An Evil Eye

100

The search for Hyacinth had not begun in earnest until after midnight, when the other eunuchs protested at his absence from prayers. Confusion reigned over where the old eunuch was likely to have gone; so it was not until the small hours that a proper search had been instituted by the corporal of the halberdiers.

Off-duty men had been roused from their sleep to join the search, and to confirm that Hyacinth had not left the harem earlier in the day. They looked first in the cavernous kitchens of the palace, built, like the Court of the Favorites and the pool, by the great Sinan, and then in the harem mosque. The harem was a warren of corridors and courts and little rooms, and the search party proceeded only slowly, and with many delays, as women were roused and questioned through half-open doors, and empty rooms were opened and inspected.

The harem had been home to many hundreds of women, eunuchs, and children, and over the centuries it had grown higgledy-piggledy over several levels, as rooms were extended or partitioned, demolished and rebuilt. The search party had stuck together, holding flaming torches, as they climbed and descended and followed corridors through suites of chambers and courts and little gardens. At first they had called to Hyacinth by name, but after an hour or two they had grown more quiet, alarmed by the echo of their own voices and by an increasing dread of summoning the departed. For everyone by then was already sure he was dead.

They had searched the Court of the Favorites at least twice in the night; but the light cast by their torches did not reach the pool beneath the balustrade, so it was not until dawn that someone first noticed a dark shape on the tiles below. The keys to the bathing pool were sought and produced, and at last, after the hour of the morning prayer, three halberdiers pried the body of the old eunuch off the pool floor with a peculiar sucking sound that drove several onlookers from the balustrade above.

The corporal told Yashim it was clear from the amount of snow that covered him, and from the state of rigor, that the old man had been dead for quite some time.

They had lowered him onto a sheet and brought him to the deserted hospital quarters upstairs.

Yashim pulled back a sheet to examine the body. There was little else to be learned. The old eunuch had probably died instantly when he hit the tiles. His limbs, Yashim noticed, were beginning to thaw, but he lay still with his arms outstretched over his head, as if warding off some final blow; or in a parody of waking.

Yashim spent a little more time examining the floor of the pool before he ordered the blood to be washed away. Upstairs, he stood by the balustrade, piecing together in his mind the circumstances of Hyacinth’s fatal fall. Finally, he took a stiff broom from one of the halberdiers and swept at the ice and slush that covered the courtyard, peering down now and then to see if anything turned up. He found a small coin and a tiny bead of green glass; but otherwise nothing.

“And the yard was covered in snow and ice yesterday?”

“It fell heavily yesterday morning, efendi,” the corporal explained.

“And was not swept? There’s salt here, at least.”

“We salted the open courts the night before, efendi. When it looked like snow.”

“But nobody swept here yesterday?”

The corporal hesitated. “No, efendi. The order was not given.”

“And tell me, corporal, who gives the orders to sweep the courts?”

“That would be the late lala Hyacinth, efendi. Indeed, I told the men yesterday to have the brooms ready, in expectation of his order. I suppose-” He hesitated again. “Forgive me, efendi, but it seems to me that he may have been inspecting the condition of the ground when he slipped.”

“Thank you, corporal. I’d like to speak with the eunuchs now.”

There were six of them, all old men like Hyacinth, sitting glumly around a brazier in the first room of the eunuchs’ quarters, up by the gate to the Second Court of the palace.

“Yesterday, gentlemen, Hyacinth ate with you at the midday meal?”

They tried to remember, their eyes full of concern, nodding dumbly.

“It was the last time we saw him, Yashim,” one of them volunteered in his quavery, fluting voice.

Yashim coughed gently. “And what did he talk about? Can you remember?”

The old men blinked at one another, and at the ground.

“About the snow? Did you talk about the weather?” Perhaps the corporal was right, and Hyacinth had been inspecting the condition of the courts. He could have gone to the balustrade, and slipped.

“The cold weather,” one of the men said, nodding. “He never liked it, Yashim efendi.”

“No. But did he say the ground needed to be swept?” Normally Yashim would have avoided such a direct question; but the old men’s memories needed jogging. “Did he mean to look?”

“I don’t know, Yashim efendi,” one of the eunuchs replied, with a faint shrug. “But I don’t think that’s why he expected you to visit.”

“Me to visit? Why?”

The old man shook his head. “He didn’t say, Yashim efendi. But perhaps it was about the girl?”

“Melda? What was the matter?”

The elderly man cracked his long knuckles and looked unhappy. “She hasn’t been doing very well,” he said.

“She’s been sick,” another man added. “And Hyacinth lala was concerned. That’s right. He wanted to talk to you.”

“And he said I was coming? To see him here?”

The old men exchanged glances. “I thought that’s what he said,” the first ventured.

“Do you remember?” He appealed to the others, who considered.

“That’s right,” one of them said finally. “He said you were coming later on, and he’d be glad to see you.”

Yashim nodded and bit his lip. “Has the valide been informed?”

The eunuchs glanced at one another. They’re rudderless, Yashim thought. All their lives they have deferred to others, to a Kislar aga, to Hyacinth, to the valide. But the valide had grown old, and the Kislar aga was no longer there.

And Hyacinth was suddenly gone.

“I take it none of you have spoken to her yet.” It was a statement, not a question. The eunuchs looked sorrowful, and faintly relieved. “I’ll tell her myself,” Yashim added.

The old men thought that would be best. Yashim left them all nodding solemnly and stroking their beardless faces, and went to find the valide.