He moved past Victoria. A need to see for himself if there was anything he could do propelled him forward. He brushed past the other women. Eased toward the doorway everyone seemed intent on avoiding. Stilled when he saw Audra leaning against the frame. Defeat slumped her body over, curls brushing her cheeks. This was too much for one person to handle. He approached her, hands shoved in his pockets, longing to pull her into an embrace and shelter her from what she’d seen.
“Audra?”
She looked up at her name. Her face crumpled as if relieved to see someone she could trust. That relief quickly disappeared from her face. Replaced by something darker. Something questioning. Something hard.
Where she’d looked at him with trust—even just that evening— now bleakness edged her expression. The questions in her eyes shot through his heart and left him wounded. As if somehow he’d betrayed the hope and trust she’d placed in him.
What had she seen or heard that left her questioning him?
A flare of anger erupted in him. Lana had to touch everything good in his life and destroy it. Even in death she’d managed. Again.
Stomping on his heart and hopes hadn’t satisfied her. No, she’d successfully spent the last year killing his career. And now this.
He didn’t know what to do, other than refuse to walk away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
__________
The pain in Robert’s gaze flailed Audra. She braced herself against the wall. It was too hard to know who to trust.
Robert.
One word. Mouthed on dying lips. And with it, everything she thought she knew about Robert shifted. She hadn’t felt so alone and surrounded by unknown danger since discovering the body in Rosemary’s flat.
She closed her eyes and wished she could return to Indiana before all this horror occurred. Rosemary would be safe. She’d be in her job preparing for a new challenge. And her heart would be empty. She opened her eyes and saw Robert still standing in front of her. “What is going on around here?” Mark’s panicked voice registered as he stomped toward them.
Robert glared at him. “Where have you been?”
“Around. Someone tell me what’s going on.”
Audra gestured to Lana’s berth. “We’ve got to stop the train.”
“No can do.” Stubbornness edged Mark’s tight stance.
“I think the conductor would disagree. We’ll need the police, and I don’t want to think what else.” Audra closed her eyes against the thought of what would need to be done with Lana’s body.
Mark stepped past Audra and Robert into the berth. He stared a moment then hurried back out. “You’re sure she’s dead?”
Audra stared at him. “You didn’t check? I couldn’t find a pulse when I came back. I don’t think there’s anything that can be done, but we should try—just in case.” A shiver traveled over her at the thought. Robert placed a hand on her shoulder, and she forced herself to step away. Place some distance between them. The cold inside her settled deeper as she did.
Mark crossed his arms as if considering what he should do. Shouldn’t that be easy to determine? “All right. I’ll inform the conductor. Ask how he wants to proceed.” He glanced back in the room. “Who’s been in there?”
“Just Dalia and me.”
“Where’s Dalia now?”
“She headed back to her car. Seeing Lana upset her terribly.” The woman had been nearly hysterical, as if somehow she had caused the death. Audra should check on her. See if there was anything she could do to console the sweet woman.
“I suppose so.” He considered her a moment. “Guess none of us imagined this scenario when we signed on for the caravan. Robert, keep everybody out of the room until the conductor gets back here. Let’s keep everyone in the lounge car. I can’t imagine the headlines this will generate.” He walked away, shaking his head, then gathered the starlets and other performers, taking them with him.
He stalked out of the car, marching like an officer given a distasteful task.
She knew she should leave Lana as she was until the police could arrive—whenever that would be. Yet it seemed in terrible taste to leave her sprawled like she was. Couldn’t she at least cover Lana with a sheet or blanket? She stepped into the room that now had the stillness of a viewing.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get here in time to stop this, Lana.” A tear trickled down Audra’s cheek. She might not have formed a fast friendship with Lana, but she still couldn’t imagine anyone wanting her dead. The malevolence required by this act staggered her.
“I don’t think you should be in there.” Robert stood in the doorway, uncertainty puckering his brow.
All the emotion she’d suppressed for weeks pushed to the surface. “I have dealt with more gruesome deaths in the last weeks than any person should in a lifetime. She should be covered, not gawked at like some horrible carnival sideshow.”
And maybe if Audra took a quick glance around, she’d see something that pointed to the killer. Either way, she would not leave Robert alone with the body. Not if there was even a chance he’d harmed Lana. As much as she didn’t want to believe it, she had nothing to point away from him yet.
Robert eyed her warily, as if wondering what would slip past her lips next.
She sighed. “Look, I hope someone would have given Rosemary this simple courtesy if they’d found her on display like this.” She trembled as grief washed over her again. “This is a nightmare.”
Robert nodded, his gaze settling on his ex-wife.
“I’m sorry. This must be hard for you too. Even after everything.”
“It’s hard to comprehend. She was so full of life.”
“I know.” Audra slipped the white sheet over Lana, watched the folds of the fabric settle over her face.
After a moment she looked up and found Robert watching her in the reflection of the small wall mirror. A haunted look cloaked his eyes as he searched her face.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this.” He said the words with conviction, but she had to remember he was an actor. One whose star would go far once the studios again matched him with the right roles. Could she take his words as truth? Or should she continue to guard her heart and mind from trusting him?
