The Witch's Christmas Wish (Miracle Express, #9)

by Rebecca Lovell

  “Pardon me,” Terra said to Alvin, who looked up at her. “Could you tell me how old the train that malfunctioned was?”

  “Only about five years or so. It was still fairly new by the railway’s standards.” Alvin looked back down at the paper. “The one it crashed into was much older and it was plenty reliable.”

  “I see. Had it had any problems before that you know of?” She picked up the photos of the wreck, trying to see if there were any of the cabin of the train’s engine. There didn’t seem to be any that were well-defined, and she was trying to make out the shapes when she heard a scoff from across the desk. “I beg your pardon?”

  “It would probably be better for me to explain it to the detective in charge of the case, that way I wouldn’t have to repeat myself when he comes back.” He hadn’t even bothered to look up from his paperwork this time.

  “I’m perfectly capable of relaying information to Detective Lewis.” Terra couldn’t hide the annoyance from her voice. “Especially something as simple as this.”

  “There are a lot of factors that would be hard to explain to a woman. I would hate for everything to get mixed up and for him to get the wrong information.” These words were the last straw for Terra. She jumped up from her seat and threw the papers into Gard’s case, not caring that she was probably sending them completely out of order.

  “For your information,” she said, snapping the case closed, “I have a doctorate in mechanical engineering. I probably know more about your ‘factors’ than anyone else in this station. Detective Lewis knows that already.” Terra picked up the case, then snatched her coat off the rack and started out the door without even putting it on.

  “Miss Rendon—-”

  “Doctor Rendon!” She slammed the door on her way out and stalked through the train station, trying to put her coat on with one hand while she did. It occurred to her that she was slamming a lot of doors lately but she didn’t really care. She would apologize to Gard, but she wasn’t about to apologize to the head conductor.

  As soon as she got outside, Terra realized she didn’t know where she was going. She knew where her hotel was but nothing else. The snow was falling gently on her and she shivered as she started walking. There was no point in looking for Gard’s car, he was no doubt off somewhere buying lunch. Her stomach growled and she wished she was with him. The hotel had a small restaurant in the lobby and she quickened her step, hoping to get there in time for lunch. She would have to go back after lunch to return his briefcase but she needed some time to cool off.

  There was an enormous Christmas tree along the way to the hotel and Terra couldn’t help smiling at it through her irritation. She had to abandon her tree at home when she left for Roanoke and at the rate things were going she wouldn’t be back until it was long dead. At least she’d had the good sense to leave her cat with her neighbor. If she lost Misty it would break her heart.

  Terra stopped to look up at the tree. The snow that coated its branches made it look like something out of a storybook, and there were ornaments and beads on every inch of it. Children were running on the street laughing and she watched them wistfully. So far her mother and father’s prediction about her not finding a man had some true, and though she had almost fully embraced the idea that she was going to be alone forever there was a part of her that still wanted a family. The difficulty was compounded by her powers, because even if she found someone who wanted an intelligent, scholarly wife they might be frightened away when they found out she was a witch.

  “No, you can’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true!” A little girl was pressing her hands against her ears as her brother looked at her curiously. “Don’t tell anyone, Bobby!” They reminded Terra of her and Tommy when they were kids and she smiled.

  A wish, hm? What do I wish for? Terra watched the children run to their parents. I wish I could find someone who loves me for who I am.

  “Dr. Rendon!” A familiar voice called her name and Terra turned to see Gard running up the street behind her with two white paper boxes in his hands. “Where are you going?”

  “Back to the hotel,” she said, turning and going toward him. “I was offended by the attitude of the head conductor so I thought I’d go back to the restaurant there and eat.” Terra held out the case to him. “I made sure not to leave this behind.”

  “Thanks,” Gard said, trying to shift the boxes so he could juggle them and his case. “Sorry, could you hold these so I can get things situated?”

  “Of course.” Terra took the boxes and looked down at them. “What’s in these?”

