by Cindy Bell
Jo’s eyes widened.
***
Samantha and Walt lingered near the door to the next car.
“So, what’s your plan?” Walt began to pace.
“Don’t worry, Walt, I’ll let you know when it’s time.”
“But Samantha, I don’t like surprises. I’d rather be prepared.”
“If no one shows up, then we’ll be just fine.” Samantha shrugged. She watched the corridor for any sign of the train staff. Walt continued to pace. His attention shifted to the door between the cars, then to the corridor, then to Samantha. “If you keep it up you’re going to wear a hole in the carpet, Walt.” She shook her head. Then she took a sharp breath. “Uh oh, we’re on.”
“Huh?” Walt peered down the corridor. A train staff member walked towards them at a brisk pace. Samantha turned towards Walt, her eyes wide.
“We have to fight, okay?”
“Fight?” Walt shook his head. “I can’t fight with you, Samantha.”
“It’s not like you have to hit me, you just have to say mean things.”
“No. I won’t. I’m a gentleman.”
“Well, maybe if you’d been that way when I met your mother, things would have turned out better!” Samantha raised her voice loud enough for the man to hear.
“My mother? Why would you bring her into this?” Walt took a step towards her. “You know she’s not well.”
“She shouldn’t be after raising a son like you!” Samantha stomped her foot. The man in the corridor slowed down.
“Samantha! What a terrible thing to say!” Walt’s eyes widened. “My mother is quite proud of me I’ll have you know.”
Samantha lowered her voice, “I didn’t mean it, Walt, it’s the diversion. I’m pretending.”
“Pretending or not it’s still an awful thing to say.” He scowled. “I think you should remember your manners.”
“You there! You don’t belong there!” The staff member walked towards them. “Get away from that door!”
Samantha’s heart raced. She had to do something to keep him from going further down the corridor.
“You can’t tell us where to be.” She turned towards him.
“Oh, yes I can. I think you both need to come with me.” The man crossed his arms. Samantha moved between Walt and the man.
“We’re just having a conversation.” Samantha shrugged.
“That conversation needs to take place in the privacy of your room. I will not stand for chaos in the corridor. We’ve had enough tragedy on this trip.”
“It’s not like I’m going to throw him off the train.” Samantha frowned.
“From the way you’re talking to him, I thought you might.”
“Nonsense. We’re just having a little tiff. Isn’t that right, Walty?” She batted her eyes at Walt. Walt’s face grew pale.
“Uh yes. She doesn’t like my mother.”
“Look, I’m not here to do relationship counseling, take it to your room.” The man started to move past them. Samantha caught sight of Jo out of the corner of her eye. She was in the middle of stepping out of Ryan’s room.
“I can prove there’s no hard feelings!” She grabbed Walt’s face and planted a kiss on his lips. Walt’s arms swung around in wild circles. “See?” She released him.
“Ma’am, that needs to happen in your room, too.” The staff member shook his head in disgust. He continued down the corridor. He walked right past Jo and Eddy who walked casually towards Walt and Samantha. Walt stared, motionless, at Samantha.
“That was close.” Jo looked over her shoulder at the man who moved onto the next car of the train.
“Walt, you okay?” Eddy waved a hand in front of Walt’s face.
“Walt, I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.” Samantha couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Walt shifted his gaze to Eddy.
“What’s wrong?” Eddy looked between the two.
“You didn’t see?” Samantha looked at Eddy.
“She kissed me. Right on the lips!” Walt exclaimed. “Samantha, I told you I don’t like surprises.”
“You what?” Eddy turned to face Samantha. “You kissed him?”
“I didn’t know what else to do!” Samantha sighed. “The staff member was about to walk into Jo walking out of Ryan’s room.”
“All right, all right. The important thing is that it worked.” Eddy turned to Jo. “Was it worth it? Did you find anything?”
“Just an old undershirt, and a brochure.” Jo pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s for the flower show, of course.”
“Wait, why would he have a brochure for the flower show? He wasn’t going to the show. He was going to propose to his girlfriend.” Eddy took the brochure from her. He opened it up and searched through the pages. Then he spotted something. “Someone wrote a phone number on here.”
“He was picking up women on the way to propose to his girlfriend?” Samantha stifled a laugh. “So much for true love, I guess.”
“A phone number doesn’t mean he was picking up women. Maybe the brochure wasn’t even his. It could have been left in the trash,” Eddy said.
“There’s one good way to find out.” Samantha pulled out her cell phone. She started to dial the number. “I forgot, no reception. We’ll have to wait until we get into the station.”
“What about the undershirt?” Walt nodded towards the bundle of cloth in Jo’s hand. “Anything to that?”
“It’s just got some letters on the label, nothing else. FBSP.”
“FBSP.” Walt closed his eyes. “An acronym?”
“What does it matter?” Eddy frowned. “It’s obviously just a clothing company. Why don’t we all get some rest? We can’t make any progress now until we get into the station in the morning.”
“Agreed.” Samantha yawned. “I could use a little sleep.” She looked over at Walt. “I’m sorry again.”
