Death in Damascus: A 1920s Murder Mystery with Heathcliff Lennox

by Karen Baugh Menuhin

  I must have been forgiven because she tightened her fingers around mine.

  Genevieve laughed. ‘Oh quite! Ancient stones and bones are absolutely my favourite! Isn’t that so, Auntie M?’

  Lady Maitland gave the faintest of haughty nods.

  Swift took a turn. ‘May I introduce myself? I am Detective Chief Inspector Swift.’ He paused and I waited to hear what came next. ‘Of Scotland Yard.’

  I hid a grin.

  The German was seated at the other end of the table. He stood up, made a sharp bow and clicked his heels. ‘My true title is Baron Wilhelm Grunberg. But I am now a movie star and you may call me Dick Dreadnaught.’

  ‘Ohhhh, Dick Dreadnaught,’ Genevieve sighed, her Aunt snapped a frown.

  The sergeant returned, marched up to the table and stiffened to attention. ‘Monsieur ‘Arry Bing. You follow with me now.’

  ‘No,’ Bing answered back.

  The sergeant slapped his hand on his gun holster.

  Bing shrugged. ‘Oh, if you insist.’

  We watched as he staggered to his feet and wobbled off ahead of the Frenchman. It was proving to be the most peculiar dinner I’d ever attended and nobody seemed to be in the least distressed about the cold-blooded murder of Josephine Belvoir.

  Chapter 6

  ‘He must have done it!’ Genevieve declared.

  ‘Nonsense,’ Persi snapped, then composed herself. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound sharp, but I really don’t think he would. He has a good heart.’

  ‘When he’s sober,’ Vincent cut in.

  ‘Even when he’s not sober,’ Persi retorted with a flash of her eyes.

  I’d forgotten how fearless she was and smiled at her, but she wasn’t looking at me, she’d fixed a fierce stare at Vincent, who was squaring up for a fight.

  ‘Pappie,’ Mrs Vincent quelled him with a word.

  ‘Well, you’re a policeman, Inspector Swift?’ Genevieve turned toward him. ‘Who do you think it was?’

  ‘I don’t have the facts, Miss Hamilton.’

  ‘Oh, do call me Genevieve!’

  ‘Yes, erm Genevieve,’ he replied, the sharp angles of his face accentuated in the candlelight. ‘I would like to hear about the events leading up to the murder.’

  Their faces sobered at the mention of the word ‘murder’. Fortunately, a waiter appeared and refilled our glasses.

  Swift sent a hawkish glance around the table. ‘Mrs Vincent, perhaps you could help?’

  ‘Mammie. Please call me Mammie, dear.’ She smiled warmly. ‘I will tell you whatever I can remember. Wellll…’ she lengthened the word. ‘The gun we were using went missing a few days ago. It was a big one, wasn’t it, Pappie?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Vincent replied. ‘Colt 45 automatic. I wanted somethin’ big enough to be seen by the camera, but that could be hidden under a coat. Some jerk stole it.’

  His accent was rough, loud and unpleasant. He was a belligerent blighter and I had taken an instant dislike to the man.

  Swift had withdrawn his notebook from his jacket pocket and was now poised with pen. ‘When did you notice that the Colt had gone missing?’

  ‘I think maybe it was two days ago,’ Mammie replied, with a crease between her plump brows. ‘It was in our equipment room, which is next to our suite on the second floor.’ Her southern accent grew more pronounced.

  ‘Was it locked away?’ Swift asked.

  ‘Yes, most of the time. But whenever we’re filming there’s always someone running in and out,’ Mammie replied. ‘We’re such busy bees here. No-one knows where anything ever is.’ She gave a small trill of laughter.

  ‘Were you filming on the day it went missing?’ Swift questioned as he wrote.

  ‘Oh my. Yes, we were. It was the romantic scene where Beryl – that was poor Josephine of course…’ She paused, confusion suddenly crossing her face, then shook herself and continued. ‘It was when Beryl realises she loves Sheik Omar and must cut all ties with her affianced British Lord. We managed to get the scene in the can in only six takes.’ She clapped her hands together as though this were marvellous news.

  ‘I play Sheik Omar,’ Dreadnaught put in, then went back to looking bored.

  ‘Harry played the rejected fiancé,’ Persi said. ‘It’s a tragic tale of forbidden love, you see.’

