by Simon Brett
‘Yes, I’ve read quite a lot about Atatürk,’ said Carole. ‘An intriguing figure.’
‘That’s certainly true.’
Jude moved the conversation on. ‘How long have you known Nita, Donna?’
The landlady pursed her lips with the effort of memory. ‘Phew, must be nearly twenty years – God, it is twenty years! We met when we first came out here as travel couriers, hardly out of our teens then. We bonded straight away. It was important to have someone supportive around, someone of the same gender. There was a lot of casual sexism around, so we had to learn to toughen up quite quickly out here. Nita was great to me back then, doing a real big-sister job. I was pretty naive, but she was tougher. Well, she’d had to be. Lost her mother to cancer when she was about twelve, and virtually brought up her younger brothers on her own.’
Carole and Jude exchanged looks. They hadn’t been convinced by Barney’s story of Nita having to rush back to England because her mother was ill. Now they knew it to be a lie.
‘And you’ve stayed in touch with Nita ever since, have you?’ asked Jude.
‘Yes. There were long breaks when we didn’t see each other. You know, during the winters or when we were posted to different parts of Turkey. But even then we kept in touch – emails, texts, you know.’
‘Don’t answer this if you don’t want to,’ Jude began, ‘but I got the distinct impression, seeing them together, that there once was something going on between Nita and Barney.’
Donna giggled. ‘Don’t think that’s much of a secret these days. Not sure that it ever was one. Business demands meant that Barney was quite often in Turkey on his own. When he was, he and Nita hooked up straight away. If he came out with his wife, they played it a bit cooler.’
‘And, as far as you know, is it still going on?’ Jude made a conscious effort to use the present tense. She didn’t want Donna to have any suspicion that Nita was no longer alive.
Donna grimaced with uncertainty. ‘That I don’t know. They certainly keep very closely in touch. But I guess things were different after Nita married Erkan.’
‘How long have they been married?’
‘Must be getting on for ten years now.’
‘I must say,’ said Carole, ‘that when we saw them together, there didn’t seem to be much love lost.’
‘No, it isn’t exactly a Mills and Boon romance. I think Erkan kind of lost interest when it became clear that Nita wasn’t going to produce the son he so wanted. That kind of thing counts for a lot out here.’
‘Could Nita just not conceive?’ asked Jude.
‘No, I think she could,’ Donna replied.
‘That’s rather a strange answer.’
‘Yes, I suppose it is. It’s just things Nita’s said to me at times, you know, when we’re on the second bottle of wine. That she might have continued to use contraception … Like she didn’t want the commitment of having children with Erkan. You know, like I said earlier about my marriage.’
‘Are you suggesting,’ asked Jude, ‘that Nita’s still holding a candle for Barney?’
‘I suppose it’s possible. Her marriage to Erkan always seemed to be more of a commercial transaction than a love match.’
‘Oh?’
‘When they met he was just a diving instructor for another company. She was keen on scuba diving and had some lessons with him.’
‘Did she continue with it?’
‘Yes, she was very good.’ Donna wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but it’s not for me. I’ve never fancied it, all that business of putting your head under water. I had one lesson and got terribly claustrophobic. That was enough. But Nita loved scuba diving from the start. And it was Nita’s business brain that enabled Erkan to set up his own diving school. Her brain and Barney’s money.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, Barney bankrolled Erkan when he set up his own diving school. He bought a company that was going belly-up and put a lot of money into making a swish, state-of-the-art enterprise.’
‘Was that so Erkan would always be in his debt?’
‘Possibly.’
‘And Erkan wouldn’t be able to complain if Barney continued his relationship with Nita?’
Donna looked at Jude and nodded slowly in admiration. ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve wondered more than once. Nita never said it to me in so many words, but she said things – again well into the second bottle of wine – which implied that might be what was going on.’
Donna’s openness was very welcome. Jude got the impression that she was as intrigued about her friend as they were, that although she was close to Nita there were still areas of her life to which she had always been denied access.
