Page 30 of Everything That Kills Me
If he and Thomas were only there over the weekend, there was no opportunity to do much groundwork. Unless Thomas knew the buildings that would provide clear shots, shooting him seemed an unlikely option. The guy would be well protected. His business was weapons.
“He goes to the hamam every Saturday,” Jack said. “The same one every time. At the same time.”
“He does. And afterwards to Café Balat where he plays backgammon.”
“We went to that hamam last year.”
Thomas nodded.
“Was he a target then?”
“A possible one.”
“Did we see him there?”
“No. I avoided that possibility. What do you remember about the hamam?”
“Apart from what actually happened? The steam room, the painful massage, the bubble wash?”
“Anything else.”
“Some of the looks I got.”
“Ones that did not make me happy. A couple of the guys were far too interested in you.”
“I thought it was because of my hair. No one did anything wrong, though.”
“They might have if you’d given them the slightest encouragement. That particular hamam is popular with gays, though the owner would deny it andhasdenied it in online reviews. Sensible of him.”
“You think Kubat might be bi? He’s been married to a woman for twenty years. Three kids.”
“Possibly. He might just be an opportunist.”
But it gave Jack another angle. “So we go in with the same background.” He tried to not make it sound like a question. “Same passports. You’re sourcing a carpet for someone. I’m along for the ride.”
Thomas waited. Jack picked up no clues from his expression, but he couldn’t see a good reason for using new ID.
“I do it in the hamam. Poison his water bottle.” Jack swallowed hard.
“Why in the hamam and not the café? What poison?”
“More people in the café. I think it would be harder to do it unseen. I’d stand out. There were tourists in that hamam. Easier to blend in. The poison. Er… Fentanyl. Advantage is that not much is needed. Only a few grains and it’s hard to detect when ingested so I could slip it into his water bottle and he wouldn’t taste it.”
“But it can be detected in the blood hours later. Even longer than that in the hair.”
“So Tetrodotoxin is out then.”
“Where would you get pufferfish poison?”
“A pufferfish?”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “I’m not even going to address that.”
“You didn’t say it couldn’t look like murder.”
“That’s true. But being able to walk away without alarms blaring is useful. Even better if an autopsy doesn’t declare the death suspicious. Another suggestion?”
“Botulinum toxin. It can’t be absorbed through intact skin but the report says Kubat has eczema. If the toxin was in one the wash products…”
