glasses!” I said. “I’m losing my temper, mister… And as for you, Canan Han?m, you turned his shame to your advantage. You forced Sami to send Volkan to some of your most important clients, on the house. A sweetener! And you also used him to gather information about those same clients… for blackmail purposes. If anyone had found out what you were up to, that would have been the end of Faruk. No one wants a loan shark-sorry, Nimet-who knows too much and may blackmail them one day. And as for Volkan, he was no dummy. He kept records on all his clients, shaking them down for whatever he needed. It wasn’t long before Faruk Bey found out…”
“… and intervened,” continued Nimet. “At first, he didn’t understand exactly what was happening. Some clients were making extra payments for no apparent reason. It was only much later, when Okan Bey came to visit, that we found out why. Faruk learned that some of these funds were being channeled directly into Canan’s personal account. I vividly remember the night Canan and Haluk also visited. While I was in the parlor, playing bezique with Haluk, you, Canan, shut yourself away in the office with Sami and Faruk.”
Bezique? Haluk and Nimet playing bezique in the parlor, like a couple of old maids? I could just imagine the green baize, and Haluk keeping score. I immediately banished him from the scene.
“That’s enough,” said Haluk, reacting for the first time. He sounded like a criminal lawyer making a final objection in a losing case. He stood up. “What’s all this nonsense? How can you accuse Canan?”
“Because she’s guilty!” I cried.
Haluk’s eyes widened in shock. He seemed unable to breathe for a moment. Then he turned and looked at Canan. She just shrugged a shoulder. My Haluk collapsed onto his chair.
“But why?” he groaned.
Expressed in that “why” were a multitude of anguished questions: Why was I cheated on? Where did I go wrong? How could a wife like mine tire of a man like me? What could a gigolo give her that I couldn’t?
“Money,” I answered. “Clearly, she needed more cash. She was playing a foolish and dangerous game. Blackmailing her own brother, poisoning his business relations. It was easy enough to raise money while it worked. At first, Sami was putty in her hands. Volkan made sure of that. In fact, we have letters showing how infatuated Sami Bey became with Volkan. He was even jealous. Jealous of a gigolo!”
I occasionally glanced at Ponpon out of the corner of my eye. Face a picture of astonishment, her head swiveled from one speaker to another.
“I loved him,” mumbled Sami. “More than any of you will ever know… What we had was special.”
“Not like me, you didn’t. I loved him. Understand?” Ziya said, softly sobbing at the back. “I’d have died for him! Gone to hell and back!” He sounded wretched and looked miserable. And he knew no one was listening to him.
“Well, he was my lover at the end… We dreamed of a new life together. Together for always…” Refik chimed in. “We were going to travel abroad.”
Sami’s sweaty face flushed angrily. “You! Where’d you spring from?”
Kemal, who had been sitting quietly in his wheelchair all night long, let out a low whistle and the words “This is getting complicated!”
Here we had three men, all of whom claimed to have been the love of Volkan’s life. The three of them looked at one another with tear-filled eyes. Fortunately, Refik had Volkan’s brother, Okan, for comfort. And as for Ziya, he just sobbed away quietly.
“You may well have loved him, Sami Bey, but that didn’t stop you from peddling him to others,” I said. “And it was also Sami who arranged the transfer of funds- with or without the knowledge of Faruk-to Canan’s London bank accounts. Volkan was starting to get greedy. He’d realized just how rich and powerful his customers were, and he wanted a piece of the action. Somehow, Faruk found out. And pulled the plug. Both on Sami and on Canan… Right?”
“Not really,” said Sami.
“Well, anyway,” I continued, “on that night, Sami and Canan put their plan into action. Maybe they’d cooked it up earlier. We don’t know for sure. They telephoned Volkan using Faruk Bey’s cell phone. One of them may even have taken his cell phone with them. All we know is that calls were placed to Volkan late one night. Volkan had gotten out of hand. He was threatening Sami. And Sami met with him that fateful night!”
“No, it wasn’t me!”
If he kept sweating like that he was in danger of dehydration.
“Well then, who was it?” asked Nimet. “It couldn’t have been Canan. She was at the nightclub that night. There are witnesses.”
“Oh, you mean