So she felt empowered to ask her next question. ‘Did you know Barney’s first wife, Zoë?’
‘I wouldn’t say “knew” her. I met her a few times.’
‘And did she arrive on the scene before Barney had started his relationship with Nita?’
‘No. And, needless to say, Nita was pretty miffed about the news. So far as she was concerned, she and Barney were an item – though, of course, she only saw him when his business brought him out to Turkey. What he got up to while he was in England, she had to take on trust.’
Which was probably a rather foolish thing to do, Jude reflected. She thought about the timescale and realized that when she and Barney had their brief affair he was quite possibly already involved with Nita. While it was going on, Jude had never properly trusted Barney. There was always time in his life unaccounted for, time when the demands of his business took him away. Often abroad. Quite frequently to Turkey. She felt even more glad she’d been firm with him when he’d suggested rekindling their relationship.
‘And then suddenly,’ Donna went on, ‘Barney’s out in Kayaköy with a brand-new wife. Which, as you can imagine, was a bit of a slap in the face for Nita.’
‘I can see that. And was it on that first trip out here that Zoë died?’
‘No, it was a couple of years later. Because by then she was quite an experienced diver. Got her OWD.’ In response to the blank faces she explained, ‘Open Water Diving certificate. That made it even stranger that she had the accident.’
‘Do you know exactly how it happened?’ asked Jude.
‘Not the details, no. Barney and Nita both clammed up about it. Zoë drowned, that’s all I know.’
‘And when,’ asked Carole, ‘did Nita and Erkan get married? And, indeed, when did they set up Erkan’s business?’
Donna’s brow wrinkled with the effort of memory. ‘That would be fairly soon after the first time Barney brought Zoë out here.’
‘So maybe that was a kind of pay-off to Nita from Barney? “Thank you very much for all your loyal service, now I suggest you marry Erkan and I’ll give you the money to set up a business together”?’
‘I must say, at the time I wondered if that was what had happened.’
A raucous crowd of English had just entered the Dirty Duck. Large men in shorts and sticklike women with wraps over bikinis. Union Jack T-shirts and far too many tattoos for Carole’s taste.
‘Hello, Donna darling!’ one of the men called out. ‘Back again for your daily specials.’
‘Be with you in a moment, Bazza love,’ she called back, the perfect East End landlady. ‘Have to go, girls.’
‘And what do we do?’ asked Carole, who had just finished her omelette, but only got halfway through the mountain of chips. ‘Pay at the bar?’
‘No, you don’t. These are on me.’
‘Oh no, we can’t accept—’
‘Told you at Dalaman Airport you’d get special rates, didn’t I?’
‘Yes,’ said Jude, ‘but there’s a difference between special rates and getting our whole lunch on the house.’
‘Not at the Dirty Duck there isn’t,’ said Donna with a grin.
Jude looked at Carole, dissuading her from further argument. ‘Well, in that case, we will say a very gracious thank-you for your
generosity.’
‘My pleasure, love.’
‘And look …’ Jude pulled a scrap of paper out of her bag and scribbled on it. ‘Here are our mobile numbers. If you hear anything from Nita, could you ask her if she’s lost a phone?’
‘Of course. And you’ve got the number here, haven’t you?’
Jude nodded.
‘It’s strange,’ Donna continued. ‘I haven’t heard from her in the last couple of days. Not even a text – that’s unlike Nita.’
Donna Lucas looked worried. And Carole felt bad. She couldn’t say anything at that point, but she knew the landlady of the Dirty Duck was due soon to get some very upsetting news.
NINETEEN
‘It’s a pity we didn’t bring the mobile with us,’ said Jude as they made their way back to the car. ‘Then we could check out the “1066” code. Still, we can do it as soon as we get back to Morning Glory.’
‘Yes, except now it seems like the phone has nothing to do with Nita.’
