Read Online Arabesk by Barbara Nadel - Free Book Online

him. It had of course been Tansu who had, via a few well-chosen words about her lover's supposed 'indisposition', sent the press corps screaming up' to the apartment on Ìstiklal Caddesi. In a civilised block like the Ìzzet Apartments, Suleyman had been able to keep the crime scene unusually discreet; since so few people actually knew that Erol had aflat there, it was really quite easy. Until, that is, Tansu's performance at the officers' club. That alone made him dislike her and as he'd struggled to get any sort of sense from her thickly rouged mouth, his feelings had become more and more hostile.
    All she could talk of was Erol Urfa. Although she did from time to time, briefly, express her sorrow at his wife's death and the disappearance of his daughter, most of her words alluded to how she was feeling. But then some of these older women who had younger lovers were both obsessed and desperate to retain their affections. But Suleyman quickly turned his mind away from that particular subject and thought about what he had actually learned from the conversation with Tansu.
    Erol had not been with her on the night of the murder. According to Çöktin, Urfa had been with some old friend of his from back east. No name had, as yet, been forthcoming but Suleyman had already determined to question Urfa himself at the earliest possible opportunity. Çöktin had spoken to the star in his own language, exhibiting an implicit solidarity that may or may not have been helpful with regard to the extraction of information. Tansu had been at home all that evening, mainly sitting out on her veranda which had become, or so she said, so pleasant since she'd had a nearby wasps' nest destroyed. Her sister said that she had been with her on the veranda too, for all that was worth. Of the woman's two brothers, the eldest, Galip, had been at the Inonu Stadium watching the football match live while apparently the younger one, Yilmaz, had watched the match on television. Both men had been co-operative in a bemused sort of way until, that is, their sister, finally catching on that she could be a suspect in this affair, became quite hysterical during the middle part of the interview. Leaping like a cat, all claws bared, from her sickbed, she had paced the room spitting verbal bile at quite imaginary accusers for some time. Suleyman had been horribly embarrassed at the time. It had been ' difficult, after that, to have any sympathy for a woman who was, though ageing, still a spoilt, vicious child at heart Suleyman knew he would have to take care not to condemn her out of hand. She, if anyone, had good reason to want Ruya Urfa dead but there was nothing, as yet, to connect either her or her relatives directly to the scene.
    But time would tell. Forensic had lifted several sets of fingerprints from the apartment, as well as some faint footprints. Soon the process of identifying to whom these belonged would begin, as would the interrogation of Cengiz Temiz who had been discovered finally on a Tiinel train. According to Çöktin he would say absolutely nothing beyond denying that he had killed Ruya Urfa. Now down in the cells for the night, he would have, ample time, if he were capable of such thoughts, to reconsider his words. His parents had, apparently, already engaged one of the city's top defence lawyers.
    The mobile telephone that was sitting on the seat beside him buzzed into life. Suleyman picked it up and put it to his ear.
    'Suleyman.'
    'Hello, it's Sarkissian. Just thought I'd let you know that the cyanide that killed Mrs Urfa was administered in a sweet.'
    'Oh?'
    'Yes, almond halva to be precise. Clever, eh?'
    An almond sweet to cover the smell of the bitter poison? Yes, it was, and if Çöktin was right about Cengiz Temiz, it was far too clever for him.
    'Thank you’ Doctor,' Suleyman said at last. 'Will I see you in the morning?'
    'You will. Your office. At what time?'
    'About nine.'
    The doctor laughed. 'You rise too early for me. Make it ten