Death Takes a Holiday (16 page)

Kyle stood up and walked to the end of the car. He looked through the window toward the sleeping car.
“You know what I don’t get? How did Jack get a hold of the passenger list?”

“What makes you think he did?” Lucas asked.

Grace slid off the armrest and into the recliner Kyle had vacated. “I met him this morning. He was carrying a list of passengers and their room numbers.”

Kyle glanced at Henry as he passed in front of him.
“How could he have gotten a hold of that? They don’t just hand that type of thing out to everyone, do they?”

Henry sh
ook his head. “You must be mistaken. Only train personnel would have the passenger list.”

Tracy pointed to Meredith.
“Then he could have gotten it from Merry,” Tracy said. “She has one. Don’t you, Merry?”

Meredith
swiveled around to face her. “Why in the world would I have given him the passenger list? I told you before, I barely know the guy.”

“Well,
how else did he get it, Merry?” Tracy asked tiredly.

“Admit it, Tracy, you just don’t like me.” Meredith scowled at Tracy which, Grace had to admit, was no different from the way she looked at anyone. “For your information, I found the passenger list
lying outside my door after the train left the station. So, I couldn’t have given it to Jack, now could I?” She pointed to Henry. “Ask him, he’s the one who left it there for me.”

Henry shook his head. “I didn’t
leave a passenger list for you and if I had I certainly wouldn’t leave it on the floor of the sleeping car.”

Outraged, Meredith stood up. “Well, there was one there.”

“Jack could have dropped it when he fought with Robert this morning,” Grace pointed out. “I’ve seen Merry’s list. It’s the exact same one that Jack had earlier, right down to the jagged corner.”

“You must be mistaken
,” Henry said. “There’s no way he could have gotten a passenger list.”

Kyle shook his head. “
There is one way. He could have gotten it from you, Henry.”

“Why would I give this man the passenger list?” Henry asked.

“I have no idea . . . but you did,” Kyle said softly. “It had to have come from you.”

Everyone turned to look at Henry.

Sara snorted. “What about the chef? Do you think he’s involved, too?” Sara asked sarcastically. She shook her head as if to clear it and then groaned.

“Yeah, Kyle,” Steve said
, quickly agreeing with her. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Grace leapt to Kyle’s defense. “Why not?
He must have gotten that list from someone.”

Kyle turned back to Henry. “How often does this train make this
trip to the hotel?”

“Every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday during the winter. Why?” he asked warily.

“Are you always the conductor?”

“For the last six months, yes.” Frowning, he pointed his finger at Kyle’s chest. “Look, I’m not involved in this and I’ve never had any trouble since starting this job. It’s not my fault you all decided to bring all your drama here.”

“See, that’s my point
,” Kyle said excitedly. “Why here? Whoever arranged this little reunion had to have prepared in advance which means they’ve more than likely scoped out the train beforehand.”

“
Jack told me this morning that he’s taken this trip before,” Grace said, warming up to the idea.

Kyle
pushed himself away from the connecting door and walked toward Henry. “And the Crystal Palace is only six months old and according to Robert, Jack was just released before Christmas, so if you’ve been the conductor for the last six months without fail, you had to have met him before this morning.”

All eyes turned to Henry
as he shook his head in denial. “Lots of people take this train—”

“But how many people get a hold of the passenger list
in advance?” Kyle asked.

Remembering the framed nursery rhyme in Sara and Kyle’s rooms, Grace leaned forward. “
Or get a chance to decorate the rooms ahead of time? Do you still have Jack’s framed nursery rhyme? Sara has one in her room, too. Jack put them there, didn’t he?”

Henry’s face crumpled. He dropped his chin to his chest and took a deep breath. “It’s true. I know Jack.”

Kyle gave him a hard stare. “Of course
, it’s true.” He turned around to stand next to Grace. He leaned down and pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Oh my God, I was right,” before turning back around and facing the other passengers.

Grace hid a grin.

Lucas slowly stood up. He stared at Henry for a few seconds before deliberately walking towards the other man. Wellington reached Henry first. He laid a restraining hand against Lucas’ chest. Lucas didn’t react. “How about you and I have a nice long talk in the lounge car?” he asked calmly with a hint of menace coloring his voice.

“Lucas,” Tracy said warningly.

“Don’t Lucas me. He helped Jack kill Robert.”

Henry furiously shook his head, his face going pale. “No. I didn’t. I swear I had nothing to do with
Mr. Kirby’s death.”

“His murder,” L
ucas corrected, still with that calm menacing voice.

“Please
. I can explain,” Henry said quickly.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Wellington
said with a firm push to Lucas’ chest. He led Lucas back to one of the recliners. “Come Mr. Kirby, we still have the matter of your brother’s murder to sort out,” Wellington said reasonably. “We can’t really come to the truth if Henry goes tumbling down the side of the mountain, can we?”

Felicity, eyes shining, glanced over at Parker. “This is wonderful material for my next book. Why aren’t you writing any of this down?”

