Читать книгу Deadline Istanbul (The Elizabeth Darcy Series) - Peggy Hanson - Страница 28

CHAPTER 24

Bodrum folk cut harvest early,

And Fate has cut her harvest early

Making martyr with golden scissors

Of Bodrum’s judge—a woman.

Oh, lady judge, beloved judge,

Whyever did you hang yourself?

Lyric to “Hakim Hanım” folksong (translated in A Turkish Odyssey)

Professor Oktay Fener slipped gratefully into clean clothes after his shower. Life at the archaeological dig near Iznik was delightful, though not always comfortable.

This trip was a special treat for Oktay because his daughter, Aytem, had accompanied him from their home on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. She was studying ceramics, just like her baba ciğim, as she affectionately called him. Daddy dear.

Also on the dig was Perihan Kıraz, an old friend. Oktay and Perihan had worked together for more than a quarter century, having attended university together and gone into the same field. Perihan was more of a female don than a woman who played up her attractions. Still, Oktay remembered moments of sexual tension with Perihan. Using a time-honored male approach, he had usually tried to ignore it, to pretend it didn’t exist. They’d never broken the bounds of discretion. He’d never even been tempted to do that.

Food at the tent was delicious: oval-shaped lamb köfte balls; crispy su boreği, the oven-baked pastry laced with white cheese and broad-leafed parsley. Rice pilav with bits of lamb liver and raisins.

Perihan, as always, had had a role in supervising the chef. They had found a few broken pieces of the old Iznik tiles today. Each glimpse of the vivid reds and blues and greens made his heart beat faster. It was a pleasure to wipe off the dust from each plate or vase. It was also a pleasure to work with his students on finding and preserving the nation’s treasures. Everyone knew about the jewels in Topkapı. About the great emerald in the Sultan’s belt featured in the old movie, Topkapi. Many fewer realized what intricate work the craftsmen of Iznik had wrought.

It was the usual case of foreign things being valued above the local. The Sultans had used this exquisite ceramic work for their everyday meals. The porcelain from China was for state occasions.

There was, of course, one problem with eating off the Iznik ceramics: lead was used in the glaze. Oktay Fener often wondered what role the lead had had in the streaks of insanity that flashed through the history of the Sultans and their families. Lead, added to inbreeding.

His next article would address that issue. Controversy again, he supposed. But someone had to expose the past.