“I understand why they stole the box. But my clothes?”
The empty locker in the yacht club’s elegant lounge mocked my loss.
“There was an Alaïa tote, extra clothes, make-up,” I told Consuela. “I loved that tote.”
Consuela rolled her eyes. She didn’t need clothes, and thought I spent too much time deciding what to wear. Time that could be better spent doting on her. Nor did she understand my love of handbags. Not when I could carry her instead.
With a final heart-broken glance inside the empty locker, I closed the door. “We might as well go.”
Yip. Get over it. Alaïa will give you another tote, and this gives you an excuse to shop.
Consuela had found the silver lining. Rather than drag my feet, I walked to the dock with a spring in my step.
Thor waited on the boat. He’d paid an attendant to top off the tank and was ready to go. “Where’s your bag?”
“Gone.” The outrage I was feeling seeped into my voice.
“Why would they take your clothes?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Squaring his shoulders, Thor said, “I suppose you’ll want to replace them.” He spoke with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man.
Consuela snickered.
He tunneled his fingers through his hair. “Which way are they headed?”
The stolen box appeared as a red dot on my screen. “East.”
“What’s east of here?”
I expanded the map and followed the dot’s trajectory. “Izmir.”
“Turkey? First the guy at Dimitriou’s, now Izmir. Why Turkey?”
No answer sprung to mind. I picked up Consuela and settled her on my lap. She gave my phone a quick glance, then leapt to the deck.
The boat’s engine roared to life, and Consuela trotted over to the captain’s chair.
Yip. Pick me up.
“I’m forgiven?” Thor asked.
Yip. You will be, if you let me steer.
Thor grinned and lifted her onto his lap.
Consuela tossed her head, flashed him a grin, and rested her paws on the wheel. Yip. You’re not so bad.
I concentrated on following the dot.
“You’ll lose service soon,” Thor warned. “No cell towers at sea.”
“I guess we head for Turkey. Have you ever been?”
“Once.” He didn’t sound excited about a second visit.
“Are you welcome to go back?”
“As far as I know.”
“What’s it like?”
“Imagine Europe run by secular Muslims.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll hear the call to prayer, but we can go dancing at a nightclub.”
“What else?”
“Turks have a reputation for being fierce fighters.”
“Good to know.” While I still had cell service, I looked up Turkey. According to the internet, the country’s population was just shy of 85 million. It was a popular tourist destination, and its largest city was Istanbul.
All I knew about Istanbul, I’d learned from James Bond movies. The city straddled the Bosporus Strait. According to my phone, the strait was the only way for Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Ukraine, and the southwestern part of Russia to reach the Mediterranean Sea. Sort of. Ships from those countries passed through the Bosporus Strait to the Sea of Marmara. From there, they passed through the Dardanelles to reach the Med.
I looked up from my reading. “I’m surprised Russia invaded Ukraine and not Turkey.”
“It’s those fierce fighters.”
I stretched my legs and let the wind tug strands of hair from my ponytail.
When we lost sight of land, I lost my cell signal, and the dot froze in the water to the east of us. We’d have to hope the box was on its way to Izmir.
“How far?” I asked.
“A couple of hours.”
“Can this boat go faster?” The thieves could be pawing through my lingerie as we spoke.
“I don’t want to run out of fuel.”
I’d done the run-out-of-gas-at-sea thing and didn’t recommend it. “Fair enough.” I leaned my head back and let my mind drift. “I wonder why they didn’t open the box.”
“Combination?” Thor made a fair point.
“I suppose.” I pursed my lips and squinted into the sun. “It seems stupid to steal the box without making sure what they wanted was inside.”
“Most bad guys are stupid.”
I’d met plenty of smart villains, but I didn’t argue the point. Whoever had stolen the box made a huge mistake. Were we making an equally huge mistake by following them? “Are we doing the right thing? Going after the thieves, I mean.”
“When they realize they stole an empty box, they’ll come looking for the contents. They’ll come looking for you.”
Thor was right, but I couldn’t help thinking we’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
Not that there was an actual fire. Yurgi’s boat sliced effortlessly through the waves.
When I spotted land, I checked my phone. “They turned. They’re headed south.”
“Where?”
“Cyprus?” It was a guess. It was also south of Turkey.
Thor nodded and turned the wheel.
“I’ve never been to Cyprus.”