He held up his hands. “With what?”

S
he shook her head in annoyance.

Once Lucas was seated,
Wellington turned to address Henry. “All right, Mr. Cross, perhaps you would like to tell us why are you helping Jack Horner?”

Henry took a shaky breath. “Jack’s been living with me since he was released.”

“Why you?” Wellington asked.

“
His father and I were good friends,” Henry admitted reluctantly. “Jack didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Hmm,”
Wellington said, rubbing his chin. “Just as I suspected.”

Grace noticed Kyle’s head lift sharply.

“He could have come home to us,” Tracy said.

Henry frowned. “No
, he couldn’t. Robert wouldn’t let him.” He took a deep breath. “Besides, he was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Robert,” Henry said. “He was afraid Robert would have him committed again.”

“So, you just decided to help him plan this little get together?”
Wellington asked.

“
I thought it was a family reunion. It wasn’t until I saw Mr. Kirby attack Jack that I realized Jack had tricked everyone.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes. “I need this job. I can’t afford to lose it.”

“Wh
ere is Jack now?” Wellington asked.

“
Once I learned the truth I told him to stay in his room and not leave until we reach the hotel but . . . ,” Henry shifted uneasily, “he wasn’t there when I went to look for him a few minutes ago. I think someone may have broken into his room. I found the door handle just lying on the floor.”

Grace started to explain
, but closed her mouth when Kyle shook his head.

Wellington
looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Is there anywhere else he could be hiding?”

Henry shrugged. “He might be in my room.
I’ve been staying away from the sleeping car all day. I just didn’t want to deal with him,” he said disgustedly. “I swear, I thought you all knew he was going to be on the train.”

Lucas took a step toward the
sleeping car, but stopped when Kyle blocked his way. “I think it would be best if we all go. Don’t you agree, Mr. Wellington?”

One corner of
Wellington’s mouth quirked up in wry amusement. “Oh, yes, I quite agree.” He motioned with his hand. “After you, Mr. Drake.”

All but Meredith
marched out of the car single file with Kyle in the lead and Grace close on his heels. They walked to the back of the sleeping car, pausing just long enough to take a quick glance into Jack’s room.

Steve stepped out of line and sat down on the bed. When Kyle would have stopped, Steve lifted a weary hand and waved him on.

Kyle looked down at Grace. “We’ll come back for him.” Continuing on, they walked to the end of the car where Kyle motioned for Henry to open the door to his room.

Reluctantly, Henry
knocked on the door. “Let me just talk to him first—”

“No,”
Wellington said quickly, “just open the door, Mr. Cross.”

Kyle
laid a hand on Henry’s forearm and glanced at Lucas. “Why don’t you wait in the observation car?”

Welli
ngton shook his head. “We may need his help to subdue Mr. Horner.”

Grace glanced
over her shoulder. Lucas Kirby trailed behind them. He raked a hand across the window, his nails scraping the glass. “I’m with Kyle,” Grace said, worry coloring her voice, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Wellington waived his hand dismissively.
“Nonsense, I’m sure Mr. Kirby will behave himself.”

“Oh, absolutely,” the Mr. Kirby in question answered enthusiastically.

Wellington motioned for Henry to open the door.

“I don’t like this,” Henry muttered as he unlocked the door and pushed it open.

They crowded around the door and peered into the empty room.

CHAPTER
thirteen

“It’s not fair
. You know the woman I replaced won an all-expenses paid trip. She gets to go to Florida, but I get the polar cap.” Meredith slammed another cabinet door closed.

“She didn’t win anything
,” Grace pointed out patiently. She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. “Jack must have paid for her trip in order to get you here. The only question is why.”

“
It doesn’t matter. We’re all going to die,” Meredith said matter-of-factly. “Have you seen any garbage bags?”

Setting the water down on the countertop,
Grace opened the pantry door. She pulled out a box and threw it to Meredith. “I doubt Jack can kill us all.”

Pointing to the window, Meredith looked at Grace as if she was a slow-witted child. “Do you not see what’s going on out there?”

Grace glanced outside, but didn’t see anything that warranted Meredith’s dire prediction. She narrowed her eyes. In fact, she didn’t see much of anything out there. Just a few flurries streaking past as the train barreled up the mountain. “It’s too dark to see.”

“Exactly! The moon’s gone.”

“The moon’s not gone. It’s just a bit overcast.”

“A bit?” Meredith shook her head. “We’re going to get hit with a snow storm. We’re going to get stranded on this God forsaken mountain. That is if we don’t go careening off on one of these rickety bridges. Even if we do survive, we don’t have
enough food to last more than a few days, tops. Then there’s that maniac running around. He’ll probably kill whoever survives.” Looking around, she leaned closer to Grace and dropped her voice to a whisper, “I have a plan. We’ll barricade ourselves in our room. We’ll grab as much food as we can.” She looked Grace over. “You don’t look like you eat too much. Still, we’ll set up a rationing system.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “What about the other passengers, Meredith? Should we let them starve or just let the killer take care of them?”