“A kiss, it’s nothing to apologize for.” He smiled.
Chapter Eight
Once Samantha and Jo were back in their room and had converted the two seats into a second bed, they went to bed. Samantha found she couldn’t fall asleep.
“Jo, are you still awake?”
“Yup.” She rolled over on the small bed. “How am I supposed to sleep after what you did?”
“What I did?” Samantha sat up.
“You kissed Walt! Did you see his face? I think you traumatized him.” Jo laughed. Samantha’s laughter blended with hers.
“I bet he used a whole bottle of antibacterial wipes.”
“You think? I think he might have liked it.” Jo giggled.
“What do you think about Ryan? Who do you think killed him?”
“I don’t know what to think. He just seems like a kid, on his way to propose to his girlfriend. Really, we know nothing else about him.”
“So, who would have it out for him?”
“Well, I don’t know, but the more I think about it I think maybe there’s more to this. If he’s so in love with this girl, why is she such a long train trip away from him? Why weren’t they living closer together if they were dating?”
“I didn’t think about that.” Jo nodded in the dim light. “That’s a good point. There are some people that maintain long distance relationships though.”
“It’s something to think about.” Samantha yawned. “All right, I’m going to try to sleep again. We have a big day when we get there.”
“Sure, with the investigation.”
“No, I meant the flower show.”
“Do you think we’ll still go?” Jo peered over at her.
“Jo, I promise you, no matter what happens, we’re not missing that flower show.”
“Thanks Samantha.” Jo sighed and turned back over to sleep.
***
Eddy gritted his teeth and did his best to remain patient. Rooming with Walt was akin to rooming with a fussy infant.
“No, sorry that’s too bright.” Walt sighed.
Eddy turned the light down. “
How’s that?”
“No, sorry it’s too low.”
“Why don’t you do it?” Eddy grunted.
“I can’t. I’ve already put my foot cream on. I can’t walk until it dries.” Walt pulled his blanket up to his chin. “Just a little brighter and it will be perfect. Thanks Eddy.”
Eddy sighed and inched the light up. “How’s that?”
Walt tilted his head back and forth on his pillow. “It’ll have to do I guess.”
Eddy plopped down on his bed. “I still can’t believe you kissed her.”
“She kissed me,” Walt huffed. “It was very unexpected.”
“I bet.” Eddy chuckled. “Well, at least it kept us from getting thrown off the train. That was a very close call. When we reach our destination I can run down the information on Ryan and see what his history is. Maybe that will give us a clue as to who might have gone after him.”
“The only problem is, once we’re off the train, that means the killer is, too.”
“Maybe, but everyone on this train had to buy a ticket. I’ll see if I can get the passenger list. Then you can go through it.”
“Sure.” Walt cleared his throat. “I can do that.”
“I really think we’re the only ones fighting for this kid. I hope that we can figure something out and fast. I want to make sure that his death isn’t swept under the rug so that the train company can save face.” He rolled his hands into fists and knocked them together once. “Pow, you’re dead. Sorry about your luck, your ticket has been punched.”
“I’m sure they care more than that. But to the untrained eye, this is a suicide.”
“I guess.” Eddy settled back in the bed. He closed his eyes. Silence filled the room. “I still can’t believe you kissed her.”
“She kissed me!”
“But you let her.”
“Well, I am a gentleman, after all.”
Eddy laughed and tried to focus on sleep. There would be a lot of leg work to do when they arrived.
It seemed to him that he had just closed his eyes when the crackle of the intercom woke him.
“We will be arriving at the station in thirty minutes. Please take time to make sure that you have collected all of your possessions.”
Eddy sat up in his bed. His mind was groggy as he tried to focus. Walt sat across from him on his bed. He rested his hand on his bag and stared at Eddy.
“Do you want me to pack for you?” Walt asked. “I’ve already had a shower so you can quickly have one.”
Eddy forced himself out of bed and wiped at his eyes. “Did we even sleep?”
“Oh yes. Well, you did. Eddy, I think you may need to see a doctor.”
“Huh? Why?” Eddy stood up and stretched.
“There’s the snoring.”
“What?”
“Really, I’m concerned about your health.”
“My health? You can’t even open a door without washing your hands.”
“True. But I am in perfect health.” Walt stood up.
“Good point.” Eddy yawned.
“I’ll just have a quick shower.”
After showering Eddy returned to the room.
He found Walt had already packed everything up for him.
“Thanks,” Eddy said as he tossed the items he used in the shower into his bag. “We’d better check in with the girls and make sure that they’re awake.”
Walt opened the door and nearly walked into Samantha. “Oh Sam, hello.” He stepped back.
“Don’t worry, Walt, I’m not going to kiss you.” She laughed. “We just came to see if you two were awake.”
“All set.” Walt patted his bag.
“I need some coffee.” Eddy yawned and stepped out of the room behind Walt.
“I think we all do. It’s still early enough. Why don’t we stop for breakfast before the flower show? We can make all of our phone calls and do some more research before we go. Is that okay with you, Jo?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Eddy slid the strap of his bag over his shoulder, then he took Samantha’s bag. Walt took Jo’s. The four walked towards the front of the train. As they moved through the crowded corridor, Samantha caught sight of a man who jabbed his finger repeatedly at his cell phone. She paused beside him.
