Page 44 of Everything That Kills Me
“Not hairdresser,” Kubat said.
No, rather someone who was careless with lives of innocent people and supplied arms to those who shouldn’t have them.
Kubat was still chuckling when Thomas and the other guy came back.
After Thomas’s wash had finished, they were directed to another room for the massage. Jack tied his peshtemal around his hips, making sure to fold it over a couple of times before he picked up his towel and the shampoo, and followed Thomas.
“Okay?” Thomas whispered.
“Yes.” Jack looked around, then took the syringe from the shampoo bottle and slipped it into the fold at the top of his wrap.
“I’ve not seen this room before.” Thomas put his towel down. “He delayed me coming back. What happened?”
“He washed my hair.”
Thomas’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I’m going to offer to return the favour with a massage.”
“I think he wants to give you a different type of massage.” Thomastskedin distaste.
No point in that, Kubat’s desire for Jack was the opening he needed.
They lay on the slabs facing each other.
“You need to go out again,” Jack said.
“I suspect all I’ll need to do is let myself be persuaded.”
No attendants came in until Kubat and the other man entered.
Kubat said something in Turkish that Jack didn’t get, then spoke in English. “Only two attendants free. They can do your father and Rafa first. You come and talk to me.”
Jack sat next to him on a marble seat at the side of the room.
“You go to school in England?”
“Yes. We just moved house so it’s a new school for me.”
“I wonder about sending my children to school in England.”
“The schools are fine. The weather is awful.”
Kubat laughed again. “You like our weather better?”
“Much.”
Jack did his best to maintain eye contact as they talked about school.
“How long are you here?”
“Only the weekend. My father needed to buy a carpet for a client.”
Kubat asked him where it had been bought, how much they’d paid and Jack told the truth. It was safer. There was no problem in it being checked. It was a worry that Rafa heard the details because there was no plan to kill him too, but maybeThomas would have other ideas. Still, if all went well, neither he nor Thomas would be under suspicion over Kubat’s death.
When Kubat’s thigh pressed against his, Jack didn’t move away.
“You have a boyfriend?” Kubat whispered.