  ‘Right.’ I nodded, thinking these movies sounded utterly tedious. ‘Were you involved in this ‘taking of scenes’, Persi?’

  She didn’t answer as we were interrupted by Hamid, followed by another file of waiters laden with trays. Succulent titbits on gilt-edged dishes were placed in front of us. There were delicate pastries and brightly coloured vegetables in a cream sauce and various whatnots. I had no idea what they were, but they were delicious.

  Persi smiled at me, wiping her fingers on a napkin. ‘Mammie asked me if I’d like to help behind the scenes and I jumped at it. I had been kicking my heels around here, hoping for news and becoming rather despondent.’

  Mammie joined in. ‘And the dear girl has been adorable. Our supporting actress became ill and we had to send her home last week. And now we’ve lost Josephine, too. It is a blessing we have almost finished, or the whole movie would have to be cancelled.’

  Swift and I stared at her for a moment but she seemed oblivious to the callousness of the remark.

  ‘But there are not any more ladies now,’ Dreadnaught complained. ‘We will need ladies to make more movies.’

  ‘Plenty of pretty girls around,’ Vincent smirked. ‘I can take any one of them and make them a movie star. Wanna be a movie star?’ He leaned in the direction of Genevieve with a barely disguised leer.

  ‘She most certainly does not,’ Lady Maitland instantly retorted.

  Genevieve opened her mouth to object but was quelled by a fierce glare from her aunt.

  ‘What about you, blondie?’ Vincent turned toward Persi.

  I was watching Mammie Vincent, she had pursed her lips when her husband propositioned Genevieve but now she turned to Persi.

  ‘Oh, do say yes, dear, I think you would be quite divine. I was saying it only this morning to Pappie.’

  ‘I… I…’ Persi stuttered to a halt, with a look of surprise on her lovely face.

  ‘Can we please stick to the subject?’ Swift asked. ‘How did the previous gun go missing?’

  ‘It was simple,’ Dreadnaught said. ‘Someone entered the room and stole the gun. You must listen. This is not difficult to understand.’

  A frown flitted across Swift’s face then he wrote a rapid note before returning to the fray. ‘What happened today?’

  Another round of waiters arrived to exchange the dishes for plates of succulent lamb cutlets accompanied by something like ground rice with sultanas and spices in. I must say the food here was far better than I’d expected. I’d have to get Greggs to ask for the recipe.

  ‘Vincent supplied the new gun,’ Dreadnaught answered.

  We looked down the table to Vincent who was picking his teeth with his nails. ‘It was in the props box. I ain’t noticed it before, but that don’t mean nothing. We got spares for everything here and there’s two warehouses full back in the States. I got more stuff than I know what to do with.’

  ‘Yes, and…’ Persi began but Swift held up his hand to stop her.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’d like to hear it from someone else please,’ he told her, then carried on note-taking.

  I frowned at him as a blush rose to her cheeks.

  Genevieve spoke up. ‘I saw it all. It was fascinating. I wanted to watch how they made the movie. Rehearsals began around ten this morning. Harry Bing shot Josephine and she fell down, then he pretended to shoot himself. This was the action, you see. They rehearsed it over and over. The bullets were obviously blanks or Josephine would have been killed earlier.’ She ended with a nervous giggle.
r />   Mammie added, ‘We were all present. It was the ‘grande finale’ of the movie, so everyone wanted to watch.’

  ‘I assume Bing pretended the shot to the temple because of the deafening noise?’ Swift was making careful notes as people spoke.

  ‘And the risk of powder burns,’ Mammie answered. ‘Pappie angled the camera so that Harry only appeared to shoot himself.’ She laughed lightly. ‘We wouldn’t want dear Harry to be harmed by powder burns.’

  ‘Where is your cameraman?’ I asked, wondering where he’d disappeared to.

  ‘That’s Bruce,’ Vincent cut in. ‘He took off with the camera as soon as he saw what was happening. He’s no fool, he’ll be hiding out somewhere.’

  ‘He never leaves the camera alone for one minute,’ Mammie said. ‘There’s only one and we simply cannot make movies without it.’

  I wondered why they only had one but I’d heard such equipment was extraordinarily expensive, so imagined that to be the reason.