  “Sandwiches. I figured you had the right idea about spending time looking at the files so I was getting lunch to bring back to the station.” He held his hand out. “There we are. I think I can handle them now.”

  “Why don’t I just carry them? It’s not as if they’re heavy.” She held her breath, waiting for Gard to make some sort of remark about her being a woman, but it didn’t come.

  “Great, thanks. Now where did you want to go to eat them? I can’t imagine you want to go back to the station if Mr. Keats was rude to you.” Gard looked at his watch. “We could go to the police station.”

  “Really?” This surprised Terra. She’d never been in a police station before but the thought made her a little nervous. “We could just go to the hotel. There’s a small table in my room that would be perfect to eat at.”

  “Your room?” Gard raised an eyebrow at her. “Isn’t that a little, uh, indiscreet?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Terra said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not as if I’ll be sitting around in my underthings.” She was surprised to see that her choice of words made Gard blush slightly. “Come on, let’s get out of the snow before we catch pneumonia.”

  They walked the rest of the way to the hotel and went to Terra’s room, getting more than a few stares in the process. Once her door was closed and she’d set the food on the table, she fought the urge to flop back on her bed again. After all, she had a guest of sorts. She glanced over at Gard and saw that her guest was standing just inside the door uneasily.

  “For goodness sake, Detective, sit down. No one’s going to see you in here.” As if to show him how silly he was being, she sat down and opened one of the boxes. “It’s better we’re in here anyway, you seem to have bought me the largest sandwich in the state.”

  “I got us the same thing,” Gard said, finally sitting in the chair across from her. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I just went with my usual.”

  “I’m not particularly picky,” Terra said with a shrug. “I suppose that comes from my big brother eating anything and everything that crosses his path. I didn’t want him to outdo me.” She smiled and shook her head. “Tommy’s such a troublemaker.”

  “You and your brother seem very close.” Gard picked up half of his sandwich and took a big bite. “At least you seem to be. My brothers and I are the same way.“ He laughed. “Or I should say, we are now. When we were kids we were always fighting.”

  “We couldn’t possibly get any closer unless we were the same person.” The thought made Terra laugh and she shook her head. “Tommy and I are twins.”

  “You are? Then that explains it.” Gard chuckled. “Some detective I am.”

  “Don’t feel bad, we’re not identical. Most twins aren’t if they’re different sexes. Tommy’s taller than I am, and his hair is straight. I have a bit fairer skin and weak ankles, as you saw in the trainyard. The only thing that’s really identical about us is the color of our hair and our eyes.” Undaunted by the size of the sandwich, Terra took a very unladylike bite and proceeded to chew it without looking at Gard. She didn’t want to see disgust on his face.

  “I have to say, I’ve never seen a woman take a bite like that.” It was much more of an observation than a remark about her manners, and Terra turned her eyes hesitantly toward Gard. “You know, I’ve only seen eyes the color of yours once before besides on your brother. Jake and Tilly’s daughter Isabella
has them.”

  “Now I’d definitely like to meet them. They sound like an interesting family.” Terra smiled and set down her sandwich. “I really need to see that wrecked train,” she said. “Mr. Keats isn’t going to tell me where it is unless you’re there with me.”

  “That’s not a problem. We can ask him together.” There was a warmth in Gard’s eyes that Tilly liked and she found herself staring at him while he was concentrating on his sandwich. So far he’d been the only man besides Tommy that hadn’t intimated that she was weak or unintelligent because she was a woman. The memory of landing in his arms made her body tingle and she shivered involuntarily. “Are you cold? We can turn up the radiator.”

  “No thank you,” Terra said. “I do appreciate the offer, though.” She continued to eat her sandwich in a less dramatic fashion while Gard wiped his hands and opened the case with the files in it.