So little here was worthy of her trust.
She couldn’t forget she’d met him in Hollywood, an artificial town.
Audra scanned the room. The space was comfortable, but really too small for entertaining. “Who would Lana let into her room?”
Robert shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets and shuffling from side to side. “She didn’t necessarily maintain the same standards you would. Lana embraced everything about Hollywood from the party life to the freedom from morals.”
He stepped into the room and the space seemed to shrink. She wondered if she should be afraid since Mark had taken the others to the lounge car, but she wasn’t. She might be a fool, but she couldn’t find anything threatening in his posture. Or his invasion of the small space.
No, all she could think as he stepped closer was that she felt safe and protected.
She took a deep breath and tore her gaze from the mirror.
With that movement her thoughts cleared. She scanned the items in the small room. Clothes exploded from a suitcase thrown on the floor, and cosmetics spilled across the small table beneath the mirror. Perfume bottles mingled with the powders and leg makeup. Even stars had to sacrifice their silk stockings. She took care not to touch anything as she looked.
A thin black volume sat among the tubes. “Do you think anyone would mind if we looked at that?”
“If she were alive, Lana would have a fit. She’s carried a book like that as long as I’ve known her and never let me look inside. Must contain her deepest, darkest secrets.”
Audra arched an eyebrow at him. “That’s what I’m hoping.” She picked it up and flipped through the pages. It looked like a regular datebook. “Rosemary had one of these.” Audra watched Robert out of the corner of her eye, wa
iting for a reaction.
“Nothing unusual about that. Most people carry one. Surely you have one in Indiana, filled with appointments and dates to keep.”
“Loaded with activities.” Audra turned another page and found it filled with names and phone numbers.
Robert reached for the book and flipped through the pages quickly. “She certainly kept busy.” Robert closed the book and placed it back on the counter. “Don’t you feel odd doing this while she’s laying there?”
“When else will we get the chance?”
“Maybe that’s the point. We’re not supposed to do this.”
Audra walked toward the small bathroom then stopped. Nothing seemed out of place. Audra backed from the doorway and walked into a hard, firm surface. Arms reached around her, to steady her, and she shrieked.
“It’s me. What’s wrong?” Robert’s voice was modulated, meant to soothe her. But it did nothing of the kind. Instead, the knowledge that his arms were the ones encircling her caused a well of panic to bubble inside.
Robert.
He couldn’t have killed Rachel Gibson in Rosemary’s apartment. She knew that. Not when he’d been trapped inside the same plane she traveled in.
Yet his name kept appearing—tied to dead women.
Audra pulled out of the circle of his arms and backed to the hallway. “Did you know Rachel Gibson?”
He stared at her as if wondering if she’d gone mad.
“Did you know Rachel Gibson?” Her volume climbed as she waited for him to respond.
He put his hands up and backed away from her, stopping when he neared the bed. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“The girl found in Rosemary’s flat.” Her breath hiccupped and she stepped into the hall, trying somehow, some way, to reel in her emotions. “Just tell me. Did you have something to do with her?”
“I don’t know. I may have met her. What did she do?”
“What do you think? An aspiring actress like every other girl who finds her way to Hollywood. Only, unlike Rosemary, she was ready to leave. To walk away from her dream.” Audra took a step back. She had to get away. Put distance between her and this man and the body.
But first she needed an answer. The simple truth. “Did you kill her too?”
Robert furrowed his brow and a cloud formed on his face. His stance tightened as he studied her. “That’s crazy. I didn’t kill Rachel or anyone else.”
She wanted to believe him. But nothing had been as it seemed since she reached that God-forsaken Hollywoodland.
The train braked, and Audra stumbled in an attempt to maintain her balance. She cracked her head against the wall, and her vision doubled before she sank into oblivion.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
__________
“This train is cursed. Lawd’s sakes, it surely is.”
Audra heard the words, mumbled in Dalia’s sweet Southern drawl. “Dalia?”
“Yes, ma’am. Praise the Lord you’s with us still.”
Audra cracked an eye and peeked at the large black woman, who cradled Audra’s head in her lap. “You had me fair worried. Yes, indeedy.” She patted Audra’s cheek. “The smelling salts done their work.”
“Where am I?”
“I had Robert carry you to my room so’s I could keep an eye on you. You ready to get up?”
“I’ll try.” Audra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Other than a pounding in her head, she felt fine. Her thoughts traveled to Lana. “That poor woman.”
“I knows it.” Dalia’s jowls drooped. “Someone evil is on this train.”
Audra couldn’t disagree. With Lana’s murder, she had to believe evil followed her steps. Maybe she should distance herself from the train before anything else happened.
“That won’t make no difference to nothin’. This ain’t got nothin’ to do with you, child.”
“Are you a mind reader now, Dalia?”
“No, ma’am. Don’t know what you mean. I’s just answerin’ ya.”
Audra realized she had spoken her thoughts out loud. “Then I’m more addled than I thought.” Audra pushed to a sitting position then looked around the small room. It was hidden in shadows and, from what she could see, looked like all the other berths she’d visited on the train. “Why are we stopped?”
