Death Takes a Holiday (13 page)

Lucas lo
oked over at Asa Wellington sitting alone. “Perhaps, we should have a food taster. Would you like to volunteer Mr. Wellington? I mean, that’s your job, right? To protect and serve.”

Wellington
crossed his legs. “I think you’re confusing me with the police. I’m a security consultant, not a food taster, Mr. Kirby and after the events of tonight, I think I’ll pass on the amenities.” He gave Lucas a small smile. “You can never be too careful in this life.”

Robert
, Tracy and Lucas walked to the bar and loaded up with an assortment of cakes and cookies before settling down in a couple of chairs near the bar where they studiously ignored one another. Still angry at her husband, Tracy turned away from him and sat primly in her chair, a plate delicately balanced on one knee. She nodded at Lucas who watched her in amusement. “Geez, Tracy, you do know those chairs recline, don’t you?”

She ignored him, which seemed to amuse him even more. He
leaned back against the bar, his elbow accidentally knocking over a cup, sending it crashing to the floor. “Ooops, sorry about that.”

Tracy
looked down at the hem of her trousers now stained a dark brown. She took a second to glare at her brother-in-law before dropping her plate on the nearest table and walking toward the door. “Excuse me, while I go change,” she said in a clipped tone.

To his credit
, Lucas actually looked slightly ashamed. “Sorry Tracy,” he shouted at her back.

Tracy’s spine stiffened even more as she
opened the connecting door and walked into the vestibule.

Grace and Meredith rushed forward to clean up the mess at the same time.
In short order, they had everything tidy once again. That is until Lucas hopped up onto the bar and swung his feet around. He leaned closer to Grace. “So, you met ole Jack Horner, did ya?”

“He
told me that his name was Doctor Foster,” Grace said.

“He’s crazy.
He hears voices and sees things that aren’t there. You shouldn’t believe anything he says.”

“
Who said I did?” Grace asked, moving a plate of cookies out of his way.

“
What did you two talk about?”

Before
Grace could answer, Meredith grabbed his feet and swiveled him back around the bar.

“Merry—”

“Don’t Merry me. I know what you’re up to and it’s not going to work, so leave her alone.”

“I was just being nice, Merry,” Lucas said, jumping down from the bar.

CHAPTER Eleven

“Meredith, I doubt
the owners of the train are purposely trying to make you sick.” Grace ran a hand over her face and smiled reassuringly. “There’s probably a perfectly good reason why the temperature is set at,” she said, glancing at the thermostat, “seventy-two. I’m sure it wasn’t personal. Weren’t you saying that you were too hot a few minutes ago?”

Meredith stopped wrapping the scarf around her neck and scowled, “That’s how you get sick. Extreme temperature changes. That’s what does it.” Meredith
quickly tied the scarf into a knot at her throat. “I don’t like this!”

“Well, that’s new,” Grace said cheerfully.

“This whole thing has been a disaster since we left the station this morning and it’s not just me saying so. That short order cook they hired is pitching a fit and threatening to quit again.”

Oscar turned away from the stove. “Short order cook? Short order cook?” he screeched. “I’ll have you know that I have a Michelin star
—”

“I don’t care what kind of tires you have,” Meredith snapped.

Oscar just stood there, his mouth hanging open before turning back to the stove.

Trying to hide a grin, Grace asked
. “What’s wrong now?”

“
He just discovered that rats have been dining on the food.”

Grace looked around at the
pristine kitchen. “Here?”

“Yep. They’ve chewed through the lettuce, carrots—Take a look at the floor. There’s rat hair everywhere.” Meredith filled up five shot glasses of scotch. Balancing the shot glasses on a small round tray, she walked away from the bar mumbling something about working on a traveling slum complete with flesh eating rats.

Grace bent down and examined a clump of white fur in the corner of the room. “Are you sure this is rat hair?” she asked, but Meredith was already out of the room. “Abry?” she called quietly, opening up the cabinet doors one by one.

A sudden scream tore through the air.

Grace jumped. Heart beating wildly she ran out of the kitchen and into the dining car. Tracy was standing on a chair, her corduroy pants having been changed for a pair of black designer jeans. Putting one high heel on the table, she looked around at the floor wildly before letting out another small squeal. The others began filtering in from the lounge car. The only people missing were Henry and Asa Wellington.

Tracy
, realizing she had an audience, blushed furiously, while trying and failing to look nonchalant. She pressed her hand to her heart and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m okay.” She laughed. “It just scared me.”

