Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 116, Nos. 3 & 4. Whole Nos. 709 & 710, September/October 2000

He made his way down the hillside, looking for Omar but still not seeing him. He came upon Sevret carrying two skewers of shish kebab, but he had not seen their companion either. “He’ll turn up at the end of this fight,” the cafe owner promised. “He must present his carpet to the winner.”

Rand headed over to the missing man’s limousine, but there was no sign of him there. Some scraps of kebab on the ground were the only evidence that anyone had passed this way recently. Behind him he heard a final cheer go up from the crowd and he knew the match must be over. He hurried down to the arena in time to see Omar Goncah lift the carpet off the fence and carry it to the winning owner, not Mehmet, as expected, but his rival, Jobar. Mehmet’s camel had bolted from the arena and had to be pursued by the handlers.

Omar said a few words in Turkish and handed over the carpet with great ceremony. That was when Rand realized that the police official, Captain Iznik, was at his elbow. “Mr. Rand, I wonder if you could help us,” he said quietly.

“What is it?”

“There’s been another murder.”

Leila saw him walking away at the officer’s side. She came running over and asked, “What is it now?”

“Go back with Omar,” he told her. “I’ll join you soon.”

Iznik led him around the back of the area where the buses were parked. Two of the officers stood guard over the body of a man slumped against the rear tire of a bus. One of the metal shish-kebab skewers had been plunged through his neck. “Do you know him?” the officer asked.

“No,” Rand answered honestly. “I don’t remember ever seeing him before.”

The dead man was middle-aged, wearing a plaid shirt and jacket. He seemed better groomed than the majority of the local farmers, and Rand wondered if he too had come from the city. “We found some identification on him. His name is Plato Berk, an official at the Greek consulate in Istanbul. You may remember the name. I mentioned him earlier as a friend of the man killed by the car bomb.”

“I remember.”

“But you didn’t meet him? At the inn or elsewhere?”

“No. I believe Mr. Sevret and his wife were expecting him, but he never arrived.”

“He arrived,” Iznik corrected, “and obviously his killer was aware of it.”

“I know nothing about the man,” Rand insisted. “Nor about the previous victim.”

“Yet both were attached to their governments’ consulates in Istanbul. I think we can assume the same person may have killed them, even though the method of murder was different in each case.”

“It’s a possibility,” Rand agreed, his mind racing.

“I do not consider your presence here to be a coincidence, Mr. Rand. Something brought these people together and you know what it was.”

“I know nothing. My wife and I came here at the invitation of Omar Goncah.”

“We have spoken to Mr. Goncah. A rug merchant, is he not?”

“No, actually he’s a—” The words froze in Rand’s throat. Suddenly it was all clear to him. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he said. “Something important’s come up!”

He walked quickly away as Captain Iznik called after him. “We’re not finished yet, Mr. Rand. Come back here!”

Rand broke into a run. Ahead he could see the spectators still milling about as the camels were being led off to their trucks. Leila was standing with Beth Sevret and he called to them. “Where’s Omar? Have you seen him since the last fight?”

“He went up to the car for something,” Beth replied.

“Stop running,” Leila ordered. “You’ll have a heart attack at your age!”

Rand slowed to a trot, feeling his heart racing. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Captain Iznik in pursuit at a slower pace. As soon as the limousine came into view, he saw Omar and their driver in conversation. The slender man smiled and spoke to Rand. “You’re just in time. I was speaking to Aytekin about starting back soon. It’s a long drive, but I hope we can make a brief stop at Troy so Leila can see it.”

Rand’s eyes were on the driver, and he saw a pistol snake out from under his coat. “My time is short,” the man said in broken English. “I want the chip.”

Omar’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe this.”

“You’ve killed two men for it already,” Rand told the driver. “That’s enough for one weekend.”

Aytekin saw Captain Iznik hurrying across the field toward them. He swung his weapon in that direction and Rand struck out at his arm, sending the shot wild. Then he and Omar both grabbed him as Iznik drew his own weapon.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Your killer,” Rand told him. “Aytekin set the bomb in Thadder’s car in Istanbul and skewered Plato Berk this afternoon.”

“What was his motive?”

“A computer chip. Want to tell us about it, Omar?”

Rand and Leila went back to Sevret’s inn after the police had finished. Omar came with them as they waited for a replacement driver to take them back to Istanbul. As was often the case, it fell to Rand to fill in the story’s missing pieces.