Arabesk

Chapter 18

Neither Ìkmen nor Suleyman saw the sun rise over the sparkling waters of the Bosphorus that following morning as the older man helped the younger compose his report on the Emin affair. And as the heat of the day started to build, both of them from time to time spared some thought for the bitter woman who now sat somewhere far beneath their offices, down in the cells. A woman who, just like the odalisques of old to whom she frequently referred, was going to spend the rest of her life amongst other impotent, lonely women.

'We're burying Kleopatra Polycarpou today,' Ìkmen said as he wiped a tired hand across his features.

'Not the nicest thing to have to deal with after what we went through last night,' his equally exhausted colleague observed.

'No. I was going to ask Sinan to accompany me, but now I'm not so sure.' Ìkmen chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. 'In view of what we've learnt about the Emin sisters I'm wondering whether I ought to get Bulent scrubbed up and take him. Show him I know he exists.'

Suleyman smiled. Trying to prevent any nastiness between your two boys in the future perhaps?'

'If Zelfa Halman hadn't postulated such an idea some time ago I would have viewed the Emins as a one-off, but she did and it has made me think. Is she still around here somewhere, by the way?'

'Who? Dr Halman?'

'Yes.'

'No. But I'm meeting her for something to eat after I've spoken to Çöktin,' he looked at his watch, 'in about an hour. You're welcome to join us.'

'Thanks, but no,' Ìkmen said with a sigh. 'I really must wash and then find something to wear for this funeral'

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

'Come,' Suleyman called and the door opened to admit a very dishevelled isak (^oktin.

Upon seeing the young man, Ìkmen said, 'Ah, do you want me to-'

Suleyman held up a hand. 'No. Your input could be valuable here.' And then turning towards Çöktin, he said, 'Sit down.'

Çöktin took hold of a chair that had been leaning against the wall, placed it in front of Suleyman's desk and sat down, Ìkmen, who was sitting at what was usually Çöktin's desk, put his pen down and looked across at the young man.

'The events of last night,' Suleyman began gravely, 'have, as you know, thrown up some very difficult issues for some of the protagonists in this case.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Miss Emin, although she has now confessed to Ruya Urfa's murder, has raised certain points which her defence team will, no doubt, wish to bring to light in order to, to some extent, discredit those she has harmed.'

'Like what?' the white-faced young man asked, not for a moment raising his eyes from the floor.

'Like the fact that Mr Urfa and his late wife are Yezidis,' Ìkmen said with a bluntness Suleyman probably would not have employed.

Çöktin turned to look at "him. 'But why are you speaking to me about this, sir?'

'Oh, come on, Mickey!' Ìkmen said with a small if exasperated chuckle. 'You've never got as close to anyone as you got to Urfa. I won't even go into how you have knowledge about eunuchs in Arab countries but suffice to say, Dr Halman was the only other person I could find who knew about that, and she studies religion for fun. Come on!'

Çöktin lowered his head down even further on his chest and cleared his throat.

Suleyman looked across at Ìkmen and sighed. 'Listen, Çöktin,' he said, 'unless, somehow, Latife Emin knows about you then what passes between us here will go no further.'

'She knows nothing because there is nothing to know!' Çöktin suddenly became almost violently agitated. Then reaching into the pocket of his jacket he took out his identity card which he held up for bom men to see. 'Look here,' he cried. 'Religion: Muslim. Official, on my card. What more do you want?'

'Goktin-'

'Erol's bears exactly the same words,' Ìkmen said with a shrug. 'We all know how easy it is-' – 'If Mr Urfa says that his is false then that is his business,' Çöktin said, still holding his card up, 'but mine is not. And besides, quite why you would think that one of these devil worshippers would want to be in the police force, I can't imagine. If you worship Shaitan then you're an evil person quite at odds with the law.'

'On the surface, yes,' Ìkmen agreed, 'but if they are not evil but simply misunderstood…' He shrugged again. 'But your protestations are noted even if, as we all know, they are rather too vehement.'

'Believe it or not, we were just looking out for your interests, Çöktin,' Suleyman said.

'I couldn't care less what a man's religion might be,' Ìkmen added. 'I don't have one myself and so-'

'But most people do care.'

'You have an excellent record,' Suleyman said, looking the younger man in the eye, in so far as he could. 'There is no question of your being disciplined or dismissed. It was simply that if Latife Emin knew-'

'She knows nothing about me, I hardly spoke to her.'

'And Erol? Would he have spoken to her about you?'

Çöktin twisted nervously in his chair, knotting and unknotting his fingers as he moved. 'Well, not about my religion, obviously. Why would he, being what he is, want to speak to a Muslim woman about a Muslim man she barely knows?'

Ìkmen smiled. 'Well, that's all right then, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Suleyman agreed also with a smile, if forced, upon his face. 'I should, I imagine, let you go home and get some rest now. You must be exhausted.'

'Yes. Thank you, sir.' Çöktin rose quickly to his feet. It was obvious to all concerned that he was anxious to leave.

'I'll see you tomorrow, then,' Suleyman said as he watched ‹~!oktin move towards the door. 'Yes, sir.'

'Goodbye, Mickey Çöktin,' Ìkmen called out as the young man closed the door behind him.

And men there was silence, Ìkmen looked across at Suleyman who; although seemingly busy shuffling papers, was actually waiting for his colleague to open up some sort of debate on what had just passed, Ìkmen obliged.

He wiped the sweat from his brow onto the stained cuff of his shirt and said, 'Do you believe him?'

'I don't know,' Suleyman replied. 'Do you?'

'No. But men in view of the fact that Erol never actually told Latife Emin what he was, it is highly unlikely he would have mentioned Çöktin to her. And anyway, with aged parents and an unmarried sister to support, Mickey Çöktin probably made a rational decision when he came in here and lied to us. I mean, how would you feel if people thought you ran around naked at midnight and ate the flesh of newborn infants?'

Suleyman smiled. 'I wouldn't be very happy about it.'

'Mmm. Especially considering that the more lurid stories about the Yezidis are, in all probability, complete nonsense.'

'But prejudices against them still exist,' Suleyman said, throwing a cigarette across at Ìkmen and then lighting up himself. 'And I must admit that it does feel odd to actually have one on the force.'

'No stranger than having someone whose mother could see into the future,' Ìkmen said, wryly smiling at this dig at himself. 'Which reminds me, I must get away from here if I'm to see the last of my mother's clients bid farewell to this world.'

'Any idea how Madame might have killed the eunuch yet?' Suleyman asked.

'Dr Sarkissian thinks he may have been stabbed.' Ìkmen moved slowly to his feet and then stretched his arms above his head and yawned. 'Although quite why she would want to do such a thing to that poor emasculated creature we shall probably never know.'

'Perhaps the eunuch had some other woman in his sights,' Suleyman said with a smile.

'Well, I can't imagine why that would have bothered Kleopatra,' Ìkmen replied tartly.

Spreading his long fingers out across his desk in what appeared to be an attempt to distract himself from the topic, Suleyman said, 'You know that in the old households it was always said that a eunuch could often satisfy a woman like no normal man?'