Devotion to Murder

by Steve Eastwood

  ‘Yes, governor.’ She picked up the receiver and dialled.

  ‘Tom, I want you behind the counter with the two tellers. As soon as they get sight of her paperwork, they’ll give you the nod. I’ll be able to see you at the counter from my position, but we’ll have to move quickly. We don’t want her to be spooked and get back to the Buick, and us having a car chase.’

  At 11.47pm, the telephone rang in the office.

  ‘The Buick is pulling up outside, governor,’ said Brian. ‘Engine still running. The driver is opening the back door and our lady is getting out. She’s now on the pavement. She’s wearing a light-blue, two-piece suit with a matching hat. Looks very elegant. She’s going in now. The driver is standing just outside the doorway to the bank.’

  Cooper moved along the corridor to take up a covert position that afforded a view of the counter. He could see the outline of Adina Jenkins, who was standing second in the queue. When the first customer departed, she approached the counter and produced some documents for the teller. Although Cooper was unable to hear what was being said, he saw the teller make the agreed hand signal to Tom Rogers, who then slowly moved towards the door leading to the banking hall. He passed through the doorway and walked to a position immediately behind Adina. He was then joined by Cooper, who touched her on the arm. She spun around in surprise and a look of fear came across her face.

  ‘Adina Jenkins, I am Detective Inspector Cooper of the Essex Constabulary. I am arresting you for the murder of Irma Kurz, otherwise known as Sister Margaret, in Beaumont on the 12th July 1949.’ He then began to caution her, but before he could finish, she had collapsed at his feet.

  They were joined by Linda who knelt on the floor next to Adina and tried to revive her. She was carefully helped up from the floor and taken to an interview room at the side of the banking hall. A few minutes later they were joined by Brian Pratt.

  ‘Well, the driver didn’t hang around. One minute he was standing in the doorway, then he saw what was going on inside the bank and he was off like a long dog.’

  ‘What documents did she produce at the counter, Tom?’ asked Cooper.

  ‘A letter addressed to the bank requesting a bank draft for three hundred and fourteen pounds, and a savings passbook and Romanian passport both in the name of Adina Giurgiu. The letter authorises the bank to hand the draft to the bearer.’ said Rogers.

  ‘Sorry to say, governor, but having now seen her close up, it’s no surprise to me,’ said Linda. ‘I know she looks very much like her, but this isn’t Adina Jenkins.’

  ‘What!’ said Cooper. ‘Who the hell is it then?’

  The suspect lapsed back into unconsciousness. They couldn’t tell whether it was feigned or otherwise. As a precaution, she was taken to St Bartholomew’s hospital by ambulance where she was kept under police guard.

  *

  It was 12.30pm. “Mrs Adina Herzl” and her “husband” were being delivered by one of the embassy drivers to the front entrance of Croydon Airport. As they entered the terminal building, they made their way immediately to the British European Airways check in desk, where they deposited their luggage and collected their boarding cards. Although their flight to Vienna was not due for take-off until 2.00pm, a combination of superstition and hyper-vigilance compelled them to walk immediately through to the departure lounge.

  Although outwardly calm, Adina felt that all eyes were upon her as they walked through the building. She chided herself for the fact that, in her excitement at making such a momentous journey, she had dressed as elegantly as her wardrobe would allow. Adina now wished she had adopted a frumpier look. Before reaching the departure lounge, they stopped off at a newsagent’s stand to buy a paper and cigarettes. However, on leaving the stand they had got no further than a few yards when a male voice shouted from behind them.

  ‘Just a moment, miss!’

  They stopped in their tracks and turned around. The voice belonged to a uniformed constable. Adina’s immediate impulse was to run, but she stayed rooted to the spot.

  ‘You’ve dropped your glove.’ The officer held out the offending article at arm’s length.

  Chaim stepped forward, and he accepted the glove and thanked him with all the charm that he could muster. Adina nodded and was just able to force a smile. They carried on walking. Not a word passed between them until they had reached the departure lounge and were well out of earshot of any third party.

  As they sat together, attempting to regain their composure, Chaim realised that Adina was in shock. But, after some soothing words, he managed to restore her to a state of calm. Luckily, their decision to make an early transit to the departure lounge had proved beneficial, as, at this stage, they were quite alone.