“The conductor takin’ care of Mizz Lana’s poor body.”
“Of course.” Audra rubbed her forehead, praying her thoughts would cooperate. Lana. She needed to make sure the killer didn’t do anything to change the evidence the police would find. “How long was I unconscious?”
“Long enough we’s in the next town. I don’t know what y’all gonna do.”
“I imagine the show will go on.” Audra shuddered at the thought.
“Hollywood sho can be cold sometime.”
“Maybe.”
“I hope you’s wrong.”
“Me too, Dalia. Me too.” Audra slowly stood, keeping a hand firmly on the mattress. To her surprise, the room didn’t spin. “Your smelling salts worked well.” She turned to hug the woman but stopped at the tight lines around her eyes. The easy peace that normally surrounded Dalia seemed to have abandoned her. “Are you all right?”
“No, ma’am, I’m not.” Dalia opened her mouth then firmly closed it.
“None of us is okay right now. Is there anything I can help with?”
The woman shook her head, her kerchief slipping forward a bit on her forehead. “I’ll be just fine. You see to Mizz Lana. She was a misunderstood woman, yes, she was.”
Audra took a step toward the door then paused and collapsed in the small chair tucked in a corner. “Why does God let evil win, Dalia?”
“It don’t in the long run. Remember, we knows who wins at the end.”
“But the last few weeks it hasn’t felt like He’s winning. I’m certainly not.”
Dalia shifted her girth on the bed. “But we gotta look with our hearts’ eyes, not what we can see. If we goes only by what we see, we miss God. His fingerprints is all over this world. Someday we gonna understand this. Yes, ma’am, someday we gonna understand.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He promised though we sees through a glass darkly, one day that gonna change. These weary bones looks forward to that day. Um-hmm.”
Audra considered her words. She’d chew on them later. “Well, thank you for caring for me.” Audra hugged Dalia then slipped from the room. She crossed the bridge between cars and hurried toward Lana’s berth. It had become a hive of activity. Robert and Mark stood on the outskirts watching several uniformed police move in and out of the room. Audra looked for an unfamiliar man in suit and tie. He’d likely be the detective in charge, but she couldn’t find one. Maybe he’d already slipped inside or had yet to arrive. There was only one way to find out.
“Audra! You’re all right.” Robert hurried toward her, relief lighting his eyes.
“Yes. I’m surprised Mark hasn’t chased you off to the lounge car with everyone else.”
“The police were waiting when we arrived at the station a few minutes ago. They asked me to stay until the detective arrives.” He brushed her cheek, and warmth spread from the caress. “Are you sure you should be up?”
“If I’ve learned anything in the last few weeks, it’s that the police will want to talk to me.” Audra sank into his touch, unable to stop herself.
“Then let’s get you settled so you can rest until he arrives.”
“If they’ll let me through.”
“Wait here.” Robert left her and hurried to one of the officers. After a hushed conversation, he returned. “You’re cleared. We just can’t talk to the others until the detective interviews us. Let’s get you something to drink.”
She followed him to the lounge car, surprised to see the light of dawn beginning to break on the horizon as they walked between cars. She stopped, letting the sun’s first rays soak into her heart. His compassions are new every morning. She’d read the promise many ti
mes in her Bible. But this morning, after all that had transpired in the night, she clung to the promise. She sensed she’d need all the compassion she could get to make it through the day.
A bird sang nearby. She flinched. “It’s Thursday, right?”
“Yes.” Robert studied her curiously.
Audra gripped the railing and held on tight. “This afternoon is Rosemary’s funeral.” Bile rose in her throat and she trembled. A sob almost choked her as she tried to hold it back. Robert wrapped his arms around her and she clung to him. “I should be there, but I couldn’t watch my baby sister be buried. I just couldn’t do it.”
He stroked her hair, each touch sending a shiver of comfort through her. “Your parents understand.”
“It doesn’t matter. When this caravan ends I’ll return to Indianapolis, and then I’ll have to face the truth. Even if I find her killer, Rosemary will still be dead. My baby sister will still be ripped from our family. And I’ll always wonder how much of what I’ve learned is true about her.” She muffled her sobs in the soft fabric of his shirt. “How can I ever forgive myself for not doing more to make sure she was okay?”
His hands stilled then moved to her shoulders, where he pushed her only far enough away to look into her eyes. “Audra, you cannot accept the lie that you are responsible for Rosie’s death. She was an adult who chose to move to Hollywood. The actions she took after moving out there were her responsibility. Not yours.”
She knew he was right, but somehow her heart couldn’t accept the truth.
He wiped the tears from her cheeks then hugged her. “Keep reaching for God. He’ll show you the truth.”
Before she succumbed to the darkness that thoughts of the funeral brought, Audra nodded and tried to smile. It felt fake and taut on her cheeks. A hum of voices trickled from the car in front of her. “Is everybody in there?”
Robert nodded, his blue eyes solemn. “They’ll probably be awhirl with gossip.”
“And want me to add to it.”
“Likely.”
“They’ll be sorely disappointed.”
“I think they’ve noticed your propensity to ask questions rather than answer them.”
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