Night Train to Murder

by Simon R. Green

  ‘That was the plan,’ said Eric. ‘But the little shit wouldn’t cooperate.’

  He knew he shouldn’t be talking to me, but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to explain to someone how clever he’d been, and how close he’d come to getting away with it. I encouraged him with steady eye contact and lots of nodding, to keep him talking. I wanted him focused on me and not on the gun at Penny’s head.

  ‘My employers wanted me to make it look like some kind of accident,’ said Eric. ‘Because that would be so much more humiliating than a murder. It would suit their purposes, they said, to make Sir Dennis look so dumb he didn’t even last long enough to take up his new position. And then the men who chose him for the job would look even more stupid. My employers only had this one chance to get to Sir Dennis before he disappeared behind proper levels of protection, so they gave me the job and half the money in advance, and left it all up to me.

  ‘You think you’re so smart, everything worked out … You got some of it right, but did you really think we’d leave it to chance, as to whether Sir Dennis would need to use the toilet before we got to Bath? No, my employers used one of their psychics to subtly influence a very minor security person. Just enough to have him slip a little something into Sir Dennis’s drink. So all I had to do was shut down the lights in the next carriage, kick all the people out and wait. The plan was to lure him into the dark, slam his head against something hard, make sure he was dead and then raise the alarm. It would look like he’d tripped and hurt himself, because he was stupid enough to wander around in the dark on his own. Trust me, people do dumber things on trains all the time. And no one would ever suspect I had anything to do with it! Why would they? I’m just a railway guard.

  ‘My employers only gave me this gun because I insisted on it. I needed to be sure I could protect myself if anything went wrong. I was getting ready to throw it away – we were getting close to Bath and I couldn’t afford for anyone to find it on me – when I heard you messing about in the empty carriage.’

  He paused, frowning. I quickly prompted him, to keep him talking.

  ‘So what went wrong with Sir Dennis, Eric?’

  ‘Something made him suspicious,’ Eric said reluctantly. ‘I had no trouble at all luring him into the unlit carriage; he was only too happy to assist a mere menial with a problem that was too big for him. I got behind Sir Dennis easily enough, but then he suddenly turned round and looked at me. He shouldn’t have done that. He had no reason to do that! He saw me reaching for him, and he went for me. I couldn’t believe it … a little weasel like him. Maybe getting so close to the important job he’d always wanted made him brave – or desperate.

  ‘I had no choice but to put him in a choke hold and break his neck.’ Eric smiled briefly. ‘I took this self-defence course, you see, organized by the rail company. All the train staff had to take it, so we could learn to defend ourselves against angry passengers. Commuters can get really upset when they’ve been left standing in a stopped train for ages. Most of the staff treated the course as a laugh, but I took it seriously. And when they showed us the choke hold and told us to be very careful or we could break someone’s neck … I remembered.

  ‘After Sir Dennis was dead, I had to think quickly. Like you said, there was no way I could pass off a broken neck as an accident.’

  ‘So you arranged the body on the toilet,’ I said, keeping Eric’s attention fixed on me. ‘To confuse us as to when he died, and make it look as if he’d been murdered in a room locked from the inside. Classic murder mystery stuff. You moved suspicion away from yourself by banging loudly on the toilet door. You knew someone would be bound to come out from First Class, to see what was going on.’

  ‘I thought it would be the bodyguard,’ said Eric. ‘And he didn’t look smart enough to make any trouble. But, of course, I didn’t know about you.’

  ‘I thought you looked a little surprised when I was the one who appeared to see what was happening,’ I said. ‘But you went straight into your act anyway, pretending you’d only just arrived and that you were worried because Sir Dennis had been in the toilet for so long. And then you made up the story of the darkened carriage being locked and guarded, so that I’d fix my suspicions on the passengers in First Class. Hoping that would keep me occupied all the way to Bath. But the only way you could show me what had happened to Sir Dennis was to use your remote control to unlock the toilet door. And that was what gave you away.’

