Death Takes a Holiday (11 page)

“I could
n’t care less what that . . .” Meredith stopped herself as she suddenly remembered the chef standing a few feet behind her. “I’m sorry sir, but passengers aren’t allowed in the serving area.” She glanced over her shoulder at Oscar who was adding garnish to the last dish. When it was clear he wasn’t paying attention, Meredith lowered her voice. “I don’t care what Felicity wants.” She looked back over her shoulder and glanced at the chef. “Sir,” she added curtly before taking the plate out of Parker’s hand and dropping it back on the tray.

Grace winced as the plate landed with a thud. Oscar looked up, the corner of his mouth lifted in a sn
eer as he stared at Meredith’s back.

Parker crossed his arms. “She’s worried that someone might try to poison her.”

Grace lifted an eyebrow at that as she took a bowl of soup and placed it on the last tray in the row.

Meredith laid her hand on his chest and pushed him back against the door. “When it gets to the table, I’ll hand it to you so
you can taste it for her. How about that?” she asked, shutting the door in his face. She turned back to Grace. “Those two are so weird.”

Parker stuck his head back in. He pointed to the dish they had argued
over. “Don’t forget. That one’s hers,” he said before slamming the door behind him.”

“What are you two waiting for?” Oscar asked. “If any of those people complain about the food being cold, I’ll have your heads. Get going,” he said making little shooing motions.

Sighing, Grace picked up the last tray and headed for the dining area.

She walked up to the Kirby’s who were sitting together in stony silence.
Grace set a plate of Trout Almandine on the table in front of Lucas Kirby who, being the paragon of patience and restraint, clapped slowly. “Excellent. I hope it’s worth the wait.”

Grace r
estrained herself from saying how she hoped he’d choke on it as she served his brother and then his sister-in law.

Tracy reached for the
teapot sitting in the center of the table. Her sleeve pulled back exposing an angry red burn scar running up her left arm. Blushing, she quickly pulled her sleeve down as she poured the hot water in her cup.

Once the Kirby’s were served, Grace
turned to Asa Wellington and gently shook him awake. She set his bowl of chicken soup in front of him. He murmured a polite, “Thank you,” as he looked at it with resignation. She was about to ask him if there was anything else she could get when she suddenly was pushed from behind. She turned to find Meredith and Lucas struggling over a tray full of food.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”
Lucas asked harshly, his voice rough with emotion.

Tracy threw her napkin down and glared at her brother-in-law
. “Lucas, sit down!” She turned her attention to her husband. “Would you do something?”

“
You’re the one who invited him.”

“
He insisted on coming with us.”

Meredith
pulled the tray back. One plate slid dangerously toward the edge. “Let go, Lucas.”

Refusing to let go of
the tray, Lucas jerked it back. “Why are you spending so much time over there with them?” Lucas nodded his head toward Kyle’s table. “We could use some service, too.”

Holding tightly to the tray,
Meredith took a step back, causing the plates to slide toward her. “Grace is your server.”

“I don’t want her.”
Suddenly embarrassed he looked over at Grace standing next to them. “No offense.”

“None taken
,” she answered as she made a grab for one of the dishes lying precariously close to the edge of the tray. She managed to grab one plate just before Lucas pulled the tray back sending the other plate sliding toward the other side.

Meredith jerked it back
just in time to keep the one lone plate from sliding off the tray and onto the floor. Grace took the opportunity to rescue the last dish from certain disaster.

“I just want to talk to you, Merry. Please,” Lucas begged.

“Lucas, I’m warning you, let go.”

“No, not until you talk to me.”

Grace looked over her shoulder for help. Kyle was just standing up, but to Grace’s surprise, help came from another direction.

Asa
Wellington grabbed Lucas by the arm. Despite Wellington’s age, he was clearly Lucas’ equal as far as height and build. He had no problem wrestling the younger man away from Meredith and her tray.

A few seconds later, Lucas
was back in his seat, rubbing his arm and glaring at Wellington who was whispering in his ear. Sulking, Lucas nodded and turned toward the picture window.

A plate of fish in one hand and a plate of
chicken in the other, Grace walked over to Kyle’s table.

Kyle
who had watched the ensuing drama with interest grinned at Grace. “Dinner and a show. I told you this trip was going to be exciting. Nice catch, by the way,” he said nodding at the plates.

Grace smiled. “It was all in the wrist. Okay, who had the
fish?”

Kyle
lifted his hand.

Setting the plate in front of him, she then asked,
“And the chicken?”

Sara’s hand came up
. Grace gingerly placed the plate in front her.

Steve looked at her expectantly.

