The Curse - After the find

CHAPTER

I turned around and exited my tent. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until I took a gulp of the outside air. I’d heard the buzzing of the flies and my stomach, now empty of butterflies, was starting to revolt. But I had a number of things to do and I had to do them in order. My first call was for both Dan and Clive. Since they didn’t have headphones, I had to contact their assistants.

“Paul, Domino, this is Ellie. Get Dan and Clive and have them come to my tent, right now. We have a situation. And ask Carol to come as well with some of her men.” I figured the chief of security would be useful.

“I can’t tell you more right now, but it’s important.”

I turned my headset off and took my phone. My next call was not going to be easy. I had met four different Governors. This one didn’t like Americans. But he liked money.

“Salaam aleikum. Aqaba Governorate, how can I help you?”

“Aleikum salaam. This is Doctor Elizabeth Harmon from Wharton University, working on Al-Waead. I’d like to speak to the governor, please.”

“I’m sorry, the governor is unavailable at this time, may I take a message ?”

I sighed heavily and rubbed my forehead. This was going to take patience, and a lot of it.

“A message won’t do. Can anyone take my call, it’s really important.”

I looked around. The camp was starting to wake up and get curious about me standing in front of my tent talking on my cell.

The young man at the Governorate had put me on hold, and I was wondering how long it would take for someone other than him to answer. Clive, Dan and their assistants showed up right when the music stopped. I gestured for them to wait and I continued in arabic.

“Hello ?”

“Salaam. This is Doctor Wassim Khan. How can I help you, Doctor Harmon ?”

“Dr Khan, I’m sorry. I have all I need from the Cultural Departement. I’m looking for someone from the Police Department. I have a situation here that needs to be handled by law enforcement personnel. Could you direct me to someone ?”

His voice became serious. “Of course. I’m sorry you have encountered a situation that deserves the Police.”

“So am I. Shukran, Dr Khan.”

“Äafwan.”

I waited only a few seconds before someone else took my call.

“Salaam. This is Fouad Hussein, the assistant for the governor’s lieutenant, how may I help you ?”

I repeated my name and credentials and had to address the center of my problem. “A man was murdered last night in the camp. The governor has to send someone to investigate.”

“Murdered, are you sure? I mean, this could be an accident, or…”

I closed my eyes and saw Jerry again. “He has a knife in the chest. I’m not sure ‘accident’ covers it.”

The silence at the other end was heavy. I imagined young Fouad had turned pale and was desperately looking for someone higher in the food chain to handle the situation.

“I… I will give the message to the governor right away.”

“Shukran.”

I hung up knowing the Governor would treat it as a minor incident and send someone in three days, leaving us the mess for the time being. Hopefully, I had an asset up my sleeve.

Dan and Clive were getting impatient, and hearing me talk in arabic without understanding a word of it was clearly getting on their nerves.

“What’s going on, Ellie? I don’t like being summoned, and then have to wait.”

“I need to talk to Carol first.”

“No, you talk to me now !”

“All right, come inside my tent with me. Only you three, and you’ll need only one step.”

Dan stormed in, closely followed by Clive. And they stumbled back out immediately.

Clive had turned white as a sheet. He sat down in his cart, extended his hand towards Domino and she put a little bottle filled with pink liquid in his hand. Dan had gone green and took two steps outside before emptying his stomach.

Carol looked at me, clenched her teeth and went in, figuring out on her own what had happened. She embraced the scene from the threshold, and gave orders to her team to encircle the tent and stand watch.

I had one more call to make before talking to Clive and Dan and I hoped this would give them time to recuperate.

“American Embassy, this is Michael, how may I direct your call?”

A third time I explained who I was.

“I don’t understand your question. Do you want someone from the Tourism Department ?”

“Michael, I’m gonna say this slowly. I want to talk to the ambassador. Now.”

“I’m sorry, the ambassador is…”

“Now. This is an emergency. I know Ambassador Kelly personally, and you don’t want to explain why he got a message in three hours instead of speaking to me directly right now.”

Without a word, Michael connected me.

“Dr Harmon, nice to hear from you.”

“Hello Mr Ambassador. I’m afraid we have a situation here in Al-Waead.”

I took a deep breath and dropped my voice. “We had a suspicious death last night. Dr Jerry Williams.”

“What do you mean by suspicious ? It’s not accidental ?”

“No. It’s probably a murder. I have the scene secured by the production’s security personnel, but it’s all I can do for now. Can you send someone over ?”

“Are you aware we can’t investigate ? You have to call The Governor of the Aqaba Province. All I can do is send legal representation to make sure everyone’s rights are respected.”

“I have, Sir. But you know Governor Ben Rashid. He has no respect for women, despises foreign women and hates foreign women who speak arabic. I’ll get nowhere with him. And at the moment I’m the only one who speaks the language.”