‘It’s odd, though, that the two cases are so similar, just with the colours reversed. That makes me think there might be some connection. Anyway, we can check back at the villa. If the “1066” code works, then we’ll know there’s a connection.’
‘Hm. Of course, we’re not going back to Morning Glory straight away,’ said Carole firmly.
‘Why not?’
‘Because we’re very near to Ölüdeniz. And Ölüdeniz is where Erkan has his diving school.’ She pulled out of her bag a flyer that she’d picked up in Morning Glory. ‘And I think Erkan has to be our next port of call.’
Jude didn’t disagree.
Ölüdeniz was as much targeted at British tourists as Hisarönü, but in a slightly more tasteful and upmarket way. There were, to Carole’s relief, fewer Union Jack T-shirts and tattoos. It was very much a regimented seaside resort, pebbly beach laid out with parallel rows of loungers and umbrellas. Given how relatively early it was in the season, a surprising number of the loungers were occupied. Overhead, there was a lot of paragliding activity.
The directions on the flyer took them straight to Erkan’s diving school. It had a prime position on the sea front and looked to be very well appointed. Whatever his motives for making his investment, Barney Willingdon had not stinted on it. Either side of the large glass doors were blown-up photographs in vivid colours of divers and the marine life they encountered. Inside, the office area was air conditioned and the side walls hung with various items which might have meant something to a diver but didn’t to Carole or Jude. Through the glass doors at the back could be seen a pool, beside which a deeply tanned instructor was demonstrating scuba equipment to a small group of tourists in swim shorts and bikinis.
Carole and Jude were greeted as they entered the building by a very articulate Turkish girl in blue shorts and a white polo shirt with the school’s logo on it. ‘Welcome,’ she said in a voice which suggested she’d learned her English from Americans, ‘to the best diving company in the Fethiye area. Have you ever dived before?’
‘Well, no, though actually what we—’
But Carole was not allowed to complete her explanation. ‘We do very good course for beginners. Very cheap, one day only. You get introductory lesson on the basics of diving, then sea dive in small groups with instructor and—’
Jude tried to interrupt the flow. ‘Yes, all we really want to—’
‘Then there is a two-day course. You learn obviously much more in this. There are three sessions of knowledge development, three dives in confined water and two in open water. And this gives you a qualification in—’
‘We’re really looking for Erkan.’
‘Yes, Erkan is boss here. This is Erkan’s school. Very good school, very high standards, particularly good safety record. All advanced divers go out with a buddy, all equipment is checked and rechecked and—’
‘We actually,’ Carole crashed in, ‘want to speak to Erkan!’
This did stop the girl in her tracks. But only for a moment. ‘Speak to Erkan? There is no need. You can book a course by me. You do not have to deal with Erkan.’
‘No, we want to talk to him about something else.’
‘Something else?’
‘Something not to do with diving.’
The girl looked shocked. ‘Not to do with diving?’
‘No.’
Her manner changed completely now she realized that her sales pitch had been falling on deaf ears. ‘Erkan is not here today,’ she said abruptly.
‘Do you know when he’s likely to be back?’
‘No.’
And that was it, really. The girl made it pretty clear that they were not welcome in her office any more. They thanked her and made for the exit.
But when they got there, the doors were held open for them. And Jude recognized the person who held them open as Fergus McNally. Carole couldn’t have provided a name, but she also recognized him – as the man she’d seen in Fethiye with Henry Willingdon.
Fergus had also been hoping to speak to Erkan, and when Jude told him that the diving school’s owner wasn’t there, he readily acceded to her suggestion that they should have a drink. So they sat on the shaded terrace of a steel and glass seafront café/bar. At an adjacent table, a group of young Englishmen in brightly patterned swim shorts tried to outdo each other with tales of their paragliding exploits.
Carole, aware of her driving duties and the wine she’d had at the Dirty Duck, ordered a double espresso. The other two had large beers. Jude’s worries about putting on weight still weren’t strong enough to defeat the temptation of that beautiful condensation-dripping mug.