  “Three people were killed in the accident,” he said, picking up the folder that contained the police reports. “The engineer, a young man named Lovett, and an elderly woman on her way to visit her son. About twenty people were injured, but only one is still in the hospital. We’ve had trouble getting reports from a lot of them because they weren’t from Roanoke and may have gone home by now.”

  “Which one is still in the hospital?”

  “This woman.” Gard produced a typed sheet and pushed it over to Terra. “Kirsten Lovett. She was the wife of the young man who was killed.”

  “I see.” Terra looked down at the report but felt like she was seeing through the paper. She saw a young couple talking with their heads together, holding hands. One minute they were happy, the next everything was shattered. Terra saw the Lovetts thrown out of their seats, then dropped the report as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t see the rest. The familiar chill came over her and she did her best not to let Gard see how cold she was. “Could we speak to her? Do you think it would upset her too much?”

  “I’m sure we can talk to her. She gave this report from her hospital bed.” To her relief, Gard took the report and put it back in the file folder. If he was mad about his papers being out of order, he didn’t show it. “When do you want to go?”

  “Could we go this afternoon? I’d like to go find that train tomorrow if possible.” Terra ate the last bite of her sandwich and set the box aside. “I don’t want to inconvenience you, of course. If you have other work to do, please let me know and I’ll go on my own.”

  “You don’t have to,” Gard said. “This is this only case I’m working on. Besides, I’d rather go with you than deal with paperwork. You’re much better company than the Roanoke City officers.” His words made her feel the same warmth that she had when she had fallen into his arms and Terra blushed.

  “Then shall we?” She stood up, hoping he wouldn’t see her pink cheeks, then put on her gloves and coat. Gard got up and brushed the crumbs off his jacket, then went to open the door.

  “After you,” Gard said. He grinned at her. “Just in case you take a tumble on the snow, Miss Weak Ankles.” This made Terra laugh and she got the urge to hug him the way she would her brother when he was teasing her.

  “What a gentleman.” She settled for giving him a slap on the arm that made Gard’s grin spread and Terra shook her head. “Come on.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Chapter Five

  Mrs. Lovett was in a private room at the end of the hall on the hospital’s recuperation ward and Gard stole a glance at Terra as she walked. Her face was determined so it was unlikely she would notice, and the look of intent on her face made her somehow prettier. Her hat hid most of her hair, which was a shame because it was such an unusual and beautiful color. All that was on her mind was the case, and that made her even more attractive to him.

  “Here she is,” Terra said, turning to him. Gard cursed his face for giving away everything he was thinking, but she either didn’t see it or chose not to comment on his red cheeks. “I hope she’s not sleeping, they may have given her morphine.” With a nod to Terra, Gard knocked on the door frame.

  “Mrs. Lovett?”

  “Yes?” The voice that came from the room was clear and strong, and Gard stepped aside so Terra could walk in first.

  “I’m Detective Gardner Lewis, and this is Dr. Terra Rendon. We’ve come to ask you a few questions about the accident, if you’re up to it.” He tipped his hat to her, then showed his badge. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m feeling better than I have been,” Mrs. Lovett said. One of her arms was in a sling and she was propped against several pillows. She looked curiously at Terra. “You’re a doctor? Have they sent someone else to look at me?”

  “I’m not a medical doctor,” she said, almost as if she was apologizing. “I’m assisting Detective Lewis in his investigation and I wanted to speak to you.”

  “Of course. I’ll help however I can.” The woman looked as if she was in her mid-twenties and Gard felt sorry for her. She wasn’t even thirty years old and now she was a widow. “The detectives already spoke to me, though. I’m not sure what else I can tell you.”

  “My questions may be a bit different. I promise I won’t take too long.”

  “It doesn’t much matter if you do.” With a sigh, Mrs. Lovett patted one of her legs. It was a slim shape beneath the blankets and strangely still. “It’s not as if I can leave this bed.”

  “May I ask about your injuries?” Terra moved a little closer to the bed and Mrs. Lovett nodded.

