Читать книгу Deadline Istanbul (The Elizabeth Darcy Series) - Peggy Hanson - Страница 24

CHAPTER 20

The purity of a person’s heart can be quickly measured by how he regards cats.

Anonymous proverb

Haldun Kutlu glanced unseeing at his cluttered desk. The Cümhüriyet newspaper office in Cağaloğlu had a strategic location. Out his window he could see bits of the Topkapı walls and the tip of Ayasofya museum. He’d had lunch a few blocks away at the Fountain Restaurant at the Covered Market.

It was time to go home. Ayla would worry if he missed the usual ferry. What a good wife she was! Always thinking first of her husband. She would have been a wonderful mother. Both of them felt pangs of regret over their lack of children.

He pushed that regret to the back of his mind. Peter Franklin. A man who could not be pushed to the back of his mind. The very night he died last week, they were supposed to meet at a party in Bebek. Peter had indicated he had something to tell him. They’d worked together, as much as journalists ever work together, on some interesting leads. Their newspapers were not in competition with each other.

Haldun had many questions regarding the death of Peter Franklin.

* * * *

Sultana the cat stretched as Haldun gathered his papers. Then she walked purposefully toward the basket under his desk and jumped in. Together they exited the office and took the tram to Eminönü wharf to catch the ferry to Üsküdar.

After the short ride, they disembarked at the busy wharf at Üsküdar and Sultana pushed her way out of the basket. She would soon be up the hill at Haldun’s house for Ayla’s fish and rice. But he understood the cat’s need for freedom.