Death Takes a Holiday (20 page)

“He knew the murder weapon had a scratch on the end,” Sara said quickly. “If his story isn’t true how else would he have known that?”

“I don’t know, but Oscar lied about the sauce,” Grace answered. “Well, technically he didn’t lie, but he definitely left an important fact out. Oscar forgot that he threw out the sauce right before dinner service. That’s why it took so long for us to get the food out. He had to make more. So, Jack couldn’t have put the glass into the sauce after the new batch because we all would have seen him.”

Wellington
cleared his throat. “I feel we can attribute most of what Oscar said to his zeal for a reward. I wouldn’t necessarily say he was lying, at least not yet. I’d say he was probably embellishing the truth a bit. Fellows like that think they’ll get more money the longer they talk and the more crimes they can pin on the accused. Don’t worry, I’m sure when the police question him, they’ll be able to ferret out what is true and what isn’t,” he said, turning to watch Lucas walk back in.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Lucas leaned back against the door as a bead of sweat slid down his face.

“I think we should do another sweep of the train,” Kyle said.

“
Why?” Lucas asked. “We’ve done several and still haven’t found him. I say we just wait until the morning. Let the authorities handle this. Once we’re at the hotel, there’s really no place he can go.” Lucas sat down in the nearest chair, only to jump to his feet moments later when Meredith emerged from the kitchen dragging a large garbage bag behind her. Lucas held out his arms. “Merry, where have you been?”

Meredith ignored him. The
y watched, fascinated as she hefted the bag over her shoulder, like a short Santa Claus and pushed past Lucas.

Lucas grabbed the bag. “Let me help you.”

Meredith held firm. “I don’t need your help.”

“Just let me help,” he said
, pulling the bag away from her.

Meredith dug in he
r heels. “No, get away from me,” she said pulling the bag and Lucas along with her down the aisle of the car.

The
sounds of their argument continued well beyond the connecting door.

“
I hate to say this, but I agree with Lucas,” Grace said. “We’ll be at the hotel in the morning. We might as well wait until then.”

“I still think we should all stick together
tonight,” Sara said.

“We can’t force people to stay in this one car until we arrive at the station,”
Wellington said. “I will stay here to make sure Mr. Kirby’s body is not disturbed. I think Mr. Drake has the right idea. We should all get some sleep.”

“
I can take the first watch, Mr. Wellington,” Steve said.

Wellington shook his head. “Not necessary. I don’t plan on sleeping tonight
.”

Steve quickly nodded in agreement
. Kyle, on the other hand, leaned over and whispered into Grace’s ear, “That’s because he’s already slept today.”

Stubbornly shaking her head, Sara said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Steve looked between Sara and Wellington, clearly torn between the two. His head bobbed around, unsure whose side to take.

Kyle tugged
at the cuff of Grace’s shirt. He motioned for her to follow him to the bar. “What do you want to do? Do you want to stay in here tonight?”

“No,” Grace said yawning. “I’m exhausted. I think we’ll be safe in our own rooms. We’ll just have to make sure we lock the doors and . . .
,” she said, trailing off as Meredith walked back through the car, dragging an empty bag behind her.

A sudden rumbling sound and the train
shaking caused everyone to reach out to steady themselves.

Meredith walked to the nearest window and looked outside. The intensity of the storm had definitely picked up. Huge
snowflakes splattered against the window.

Noticing Grace off to the side,
Meredith reached into her pocket and tossed a key at her. “It’s the room at the end,” she said, heading to the kitchen.

CHAPTER
sixteen

“The door is
unlocked,” Grace whispered worriedly over her shoulder. Pushing open the door, she turned and blindly searched the wall for the light switch. She slowly let out the breath she had been holding as light flooded the small empty room.

Kyle
with a suitcase in each hand followed her into the room and shut the door behind him with his foot. Shaking his head disapprovingly, he dropped her suitcases onto the floor next to the closet. If he had been claustrophobic, he would have already run from the room screaming. “This is horrible,” he said, sticking his head into the tiny bathroom and back out. “You have absolutely no room to move.” He lightly kicked the wooden paneling surrounding one of the beds. “The very least they could have done was turn these into murphy beds. That at least would have provided some breathing room during the day.”

Grace had to agree.
The room was basically a small narrow rectangular box with barely enough room for the two narrow twin beds built into the wall, much less two human beings. A nightstand was all that separated the two beds from each other. The only other piece of furniture, a simple three drawer dresser with a cracked mirror, stood at one end of the bed opposite the bathroom.

“I think it’s . . . charming,” Grace said
, trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

Kyle picked up a pillow off the floor and threw it onto the bed. “It’s a mess,” he said, looking at Meredith’s things strewn across the room.

