The Insane Train (15 page)

“Besides the thirty-foot fall? Coyotes, I'd guess. I've heard the damn things will eat the tail right off a calf while it's being born.”

The sheriff pulled the tarp back over the body and lit a cigarette.

“How do you have it figured, Runyon?”

“The only logical explanation is suicide. She suffered from a brain tumor. Her nurse says that she had been especially depressed of late.

“She probably got out on the opposite side of the car when we pulled up on that trestle. Sometime during that time, she jumped. Nobody knew until another head count here at the depot.”

“If you're certain about all this, I guess you'll be releasing the body for burial?”

Hook walked to the double doors of the baggage room and watched the inmates who were being loaded back onto the train.

“Yes, if I were certain,” he said. “You think you might do me a favor, Sheriff?”

The sheriff shrugged. “I figure I might owe you one or two along the way. What is it you want?”

“An autopsy, just to make certain,” Hook said. “And a criminal check on Frankie Yager.”

“Right,” he said.

“Oh, and one other thing. Would you make a call to the American Board of Psychiatry? See if you can find out who filed a complaint against Baldwin.”

The train pulled out of Needles at sunset. Hook waited until they were well under way before entering the women's car. Seth looked up from his seat by the window.

“Got you set up next to the louse box,” Hook said. “That way I can keep an eye on you.”

Seth rubbed his chin, which had sprouted a noticeable beard. “Something tells me I ain't the one you want to keep an eye on, Hook.”

Hook could see Andrea at the other end leaning over the seat talking to Bertha. When she looked up, she smiled at him.

“Don't know what you're talking about, Seth. How goes it?”

“Well, I don't have those dreams,” he said.

“That's good.”

“Because I don't sleep no more, Hook. It's like being nibbled to death by ducks in here. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm damn sick of looking at that woman's nakedness.”

“Ruth?”

He shook his head. “Me just sitting here minding my business, and there it is right in front of me. What's a man to do?”

“Did you ever consider not looking?” Hook asked.

“When's the last time you didn't look at a naked woman, Hook?”

“It's a point,” Hook said.

“Some things are not humanly possible. Not looking is one of them, that's all I got to say.”

“Where's your willpower, Seth?”

“Each time, I figure I'll just stare out the window or tie my shoe. But then I just got to look, like if I don't, I might die or lose my manliness.

“To top it off, I ain't had a smoke in days.”

“Guess you could use a cigarette?”

“I sure could.”

“A man could smoke in my caboose if he was my friend and if I took a notion to let him.”

“I guess I'd do about anything for a smoke, Hook, even be your friend.”

“Andrea might use a little break herself, you know, later on when the women here are asleep.”

“Andrea don't smoke.”

“Neither do you if I don't let you use my caboose.”

“Once they're asleep, not much goes on anyway,” Seth said.

“Go on back there and have yourself a smoke, my friend,” Hook said. “I'll help Andrea watch things for a bit.”

Seth checked his pocket. “I don't have matches, Hook.”

“There's some next to the heating stove,” Hook said.

Seth rose to leave. “About that girl, Elizabeth?”

“Yeah.”

“I heard you found her.”

“We found her.”

Seth got to the door and turned. “I talked to her a bit at the cafeteria, Hook. She said she drank cranberry juice to make her tumor go away.”

“I guess it didn't,” Hook said.

“No, I guess not, but I sure didn't have her pegged as a jumper,” he said, closing the door.

Hook worked his way down the aisle to where Andrea sat talking to Anna, who turned in her seat and threw her hands up when she saw Hook.

“It's that man,” she said.

“Anna, just stop,” Andrea said, shaking her head. “He's our friend.”

“He's going to stab me with his hook,” she said, scrunching down in her seat.

Lucy shifted her doll and looked up to see who had come to kill Anna.

“Esther stole all the toilet paper,” Lucy said.

“Kill Esther,” Anna said.

“Esther's been catching bugs under the seats,” Lucy said.

Ruth stuck out her chest. “Seth's been looking at my breasts,” she said.

“His hook would go clear through me,” Anna said.

“Stop,” Andrea said.