  ‘But why use blanks at all?’ Swift asked. ‘It’s a silent film.’

  ‘Gun smoke,’ Vincent replied. ‘The audience loves to see the action and there’s always gun smoke. Got to show the action, they want their ten cents worth.’ He laughed harshly.

  The door banged open and Harry Bing was brought back into the room by a couple of gendarmes. We paused, expecting them to take someone else but they went off alone. Bing grinned at everyone and downed the glass of wine in front of him, which was instantly refilled by a hovering waiter.

  Swift asked, ’Where was the gun kept during these rehearsals?’

  ‘What gun?’ Harry Bing swayed in his seat.

  Genevieve ignored him and turned back to Swift. ‘Harry left it on the wall of the fountain just as lunch was being served. I noticed it was there when Auntie M and I went by on the way to the terrace.’

  ‘Where was Bing?’ Swift asked.

  ‘Takin’ his lunch at the bar,’ Vincent cut in. ‘And you ain’t doing no more movies with me unless you sober up, Bing.’

  Bing laughed, which probably didn’t help his career prospects.

  Mammie smiled and leaned forward, her plump cheeks pink from the wine. ‘Pappie picked up the gun and took it to our rooms. We wanted a certain light for the big scene and decided to wait until the lamps were lit in the courtyard. So we went to rest while Bruce set up the camera. We didn’t come down until everything was ready, which was just before six o’clock. Pappie called for quiet like he always does. Harry picked up the gun, he and Josephine took their places, and then Pappie shouted for the camera to roll. They played the scene beautifully. Josephine ran out, spoke her lines, Harry responded and… and that’s when you arrived…’ she stuttered to a halt and put a hand to her lips. After all the drama and noise, I think the reality of the murder was finally beginning to sink in. ‘Oh, Pappie.’ She whimpered and held out a hand.

  He patted it awkwardly.

  ‘Bing,’ Swift had to shout at the man as he was now almost comatose. ‘Was there a spare magazine?’

  ‘Possibly, old man, no use asking me about it.’ His voice was slurred. He giggled, sank below the table and fell with a thud to the floor.

  The sergeant returned. ‘Inspector Swift. You come.’

  ‘Blast it. Lennox, take notes, would you.’ Swift shoved his pen and notebook in my direction.

  I watched him leave, took another quaff of wine, then eyed the faces around the table.

  ‘Right. Why did you all hate Josephine Belvoir?’

  That rattled them.

  ‘What the devil do you mean?’ Dreadnaught demanded in Teutonic tone.

  I regarded him quietly. ‘What did she do to you?’

  His eyes darkened. ‘Nothing, she did nothing to me. You are barking at the wrong tree, my friend.’

  I looked at each of them.

  ‘Hate is a very strong word, Major,’ Mammie said in soft reprimand.

  My gaze shifted to Genevieve.

  ‘Did you know her?’

  She laughed awkwardly. ‘No, don’t be silly, we only arrived yesterday. We have never met anyone here before.’

  ‘Who are you to ask impertinent questions, young man?’ Lady Maitland sought to deflect my attention from her niece and I briefly wondered why.

  ‘Yeah, who the hell are you?’ Vincent joined the attack.

  ‘Major Heathcliff Lennox,’ I said. ‘I’m helping Chief Inspector Swift with his inquiries.’

  ‘Why?’ Vincent demanded.

  ‘Because… because we’ve come here to get my girlfriend’s fiancé out of jail,’ I retorted.

  Lady Maitland’s thin brows rose.

  Actually that hadn’t come out quite as I’d intended.

  ‘Ex-fiancé,’ Persi corrected.

  ‘Yes! Ex-fiancé,’ I shouted.

  ‘Charles Langton? He’s in jail,’ Vincent interrupted. ‘He deserves it. He tried to shoot Josephine, the sap. We already know all about it.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ Persi argued. ‘He was set up and nobody has done anything to help.’

  ‘Well, we did offer our lawyer’s services,’ Mammie protested. ‘Really, dear child, what else could we do?’

  ‘So, Major, you have come to help a criminal.’ Lady Maitland eyed me frostily. ‘Do you intend digging him out of his cell? Or perhaps you have brought a gang of desperados to enable a jailbreak!’ She ended with a cold smile. I assume this was her idea of amusement.

  ‘We will prove his innocence.’ Persi rallied.