  ‘That’s what happens when you have to improvise,’ said Eric.

  ‘I have to ask, Eric,’ I said carefully. ‘Since you didn’t know Sir Dennis, why did you agree to kill a complete stranger for some secret group you’d probably never even heard of?’

  ‘For the money, of course,’ said Eric. ‘The rail company has been talking about getting rid of guards on trains, and I’m too old to find another job.’

  ‘Who hired you?’ I said.

  ‘You’ll never know,’ said Eric.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Penny. ‘Can I ask a question?’

  Eric looked at her, startled, as though he’d forgotten she was there.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why did you tell the tea lady what had happened to Sir Dennis and then let her through?’

  Eric seemed honestly stumped for a moment, thrown by a question he hadn’t been expecting.

  ‘Because she made such an effort to get it out of me. And because I thought it would be funny.’

  ‘But why did you kill her afterwards?’ said Penny.

  He smiled at her. ‘I had no choice. She came back from her little visit to First Class all fired up about Sir Dennis’s murder. She told me she was actually a private detective working undercover and started firing all sorts of questions at me. I couldn’t have that, so I just chose my moment carefully, caught her by surprise and broke her neck, like I did with Sir Dennis. Then all I had to do was use my remote control to open an exterior door and throw her body off the train.’

  ‘But why leave her trolley in the deserted carriage?’ I said.

  His smile became a sneer. ‘As a distraction, of course. While you were thinking about that, and about her, you wouldn’t be thinking about me.’

  I eased forward a step, and Penny hurried to come up with another question to hold Eric’s attention.

  ‘When you put out the lights in the next carriage, weren’t you worried people would start asking questions?’

  Eric actually smirked. ‘These carriages are so ancient they’re always having problems. None of the passengers even questioned me when I told them the lights wouldn’t be coming back on again. No one ever questions a guard.’

  He stood up a little straighter and smiled mockingly at everyone.

  ‘Enough talking. It’s time to put an end to this. When we finally roll into Bath and they open up this carriage, all they’re going to find in First Class is a whole bunch of dead bodies, to add to the mystery of Sir Dennis being murdered in a toilet locked from the inside. Not quite the result my employers were hoping for, but it should be humiliating enough for Sir Dennis to suit them. And I’ll just get off the train with the rest of the staff and walk away … to my all-expenses-paid retirement.’

  He pushed Penny away from him. She stumbled forward, caught off balance, and I moved quickly to grab her and put her behind me, shielding her body with mine. Eric smiled at me. His eyes were bright and he was grinning broadly. This was his moment, and he was loving every bit of it.

  ‘Can’t afford to get her blood on me. They might notice that in Bath. Don’t any of you think about trying to jump me! I still have an ace up my sleeve. You were right, Mr Jones, I’m not a professional. Not like you. But I still have something you don’t.’

  He reached inside his jacket with his free hand and pulled out the remote control. He hit a button and all the lights in the carriage went out.

  It was immediately pitch-black, with not even a glimmer of light coming in through the windows. The passengers cried out in shock and fear. Unlik
e them, though, I could see in the dark. I could make out Eric, standing perfectly still, completely at home in the dark and happily savouring what he was going to do next. He didn’t need to see us, to kill us. He knew where we were. I pushed Penny away from me, and she made a startled sound as she fell backwards. Eric immediately turned his gun in that direction, but I was already surging forward inhumanly quickly. I slammed into him, forcing his gun hand up and driving him back. He managed to get off one shot, but only into the carriage roof.

  And then a sudden blast of light filled the carriage, dazzling both of us. Eric seized the moment to throw me off him, and I fell backwards, sprawling on the floor. Sita was standing in the aisle. Somehow she’d found one of the carriage’s emergency flares and ignited it. The fierce green light filled the carriage. Eric aimed his gun at Sita. Brian threw himself forward, putting himself between Sita and the gun. Eric laughed breathlessly and shot him. The impact threw Brian back against Sita, and they both sat down hard on the floor. Sita dropped the flare and it rolled down the aisle, the green light jumping and flashing.