“I can give him a call, nudge him a little.”

“I’d really appreciate that, sir.” I looked at Clive, on his phone as well. “Depending on the situation, we may have some funds available.”

“I hope it doesn’t get necessary. I’ll send over a coordinator immediately.”

“Thank you, Mr Ambassador.”

“Hazun saeid lak, as they say here.” 

I hung up and looked at the crowd. “I know you’re all curious about what happened. All I can tell you is filming ops will be suspended until further notice, and I will talk to everyone at…” I looked at my watch, calculated. “Ten thirty. For the time being, have a nice breakfast and enjoy your day off. Now move along.”

I walked back to my tent and Carol.

“Now what ?”

“I’ve called the authorities, I’m guessing Clive got in touch with production in LA, so now we wait.”

“What about the body ?”

I respected her objectivity, but it hurt to hear her talk about Jerry that way.

“We can’t do anything about it. We’re all suspects for the moment, we don’t have a medical examiner, so we can’t move… him yet.”

“We can record our first observations, to help speed up the process.”

“We don’t have sterile overalls or booties, we can’t get inside.”

“How do you know the procedures”?”

“I’ve been a ME’s assistant for two years when I was in college. Some things are hard to forget. I’m guessing you have military training ?”

“Army. 503rd Infantry Regiment out of Kandahâr, I was in communications. I learned basic police procedures when I switched to the private sector, but I never needed them before.”

“Ellie ?”

I turned around and saw Ned approaching. “What’s going on ?”

“Sorry, I have an emergency meeting right now. Give me a few minutes ?”

“Sure. You need anything ?”

“A cup of tea would be heaven. Dark, one sugar.”

“I know.”

He left with a smile and I returned to my heart-wrenching chore and Carol.

“Do you speak arabic ?”

“Just a few words, basic conversation.”

I sighed. “All right. Can you find out if anyone in the crew speaks arabic ? We’re going to need more translators and the local crew isn’t on set today.”

“Sure.”

Carol walked a few feet away and I sat beside Dan in his golf cart. Clive was talking rapidly on his phone not far.

“We need to talk, coordinate everything and then gather everyone to make an announcement. You’re up for it ?”

Dan looked at me. “I don’t know. This is the first time…”

“All right, I’ll coordinate everything. Who do we need ?”

“I don’t know…” He turned to Paul who looked in much better shape.

“Apart from Dan, Clive and Carol, we need John, Tina and Rebecca. They can dispatch everything once you’ve decided what to do.”

“Call them. Clive was on the phone, I imagine he got some direction from HQ. Okay. Let’s go to the kitchen, we’ll have enough room for everyone.”

Despite my earlier statement, people were still gathered around my tent. They gave way when our two carts left.

Ten minutes later, the eight more important people on the set were gathered in the tent with their assistants. David had showed up and since he was on both teams, I couldn’t turn him down. I just had to talk to him first. We got ten feet away.

“What’s going on, Ellie ? Everyone seems to be on edge, all of a sudden.”

“I’m sorry David.” This was going to be hard. I’d never had to announce the death of a loved one before, but I knew how it had to be done. Quickly and to the point. “Jerry was killed last night.”

“What ? What do you mean, killed ? There was an accident ?”

“No, it wasn’t an accident.”

David sat down slowly, looking miserable. “I… I had hoped we’d get back together.”

“I’m really sorry. We’re all here to see what has been done and what’s next.”

He looked around, saw all the stern faces. “All right.”

CHAPTER

With everyone seated, I took a deep breath and started my report, like I used to do when I worked in the ME department.

“This morning around seven thirty, I entered my tent and found it had been vandalized. Upon closer look, I discovered the body of Dr Jerry Williams.” I swallowed hard when the sight came back to my mind. “He… he had died several hours ago.”

Carol was the first to interrupt me. “What do you mean you entered your tent this morning ? Where did you sleep ?”

“I was out of town with Ned for the night. We only came back this morning. I immediately called Paul and Domino to bring Clive and Dan, and Carol to set up a perimeter. I also made two calls. The first one to the Governor of Aqaba to send an investigation team, and one to the Embassy to send a legal coordinator. They both should be here in a couple of hours. And I’ve scheduled a meeting to explain everything at ten thirty.”

Clive took the lead. “I was able to call Tom in L.A. He will send a legal team to make sure our rights are respected. In the meantime, I have suspended all operations but we have to get back on schedule tomorrow.”

Ned walked in the tent and saw he wasn’t really welcome. I took the smoking mug he was carrying.

“Everything’s all right ?”

“Not really.”

He put his hand on my cheek and his voice dropped. “I’m here for you.”

I let my head rest in his palm for a second. “Thanks.”

I watched him leave and went back to the table. Tina and John were talking,