Hello Ester (Evening, Day 8)

All my fears have come true, one by one. I wasn't wrong. There is somebody out there trying to drag me into a bloody plot. And somebody close to me, too. Someone who smiled at me and shook my hand and looked ready to help but who in actual fact was digging my grave. It was this afternoon that I finally grasped this terrible truth, when I walked into Cezmi's house and saw his lifeless body lying in a pool of blood. That's right, this afternoon…

I left the hotel late in the afternoon. Of course, before setting off, I looked around for anything usual and I kept my eyes open for any strange activity after I'd got into the carriage but there was nobody following me. That did not, of course, mean I could relax. When we arrived at his street in Langa Bostanları, I did not get out in front of his house. I paid the driver at the end of the street and then began walking back to the house once he had disappeared. If anybody had been following me, it would have been impossible for me not to notice on that dim, sunless one-way street. But there was still nobody there.

The garden gate was not closed but I didn't attach too much significance to it. Maybe Cezmi Bey had left it open. I walked beneath the fruit trees up to the front of his house. Silence reigned in the garden. Save for the faint chirping of some sparrows, there was not a sound to be heard. When I neared the house, I noticed that the divan we had sat on out front two days ago was unoccupied. Knowing he would not be one to sit inside on such a stiflingly hot day, I looked around but the old warhorse was nowhere to be seen. I called out to him but there was no answer so I walked over to the veranda and called out to him again. ‘Major Cezmi… Mister Cezmi, sir… Are you there?’ Not a sound. Seeing as the garden gate had been left open, perhaps he'd gone out and was signalling to me that he would be back soon?