“Is there reception yet?”
He looked up at her then looked back down at his phone. He turned his back to her without saying a word. Samantha was left a little flustered by how rude the man was, but she was soon swept along with the crowd. There was a bit of a wait to get off the train as everyone tried to exit at once. Samantha could hear the chatter of people around her.
“Can’t believe that poor kid committed suicide.”
“It’s so sad, he had so much life left to live.”
“I’m sure it’s not that big of a loss.” Those words drew Samantha’s attention. She turned towards the voice to find it belonged to a man who offered a lopsided smile to her. She stared at him as he reached up to scratch his cheek. His hand was covered in scabs. She remembered him as the man who Jo spilt her drink over. Samantha was about to say something to him, but the line began to move. Eddy looked back over his shoulder to make sure that she was following him. Samantha lost sight of the man in the crowd. She didn’t think much of it, she knew some people were more detached from tragedy than others.
As they filed off the train Samantha noticed Peter near the security guard. She was tempted to go over to him. She had to get away from Eddy first, or he would never let the conversation happen. She pulled Jo aside.
“Pete’s over there.”
“Do you think he knows something more than we do?” Jo asked as she spotted him as well.
“I think I’m going to find out.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Jo looked at her with concern.
“No, it’s fine. I want to talk to him myself. I need you to distract Eddy for me.”
Jo glanced over at Eddy. He was trying to keep Walt from wiping his hands again.
“All right, but if you need me, I’m just a phone call away. I’ll have Eddy help me see about a cab.”
Samantha nodded. Jo walked over to Eddy and Walt.
“Boys, it’s going to be hard, but we have to get a cab to give us a ride.” Jo pointed to the long line of passengers from the train that were waiting for a cab.
“That will take forever. I’m going to make some calls to see what information I can get about Ryan.” Eddy pulled out his phone.
“I’m going to find a restroom to scrub my hands in.” Walt shuddered. “I had to hold onto the railing to get off the train.”
Samantha waited until Eddy’s back was to her, then she walked towards Peter. He appeared to be in a heated discussion with a security guard from the train. Peter nodded and the security guard walked away from him. Samantha paused just behind him. When he turned around he took a sharp breath of air at the sight of her. “Samantha, I didn’t expect to see you again. Didn’t Eddy scare you off?”
“I’m not one to take orders.” Samantha tipped her chin upward and looked into Peter’s eyes. “What were you talking to the security guard about?”
“Nothing important.” He returned her gaze, his own eyes wide open. “What is important is what I can do for you.”
“For me?” Samantha shrugged. “I just wanted the chance to say goodbye. I guess we didn’t get that last time.”
“No, we didn’t.” His eyes darkened. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
“I’m not sure what you expect me to remember. All I know for certain was that once we were working on a case together, we had a good time, we solved a crime, and now there seems to be a problem between us. I honestly don’t know what I did to upset you.”
“On the night of the arrests, I asked you to meet me for coffee the next day. I planned to ask you on a real date. You agreed, but you never bothered to show. Then you ignored all of my calls and e-mails.”
“Oh Pete, I probably didn’t even hear the ques
tion. If I was about to break a story wide open that was probably what I was focused on. Nothing else would have gotten through to me. I’m sorry that you felt slighted, but it was not intentional.”
“Then I guess that fate has given us a second chance. Maybe now, we can have that cup of coffee.”
“Maybe, if you tell me why you were on the train in the first place.”
“I told you, I’m going to the flower show.”
“I don’t believe you.” She shook her head. “It might have been years, but I know you better than that, Pete.”
“Samantha. I would love the opportunity to get to know you again. I really would. But I’m telling you right now that if you don’t let this go, you’re going to regret it.” He held her gaze with his own. “Not just you, but all of your friends, too.”
“Pete, are you trying to threaten me?” She stared at him in shock.
“No. It’s not a threat, Samantha. It’s a warning. I want you to know that I respect you, and Eddy, but if you can’t keep your noses out of this then we are going to have a problem.”
“Why are you concerned about a young man who committed suicide? What do you get out of all of this?”
“I could ask the same of you.” He straightened his shoulders.
Samantha met his eyes with bold determination. “Well Peter, I happen to be interested because I do not believe that he committed suicide. I believe he was murdered.”
“Samantha!” Peter glared at her. “You need to take a step back from this and fast. You don’t understand what’s happened here. You just don’t.”
“If you do, then you need to tell me. What has happened, Peter?” She looked straight into his eyes. “If you know so much and think I know so little, then tell me the truth.”
“You probably think that I’m being cruel, Samantha, or seeking some kind of revenge. But that’s not the case. Walk away from this, just go with your friends and enjoy the flower show.”
Samantha stared at him a moment longer. His expression was rigid. She didn’t think she’d get another word out of him. She spun on her heel and walked away from him, back towards Jo. Eddy looked over at her just in time to see Peter walk away.