  Rupert and Howard were both on their feet and heading for Eric. He aimed his gun at Howard, to shoot him at point-blank range. Rupert slammed into Howard, knocking him to one side and out of the line of fire. Eric aimed at Rupert, who froze.

  Penny yelled Eric’s name as she came charging down the aisle. Eric turned his gun on her. I forced myself up on to my feet and moved to put my body between Penny and Eric, readying myself for one last desperate lunge, while knowing even with my speed it wouldn’t be enough to get to him in time. But I had to try, because I couldn’t let anything happen to Penny. Eric aimed his gun at me, his finger tightening on the trigger. And Penny darted past me and hit Eric square in the nuts with her rolled-up copy of the Fortean Times before he could switch his aim to her.

  All of Eric’s breath shot out of him in a pained gasp, and he sank to his knees. I was quickly there to grab the gun from his hand. I hit Eric over the head with it, in just the right spot, and he fell forward on to his face and took no further interest in the proceedings. I knelt down beside him, prised the remote control out of his hand and turned the carriage lights back on.

  I looked to where Sita was kneeling beside Brian, pressing a folded handkerchief against a bloody wound in his side.

  ‘Hold that in place,’ she said. ‘I know it must hurt like hell, but a wound there isn’t going to kill you.’

  ‘What do you know about gunshot wounds?’ said Brian. All the colour had drained out of his face, which was beaded with sweat, but he kept his voice steady.

  ‘My dad’s an army officer.’

  ‘I should have known.’

  ‘How did you know where to find the emergency flare?’ said Brian.

  ‘I did my research before I got on this train. First rule of the journalist: know what you’re getting into. I put it in my pocket earlier, to use if the killer came after me.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ said Brian.

  ‘Why did you risk your life to protect me?’ said Sita.

  ‘It’s the job,’ said Brian.

  ‘Not because you fancied me?’

  ‘Well, maybe that, too.’

  ‘You’ll last till we get to Bath,’ said Sita. ‘And then I’d better get a decent interview out of you.’

  ‘I can do that,’ said Brian.

  They shared a smile.

  I turned to Penny, who brandished her rolled-up magazine triumphantly.

  ‘I saw that in a movie once. Always wanted to try it.’

  ‘Nice timing,’ I said.

  And then the carriage slowed down in a series of jolts as the train finally pulled into Bath Spa station, right on time.

  SEVEN

  All Kinds of Loose Ends Taken Care Of

  Carriage doors banged open the whole length of the train, and the flat heavy sounds ricocheted across Bath Spa station like a series of gunshots as the passengers disembarked. I got out of the First-Class carriage, took a quick look around, and then helped Penny down on to the platform. We both stretched slowly and leaned on each other. It had been a tiring journey and a difficult case, and it had taken a lot out of both of us. We moved away from the train and watched the passengers stream across the platform to the stairs that would lead them down to the station exits. They didn’t look around much, intent on completing the last part of their journey as quickly as possible.

  The train’s arrival at Bath felt almost anti-climactic. There were no authorities waiting to meet us after all; no police or military or security … and no media scrum, either. There weren’t even any family or loved ones waiting to greet the arriving passengers, or anyone standing around for the next train. Even as I thought that, a recorded voice announced there would be no more trains that evening and that the station would be closing in twenty minutes. I watched the last of the passengers disappear down the stairs, not even sparing a glance back over their shoulders for the train they’d just left. No reason why they should; for them, it had been just another journey. They had no idea of all the dramas that had taken place, in and around the First-Class carriage.

  A restful quiet fell across the platform, broken only by the murmur of a gusting wind. Penny and I were left standing alone, wondering what we were supposed to do next. The night sky was very dark, with only a sliver of moon, and the air was bitterly cold. Penny huddled up against me, and I put my arm around her.

  ‘I told you we should have brought our heavy coats,’ she said.

  ‘So you did.’