  ‘My God. We don’t want too many encounters like that. I almost had a heart attack,’ said Adina softly. ‘Give me one of your cigarettes please, Chaim.’

  ‘But you don’t smoke, Adina.’

  ‘Now would be a very good time to start, don’t you think?’

  Chaim lit her a cigarette and passed it across to her. She sat and puffed at it, displaying all the smoking experience of a ten-year-old girl.

  After another fifteen minutes, they were joined by other passengers and members of the ground crew, but time appeared to be passing very slowly.

  Finally, at 1.30pm, they were approaching Gate 2, which was open for the boarding of Flight BE345 to Vienna. Adina Herzl produced her new Israeli passport and boarding card for the benefit of the official who was checking passengers’ papers at the gate. He gave the documents a cursory inspection and then did the same with those of Chaim Herzl.

  The body language of the man on the gate showed a distinctly laissez-faire attitude. Since Mr and Mrs Herzl were leaving the UK, and not entering the country, the official did not seem particularly interested in them. The demeanour of the immigration officer had been much the same when, a few minutes earlier, they had passed through immigration control.

  The happy couple were escorted to the aircraft which was parked on the apron of the airfield with its engine already running. This was as much a precautionary measure, to minimise the possibility of passenger decapitation, as it was a matter of courtesy. The aircraft was a British European Airways De Havilland Dragon Rapid, a bi-plane capable of carrying only eight passengers.

  A stewardess was welcoming the passengers on board and she showed the Herzls to their seats. Adina caught herself studying the others and willing them to deal with their hand luggage and take their seats as quickly and efficiently as possible. As far as Adina was concerned, the aircraft could not take off quickly enough and she had to work hard to supress her anxiety. ‘Are you all right, miss? Have you not flown before?’ asked the stewardess.

  Chaim answered for her, ‘My wife doesn’t speak much English. She hasn’t been on an aircraft before, so she is a little nervous.’

  ‘Perhaps it will help if, when we are airborne, she sucks on some of these.’ The stewardess offered a bag of boiled sweets.

  Adina took a few and mouthed the words, ‘Thank you.’

  Adina knew that once they had taken off they would soon be out of the UK jurisdiction and free from any intervention by the British authorities. She relaxed back in her seat.

  Adina spared a brief thought for Raymond. She had finally reconciled the fact that he had had designs on the so-called “Lady Fanny Roding”, all along, and, now his lordship had departed, they would be able to get on with their romance unencumbered.

  She had loved Raymond once. But, increasingly, she had felt herself to be in the way as he seemed to spend more and more time at her ladyship’s beck and call. At first, she had told herself that Raymond was merely doing his job and that he was having to cater for Lady Fanny’s needs purely because of his lordship’s incapacity. It was Lord Jeremy himself who had, quite innocently, alerted her to the possibility that there was something going on between them.
He had marvelled at Raymond’s devotion to duty and his willingness to make himself available, saying, ‘It’s almost as if they are a courting couple and he is devoted to her; he’s a good man.’ Adina finally saw the situation for what it was. It seemed that the old booby did not.

  She wondered what would become of their relationship now that Fanny was free to play the field, and there was no longer a need for deceit and discretion. After all, Fanny was now a very wealthy woman in her own right. Raymond, on the other hand, had no more than three hundred pounds to his name. By any objective assessment, he had little to offer her ladyship, and Adina imagined that his days as her paramour were surely numbered.

  As for Irma Kurz and the fact that she had savagely beaten her to death, Adina felt only pride. She had, albeit in an uncontrolled and sudden fit of rage, gone some way to avenging the women and children who had suffered and died at the hands of Kurz in Mauthausen Concentration Camp.

  Although she, herself, was of the Jewish faith, Adina had become enraged by the fact that Kurz was masquerading in the guise of a Catholic nun and woman of God. As if her evil deeds could be forgotten and forgiven by a contrived change of life and false repentance. It was the hypocrisy, and the callous sense of entitlement, displayed by Kurz that had tipped Adina over the edge.

  But, Adina had no regrets. She knew she had carried out a noble, even heroic, deed on behalf of the Jewish people.

  At the end of the flight she would be met at Vienna Airport by her mother and her sister Iribka, and if they did not know about the death of Kurz already, she would tell them about it in due course. Adina had been assured by Chaim Herzl that they would already have been aided in their passage through Hungary and on to Vienna. They would all later be assisted on the final leg of their journey to Israel, a new country, where a fresh and happier life awaited them.

