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 route.’
‘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.’