over to the café. Her father was away. She came outside and walked with me to my hotel.

“I’m not going up to your room,” she said. “If my father caught me in your room, he’d slice you to ribbons. He doesn’t trust you.”

“Me? What have I done to deserve such suspicion?”

“Nothing. You’re Korean, that’s all, and he has bad memories of your country. You remind him of the war. He’s been very strange since you showed up.”

“The war was a long time ago.”

“My father says time is merde.” She smiled faintly. “Whatever that means. I try not to listen to everything he says. He doesn’t like me speaking to men, by the way.”

“What if I just nod my head?”

“Be serious. You aren’t going to be here forever.”

Such a pretty girl, such an ominous line of thought. It was unnerving. “I suppose not,” I said.

“What I mean is, you won’t be in Geneva forever. People show up and then fly away. It happens all the time. We need to take advantage of the time we have.”

I thought so, too, though the image of my body cut to ribbons was something of a brake.

“Let’s meet tonight at the Crazy Swan. It’s a club. My father won’t know anything about it. He doesn’t even know where it is. The music is loud and the dance floor is so packed, you can barely move. Some people dance naked once in a while. It will be fun.”

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Still, I made sure to smile.

“What? Don’t you want to be with me? My father’s away until tomorrow afternoon. That means tonight is free. Carpe diem, Inspector, don’t you think?”

I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know how to dance. “Yes,” I said, “it will be fun.”

I barely got back to the meeting room on time. The other side invited us to dinner that night. The idea of sitting and discussing where socks go instead of writhing with young bodies—some of them not wearing socks, if Dilara was to be trusted—did not appeal to me. Fortunately, fate stepped in. During a break, the delegation leader took me aside. “You slipped,” he said. “You spoke English to one of them. They think they can sink their teeth into you. It probably isn’t a good idea for you to be at the dinner tonight. What do you think?”

What did I think? He wanted to know what I thought? I thought the image of them as wolves pulling me down and gnawing on my throat was overdrawn. “I really think I should go to the dinner. It’s important that I be there. In fact, it’s critical that I be there. But if you advise against it, I have to consider that seriously.” I paused long enough for serious consideration. “Please pass my regrets, won’t you?”

That night, when I reached the club, there was a line at the door. “Good evening, monsieur,” the doorman said. “Do you have a ticket?” He asked in French, and when I didn’t respond, he repeated the question in English.

“Ticket? I’m meeting someone here.” Dilara hadn’t mentioned anything about a ticket. “Maybe she’s inside. I’ll just go in and look.”

“No, pal, I don’t think so.” Given how big his hands were, they were surprisingly gentle on my neck. “We’ll just wait over here, and maybe your friend will come out looking for you, eh?”

Jenö emerged from the club. “What are you doing here?” He looked over his shoulder into the noise and the lights beyond the door. “You’re not here with Dilara, I hope. Ahmet will cut you to ribbons if he finds out. That isn’t a bread knife he carries around. It’s his Turkish army knife, the one he carried in the war. The last boyfriend she had was Lebanese. He disappeared.”

The doorman chimed in. “He said he was waiting for a friend. Are you his friend, boss?”

Jenö shook his head. “He’s not waiting for anyone. He’s leaving. If he shows up again, Rudi, kick his tush down the street.” Rudi nodded and stepped back inside the door.

“You give the orders around here?” I rubbed my neck where Rudi had given me a final squeeze. “You act like you own the place.”

“I do. That’s why Ahmet lets his sweet flower of a daughter keep coming here. We keep an eye on her.”

“He knows she comes here?” Dilara had been very definite that it was a secret she kept from her father.

“Ahmet knows everything his daughter does, everyone she