Death Takes a Holiday (22 page)

“Well, there we have it, ladies and gentlemen,” Asa said gravely.
“We have a problem. Until now, we assumed Robert Kirby was the only target . . . but now we know differently.” He looked at their little group. “Now we know that we all are in danger.”

CHAPTER
eighteen

“Slight problem?” Grace
asked as she followed Kyle into the sleeping car. “A slight problem is we’re running out of hot chocolate. Finding the chef with his head bashed in is not a slight problem.”

“Sara’s the queen
of understatement.”

“
I knew Oscar was keeping something to himself,” she crowed. “That had to be why he was killed.”

Kyle nodded. “Sara
found a nursery rhyme in his pocket.”

“What was it this time?”

“
Humpty Dumpty
. All the king’s—”

Grace held up her hand. “It’s all right. I know that one.”

“Thank goodness,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“I think someone is trying very hard to make Jack look guilty.”

“What makes you so certain Jack isn’t our killer?”

“
I have a sinking suspicion our killer is someone we’ve at least seen in the last couple of hours. This isn’t that big of a train and I have a hard time believing Jack Horner’s been able to commit two murders without anyone seeing him.”

“Maybe he had help. Henry and he may have jumped off the train together.”

“Speaking of whom, look what I found in my room,” she said, pulling out the letter Henry left in her room and handing it to him.

“I may have made a mistake,”
Kyle read out loud. “He could be referring to bringing Jack on the train and hiding him.”

She took the note back out of his hand and placed it into her pocket. “
Possibly, but what I want to know is, who was the letter for? Me or Meredith?”

*

Grace glanced at the observation car window and back at Kyle. He patted her back affectionately. “Your turn,” he said, pointing to the deck of cards lying on the table. Grace picked up a card and mindlessly discarded another before looking at Steve sitting on her left.

After they
patched Steve up, Asa Wellington asked everyone to stay in the observation car as he examined the crime scene and once again searched the train for Jack Horner. After a vigorous debate on whether it was safe enough to allow Steve to sleep after suffering a blow to the head (Sara, Kyle and Lucas being for and Grace, Meredith, Tracy, Felicity and Parker being against), it was decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. Kyle was given the main task of watching over his partner while the others fluttered nervously about, eyeing one another suspiciously, waiting for Wellington to return.

For want of something better to do, Kyle and Steve dragged one of the tables from the dining car into the observation car and set up a small little game area in the corner of the car to keep everyone occupied.
Kyle, Grace, Steve and Tracy decided to pass the time playing Rummy.

Kyle spent most of the time trying to keep Steve conscious while
Grace and Tracy surreptitiously watched each other and the other passengers. That is when they weren’t staring out at the inky blackness past the window.

Sara
stood guard at the end of the car, anxiously waiting for Wellington’s return. Every so often, she would turn suddenly and press her face against the door window, causing everyone to tense up with worry until she turned back around.

Felicity, who declared that her creative juices were flowing, typed away on her laptop in the corner of the room with Parker at her side.
They discussed various plot points, methods of death and types of poisons while eliciting several hostile and unfriendly glares from the other passengers.

Lucas, acting like a caged animal, chose to pace up and down the car to everyone’s annoyance,
occasionally stopping to harass and aggravate whoever happened to catch his eye.

And
Meredith, having been forced out of her room, found a spot as far away from everyone else as she could. She reached into her bag and brought out a small paperback book of jokes which she held out in front of her, obscuring her face. Grace just then realized that she hadn’t heard Meredith laugh, chuckle, or giggle since she picked up the book. Amazing, Grace thought in amusement as she gamely tried to concentrate on the cards in her hand, but every few seconds her eyes would return to the window and the darkness that surrounded them on every side. She tried to will her mind to focus. She had almost succeeded when a mournful howl brought her attention back to the window.

Startled
, Tracy jumped, dropping the cards in her hand onto the table. “What is making that horrible noise?” She turned uneasily to the window.

“It’s probably just a
wolf,” Kyle said reassuringly.

Lucas swaggered over to their table. “Yeah, a big bad wolf. Getting ready to eat you,” he snarled, reaching for her neck.

Tracy slapped Lucas’ hand away. “Knock it off, Lucas. That’s not funny.”

“Who said I was making a joke
?” Lucas walked away, whistling.

Tracy picked up the cards off of the table. She just as quickly shook her head and tossed them back down. “I can’t do this.” She reached a shaking hand to her head. “I’m so tired.”

“Why don’t you go to sleep on the couch?” Grace asked. “No one’s going anywhere.”

“Yeah, Tracy,” Lucas said, leaning against
one of the windows. “No need to worry. I’m here. I won’t let Jack get to you.”

“
I’m sure Jack is not going to hurt me,” Tracy said without conviction.

Lucas laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re next.”

“Stop it, Lucas.” Tracy stood up suddenly. Glancing nervously out the window she walked over to one of the leather sofas and sat down next to Parker and Felicity.

Grace turned to Lucas. “Why are you so certain,
Jack Horner is after Tracy next?”

“
Because she’s the one who pushed Father and Robert into having him committed.”

Kyle
watched as Steve folded his arms on the table and laid his head down. He shook him awake as he looked over his shoulder at Lucas. “Is that true?”

“No, but that’s what
Jack believed. That’s why we’re here. He hates us all and he’s going to pick us off,” Lucas said, pointing to everyone in turn, “one by one.”

“Not while I’m here, Mr. Kirby,” Asa
Wellington said from the door.

“You haven’t exactly done a bang
-up job so far Wellington,” Lucas said with a sneer. “Did you find Jack?”

