The Eye Witness

Chapter - 12

Prison wasn't kind to Aptekin. He didn't have all the luxuries that he wanted and felt that he deserved. He didn't belong there, so what if he had killed Cenk, he was worthless. No, he did the world a favor. He was an important man, he would have stayed an important man if not for Kemal Ozcan all those years ago. The entire Bolat family needed to pay for what they were doing to him. He should have finished off Aydan years ago, her and the brat. He would get even, oh yes, he would make them pay.

Engin was very satisfied with dinner, he had managed to sit next to Pyril and hadn't committed any major errors. She had laughed at his jokes too, yes, Engin was very satisfied with his progress. Maybe if he asked her out she would say yes. What surprised Engin the most though was Ferit. If Engin didn't know any better he would have thought that Ferit had a twin stashed somewhere. Ferit was charming. There, he said it to himself, yes, Ferit was charming.

Pyril had known Ferit Simsek for the better part of six years. They had known each other before joining the Medical Examiners staff. Never had she ever seen this side of him. The Ferit she knew was shy, painfully shy, around women. It took him almost three months before he would have a conversation with her. She looked across the table at Ferit chatting away with Ceren Basar as though he had known her his whole life. She really didn't understand what was going on. Maybe there was something in the water. Even Engin was on his best behavior. Definitely the water.

Ferit knew that Ceren Basar was out of his league but for some reason she seemed to want to talk to him, she was interested in what he had to say.

"Why did you decide to give up practicing medicine in a clinical setting to become a medical examiner? Did you not find a specialty that called to you or did fighting crime appeal to you more?"

Ferit smiled at that, fighting crime, he couldn't tell her that dead people were easier than live ones or could he? "Well you don't get anyone second guessing your diagnosis when they get to you. Truthfully though I had been in a surgical practice and I didn't feel fulfilled, when one of the doctors in the practice was accused of malpractice I volunteered to do research on the case. I found the research more interesting and eventually found my way to the medical examiners."

"What happened to the doctor accused of malpractice? Was he guilty?"

"Him? Oh yes, he was guilty, the rest of the practice thought that I should cover it up but I wasn't going to. Things were a bit uncomfortable for a while. I knew Pyril and she encouraged me to apply here and the rest is history."

"Fascinating. Pyril? How did you end up as a medical examiner?"

Pyril was surprised that Ceren included her in the conversation, "I always wanted to be a doctor but there are a lot of policemen in my family, it's kind of a happy medium for me."

"That's why Pyril knows so many of the patrolmen at the crime scenes, it seems like half of them are related to her in some way," said Ferit.

Engin's eyebrows raised, and here he thought that she was always flirting. Ceren gave him a head nod that said 'see, you jumped to conclusions'. Engin would have liked for dinner to continue indefinitely but Ceren had given a delicate yawn.

"My apologies, I've been up since 5:00 and I have to be back at the hospital tomorrow early again. I really enjoyed dinner and learned so much from both of you. One of these days when I have a day off," Ceren was looking at her phone, "I think this weekend actually, maybe you would like to come to my place for a cook out? Engin? I can have Eda ask Detective Bolat and have Melo bring Officer Karadag along. Just relax and have fun, what do you say?"

It was hard to say no to her, even Ferit said he would be happy to come. "Great, we can plan on that then, I'll let you all know the time."

They all headed out to the parking lot saying their goodbyes, Pyril left right after Ceren. Engin turned to Ferit, "So what gives Ferit? I've never seen you so chatty before. Do I have to take you in for a drug test?"