“It’ll be just a second, Steve.” She glanced behind her to see Meredith holding another tray of food. Coming up to Lucas’ table, she stood there as though daring him to try anything. When he finally turned toward the window, she walked the rest of the way down the aisle.

Grace indicated Steve with a nod of her head as Meredith attempted to pass by.

Staring at Steve, Meredith pursed her lips in annoyance. With great care, she slowly removed a plate from her tray and passed it to Grace before walking to Parker and Felicity’s table.

“Here you go, Steve,”
Grace said, placing the plate in front of him.

“
Hey, I didn’t order the fish.”

M
eredith, who had finished passing out the remaining dinner plates to Felicity and Parker, pushed Grace aside. “Yes, you did.”

Steve shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

Meredith, with exaggerated care, took out her order form. Smacking her lips, she said, “Yes, you did.” She held it out to him. “See, here it is, fish. Bon appetite,” she said, jerking the notepad back and stalking off toward the kitchen.

Steve looked disappointingly at his plate. “But I know I told her
chicken. I hate fish.”

“I’ll see if I can get you something else, Steve,” Grace said.

“You know,” Sara said, “the fish looks delicious. Now, I wish I had ordered it instead of the chicken. Would you mind trading?”

Steve looked up
gratefully.

Grace turned to leave, when she felt Kyle’s hand encircle her wrist. “When do you get to eat?”

“A little later.” She smiled down at his guilty expression. “Save room for dessert and we’ll eat it together.”

“Grace,” Meredith called out loudly
. Grace winced when every head in the dining car raised and looked toward the kitchen, “I need some help over here.”

She patted Kyle’s hand and rushed down the aisle.

Kyle turned back to his dinner companions. Steve was eagerly carving up his chicken and slathering it in ketchup, while Sara was looking at Kyle with renewed interest.

“How nice
that you ran into a friend.” Sara looked down at her plain baked potato and back at Steve’s plate and the loaded potato she had ordered. With a look of disappointment, she pushed the potato to the side. “Did you know Grace was working for the Crystal Palace Excursion when you booked your trip?”

Steve snorted. “No. She doesn’t actually work here. She’s a stowaway.”

Sara lifted an elegant eyebrow in surprise.

“She’s
not a stowaway. Would you stop saying that?” Kyle asked in exasperation. He turned to Sara to explain. “She thought she had a ticket.”

“Oh,” she said
, spearing a piece of fish with her fork and bringing it to her mouth, “couldn’t she have just bought a ticket? I know they’re kind of expensive, but surely they would accept some form of—”

Kyle reached out and grabbed her hand, ripping the fork from her fingers.

Sara’s mouth formed a surprised oh.

Heart beating
wildly, Kyle put the fork on her plate. He picked the plate up and held it to the light. Carefully reaching in with his fingertips, he picked a sliver of glass out of the fish and held it up.

“Wow,” Steve said, “I don’t thi
nk our waitress likes you, Sara.”

Sara’s face turned a dark shade of red. She stood up suddenly, turned and walked toward the
kitchen.

“Wait a second,” he heard Felicity say behind him. “
What is this? Parker, this isn’t what I ordered.”

Steve nudged Kyle in the side.
“That’s why you should always be nice to the servers. I always call them sweetie because they like that.”

Kyle looked at Steve in exasperation
. “What makes you think it was meant for Sara?” he asked, digging through his fish with a fork.

Behind him, Felicity screamed. She held her mouth and ran from the car. Sighing, Parker threw down his napkin and pushed back his chair. “I never get to eat around her.”

CHAPTER
NINE

“Are you talking
to me now?” Kyle asked hopefully, when he opened his door to find Grace standing in the corridor.

“
I have to,” she admitted with a rueful grin. “If I spend any more time with Miss Suzie Sunshine, I may throw myself from the train. I’ve never been more depressed in my life.”

“I’ll cheer you up,
” he said, sitting down on the bed. He patted the space next to him.

Grace smiled as she sat on the opposite bed.
“Good. I need some cheering up. How’s Felicity?”

“
Oh, she’s fine.”

“
But she screamed.”

Kyle shrugged.
“Her plate didn’t have any glass in it and she didn’t have any trouble speaking. I think she may be a bit of a hypochondriac.”

“
Maybe not. According to Meredith, that tray of food Lucas grabbed was meant for Felicity’s table, not yours. I handed it out to you all by mistake.” Grace crossed her legs. “The chef swears the fish were perfect, so the glass had to be added after it left the kitchen.”

“Who else had access to it?”

“Just me and Meredith.” She paused. “Parker, too,” she said before explaining the little tussle he and Meredith had over the food before dinner service.

“
What did Meredith say about the glass?”

“She’s blaming the Food and Drug Administration. If they did a better job, then obviously none of this would have happened. She swears she had nothing to do with it.
”

“
She could be lying.”