Wellington
frowned. “No.”

S
uddenly more relaxed now that Wellington had returned, Sara glanced around Wellington’s shoulder until her eyes landed on Steve. She slid around the detective and walked toward their table. Giving Steve a small grin, she hopped into the chair recently vacated by Tracy.

Steve perked up upon her arrival. He straightened his back and tried to adopt a commanding presence. It might have worked if his
eyelids would have stopped drooping.

Lucas watched them carefully for a moment before striding over to the table. He slammed his palms onto the surface, and glared at Sara. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

Sara gazed at him calmly. “As I said earlier—”

“
You’re one of Wellington’s detectives, aren’t you? One of his spies,” he said wagging his finger at her. “I knew you looked familiar. You’re that other detective.” He snapped his fingers a couple of times. “Whatsyourname? Um, Michaels. That’s it. Sara Michaels.” He peered at her hair. “I think I liked you better as a brunette.”

Sara looked to Wellington who simply shrugged. She lifted her chin and said in a clipped tone,
“I assisted—”

“Oh, forgive me,” Lucas said laying his hand on his heart, “assisted. Well, I guess that makes sense. Jack wants you, too.”

Grace glanced toward Steve hoping he wasn’t too upset to find out Sara had been deceiving him all day. She needn’t have worried. Steve was slouched in his chair, his head lolling back. She reached over and gently shook him awake.

Lucas turned his attent
ion to Grace. “What about you? What’s Jack got against you?”

She felt Kyle
shift restlessly in his seat. “Nothing. We had never met before today.”

“Right,”
Lucas said slowly. He leaned over the table causing Kyle to move his chair closer to her. She laid her hand on Kyle’s knee. She doubted Lucas would do anything with everyone sitting there watching. “How do we know you aren’t behind all of this, huh?”

“Me?”
Grace asked.

“Yeah, why not?
Maybe you’re all helping, Jack, just like his buddy, Henry.”

“Speaking of whom,” Grace said turning to
Wellington. “Have you found Henry?”

Wellington
looked uncomfortable. “No, we haven’t.”

“You’ve searched every room this time?” Kyle asked.

Wellington nodded. “Every room. Top to bottom. Neither one of them are on this train. It’s my theory that they’re both out there,” he said, pointing toward the windows, “somewhere.”

Grace turned to the window. The
snowstorm hadn’t let up since the train stopped. “In this weather?”

“What other explanation is there?”
Wellington asked.

*

Grace smothered another yawn and tried to make herself comfortable on the hard floor. The plush carpet in the observation car wasn’t as comfortable as it had looked an hour ago, she thought miserably. Well, on the bright side, it was warm.

She glanced over
her shoulder at Kyle sleeping on his side just inches away. She carefully slid back until she was pressed against him.

Safety in numbers had been the rallying cry of the night.
Wellington reasoned that everyone should stay together on the theory that Jack couldn’t kill them all at once. Not the most comforting of theories, considering how helpless they had been when Robert was killed. Nevertheless, there had been very little objection.

Since there was a possibility Steve had a c
oncussion, it was decided that Wellington, Sara and Kyle would take turns staying up with him. The extra benefit to that arrangement was that there would be two sets of eyes on the rest of the passengers during the night. With that in mind, Sara decided to take the first watch.

Grace sleepily lifted her head. Sara
was keeping Steve occupied by playing poker. And by the amount of pretzel sticks piled up on her side of the table, she was either a great poker player or Steve was a terrible one. Steve laid his head back on the table as Sara won another round and collected another pile of pretzels. Of course, Grace thought sympathetically, he probably has a good excuse.

The only people who weren’t in the
observation car were the engineers who had barricaded themselves up front after the passengers began, in their words, “dropping like flies.”

Grace yawned. No matter how much she tried, she wasn’t able to go to sleep. Of course
, it didn’t help that Meredith had finally decided to become social.

“As soon as I save up enough money, I’m going to go
to California. I’m tired of these temporary go nowhere jobs. I want to do something meaningful with my life.”

“Such as?”

“Oh, I have plans. You’ll see. I’ll be rich and famous someday.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Lucas sound asleep on the couch a few feet away. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d already be there.”

“How did he stop you?”

“Empty promises. I guess I should thank Steve. If it weren’t for him, Lucas and I would probably be married by now. Luckily, Steve opened my eyes to the truth.” She raised her head and glared at Steve who apparently had given up trying to win and was now eating what was left of his ‘money.’ “I just hope I can get off this train alive.” She turned her attention back to Grace. “You know, I told you—”

“Yes, I know. You told me. We’re all going to die a horrible death. We’re either going to freeze, starve or be murdered.” Grace looked toward the window as another howl broke through the silence. “That is if whatever
is out there doesn’t get us first.”

“Oh, it’s just a wolf or a coyote. I doubt it can figure out how to open a door. Don’t be so negative, Grace.” Meredith chided. “You should try to think positively. That’s what I do.”

Grace on the verge of asking,
since when
, was stopped by the sound of Tracy sobbing. “Is that Tracy? Where is she?”

“In the bathroom.”

Grace looked toward the bookcases near the door to the dining car and the small bathroom that lay just behind one of the bookcases. She threw off the covers and Kyle’s arm which had somehow become wrapped about her waist. “I’d better go check on her.”

“No, you stay here. I’ll check on her. With your poor attitude about this whole thing, you’ll probably end up depressing her even more and what she needs is some cheering up.”

The disbelieving look Grace threw Meredith, would have probably insulted the other woman, if it hadn’t been so dark in the room. Disappointed, Grace decided to improvise. “So, why are
you
going then?”