“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Grace stood near the dresser, trying to decide which bed she should take. Opting for the one that looked the least rumpled, Grace dropped her carry-on onto the floor, slid around Kyle and began straightening the covers.

Trying to get out of her way,
Kyle took a step back, swearing when he stumbled over her suitcase. He quickly steadied himself by grabbing a hold of Grace’s waist. He was about to drop his hands when Grace spun around and wrapped her arms around his neck. Suddenly realizing the room had certain advantages, Kyle smiled down at her.

“What are you two doing in here?”
Lucas asked from the doorway.

Grace dropped her arms from around Kyle’s neck.
“I’m staying with Meredith tonight.”

Lucas
glanced at Grace’s luggage sitting on the floor. “Does Merry know that?”

“Yes,” Grace said patiently, “she’s aware.”

“Are you staying here all night?” Lucas asked.

Kyle raised an eyebrow.
“Is there something we can help you with, Lucas?”

“No, I was just curious,
” Lucas said. “Tell Merry I was looking for her.” He didn’t wait for a response, slamming the door behind him.

“Grace, I think you should stay with me and Steve tonight.”

“No, thank you.”

Kyle pointed to the door. “That didn’t worry you?”

Grace chuckled. “He’s not interested in me. If anyone has to worry, it’s Meredith and I’m pretty sure she can handle him.”

“Meredith could be involved with
Jack Horner for all we know. You’re safer with us than here with a stranger.”

“I doubt Meredith is involved. Besides, even if she was
, why would she kill me? Don’t forget our killer could have killed everyone in the lounge car, but only chose Robert. I doubt I’m in any danger.”

His expression darkened. “I
just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Grace said reassuringly. “
Meredith and I are planning on locking ourselves in until we arrive at the hotel in the morning, but don’t worry, she’s already planning for the worst case scenario. I think my chances of surviving are quite high actually. That is until we’re down to the last piece of cheese, then it’s every woman for herself.”

“Come again?” Kyle asked.

Grace smiled in wry amusement. “I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Her amusement turned to concern as she looked up at him. “Honestly, Kyle, I’ll probably be much safer here with Meredith than you are with Steve tonight. Someone threatened to kill him before New Year’s. That’s just twentyfour hours away. Time’s running out. You’re in far more danger than I am and I don’t want you to end up collateral damage,” she said laying her hand against his chest. “You two need to barricade yourselves in tonight. Don’t take any chances.”

He ran his hands down her arms. “I never take chances.”

“I’ve seen you perform, Kyle,” she reminded him, thinking back to his last stage performance in New York. Good thing his father insisted on standing off stage with a fire extinguisher. “What does Wellington really think about all of this? He didn’t really participate much while we were going over the evidence tonight.”

“
Yeah, I noticed that.”

Sensing the irony in his voice, Grace asked,
“What’s wrong?”

“
I don’t know,” Kyle said, tugging on his ear. “I just can’t get a good read on him.”

“He’s probably ke
eping things close to his vest. I bet he already knows more about what’s going on than anyone else on this train.”

Kyle hesitated before saying,
“Maybe.”

“He just doesn’t trust you, yet.” She grinned. “At least not completely. He must trust you somewhat or he woul
dn’t be letting you assist him with this investigation.”

Raising an eyebrow,
Kyle chuckled. “Assist?”

Confused by his attitude, she asked, “Aren’t you?”

He shrugged lightly before bringing her closer. “I guess you could say that.”

Placing her hands against his chest, s
he beamed up at him. “Think of it. Working with the great Asa Wellington. You.”

“The
great
Asa Wellington.” He looked at her in amusement. “You didn’t even know who he was a few hours ago.”

“I’ve heard of him before
,” she said defensively. “I just didn’t remember his name. They made a movie about him, you know.”

“Oh, then he must be great,” he teased.
Catching a strand of her hair, he tucked it behind her ear, his fingers gently caressing her cheek in the process. “I had it all planned. This was supposed to be so romantic. Just you and me—”

“And Steve.”

He grinned. “A minor detail.”

She looked up at his handsome face and smiled.
She bit her lip as his eyes focused on her mouth.

Grace felt her
heartbeat quicken. Unconsciously, she lifted a hand to the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair.

He
r eyes drifted shut as he leaned toward her.

The sound of tree branches scraping against the window
caused Grace’s eyes to fly to the window. She glanced outside and shivered. “How safe are trains during snow storms?”

He
gently cupped her cheek, bringing her attention back to him. “Grace, don’t worry about it. I’m sure everything is fine.”

“Kyle,
nothing about today has been fine.”

He ran his thumb across her lower lip and smiled softly
as he bent his head lower.

“Hey Romeo,
” Meredith called from the door, “don’t you have your own room.” She entered the room, dragging a garbage bag behind her. Grace could hear the clanking of metal against metal as Meredith headed toward the bathroom muttering something about people spending a fortune on a fancy room and then making out in the servants’ quarters.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me and Steve?”
Kyle asked again urgently.