“Yeah
, but I was back there with her. I think I would have noticed if she peppered the fish with shards of glass.” She bit her lip. “Well, at least Steve has to take the threat seriously now. Have you had a chance to talk to him, yet?”

Kyle shook his head
“For some reason, he doesn’t really want to talk about the Kirby’s or Wellington.”

“That’s kind of strange. I wonder why?”

“I think he’s too busy falling in love with Sara to care about anything else. And he has the nerve to lecture me about falling . . . ,” Kyle trailed off suddenly and looked toward the window.

“What?” Grace asked wondering what he was going to say.

Kyle rubbed his hand across his face before looking at his watch. “Nothing. It’s been a long day.”

“
Yeah, and we’re running out of time.” Grace stood up and began pacing. “All right, so basically, were stuck on a train with someone who may or may not have murdered someone else last year. The question is which one of them has it out for Steve. Have you figured out if Sara’s involved in this mess?”

“
She’s playing coy right now, but she keeps hinting around that she knows Steve. So,” he began with amused affection, “what did you learn from Sara’s lipstick?”

“She has expensive taste. That particular brand is over fifty dollars.”

“Fifty? For lipstick? Are you sure?”

“Trust me. My sister use to model for the company. I borrowed her makeup one day and never heard the end of it.”

“Hmm. Do you think Sara left the threat on the mirror?”

“With fifty dollar lipstick?
No, soap would have been cheaper.” Grace picked up the complimentary stationary and pen lying on the small dresser between the beds. “Or whoever it was could’ve used paper and pen.”

“Yeah, but lipstick on the mirror is so much more dramatic.”

“A threat on paper is just as frightening.” Grace dropped the paper and pen on top of the dresser.

“What about Henry and the chef? Hav
e you been able to talk to them?”

Grace nodded. “
They both have been working on the train since the hotel was built six months ago. The chef, Oscar, is a frustrated genius. He barely talks to us. Henry’s nice but he says he’s planning on retiring soon. He’s already winding down. He spends most of his time sitting in the dining car drinking. I think he’s already mentally checked out.”

“Do they know any of these people?”

“No and they don’t seem to be too interested in finding out any more about them, either. In fact, we have a little bit of a problem. Oscar is so upset by the fish debacle he’s refusing to come out of his room. He’s walking around muttering something about sabotage over and over. I don’t like the way he looks at me and Meredith when he says it, either.”

“What did the conductor say about that?”

“Henry said that Oscar does this every so often and not to worry that he’d take care of it.”

“What are we going to do for food?”

“Relax. I think we’ll survive until we reach the hotel tomorrow morning. It would be easier if we knew more about what happened last New Year’s with these people. Where is Steve?”

“In the
observation car.” Still sitting on the bed, Kyle reached out and grabbed Grace’s wrist. He pulled her closer until she was standing directly in front of him. He looked up at her and gave her his most seductive smile. “You should see it, Grace. It’s absolutely beautiful. The sky is so clear. I think I could see every star in the Heavens. We could lie back on one of the couches and—”

Only half listening, Grace
looked toward the window and the snowflakes flying past. “Do me a favor. Try to pry Steve
away from Sara for a minute. Tell him I need to talk to him. Maybe he can explain to us what’s going on.”

Reluctantly, Kyle pushed himself off the bed and walked to the door. “I’ll try
, but don’t be surprised if it takes a while.”

*

Grace paced the length of the corridor. She glanced down at the passenger list that she had gotten from Meredith.

Doctor Foster
. Room four.

Grace knocked on
his door for the fifth time.

No answer.

Not exactly surprising. Foster didn’t seem too socially adept. She could imagine him hiding behind the door, if he didn’t want to speak to anyone. She pressed her ear to the door.

Not a sound.
With a sinking feeling, she remembered the broken eyeglasses she had found earlier.

C
oming to a decision, Grace ran to Kyle’s room. She threw open his door and rifled through his bags until she found his lock pick kit. Determined to get into Foster’s room, she knelt down in front of the door.

She carefully unzipped the kit.
She had watched Kyle enough times that she was fairly certain she could open any lock.

Five minutes later she was still kneeling in front of the door. He always makes this look so easy, she grumbled to herself. She felt the tool slip out of the lock, causing another deep gash along the brass door handle. Cursing under her
breath, she reached for another tool. She was in luck. It slid in easily.

She jiggled it a bit in the lock until she heard a small click.

With a thrill of triumph, she sat back on her heels and smiled. Figuratively, patting herself on her back, she reached forward and turned the handle.

It didn’t budge
.

Grace, proud of herself for not cursing like a sail
or, reached forward to calmly remove the—in her words—stupid and useless tool.

