Fofoâs offer.
âWe could go to my office, if you like,â he said, glancing at his watch. âItâs not far from here, in Süslü Saksı Street. We can talk more comfortably there. Also, thereâs no one in it at the moment, and I donât really like leaving it empty.â
I suddenly thought of my abandoned shop. Hopefully Pelin would have kept her promise to be there.
âWonât you have anything to drink?â I asked, seeing the waiter coming towards our table.
âOkay, Iâll have a lemonade,â he said, without any hesitation.
The office was light and spacious. As soon as we entered, the journalist, whose name I finally learned was Murat, disappeared to make coffee. Fofo and I settled into armchairs and started looking through some gossip magazines lying on the table.
I picked up a particularly dog-eared magazine in which, among some pictures taken at a fairy-tale wedding at Esma Sultan Palace, I noticed a photo of TamaÅa and Bahri Ankaralıgil. The caption beneath the photo read âTamaÅa Hanım, one of societyâs best-dressed women, dazzled us in a purple evening gown by Valentinoâ.
I showed the picture to Fofo, who studied it carefully.
âDefinitely not my type,â he said eventually. âToo much Botox.I canât stand it when Botox is used to raise the eyebrows, especially if they have lines between them.â
âHow do you know about Botox treatments?â I asked in amazement.
âThrough Mustafa, my doctor friend.â
I nodded. Iâd met Mustafa once when I went to his house to collect Fofo.
âHe does Botox. All the skin specialists do nowadays. He explained it all to me.â
âDoes it work?â I asked, thinking I might pay him a visit one day.
âMustafa goes for a very natural look. He doesnât create masks like that.â
âTell me, why do people have their eyebrows raised?â
âBecause if you raise the eyebrows, it tightens the area around the eye,â replied Fofo, using one hand to demonstrate. âThatâs why you see so many people going around with such arched eyebrows.â
When Murat returned, we were both engrossed in magazines.
âPlease, ask whatever it is you want to know,â he said, pulling up a wheeled office chair.
This time, I didnât even allow Fofo time to open his mouth.
âActually, we donât know much about what happened. We only know what we read in the press.â
âIs that so?â said Murat.
I began biting my nails.
Fofo glared a silent order at me to remove my hand from my mouth. Bless him â heâs like a mother to me. However, I paid no attention and continued gnawing at my nails. Why should I pay attention to that halfwit Fofo?
âYou said Sani Ankaralıgilâs family hired you as detectives,â said Murat.
âWell, thatâs not entirely correct. Nobody hired us. But we knew Sani Ankaralıgil. Or rather we used to see her almost every day.â
âI donât understand what youâre saying.â
âThereâs a small restaurant at Tünel, where we have lunch. Everything there is home-cooked. The foodâs simple and thereâs little choice, but itâs tasty,â I said, simultaneously realizing that I was famished. âOur lunch break often coincided with Sani Hanımâs, though she only ever ate salad. We often ran into each other, but we had no idea who she was. It was only when we saw her picture in the paper that we realizedââ
âIs that all?â said Murat, shuffling in his chair.
âThatâs it,â I said.
âExcuse my curiosity, but why are you interested in this? I mean, if the family didnât contact youââ
Fofo frowned and moved his lips as if silently saying, âWell done!â
âFor the same reason as you,â I said. âOut of curiosity.â
Murat laughed