  EPILOGUE

  DI Albert Cooper found himself with something of a dilemma. The young woman arrested at the bank was identified as Claudia Ben-Bassett, a middle ranking official of the Israeli Government Service. She didn’t reach the police station, but later that day, when she’d recovered, she told Linda Collins, at her bedside, that she’d merely been acting as a courier, to collect the bank draft, and hadn’t attempted to pass herself off as Adina Giurgiu. Meanwhile, strong representations were being made to the Metropolitan Police commissioner by the Israeli ambassador, who, when pressed, refused to acknowledge the name Adina Giurgiu or Jenkins. However, he claimed that Miss Ben-Bassett was subject to diplomatic immunity and should be released from custody. She was freed within the hour.

  At that time, Raymond Jenkins was still sitting at the police station. He’d told them, during his interview, that Adina had admitted to him that she’d beaten Irma Kurz to death, outside the summer house. If this was to be believed, it also had to be considered that he’d said nothing about her being the murderer when he’d made his initial witness statement to the police. However, this didn’t make him an accessory to murder, and there was no evidence to suggest that Jenkins had done anything to assist his wife, other than maintain his silence. Certain additional pieces of information had been related to the police by Jenkins, not least of which was the fact that Adina had told him that she’d snatched the crucifix from the victim’s neck and had thrown it into the well. She wasn’t, however, available to be questioned on this revelation. What if Raymond Jenkins had committed the murder himself? He would also have known of the location of the crucifix, wouldn’t he? Cooper wondered whether the timeline of Jenkins’ alibi had provided him with enough of an opportunity to have killed Irma Kurz and to have cleaned himself up before returning to the study. He had serious doubts about that hypothesis, and, anyway, what would have been Jenkins’ motive for doing so? After consulting the county prosecuting solicitor, it was decided that Raymond Jenkins should be released without charge.

  There were several pieces of evidence fundamental to his decision: the fact that Sister Margaret was Irma Caro née Kurz, a Nazi war criminal and fugitive from justice; Adina Jenkins having been a prisoner at the same concentration camp where Kurz had served as a guard, and this providing a clear motive for the murder; the presence of Adina’s fingerprints in the victim’s bedroom; and traces of blood, of the same type as that of the victim, being found in the bathroom.

  Albert Cooper, Stockwell and the solicitor all agreed that, to their satisfaction, the murder of “Sister Margaret” had been solved. As for the prospect of ever prosecuting Adina Jenkins, were she ever to be traced and arrested, the solicitor took a pragmatic view. Given the victim’s history, he doubted that it would be considered in the public interest to do so. Furthermore, “Sister Margaret” was not recognised by the Catholic Church. Monsignor Crecy and Lord Roding, both of whom were key witnesses, were deceased, and, as the law stood, Raymond could not be compelled to give evidence against his spouse. The chances of a conviction would be slim indeed. So, Albert Cooper and his team had to accept the wisdom of this decision and move on to their next challenge.

  When Raymond Jenkins was released from the police station, he was driven back to Beaumont Hall, where he immediately went up to his apartment in the vain hope that Adina might have returned. There was still no trace of her. It was almost as though she had never existed.

  Lady Fanny returned to the Hall later that day and she stayed in her rooms for a week, ostensibly as a guest of James Davidson. After much consideration, she decided against appealing the terms of the will, since she was likely to amass heavy legal costs in the process of doing so. Fanny, resolved to be satisfied with her lot, and she returned to the Bedford Square house, never visiting Beaumont Hall again.

  James Davidson and Ruby Gedge moved into the Hall, and occupied the apartment vacated by Adina and Raymond Jenkins. It took them some time to settle down to the new status quo, and, although the fact that he was the illegitimate fruit of Lord Jeremy Roding’s loins went unchallenged, James, at no time, assumed the role of lord of the manor. He would rather be known as the owner, and, with the help and guidance of Beryl and Raymond, James developed the Hall into a country house hotel, complete with twenty-five guest rooms, bar, restaurant and tea rooms. It was, after all, what they had been doing for Lord Jeremy, but on a far grander scale.

  Whether James would become the 8th Lord of Roding was yet to be seen, but there was a feeling of optimism at Beaumont Hall, and a common determination to forgive, forget and look to the future.