A few minutes later she was still trying to remove the pick, albeit a little less calmly.
Frustrated, Grace stood up and used all of her strength to remove the tool.

She stepped back and tried to think logically.
Maybe it needs some type of lubricant, she thought, biting her lip.

T
en minutes later the tool was still stuck in the door. Unfortunately, it was now stuck at an angle. She laid her head on the door.

“What are you doing?” Kyle whispered behind her causing her to jump.

Heart beating wildly, Grace groaned. “I hate it when you sneak up on me like that.” She glanced from his face to the doorknob and back. “I hate doing this and this is probably the only time I’m going to ask but . . . ,” she said, jerking her head toward the doorknob as she passed his kit to him.

He took the kit from her and looked at the doorknob in disbelief.

“Go on. I got you started,” she said, pointing to the door.

He tugged at the lock pick stuck in the keyhole.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Hey, you said you could get into anything.”

“So, this is how you want me to prove it?” Shaking his head, he knelt down in front of the door and examined the lock. “You are a horrible influence on me and here my father thinks so highly of you,” he chided.

“Just open the door, Houdini.”
Grace turned her head toward the end of the corridor as Steve opened the door and came swaggering up to them. She neatly stepped in front of Kyle.

“
Hey Kyle, that Sara is amazing. Did you know she used to work on the same street I used to work on?” He looked over at Grace. “Oh hi, honey. Kyle said you wanted to apologize to me,” he said gently.

“
I think you broke part of the lock,” Kyle said from behind her.

“Apologize?” Grace asked. She spared a glance over her back.

Kyle was kneeling in front of the door shaking his head. “Why is it so slippery?” He brought his fingers to his nose. He looked up at her in disbelief. “Conditioner?”

She ignored his question, instead asking one of her own. “Apologize? For what?”

“You wanted him here,” he said, turning back to the lock.

Grace
glared at the back of his head for a moment before finally facing Steve.

“Look, s
weetie pie, Sara wants hot chocolate under the stars tonight, so—”

“Steve, just five minutes and then you can go back to your new
girlfriend.” She motioned for him to follow her back to his room.

“Hey,
” Kyle said, “why is my credit card sticking out between the door jamb?”

Grace shut the door behind her and then
wheeled around. “You are in danger. You know that, don’t you?”

He t
hrew her a pained expression. “I knew you were going to say that.”

Grace planted her hands on her hips. “Look, Steve,
I think someone is going to try to kill you soon. We need to figure out who it is before they succeed.”

Steve spread his hands out
in a non-threatening gesture. Speaking very slowly, he said, “Grace, it’s okay. I know what’s going on.”

The door open and Kyle stepped inside carrying a mangle
d credit card. He waved it in front of her face. One corner of his mouth lifted in amusement. “I figured you might want to keep this as a souvenir. Your first attempt at breaking and entering.”

She snatched the card out of his hand and smiled. “Thank you
. My first and last attempt.”

“I keep telling you that I’d be happy to teach you.”

She shook her head. “Did you get the door open?”

He l
ooked affronted. “Need you ask?”

She ran out of the room and dashed to
Doctor Foster’s door. She quickly pushed it open and walked in. It was identical to Steve and Kyle’s room with one noticeable difference. It was a mess. It looked like Foster’s suitcase had exploded. Clothes lay
everywhere. She lightly stepped over a pair of boxers and walked to the bathroom.

Empty.

Flashing back to the train station earlier in the day, when Foster dumped his backpack out on the ground, Grace pivoted around and glanced about the room. As far as she could tell the backpack wasn’t in the room. She opened the closet.

Empty as well.

Kyle picked up the empty suitcase lying next to the door and laid it on the bed. “Do you think he did this himself?”

“It’s possible
,” Grace said. “He didn’t strike me as the most organized person.”

“Who are you guys talking about?” Steve stood on his tiptoes and looked over Kyle’s shoulder.
“What are you doing in here?”

“
I’m looking for Doctor Foster,” Grace said. “Do you know him?”

Steve slid around Kyle and dropped into a chair next to the bathroom. “Nope.
Never heard of the guy. Why are you searching his room?”

“Because I haven’t seen him since this morning.
”

Steve’s eyes focused on something by her feet. He reached over and picked up a shard of glass. “Hmm.”

Grace stepped around him and peered under the chair. A curved piece of glass was lying near the wall. A woman’s red lipstick imprint stained the rim. “There’s more here. It looks like someone smashed a glass.” She carefully handed the glass to Kyle. “That color looks familiar.”

Steve didn’t say anything he just continued to stare at her fingers.

Grace followed his gaze to the bandage wrapped around her finger. “I cut myself on one of the pitchers.”