Excuse Me, Sir
The First and Last Conversation between the Murderer and his Victim

When, in full view of Ka and Ipek, the tiny man in the New Life Pastry Shop shot him in the head and the chest, the director of the education Institute was wearing a concealed tape-recorder. The device- an imported Grundig- had been secured to his chest with duct tape by the diligent agents of the Kars branch of MIT, the national intelligence agency. The director had received a number of threats after barring covered girls from classes. When the agents who keep track of fundamentalist activities confirmed that these threats were serious, the Kars branch decided it was time to offer the potential victim some protection. But the director did not wish to have an agent trailing after him like an elephant. Although he identified himself with the secular political camp, he believed in fate just as much as any other religious man did. He preferred to record the death threats, with a view to having the guilty parties arrested later. He had stepped into the New Life Pastry Shop on a whim, to have one of those walnut-filled crescent rolls he loved so much. When he saw a stranger approach, he switched on the tape-recorder, as now his pratice in all such situations. The device took two bullets - not enough to save his life-but the tape survived intact. Years later, I was able to acquire a transcript from the director's window (her eyes still not dry) and his daughter, who by then had become a famous model.

'Hello, sir. Do you recognise me?'/ 'No, I'm afraid I don't.'/ 'That's what I thought you'd say, sir. Because we haven't ever met. I did try to come and see you last night and then again this morning. Yesterday the police turned me away from the school doors. This morning I managed to get inside but your secretary wouldn't let me see you. I wanted to catch you before you went into class. That's when you saw me. Do you remember me now, sir?'/ 'No, I don't.'/...