Mehmet Somer - The Gigolo Murder

“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 that night?” said Ponpon, finally realizing what night we were talking about. “Of course, you came to watch my show.”

“Even I was there,” I added.

“We hired someone…” whispered Sami. A public confession. “An ex-con. We keep a few around. Sometimes they come in handy.”

Ziya, Okan, and Refik were all glaring at Sami.

“And you claim to love him…” Refik said reproachfully.

“You’re in deep shit, four-eyes! You’re gonna have to deal with me now,” Ziya growled, unleashing a series of threats outlining in some detail the agonies Sami would suffer at his hands.

Selçuk was squirming in his chair.

“Have you got any hard evidence?” he inquired.

“We’ve got a heap of documents and papers, but you’ll have to sort through them and decide what you can use,” I said.

“Let’s continue,” said Nimet, taking the floor.

“Sami killed Volkan, even if he wasn’t directly responsible. But all of the evidence pointed to Faruk. If he’d been imprisoned and out of circulation, they would have taken over the business.”

“But then Haluk Bey saved the day,” I said.

Haluk was still looking utterly crushed. And gorgeous in a new way.

“That idiot,” spat Canan. How could anyone look at a man like that with so much hatred?

Nimet and I talked rapidly in turn.

“That’s right, Haluk did all he could to defend Faruk,” said Nimet. “The case against him was full of inconsistencies. I think he may even have confided his suspicions to Haluk.”

“Yes, I did find out one thing,” Haluk said, his head bowed. “Canan was heavily overdrawn.”

“And,” I said, “that’s when we came into the picture: me and Kemal! But who hired us? Haluk! Why? To rescue both his wife and Faruk. He paid us good money. And he got what he paid for. But he cast the net too wide. If he’d simply settled for deleting a few phone records, Kemal and I wouldn’t have suspected much. But the international dimension caught our attention.”

“The funds were always transferred via the Island of Jersey and London. I had to wipe out those records…” Haluk muttered.

Canan looked at him in disgust.

“Canan naturally realized that things were going to blow up in her face,” I said. “Faruk had become too dangerous. She laid all her cards on the table, but he hadn’t even been arrested at that point.”

“That brings us to the night Faruk died…” said Nimet. She was speaking more precisely than ever. With her right hand she toyed with her necklace. “When Faruk was released, many people came to wish him well. I was too ashamed and upset to leave my room. But I do know that the last three visitors were Sami, Canan, and Haluk!”

“The three prime suspects,” I said. I hoped Haluk hadn’t done it. Canan could go to prison, and then he’d be mine. I’d be there to console him. “A person or persons persuaded Faruk to go out on the pier that night. And then into the sea…”

“First he was clubbed on the head!” Cihad2000 provided that critical detail. “With a blunt instrument. I was listening in on the police radio.”

I silently congratulated him. Sometimes his obsessive snooping was useful.

No one spoke. You could have sliced the tension with a knife.

“If we consider Sami’s diminutive physique…” said Nimet, breaking the silence. “Faruk was a big man, even a bit stout in his latter days.”

Everyone was staring at Canan and Haluk.

“ Ay , alright already. I got it,” said Ponpon, shooting to her feet. “I’m late. You can tell me later who did it. I’m confused enough as it is. You’re driving the lyrics right out of my head.”

As she shook Nimet’s hand and prepared to leave, “Thanks so much for inviting me. Your house is so nice. I hope to come again another time,” she remarked.

“Certainly,” Nimet managed in reply.

Selçuk kept things moving.

“I’ll call in the squad…” he said.

“Please…” said Canan tearfully. She wiped her eye with a recently manicured finger. “Haluk, do something… Please don’t call the police…”

Even Ponpon looked back, spellbound.

“ Ayol , you mean you did it?” she cried, finally grasping the seriousness of the situation.

Canan broke down. None of us had expected that. She was sobbing hysterically, oblivious to her ruined makeup. Gone was the Nişantaşı girl who’d looked down her nose at everyone, most of all me. I almost felt sorry for her.

“He turned on me… He wouldn’t even listen… What was I to do?… Everything was falling apart… What else could I do?”