  ‘What are we waiting for, Ishmael?’

  ‘I was sure someone would be here to meet us,’ I said. ‘The new Head of the Psychic Weapons Division was murdered on our watch. All right, we caught the killer, but that wasn’t the mission. We were supposed to keep Sir Dennis alive. Someone should have turned up, if only to take the body away.’

  ‘Perhaps no one knows he’s dead yet,’ said Penny.

  ‘The psychics watching over the train must know.’

  And that was when four uniformed paramedics emerged from the stairwell, carrying two stretchers, and passed us by without a second glance. They headed straight for First Class, manoeuvred their stretchers through the open door and disappeared inside. Penny smiled at me.

  ‘Somebody knows …’

  There was a long pause, and then two of the paramedics reappeared, bringing Brian out on a stretcher. Sita came with him, holding Brian’s hand all the way and talking to him reassuringly. He smiled at her, and she smiled at him.

  ‘The things some people will do,’ I said, ‘for an exclusive interview.’

  ‘Oh, hush,’ said Penny. ‘I think it’s very sweet.’

  Brian and Sita had only just disappeared down the stairs when the other two paramedics emerged from First Class, carrying Eric on a stretcher. Unlike Brian, Eric was held in place by stout leather straps, almost certainly not for his health. He looked surprisingly resigned about it all. His eyes caught mine for a moment, but he looked away without saying anything. The paramedics had nothing to say either. They disappeared down the stairs and were passed on their way by the Colonel coming up. He was wearing a heavy military coat against the cold of the night, and his homburg hat was tilted at what he probably considered a rakish angle.

  ‘What the hell is he doing here?’ Penny said quietly.

  ‘He knows Sir Dennis is dead,’ I said. ‘That’s why there are no authorities and no media presence.’

  ‘Do you think we’re in trouble?’ said Penny.

  ‘Look at the man,’ I said. ‘Does he have the air of someone coming to compliment us on a job well done? No, we screwed up, and the Colonel is here to tell us just how deep in it we are.’

  ‘But who told him?’

  ‘I’m guessing the Division,’ I said. ‘Which would suggest there’s a lot more to this situation than we were told.’

  ‘We caught the murderer,’ said Penny. ‘That should count for something.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘it should.�
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  The Colonel strode over to join us and managed a frosty smile.

  ‘You don’t normally hand your prisoners over in such a state they have to be stretchered away.’

  ‘That was Penny,’ I said.

  She smiled dazzlingly at the Colonel, who seemed genuinely lost for words. And then we all looked round as a door slammed open in First Class, and Rupert and Howard stepped out on to the platform. They stayed where they were, looking carefully around to make sure everyone else had gone. I moved quickly back to join them, and they both managed a smile for me.

  ‘We wanted to avoid any reporters,’ said Rupert. ‘But it would seem there aren’t any.’

  ‘What are we supposed to do now?’ said Howard, glancing at the Colonel, who was busy talking to Penny and studiously ignoring us.

  ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re free to go,’ I said. ‘The drama is over, and the players depart.’

  ‘Your drama might be,’ said Rupert. ‘That private detective masquerading as a tea lady said there’d be someone waiting outside the station to follow me wherever I go. You’re someone in authority, Mr Jones; can’t you do something?’

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ I said. ‘At least now you know what’s going on. In the end, it’s your wife … and your life. You have to make up your own mind as to what you’re going to do with them.’

  Rupert nodded slowly. ‘I have to be who I am, and to hell with the consequences. If Julia wants a divorce, she can have one. And if she’s determined to keep all the money … she can have that too. I never cared about it, although I never could convince her of that. The only thing that really matters is that I have to be true to myself.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ I said.

  ‘Do you?’ said Rupert. He looked at me searchingly. ‘Well … perhaps you do.’

  I turned to Howard, who met my gaze steadily.

  ‘What about you?’ I said bluntly. ‘Are you still determined to kill yourself? It’s not too late to find some new reason to go on living.’