Steve and Sara stood a few feet away. They looked at Tracy in concern.

Meredith was on her knees, picking up the shot glasses off the floor and glaring at Tracy. “What happened?” Grace asked as she knelt down next to her.

Meredith shook
her head. “Ask Ms. Drama Queen.”

Tracy’s face colored. “Really, I’m very sorry, Merry. I just
came back to ask if you had any more hot chocolate left when . . .” She glanced back down at the floor with a worried look.

Robert helped his wife hop down from the table
. “What was it, Tracy?”

“I don’t know. I just felt something rub up against my leg.”
She visibly shuddered. “It just startled me.”

Robert
turned to his brother. He dropped his hand from Tracy’s waist and pushed Lucas back. “What did you do?”

Lucas
frowned. “What is your problem?”

“You’re my problem. You’re everyone’s problem.”

Tracy put a restraining hand on Robert’s shoulder. “Robert, calm down. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. He’s always pulling stunts like this.”

“Like what, Robert? You afraid I’m making time with your girl.”

Robert
glared at his brother. “It wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”

Tracy lifted a hand to her hea
d. “Would you both please be quiet? You’re making a scene.” She looked apologetically at Grace.

Lucas laughed. “
We’re
making a scene.”

Tracy ran her hands down her arms. “Whatever it was had fur.”

Both Meredith and Grace froze. Albeit for different reasons. “Fur?” they repeated simultaneously.

“I’m sure it was nothing,” Grace said.

“See, I told you we had rats,” Meredith said.

Grace was about to follow when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. She turned t
o see Kyle standing behind her. He looked at her questioningly.

“Rats? Here?” Tracy asked, looking down at the floor.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Tracy,” Lucas said. “This is a train. They wouldn’t have rats.”

“There better not be rats.
” Robert looked at Grace pointedly.

Tracy screamed again. “There,” she said pointing to the bar. “Did you see it? It just ran behind the bar.”
They watched as the kitchen door swung open a few inches and then swung back.

“It’s okay.”
Meredith ran behind the bar. She quickly opened a drawer and pulled out a mallet. Holding it over her head, Meredith started for the door. “I’ll kill it.”

Grace
pushed Kyle out of the way, hard enough to cause him to tumble back against Lucas Kirby. Both men went to the floor as Grace flew across the dining car. She quickly hoisted herself up onto the bar and made a lunge for the mallet.

Unfortunately, she miscalculated and slid off the bar.
She and Meredith fell to the floor where Grace immediately set to trying to wrestle the weapon away from the other woman’s hands. Wrenching it free, Grace quickly stood up. “Everyone stay where you are. No one’s killing anything.”

“Grace,” Kyle said
worriedly as he picked himself up off the floor.

Grace slowly backed away, still brandishing the mallet. “No one make a move. Everything is fine.” She back
ed into the kitchen just in time to see Abry disappear into an open cabinet. She rushed forward and pulled the bunny out. Thinking quickly, she pulled out her shirt and stuffed Abry inside. She then grabbed a tray and held it out in front of her.

Oscar looked at her from the stove. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Everything’s fine.”

Kyle, Meredith, Tracy, and
Robert burst through the doors and crowded around her. All eyes were focused on the floor.

“Wh
ere is it?” Meredith asked.

Grace shook her head. “It wasn’t back here.”

Tracy looked at the others. “Yes, it was. I saw something run back here.”

“What did you see?” Kyle asked.

Tracy took a deep breath. “I don’t know. It was really fast, but I definitely saw something run back here.”

“Well, the
re’s nothing back here now,” Grace said, clutching the tray to her stomach as she felt Abry wiggle around underneath her shirt.

Meredith dropped to her knees
and peered into the cabinet. “Look here, all the bottles have been knocked over. I lined these up in a row alphabetically not twenty minutes ago.” She looked up accusingly at Grace. “What did you do with it? She’s hiding it. I can tell. Look at her face.”

All eyes foc
used in on Grace’s face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“She’s lying. What’s behind the tray?” Meredith asked suspiciously.

Lucas pushed past the others and hopped up onto the counter a few feet away. He smiled at her. “I think she’s right. You’re obviously lying.”

“What’s going on here?
Only employees are allowed back here,” Henry said while trying to squeeze through the little group blocking the kitchen door. Everyone slid around each other trying to make room for the new addition. Kyle took a few steps closer.

