by Sue Star
The maid hovered behind her as she tapped on the door to his study. A grunt responded, and she swung open the door.
An imperious man, the general sat behind a desk fit for a president. Medals twinkled from his uniform. He removed reading glasses from the bridge of his nose—a very Turkish nose, Anna thought, the way it bumped out in the middle. Like the beak of a feared bird of prey. His eyes opened wide, and his glasses clattered to the shiny surface of his desk. He bolted to his feet. Thrust back his shoulders. Chin up. Nostrils flaring.
“Merhaba,” Anna said, striding across thick carpets to stand before his desk. “I’m Anna Riddle, your next door neighbor, and I thought it time we meet. Besides, I have something that I think belongs to you.” With a whump and a clatter, she set the hatbox down atop his desk, lifted the lid, and turned it upside down. Canisters of film skittered across the glass-topped surface.
It wasn’t for her to destroy the evidence of his secret meetings, meetings that in one sweep would change the course of a country. Let him do it. Or not.
She had other matters on her mind just now. A party. New friends. A place that was feeling more like a home. And all of that put together left her feeling rather happy. Not just content. There was a difference.
* * * * *
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is unintentional.
Real events serve as the framework of this story, inspired by the author’s personal experiences in the 1950’s as a dependent of a Foreign Service officer with the International Cooperation Administration. ICA was the U.S. agency giving economic assistance to Turkey at the height of the Cold War as a result of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan following World War II. ICA, along with the Joint United States Military Mission to Turkey, formed an ambitious United States Overseas Mission to Turkey during the 1950’s. The authors have attempted to depict as accurately as possible the ambience of a real place and time within history, but the immediate events of the story and its characters are a product entirely of their imagination.
About the Author
Sue Star and Bill Beatty are a writing team from Colorado who lived in Turkey during the Menderes era. Sue writes the Nell Letterly mystery series and other stories of women’s suspense. Bill writes historical crime with a darker edge. Short stories about Veli Yaziz appear in the collection, Making Their Own Law, and in Fiction River’s Hidden in Crime. Please visit dmkregpublishing.com for more information.
