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Alek’s murder.’
    The inspector held up his hands.
    ‘I will explain why. The last Greek emperor of this city, Constantine the 11th, disappeared in Hagia Sophia the day the city was captured.’ He paused. His tone was firm as he continued.
    ‘Some Greeks say the last emperor made a pact with the devil that afternoon. That his body was taken below Hagia Sophia and that he will come back, and retake this city when the time is right. So you must understand, Mr Ryan, a Greek being murdered in Hagia Sophia is a big deal.’
    ‘I don’t believe in legends and I don’t think Alek did either.’ I gave him the kind of smile I reserved for younger children. ‘Our Institute was commissioned by UNESCO to do a simple task here; to verify how the mosaics in Hagia Sophia are being preserved and altered over the years. That’s what Alek was working on. It’s not a big project.’ The air in the room was getting stuffy, thick.
    ‘There isn’t even a UNESCO representative overseeing us. We’re just recording things, monitoring changes. None of this stuff could have anything to do with what happened to Alek.’
    The smell of hospital disinfectant was getting stronger too.
    ‘UNESCO is monitoring Hagia Sophia?’ he said.
    ‘We’re taking pictures, inspector.’ Frustrated, I held up my hands. ‘Thousands of tourists do it every day.’ I had to move the conversation on. ‘Can you at least tell me where Alek was found?’
    He looked at me as if he was debating whether to say anything more or not. Then he continued. ‘Your colleague was found outside Hagia Sophia early yesterday morning.’ He studied my face. ‘His head was near his body. For that we can be grateful.’
    ‘He was beheaded?’ I said it slowly.
    ‘Yes.’ He said, matter-of-factly.
    My stomach flipped. I thought about what Alek must have gone through. I held my hand to my chest. The pressure had got stronger.
    And the room seemed suddenly smaller, as if its walls had moved in.
    He said something I didn’t understand. The words were in English, but I couldn’t make them out.
    The fact that Alek had died was bad enough. That he’d been butchered like an animal was too much. This was why they hadn’t pulled the sheet down. I’d been right about his body looking odd. This was sick.
    I walked towards the wall, leaned my forehead against it. A wave of revulsion rolled through me. The white tiles were shiny, slick.
    How could any human do such a thing?
    ‘I don’t believe this,’ I whispered. Then I remembered something.
    There’d been a story in one of the Sunday newspapers about a decapitation. No details. Just a one paragraph story. Had it been about Alek?
    It had all seemed so distant when I’d been reading it. I must have read lots of stories like it. Of atrocities, horrible deaths. There were so many that few registered any more. I swallowed hard.
    ‘Did what happened to Alek get into the newspapers?’ I turned to face the inspector. He was standing by the table.
    ‘The media here hunts for such stories these days.’ His tone was hard. ‘There may have been a small item in a Turkish newspaper yesterday. I promise you, we did not give out his name.’
    I closed my eyes. Would the media in England find out what had happened to Alek? Would people be tweeting about it soon, speculating about the details? I could only guess what theories would come up, how it would all spin out.
    ‘Does this sort of thing happen often in Turkey?’
    ‘This is the first case of beheading in three years. We are not Iraq.’
    ‘So why did this happen to Alek?’
    He shrugged, looked me up and down. ‘Are you planning to speak to the press?’ he said.
    ‘No.’
    His face was a hard mask. ‘Good. We’ll be finished with your colleague’s body in a week or so. There’ll be an autopsy, of course.’ I closed my eyes. ‘You can make arrangements for his body after the results are in. We will hand over all his personal belongings then. ’ His tone softened. He