  Vincent jumped into the fray. ‘Yeah, by shooting his victim.’

  ‘I did not shoot her!’ Her eyes flashed.

  ‘This is correct, it was Harry.’ Dreadnaught joined in. ‘Though you may have provided the bullets.’

  ‘Nonsense.’ I slammed my hand on the table. Most of them shut up and looked at me. ‘She didn’t shoot anyone or provide any bullets and we are going to find out who did.’

  Lady Maitland turned acerbic. ‘How ridiculous. Let me remind you, that you and Inspector Swift have no jurisdiction here.’

  ‘Yeah, and what qualifies you to investigate us, anyway?’ Vincent demanded.

  That caused me to stutter. I was beginning to wish Swift were here. ‘I’ve… erm. I have helped with a few murders. To uncover them, I mean, with Inspector Swift.’

  ‘You said you were in the Royal Air Force,’ Dreadnaught rejoined. ‘I heard you tell the Colonel. You are not a detective.’ He stood up and pointed a manicured finger at me. ‘You are a charlatan.’

  It was delivered with such ludicrous drama that it made me laugh. He continued shouting, then everyone joined in at once. Vincent threw more accusations at Persi, Mammie objected to Genevieve’s suspicious stare, Lady Maitland was demanding quiet and I’m pretty sure Bing was singing again.

  The French sergeant came back, followed by Swift.

  ‘Lennox, what the hell are you doing?’

  ‘Asking questions,’ I had to shout above the noise.

  He picked up his notebook which was still open at a blank page. ‘You haven’t written a word.’

  ‘Well, they haven’t answered anything yet,’ I retorted, rather stung.

  ‘Mademoiselle Carruthers.’ The sergeant ignored the melee and snapped his boots together. ‘You come with me.’

  ‘Heathcliff,’ Persi called out in appeal as she was marched away.

  I swore to myself and strode after her. The two French guards on the door stepped forward.

  ‘You sit,’ one ordered.

  I glared at them, they glared back, so I gave up and returned to the table.

  ‘Your man was very rude,’ Lady Maitland told Swift.

  ‘He’s not my… Look,’ Swift banged a fist on the table. ‘Sit down, and shut up.’

  They shut up.

  ‘Lennox,’ Swift
ordered. ‘Carry on.’

  ‘You’re lying,’ I said quietly. ‘Every damn one of you. And we want to know why.’

  A heavy silence fell, apart from the musicians playing Mozart from the rear. Calling them all liars may have been a pretty infra dig, but I wanted to knock them off-guard. It didn’t work.

  Mammie spoke for them. ‘Truly, dear boy, we have not lied to you.’

  ‘A woman is dead, so someone is lying,’ Swift returned, then sighed as tension once again rippled around the table. ‘Charles Langton cannot have killed her and I will not stand by and leave an innocent man to rot in jail.’

  ‘You don’t know nothin’,’ Vincent growled. ‘And it ain’t nothin’ to do with neither of you.’

  Swift opened his mouth to argue just as the Colonel entered the room, followed by a number of his men.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ He paused to ensure he had our attention. ‘We have completed our enquiries for tonight. You will go to your rooms. But…’ His cool gaze swept our faces. ‘Our inquiry is not complete. Indeed, it is only commencing.’

  ‘Where is Miss Carruthers?’ I demanded.

  He looked at me. ‘She is detained in her rooms. She is not allowed to leave this hotel.’ He moved to turn away.

  ‘What the devil does that mean?’

  He stopped, observed me for a moment. ‘It means she is under arrest for the murder of Mademoiselle Josephine Belvoir.’

  Chapter 7

  Fontaine exited, ignoring our cries of protest before we were herded out. The two English ladies went first. Lady Maitland, slim and straight-backed as she walked briskly alongside Genevieve, who flowed with a sinuous gait. Harry was prodded into tottering along by a couple of gendarmes, followed by Vincent and Mammie. Swift and I brought up the rear behind Dreadnaught.

  Everyone was escorted to their respective suites. As we passed Greggs’ room, I could hear him snoring through the locked door. Mine was next and Swift halted to talk, but the gendarme behind us stepped forward.

  ‘Allez,’ he shouted.

  ‘I will see you at breakfast, Lennox,’ Swift said, stifling a yawn.