“
I’m not leaving,” Robert said authoritatively. “I want to see if it was a rat.”

“Rat?” Henry asked
a bit too loudly, causing everyone next to him to wince. He looked around in confusion. “We have rats?”

“That’s it.” Oscar took his white jacket and threw it on the
floor. “I refuse to work in these circumstances.” He pushed past the others.

Meredith stood up and thrust the last metal container of hot chocolate toward him. “Good
, take this to the lounge then.”

Dumbfounded, Oscar looked from her to Henry. “That’s it
, I quit. I don’t take orders—”

Henry laid a placating hand on Oscar’s shoulder. “I know. I’ll talk to her.”

Oscar glared at Meredith before wrapping his arms around the container and leaving the galley, muttering something about poisoning them all.

Meredith nodded. “
Good idea.” She turned to Henry. “Do you have any rat poison?”

“Poison?” Grace
asked, pressing the bunny closer. She glanced at the window.

Tracy gave them all an annoyed look and began to back out of the
kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Robert asked wrapping his arm around her wrist.

“To the sleeping car. I want to talk to Felicity about Jack.”

“Leave it alone, Tracy,” he snapped.

Tracy’s face flushed angrily. Without a word, she pried Robert’s hand off her arm and stepped out of the kitchen.

Grace took the momentary lapse in attention, to shift the bunny closer to her chest.

Meredith opened another cabinet. “Maybe we can make our own trap.”

“It’s not necessary. I took care of it. He’s free now. I set him free, so you can’t hurt him.”

Smiling, Lucas leaned forward. “How?”

Grace nodded to the window behind her and tried not to grimace when one of Abry’s claws dug into her stomach.

Henry looked shocked. “You threw it out the window?”

Meredith apparently approved. She nodded vigorously. “Good thinking. No blood that way.”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Yes, he’s gone now.” She caught Kyle’s eyes. He was staring at her chest with a curious expression. He suddenly sprang forward and turned her around to face the window. Surprised, she looked down to see the tip of Abry’s ear poking out between her breasts.

Whirling around, Kyle addressed the group. “Well, now that’s over
, why don’t we give her a moment of privacy?”

“What for?”
Lucas asked with a laugh.

“To grieve. Grace is an animal lover and I’m sure setting that rat free was very difficult for her.” Kyle placed his hands behind his back. He pulled at the hem of her shirt while he kept talking to the others. Hidden behind his broad back, she
turned around and lowered the tray with one hand and with the other thrust Abry into his waiting hands.

Suddenly, a scream tore through the air.

Lucas hopped down from the counter. “Geez, Tracy, would you give your vocal cords a rest?”

Tracy made a strangled sound.

Everyone’s attention now shifted to the dining area. Grace slid past Kyle who was busy hiding Abry in his suit coat, and joined the others.

Her face a horrible shade of crimson,
Tracy lay on the floor, taking huge deep breaths of air. Lucas was the first to reach her. Bending over, he gently helped her to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her as she pressed a shaking hand to her head. Robert barely looked at them as he passed by, opened the door to the lounge car and walked through the entryway. Still shaking, Tracy pushed Lucas away and followed her husband to the other car.

Everyone else stood awkwardly for a moment before deciding to follow the couple. Once in the
lounge car, Tracy took a seat in the nearest chair. She rested her head in her hand and leaned back. Her husband seated himself at the opposite end of the car at the game table. He spared a glance at his wife and rolled his eyes before grabbing the deck of cards lying on the table.

Asa
Wellington was fast asleep, his chin pressed against his chest. His right hand held five playing cards to his stomach. When Robert noticed the cards in Wellington’s hand, he reached over and snatched them out of the older man’s hand. Wellington didn’t seem to notice.

Lucas laid a hand on Tracy’s shoulder. “Why did you scream?”

“I was heading for the sleeping car when someone pushed me from behind. I think it was Jack.” She grabbed Lucas’ hand. “I can’t take much more of this.”

Lucas glared at
his brother. “I thought you said you threw him off the train this morning?”

Robert didn’t answer. He just shuffled the deck of cards in his hand
.

Lucas blew out a frustrated breath.
He patted Tracy’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Tracy. I’ll take care of him.” He gave her shoulder another squeeze, causing her to wince slightly, before turning around and walking back toward the dining car.

Grace glanced at
Kyle who was still struggling with a difficult Abry. He gave her a pained look and followed Lucas out of the car.