“He threw Elizabeth off the bridge with his hook,” Anna said.

Andrea's eyes teared up. “It was my fault, Hook. I shouldn't have left her alone.”

“Look, Andrea, you can't take responsibility for the whole world. It's too big and too awful. No one blames you for Elizabeth's death.”

“I do,” Anna said.

“Hush,” Andrea said.

“I had your car switched next to the caboose,” Hook said.

Andrea smiled. “I noticed.”

“I let Seth go back to the caboose for a smoke. I'm thinking he might give you a break later if you'd like.”

“I'd like,” she said.

“Elizabeth's head exploded,” Anna said.

 

Roy unlocked the door and let Hook into the security ward. Frankie peered over the top of his paper and then turned back without a word.

“Where's Doctor Helms?” Hook asked.

“Gone for meds,” Roy said. “Wait too long, and it's a Paddy fight around here.”

Hook moved along the aisle. Robert Smith sat with his head down, a string of saliva drooling from his mouth. Van Diefendorf snored, his head against the window.

“Are they being exercised?” Hook asked.

“We take them one at a time for a bathroom break in the supply car, walk them up and down a bit, but they don't seem to know one way or the other. That chlorine's mighty hard stuff.”

“Tell Doctor Helms I need you down there with Santos. He's due a change off now and then.”

“That suits me fine,” Roy said. “That goddang Frankie hasn't muttered a word the whole of the way.”

As Hook went out, he ran into Helms returning with her hands full of medications.

“If you need Roy, I guess we can manage,” she said.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Mr. Runyon, have you any idea how much longer it will be?”

“Not much longer, Doctor Helms, providing we can keep things underhand.”

 

That night Hook lay in his bunk listening to the steamer draw down as her governor kicked in against the grade. Mixer lay at his feet, the clack of the wheels having driven him into a deep sleep.

Mixer traveled well, sleeping almost continuously while the train moved, but the moment the train stopped, he came alive to demand his run along the tracks. This arrangement worked fine so long as he didn't spot some unfortunate creature trespassing on railroad property.

When the knock came on the door, Mixer lifted his head.

“It's alright,” Hook said, opening the door.

Andrea stood there, her arms folded against the cold that gathered between the cars.

“They're finally all asleep,” she said.

“Hi,” he said, pushing Mixer back with his foot.

Stooping down, Andrea gathered Mixer up. “It's alright,” she said. “He must get lonesome in here by himself.”

Mixer wagged from head to foot.

“Yes,” Hook said. “He does.”

“It feels wonderful just to be away for a moment,” she said, standing.

“Could I fix you something? A drink? I've forty-year-old shine in the cabinet.”

“No, thanks. Oh, can you see the train from the cupola?”

“Would you like to look?”

“I'd love to,” she said.

They climbed the ladder, sharing the hard seat inside the cupola. Moonlight slid along the tops of the cars like a silver river.

“It's wonderful,” she said. “Look, you can see the engine from here.”

“I sometimes come up here at sunrise and have my coffee,” he said.

Settling in against him, she took his hand, her fingers cool and delicate.

“Some life you lead.”

“It suits me,” he said. “When I'm on the move like this, my troubles never quite catch up.”

“Except when they're on the move
with
you,” she said.

“Well, it's a living, and it has its rewards from time to time.”

She turned, the gray of her eyes lit in the moonlight. “The thing is, it doesn't fit you somehow.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know, exactly, the books maybe, the collecting, all that reading.”

“Just curious about things,” he said. “Yard dogs aren't worth a damn without curiosity, you know.”

“Well,” she said, “I like that about you. I think I have you figured out, and then there's a whole different layer, the way you think, the way you see the world.”

Hook tilted her chin up with his finger. “You mind if I kiss you?”

“I don't believe I do.”

He brushed his lips against hers, and she melted into him. He held her, and they watched the moon arch through the sky.

“Hook,” she whispered, “I'm glad you're here. I'm frightened sometimes about what might lie ahead.”

He pulled her in close. “We're all a little frightened of the future, Andrea. But we have no choice but to step into it. It's the way of things.”