  “When the accident happened, my husband and I were thrown from our seats. I landed over one of the seats and it broke my back and my collarbone. There are some things I don’t remember, though. I must have hit my head as well.” She shook her head. “I didn’t learn my husband was dead until after I woke up a day later.”

  “That sounds awful. I’m so sorry. Will you recover?”

  “My collarbone will heal in time. As for my legs, there’s nothing they can do. My back was broken in a way that paralyzed me from the waist down. They tell me that once I heal, I’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.” Mrs. Lovett sighed. “It still doesn’t seem real to me.”

  “Do you remember anything strange before the accident?” Terra looked over at Gard. “Do you have a notepad I could borrow?”

  “Sure.” Gard handed her his police notebook and a pencil. “That one’s almost entirely blank, you can keep it.” Terra smiled up at him and he realized suddenly that he should have torn out the pages with his notes on them before he gave it to her.

  “The train ride itself was just as it always was. There was nothing strange about it until it went through the station without stopping.” She pursed her lips and frowned. “There was one strange thing. A man was drunk and causing a scene, so they threw him off the train. Norman made a comment about hoping the train wouldn’t be delayed because of it.”

  “Where was this?” Terra was scribbling everything down as Mrs. Lovett told it to her and Gard was surprised that her handwriting stayed as nice as it was.

  “The train station in Baltimore. That’s where we’re from, Maryland. We come down here fairly often to see my grandmother. She lives in South Roanoke. It’s become almost routine by now, so we knew something was wrong when the train didn’t start braking in the normal place. Norman was holding me because I was crying, then everything just seemed to explode.” A tear slipped down Mrs. Lovett’s cheek. “I’ll never be able to forget it.”

  “I only have a few more questions,” Terra said, sounding apologetic again. “When you say there was a drunk man making a scene, what was he doing?”

  “Walking up and down the aisles being very rude and touching all the passengers, insulting the conductors, that sort of thing. They threw him off the train, but he kept trying to get back on, then tried getting in the engine. I think they threatened to arrest him and he gave up and left.” The injured woman shook her head. “They should have barred him from the station after all that.”

  “I see.” Terra was scribblin
g on the notepad again. “That sounds like it must have been quite an inconvenience. My last question is a bit insensitive, so please forgive me. Are you planning on going back to Baltimore in this state, or waiting until you’re healed?”

  “If I were to stay here, it would require my grandmother taking care of me and I don’t know that I’ll be able to do that to her. I can’t exactly go home, either. Without Norman I won’t have anyone to look after me.” She sighed heavily. “I suppose I’ll have to go to a sanitorium.”

  “Mrs. Lovett, I am so sorry. I wish I could do something for you.” Terra put the notebook in her purse and closed it. “Is there anything you need? We can do our best to get it for you.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Rendon, but there’s nothing that I want that you could give me.” Mrs. Lovett looked sadly down at her legs. Gard saw her wedding ring sparkle on her finger and for a moment it was as if he could feel her sadness.

  “We’ll let you get some rest. If you think of anything you need, please call me,” Gard said, handing her a card with the Garden City police station phone number on it. “I go back and forth to the east of Roanoke every day so it’ll be easy for the chief to get a message to me.”

  “Thank you, Detective. I shall keep that in mind.” She laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes as Terra and Gard left the room. As soon as they were back outside in his car with the engine cranked, Terra turned to Gard.

  “So there was someone who was trying to get into the engine,” she said. “It would be easy to hide what you were trying to do by playing at being drunk. “I think she might have seen the person responsible for this, but I doubt she remembers anything about his face.”

  “You’re right. If she was unconscious for that long, she most likely has a concussion. It would be hard to put her statement on the record. Any attorney worth paying would argue that she just thought she was seeing someone.” Gard drummed his fingers on the wheel. “Today is Friday. I’d wager that the warehouse where the wrecked train is won’t be open tomorrow. We’d have to get someone to open it specially and I don’t know how easy it would be.”