‘Well, this is a surprise,’ said Jude. ‘When we met in the Crown and Anchor, you didn’t say you were going to come out here.’
‘I didn’t know I was going to come out here then.’
‘So, what, is this just a last-minute holiday?’ asked Carole.
‘Hardly. I am not, sadly, in a position where I can take last-minute holidays. Or holidays of any kind, come to that. No, I’m here because I was asked to come out here.’
‘By Barney Willingdon?’ Jude suggested.
‘No. No way. It’s a long time since I’ve been at Barney’s beck and call.’
‘So who asked you?’
‘Henry Willingdon.’
‘Yes, I knew she was out here,’ said Carole.
Fergus looked shocked. ‘How?’
And she told him of her sighting of them in Fethiye.
‘That’s where we’re staying. In a hotel there. Hotel Osman.’
‘Does Barney know you’re here?’ asked Jude.
‘No, and he mustn’t know either. It was Henry’s idea. She wanted to come out here, and she wanted to be with someone who was familiar with the territory. And, as I told you, I’d been out a few times with Barney back in the early days.’
‘So Henry stumped up for your flight?’
‘Yes. And she’s paying me too.’
‘What is she paying you for, exactly?’ asked Carole.
‘That’s between us. A business arrangement.’
It was clear from the jut of his chin that they wouldn’t get any more information on that subject. But Jude still tried. ‘Is it something to do with Barney or Barney’s business affairs?’
‘Sorry, I can’t tell you that. I’m being paid for my discretion, apart from anything else.’
Carole nodded. ‘Fine. But it wasn’t pure coincidence that we met you at the diving school. You said you wanted to talk to Erkan.’
‘So?’
‘Well, we wanted to talk to him too.’
‘I don’t see what relevance that has.’
‘It could be relevant if we both wanted to see Erkan for the same reason.’
‘Like what?’
‘We’re quite interested in finding out exactly what happened to Barney’s first wife, Zoë.’
‘Really?’
‘And we were wondering whether you might be following the same investigative ro
ute.’
‘Well, I’m not,’ he said with a finality which made both women certain he was lying. They felt sure he was being paid by Henry Willingdon to find out more about her predecessor’s death.
Carole tried another tack. ‘Presumably, you know Erkan’s wife, Nita?’
‘Yes.’
‘When did you first meet her?’
‘First time I came out here with Barney.’
‘Were the two of you in partnership at that point?’
‘No, he brought me out here because he’d got a couple of projects that needed investment. Thought I might be interested.’
‘And did you invest?’
‘Not then, no. Look, I told you all this, Jude.’
‘Yes, but Carole hasn’t heard it. You said you didn’t invest in Barney’s projects out here.’
‘No, had cash flow problems. Not too bad, but I couldn’t rustle up the kind of sums he was talking about; not at short notice, anyway. No, I’d have done all right if I’d gone in with Barney at that point.’
‘Rather than waiting till you got involved in his Northern Cyprus project?’ Jude prompted.
‘Yes. I think if I’d gone in with Barney earlier I might not have got so comprehensively stuffed.’
‘Going back to Nita …’ said Carole.
‘Uh-huh.’
‘We’ve heard rumours that Barney and she had had some fling back then.’
‘And how! They were all over each other. We’re talking quite a while back here. Barney was thirty, I suppose, and Nita hardly out of her teens. She was stunning then. Long time since I’ve seen her, so I don’t know what she looks like now.’
Carole, unfortunately, knew all too well what Nita looked like now, but she wasn’t about to share the information.
‘So the two of them were an item?’
‘Very definitely, yes. I mean, they weren’t often seen out together – they were discreet up to a point. The travel companies don’t like their tour guides to have boyfriends too openly – can upset the punters, many of whom cast lecherous eyes on the girls and don’t want their fantasies ruined. But evenings after Nita had knocked off from work … yes, they were very definitely an item.’