She checked her watch in the moonlight. “I think my smoke break is up. I better get back.”

“We'll arrange another,” he said. “Seth's got a strong habit.”

At the door, Andrea lifted her eyes. “Good night,” she said.

 

Hook climbed down from the caboose at the Flagstaff depot and filled his lungs with the crisp mountain air. The peaks lifted into the blue, and the smell of pine steeped the morning. Mixer took off in a run, weaving in and out of the cars.

Hook walked up to the engine, where Frenchy was just coming down.

“Morning, Frenchy,” he said.

“Told you this ole girl would make her across the desert,” Frenchy said.

“How long a layover, Frenchy?”

“Going to grease the pig and give her a drink,” he said. “Regular maintenance. Me and the fireman ran our trick out. We'll be hearing from the union soon enough.”

“Maybe you can get this rust bucket there before I die of old age,” Hook said.

Frenchy flipped the ash from his cigar. “At the rate you're going there ain't going to be any passengers left, anyway.”

“Had you brought a decent train we'd been there by now,” Hook said.

“Oh, sure. It's my fault. Sometimes I figure I'll just retire and move south.”

“Give you a chance to visit with the wife more, wouldn't it?” Hook said.

“Oh, hell, she quit talking to me ten years ago.”

“I'd like to stay and visit, Frenchy, but I got to make a call to Eddie.”

 

Hook sat across from the depot operator and dialed the phone.

When Eddie came on, he said, “Division, Eddie Preston.”

“Eddie, Hook here.”

“Goddang it, Runyon, you know what time it is?”

“Some of us don't watch the clock, Eddie.”

“Where are you?”

“Flagstaff and lucky to be here. The Mormons crossed the desert faster than this ole kettle.”

“We need those outfit cars, Runyon. They got rip-track sleeping in a hotel, twenty hands drinking whiskey and eating steak. It's costing a goddang fortune. The big boys are not too happy. That makes me not happy. You see how it works?”

“Listen, Eddie, we've had a little trouble along the way.”

“What the hell you talking about?”

“One of the inmates took a dive off a trestle.”

“Oh, Christ. Hurt?”

“Dead, Eddie, and the coyotes had a little overnight party to boot.”

“Oh, Christ, and where was railroad security when all this was going on?”

“Look, Eddie, this is not exactly a normal run you know. These people have problems. I can't watch them every second.”

“I'm the one with the problems, Runyon. Now we have lawsuits. You know how the big boys hate lawsuits.”

“I doubt it, Eddie. She didn't have any family that cared one way or the other.”

“She?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me know if anything comes up. Maybe we can get it headed off.”

“Yeah, I will, Eddie.”

“Listen,” he said. “I get this call from Barstow about some goddang dog chewing up a city cop on railroad property. You know anything about that?”

“I don't know about dogs, Eddie, except maybe that one in Amarillo.”

“Work on your sense of humor, Runyon, and call me when you get that work train freed up. Try keeping the goddang passengers inside the cars, will you?”

Hook pushed the phone back over to the operator, lit a cigarette, and looked out the window.

The phone rang, and the operator picked it up. “Who?

“Yeah, he's here. It's for you, Hook,” he said. “Sheriff over to Needles.”

“Hello, Sheriff,” Hook said. “What did you find out?”

“That Frankie Yager fellow,” he said.

“Is he clean?”

“No big stuff, Hook, breaking and entering, shoplifting, shit like that. He was booted out of the state university.”

“What for?”

“Bogus application. Forged his grade point.”

“I used to sign my own report cards,” Hook said.

“You didn't threaten to kill the dean, though, did you?”

“They don't have them in seventh grade,” he said. “Did Yager get time over it?”

“You know these goddang judges, Hook.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I thought I smelled something.”

“And I checked with the American Board of Psychiatry like you asked.”

“Yeah?”

“A Doctor Bria Helms had contacted them about Baldwin,” he said.

“Thanks, Sheriff.”

“There is one other thing.”

Hook slipped his cigarettes into his pocket. “Go on, Sheriff.”

“That autopsy came back.”

“And?”

“That girl didn't die from no fall, Hook. Somebody strangled her.”