“Island nation. Lots of history.”
I stared at the screen. “Never mind.”
“What?”
“They’re hugging the coast.”
“Lots of resort cities.”
“Thank heavens.”
Thor lifted a brow.
“My clothes. I need to replace them.”
Thor’s sunglasses hid his eyes, but I’d bet they’d filled with dread. He found my slight shopping addiction inexplicable and dull. “We should focus on the box.”
I shaded my face with my hand. “I’ve been thinking about that box.”
“What about it?”
“How did the thief know they’d find it at the yacht club? As far as I know, we weren’t tagged on social media. I’ll check.” I did a quick search. “Nope, nothing that would link us with the yacht club.”
Thor’s lips thinned as he considered the implications. “There’s another tracker in the box.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But who put it there?”
“Yurgi, or one of his cronies.”
“So, one of them stole it? Why? And why now? They could have grabbed it from the island.”
“Could be they tried.”
I scraped loose strands of hair away from my face. “One of Yurgi’s friends sent the hit squad?”
“Possibly.”
“What are the other options?”
“Whoever stole the box is not associated with the men we encountered at Dimitriou’s.”
I turned that over in my mind. “They went there to kill him?”
“A professional hitman wouldn’t rip up cushions or trash the rooftop. Whoever was there was looking for the box.”
“Presumably, Yurgi’s cronies had access to the tracker. They knew the box wasn’t there.”
Thor gave a quick nod. “Agreed.”
I laced my fingers together and my hands against my lips. “The man at the house spoke Turkish.”
“Yes.”
“And we’re headed toward Turkey.”
“Yes.”
“Quite the coincidence.” I didn’t believe in coincidences.
The boat cut through turquoise water as we hugged the rugged coastline. We passed towns where white houses topped with red tile roofs climbed into the hills. We passed resorts with sandy beaches dotted with colorful umbrellas. We passed large yachts and fishing boats. Through it all, the red dot kept moving. “It stopped. I think the box is on land.”
“Where?”
“Mersin,” I replied.
“Whew. I worried they might be headed to Syria or Lebanon.”
“And?”
He flashed me a grin. “You’ll prefer the shopping in Turkey.” His gaze returned to the water ahead of us. “How far is it?”
“Not far.”
Yip. Find a marina.
Following Consuela’s directions, I looked up marinas in Mersin. “Hallelujah.”
“What?”
“There’s luxury shopping at the marina.”
“Poppy—”
“I need clean underwear.” And fresh clothes. And an extra pair of shoes. And replacement make-up.
“Have you ever visited a city without shopping?”
Why would I do that? “I’m contributing to the local economy.”
Thor snorted.
So did Consuela.
I ignored them both.
Mersin, from the water, looked like a white city. The buildings that weren’t white were colored in soft pinks and yellows.
I studied the shoreline, “It’s pretty.”
Thor steered us into the marina.
“There.” I pointed at a stone building.
“What?”
“Luxury department store.”
He raised his brows above the rims of his sunglasses. “You can tell from here?”
“Can’t you?”
“We need to follow the box.”
I glanced at my phone. “The box hasn’t moved in the past twenty minutes.”
“Where is it?”
I Googled the address “A hotel.” Maybe the thief was as tired as I was. “I’ll get us reservations.”
I tapped at my screen until I had a suite reserved.
When I looked up, I discovered Thor smirking at me. “What?”
“You booked us a suite, didn’t you?”
Rather than answer, I pointed at the building I was sure housed a luxury department store. “Look. Beymen. We’ll need to stop there before we go to the hotel.”
Thor knew better than to argue. That, or I’d worn him down. “Fine.”
Twenty minutes later, I entered my first Turkish store. There were designers I recognized and those that I didn’t. I gravitated toward the unknown. A delicate dress from Maria Lucia Hohan. A daring mini-dress from Alex Perry. A maxi-dress from Maison Kairos. I took them all into a large dressing room with a flattering three-way mirror and a fauteuil covered in black and white striped silk.
“Pretty room.”
Consuela yawned.
“I’ve been thinking,” I told her. “I shouldn’t be caring this stuff around.”
She followed my gaze to the vent, that I could just reach if I stood on the chair.
Yip. Not your worst idea.
