“He is dead?” The Egyptian lifted his eyebrows slightly.
“Oh, quite, Hani. Anûbis fell on him as he leaned over the end cabinet. A most effective death. But there was a certain justice in it. Doctor Bliss was guilty of Mr. Kyle’s murder.”
“You and I knew that all along, effendi.” The man smiled wistfully at Vance. “But I fear that the doctor’s death may have been my fault. When I unpacked the statue of Anûbis and set it in the corner, I noticed that the ankles were cracked. I did not tell the doctor, for I was afraid he might accuse me of having been careless, or of having deliberately injured his treasure.”
“No one is going to blame you for Doctor Bliss’s death,” Vance said casually. “We’re leaving you to inform Mrs. Bliss of the tragedy. And Mr. Salveter will be returning early to-morrow morning… Es-salâmu alei-kum.”
“Ma es-salâm, effendi.”
Vance and Markham and I passed out into the heavy night air.
“Let’s walk,” Vance said. “It’s only a little over a mile to my apartment, and I feel the need of exercise.”
Markham fell in with the suggestion, and we strolled toward Fifth Avenue in silence. When we had crossed Madison Square and passed the Stuyvesant Club, Markham spoke.
“It’s almost unbelievable, Vance. It’s the sort of thing that makes one superstitious. Here we were, confronted by an insoluble problem. We knew Bliss was guilty, and yet there was no way to reach him. And while we were debating the case he stepped into the museum and was accidentally killed by a falling statue on practically the same spot where he murdered Kyle… Damn it! Such things don’t happen in the orderly course of the world’s events. And what makes it even more fantastic is that you suggested that he might meet with an accident.”
“Yes, yes. Interestin’ coincidence.” Vance seemed disinclined to discuss the matter.
“And that Egyptian,” Markham rumbled on. “He wasn’t in the least astonished when you informed him of Bliss’s death. He acted almost as if he expected some such news—”
He suddenly drew up short. Vance and I stopped, too, and looked at him. His eyes were blazing.
“Hani killed Bliss!”
Vance sighed and shrugged.
“Of course he did, Markham. My word! I thought you understood the situation.”
“Understood?” Markham was spluttering. “What do you mean?”
“It was all so obvious, don’t y’know,” Vance said mildly. “I realized, just as you did, that there was no chance of convicting Bliss; so I suggested to Hani how he could terminate the whole silly affair—”
“You suggested to Hani?”
“During our conversation in the drawing-room. Really, Markham old dear, I’m not in the habit of indulgin’ in weird conversations about mythology unless I have a reason. I simply let Hani know there was no legal way of bringing Bliss to justice, and intimated how he could overcome the difficulty and incidentally save you from a most embarrassin’ predicament…”
“But Hani was in the hall, with the door closed.” Markham’s indignation was rising.
“Quite so. I told him to stand outside the door. I knew very well he’d listen to us…”
“You deliberately—”
“Oh, most deliberately.” Vance spread his hands in a gesture of surrender. “While I babbled to you and appeared foolish no doubt, I was really talking to Hani. Of course, I didn’t know if he would grasp the opportunity or not. But he did. He equipped himself with a mace from the museum—I do hope it was the same mace that Bliss used on Kyle—and struck Bliss over the head. Then he dragged the body down the spiral stairs and laid it at the feet of Anûbis. With the mace he broke the statue’s sandstone ankles, and dropped the figure over Bliss’s skull. Very simple.”
“And all that rambling chatter of yours in the drawing-room—”
“Was merely to keep you and Heath away in case Hani had decided to act.”
Markham’s eyes narrowed.
“You can’t get away with that sort of thing, Vance. I’ll send Hani up for murder. There’ll be finger-prints—”
“Oh, no, there won’t, Markham. Didn’t you notice the gloves on the hat-rack? Hani is no fool. He put on the gloves before he went to the study. You’d have a harder time convicting him than you’d have had convicting Bliss. Personally, I rather admire Hani. Stout fella!”
For a time Markham was too angry to speak. Finally, however, he gave voice to an ejaculation.
“It’s outrageous!”
“Of course it is,” Vance agreed amiably. “So was the murder of Kyle.” He lighted a cigarette and puffed on it cheerfully. “The trouble with you lawyers is, you’re jealous and blood-thirsty. You wanted to send Bliss to the electric chair yourself, and couldn’t; and Hani simplified everything for you. As I see it, you’re merely disappointed because some one else took Bliss’s life before you could get round to it… Really, y’know, Markham, you’re frightfully selfish.”
I feel that a short postscript will not be amiss. Markham had no difficulty, as you will no doubt remember, in convincing the press that Bliss had been guilty of the murder of Benjamin H. Kyle, and that his tragic “accidental” death had in it much of what is commonly called divine justice.
Scarlett, contrary to the doctor’s prediction, recovered; but it was many weeks before he could talk rationally. Vance and I visited him in the hospital late in August, and he corroborated Vance’s theory about what had happened on that fatal night in the museum. Scarlett went to England early in September,—his father had died, leaving him an involved estate in Bedfordshire.
Mrs. Bliss and Salveter were married in Nice late the following spring; and the excavations of Intef’s tomb, I see from the bulletins of the Archæological Institute, are continuing. Salveter is in charge of the work, and I am rather happy to note that Scarlett is the technical expert of the expedition.
Hani, according to a recent letter from Salveter to Vance, has become reconciled to the “desecration of the tombs of his ancestors.” He is still with Meryt-Amen and Salveter, and I’m inclined to think that his personal love for these two young people is stronger than his national prejudices.
Footnote
*Vance was here referring to the famous passage in the Chapter—“Das Judentum”—in Otto Weininger’s “Geschlecht und Charakter”: “Der Engländer hat dem Deutschen als tüchtiger Empiriker, als Realpolitiker im Praktischen wie im Theoretischen, imponiert, aber damit ist seine Wichtigkeit für die Philosophie auch erschöpft. Es hat noch nie einen tieferen Denker gegeben, der beim Empirismus stehen geblieben ist; und noch nie einen Engländer, der über ihn selbstständig hinausgekommen wäre.”
For more of S. S. Van Dine’s “Philo Vance” series and other “Vintage” titles from Felony & Mayhem Press, including the “Inspector Alleyn” series by Ngaio Marsh, and the “Henry Gamadge” series by Elizabeth Daly, please visit our website:
FelonyAndMayhem.com
All the characters and events in this work are fictitious.
THE SCARAB MURDER CASE
A Felony & Mayhem “Vintage” mystery
PUBLISHING HISTORY
First print edition (Scribner’s): 1930
Felony & Mayhem print and digital editions: 2019
Copyright © 1930 by Charles Scribner’s Sons
Copyright renewed 1954 by Claire R. Wright
All rights reserved
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63194-200-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Van Dine, S. S., author. | Van Dine, S. S. Philo Vance.
Title: The scarab murder case / S.S. Van Dine.
Description: New York : Felony & Mayhem Press, 2019. | Series: Philo Vance | Summary: “In the 1920s, the world went Egypt-crazy, and even Philo Vance, that eminent scholar-sleuth, has some sympathy for the fad-though of course he knows lots more about the topic than anyone else. When a wealthy Egyptologist is murdered, with mysterious inscriptions and artifacts dotted round, it’s only natural
that John FS Markham calls Philo for help.
After all, Markham is merely the New York District Attorney, whereas Philo Vance is...well, Philo Vance”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019030893 | ISBN 9781631942006 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781631942082 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Vance, Philo (Fictitious character)--Fiction. | Egyptologists--Fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3545.R846 S33 2019 | DDC 813/.52--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019030893
The Scarab Murder Case Page 27