Grace thought about it for a moment. Spending the night with Meredith or Steve.
Negative Nancy or a wannabe Don Juan. “Steve’s probably safer if I stay over here.”

He glanced
over his shoulder as Meredith walked back into the room carrying a small overnight bag. Bending down with her back to them, she furtively looked over her shoulder, as she brought out a couple of cans of beets from underneath her shirt and stuffed them into her bag. “Grace?” he whispered worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,”
Grace said turning him around and giving him a gentle shove. “Go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Once in the hallway, he turned back around to face her. He seemed ready to say something else when Meredith shouted “bye” from the room.

Grace sighed heavily before waving
good-bye to Kyle and shutting the door. Picking up her suitcases, she laid them at the head of the bed. Once the suitcases were out of the way, she hopped onto the foot of the bed and faced the dresser. Kneeling, she gripped the edge of the dresser and nodded at Meredith.

Hiding the last can o
f food she had swiped from the kitchen, Meredith stood and walked over to the other side of the dresser.

Between the two
of them, they easily maneuvered it out of its corner and toward the door.

“It’s pretty light
,” Grace said, “but at least we’ll know if someone tries to get in. I wish we had a weapon of some sort.”

“I asked Lucas for his gun
, but he claimed he couldn’t find it.”

“Lucas has a gun?” Grace didn’t know what was more disturbing
. The fact that Lucas had a gun or that he couldn’t find it when Meredith asked for it.

Meredith grunted. “He never leaves home without it.” She
nodded toward Grace’s suitcases, piled up on the bed. “I see you’ve gotten settled in.”

“
Yep. The room’s nicer than I thought it would be.”

“I think it looks like a bordello.”

Grace took in the Spartan furnishings with its dark paneling, dark brown carpet, and white linens and wondered how many bordellos Meredith had ever seen. She picked up the crimson decorative pillow lying on the floor next to where the dresser had been sitting. Perhaps it’s the tassels that disturb her, Grace thought, throwing the pillow to the foot of the bed.

Meredith climbed onto her bed and looked out the
window. Ice was slowly forming on the outside of the window, obscuring the scene beyond.

Grace sat down and patiently waited for Meredith to crow about being right
, but was pleasantly surprised when Meredith simply closed the drapes, picked up her overnight case and went into the bathroom.

“
I don’t know how I’m going to get any sleep tonight,” she said from the bathroom. “I’m a nervous wreck. Between the noises of the train, the blizzard outside—which I told you about by the way . . . .”

There we go, Grace thought in amusement, surprised Meredith was able to contain herself that long.

“Everyone running around out there and the fireworks, I’m not going to get any sleep tonight.”

“What fireworks?”

Meredith walked out of the bathroom slathering lotion on her arms. “The hotel is setting off fireworks at midnight tonight and tomorrow.”

“Oh, I love fireworks. They’re so beautiful.”

“They are a nuisance. Do you know how many people go deaf a year due to fireworks?”

Yawning, Grace picked up
her carry-on. “I think that’s only for the people who set them off, not for the people watching,” she said, setting the suitcase down on the floor at the foot of her bed and softly adding, “miles away on a train,” under her breath. “I’m surprised they’re . . .” Grace stopped talking and stared at the piece of paper lying on the floor where the dresser had been sitting. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Meredith wasn’t paying attention, Grace picked up the paper and carefully unfolded the note.

Tell your boyfriend I need to speak to him alone
in my room tomorrow morning. I may have made a mistake and I want to talk. Don’t tell anyone else. important
was scrawled in block letters on the train’s stationary. It was signed simply, Henry. A couple of reddish brown smudges stained the corner of the note. She turned the paper around. There was no other information.

Grace refolded the piece of paper and
stuck it into her pocket. She sat down on her bed and crossed her legs. “What did Lucas want with you tonight?”

“The creep wanted
me to sleep in his room. He tried to claim it was for my own safety,” she said with a sneer. “I’ve heard that before. When I confronted him, he said that he wasn’t trying to make a pass at me, he just wanted to
trade
rooms with me.” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“Did he say why he wanted to switch rooms with you?”

“He wants to lay a trap for Jack.”

“That might not be such a bad idea. How was he going to go about it?”

Meredith gave Grace a pitying look. “He was lying. He wasn’t planning on laying a trap. That would require effort. Something he knows nothing about. It would also require a bit of intelligence which is something he isn’t even fleetingly acquainted with. Trust me, he was just trying to put the moves on me.” Meredith reached into the suitcase lying on the floor and pulled out a pair of pajamas, while Grace pondered Lucas’ plans for seduction and how trading rooms would help him.