I bought three dresses, wide-leg linen pants, a couple of silk t-shirts, an embroidered tunic, sneakers and a pair of nude heels I could wear with the dresses, extra sunglasses, a floppy hat, lingerie, a silk nightgown, and a pet kit that included water and food bowls, piddle pads, and a leash.
Then, I replaced my stolen makeup. “I hope whoever stole my stuff is in terrible trouble with their boss,” I whispered into Consuela’s ear. Together, we watched the saleswoman tally my purchases.
Yip. The big guy expects the goods, but all he’s getting is an old gun.
Big Guy? Goods? Consuela sounded like a gangster from a noir film. Next, she’d be calling me a dame and yipping about picking lead out of someone’s liver.
“Could be he hasn’t opened it. Or maybe it’s a she. The box did disappear from the ladies’ lounge.”
Yip. I bet you’re right. The poor dame doesn’t know you still have the contents.
I glanced over my shoulder at the escalator that led to the women’s designers and a large dressing room.
The saleswoman presented me with a receipt, which I signed. “Thank you.”
Yip. Someone will be ticked. They’ll beat the dame’s teeth out, then kick her in the stomach for mumbling.
“You’ve been watching too much late-night television,” I told my dog.
Yip. That’s a dangerous road you’re walking, sister. Never you mind about my viewing habits.
I wasn’t about to argue with her.
Together, we passed through Beymen’s double glass doors and paused in the shade of a palm tree, where I put on the floppy hat I’d just bought. Thus disguised, I surveyed my surroundings. Manicured grass, elegant benches, gorgeous flower beds, and the sharp smell of the sea mixed with petrol, the flowers’ fragrance and grilling meat.
My stomach rumbled.
Consuela’s nose twitched.
I shifted my attention to Thor, who’d skipped shopping. He strode toward us with his duffel slung over his shoulder and two cups of coffee in his hands. Around him, women stopped and stared.
He gave me a coffee and claimed half my shopping bags. “I’ve been thinking, only five men know what’s in the box.”
“My guess is higher than that.”
He nodded. Did he agree or was he humoring me? “Since we’re in Turkey, my money is on Köse. I think his people took the box from the yacht club.”
“Is Köse a Turkish name?” I asked.
“It is.” He adjusted the shopping bags hanging from his arm. “Where is the hotel?”
I told him, and he handed me his coffee, then swiped at his phone.
“Uber?”
“Not in Turkey. BiTaksi.”
“No Uber?” It boggled the mind.
“Only in Istanbul.” He looked up from his phone. “The taxi is only a few minutes away.”
Thor led me past interesting, the-taxi’s-on-its-way-no-time-to-window-shop stores, and I refrained from pouting. Barely. A good boutique might soften the memory of the six bodies we’d left in Greece.
We climbed into the taxi, and the driver took us to a high-rise hotel about a mile from the marina.
The lobby was unrelentingly white. White marble floors, white walls, white ceiling, white fixtures in the shape of urns. It made the dark wood of the check-in desk look like a bottomless hole.
“This has all the charms of a hospital ward,” I whispered.
“You picked the hotel.”
“Whoever has the box picked the hotel.”
“Can you tell which floor they’re on?”
“No. We’ll have to walk them all. Let’s check in and get something to eat first.” I was hungry. Starving.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you don’t want the box.”
“Did you ever play hot potato when you were a kid?”
“No.”
“The players sit in a circle and pass around a bean bag while music plays in the background. If you’re holding the bag when the music stops, you’re out. There’s even a song. Hot potato, hot potato.”
Thor stared at me, then a slow grin lifted his lips.
“I know I can’t sing. My point is I’d prefer not to have the hot potato, in this case the box, when the music stops.” I adjusted my grip on one of the shopping bags. “I know we’ll have to take it back, but I have a bad feeling…” It was hard to explain the constant chill between my shoulder blades.
“You, too?” He rubbed his chin. “Let’s figure out where it is, then make a decision.”
“Can we eat first?”
Yip. What Poppy said.
We checked in and rode the elevator to the top floor.
Fortunately, our suite wasn’t as white as the lobby. The walls and carper were tan, the furniture was dark, and the view was spectacular.
I leaned against the window and stared out at the azure sea.
“Poppy?”
I tore my gaze away from the view and glanced at my phone. “That solves that.”
“What?”
I crossed the room, sank onto the queen bed made up with crisp white linens, and pointed. “The box is on the other side of that wall.”