Meredith ripped open the box and pulled out several bags. “I’m not saying we should take all the food. We’ll leave some for the rest. We just need enough to survive on until the rescue team can get to us. You grab the can goods—”

“Let’s just call that plan B, shall we? How about this, why don’t we work on making sure the rest of the trip is as uneventful as possible.” Grace could see a riot unfolding if the other passengers suddenly realized food was disappearing. Everyone’s nerves were on edge, and she didn’t want to add any more stress to this trip.

Offended, Meredith stepped back and crossed her arms. “You’ll see. When we’re all fighting for the last piece of cheese, while Jack Horner is stabbing everyone and throwing their bodies overboard, you’ll be saying you wished you had listened to me.”

“How? According to you
I’ll either be too busy fighting over dairy or dying.”

Undaunted, Meredith just repeated, “You’ll see.” She turned worriedly to the window.
“Jack’s going to kill us all.”

Felicity and Parker opened the door and strode in. “No
, he’s not,” Felicity said emphatically. “Jack wouldn’t hurt a soul.”

Meredith pointed toward the door. “Really? Tell that to Robert. Jack’s here for revenge.”

“No,” Felicity scoffed. “Obviously Robert knew something he shouldn’t have and that’s why he was killed.”

Meredith snorted. “What are you doing in here
, Felicity? The kitchen is closed.”

Parker opened the door to the pantry. “We
’re looking for Jack.”

“They already searched back here,” Meredith said
, pulling out another garbage bag and laying it out onto the counter. She looked around the kitchen distractedly. “Do we have any matches?”

“I saw some underneath the bar.” L
eaning back against the counter and crossing her arms, Grace turned to Felicity. “You think Robert was killed because he knew who set the fire?”

Felicity
nodded. “Absolutely. I bet he also knew who’s sending me these threats,” she said, shoving the letters under Grace’s nose. “The killer stabbed him to keep him from talking to me.”

Grace reached out to take the letters. She glanced up in time to see Parker take a step back out of Felicity’s eyesight. He looked at Grace and shook his head. When Felicity’s head whipped around to look at him, he adopted an innocent expression.

Felicity stared at her assistant suspiciously for a moment before turning back around. She took a half-step back and wrapped her hand around Parker’s elbow. “If we find out who is sending these letters then we will have our killer.”

“Do you have any suspects in mind?”

Felicity glanced at Parker. “One or two.”

Parker glanced down at the floor. He
softly cleared his throat, but didn’t say anything.

“
Just one or two?” Grace asked. “Care to elaborate?”

“I hate to point the finger at any one person,” Felicity said haughtily. “Especially when I have no evidence whatsoever.”

“Of course,” Parker said, glancing back up, “we could be mistaken. Robert had his share of enemies.”

“
True, but I believe we’ll find that the person who sent these,” Felicity said, taking the letters from Grace, “and killed Robert are one in the same.”

“Let me take a wild guess here,” Grace
said, mentally running down her list of suspects. “One of your suspects wouldn’t be Lucas?”

“No,” Felicity said quickly
, almost drowning out Parker’s quiet, “Yes.”

Parker and Felicity exchanged looks before each changing their answer
s.

“There seems to be some confusion,” Grace said.

“No,” Felicity said quickly. “It’s just that . . . I don’t believe that Lucas would hurt his little brother. Let me tell you a little story about Lucas and Robert Kirby. One night, shortly after Victor and I married, Robert accidentally broke a vase that sat in the foyer. Ugly looking thing. I was glad to see it go, but Victor loved that vase. It apparently was a relic from his mother. That poor boy was just shaking and scared to death of what Victor would do when he came home. Sweat was pouring down his head.”

“He was practically in tears,” Parker added.

Felicity nodded. “I felt so sorry for him that I decided then and there that I would protect him. As soon as Victor came home, I was going to tell him that Parker broke the vase.”

Parker’s head whipped around. His eyes narrowed at his employer.
“What?”

“I wasn’t worried about you
,” Felicity said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Obviously not,
” Parker said sharply.

Felicity rolled her eyes. “
I knew you could handle yourself.” She turned back to Grace. “Anyway, Victor came in and started ranting and raving the moment he saw the vase. I never heard such cussing. I was just about to tell him Parker did it when suddenly Lucas spoke up and took the blame for his brother. I got the impression that Lucas Kirby spent a lot of time covering up for his baby brother growing up and it didn’t stop when they became adults. I can’t see him killing Robert. Lucas isn’t bad; he just wasn’t raised properly. You’ve seen that scar on his chin?”

Grace nodded.

“He told me he got that from his father on his seventeenth birthday. Apparently, he took his father’s camera without asking.” She scowled. “Victor was a horrible man.”

Grace looked at Parker. “What do you think?”

He opened his mouth, but one look at his employer had him shutting it.

“Okay,” Grace said. “What about Tracy?”

“What about me?” Tracy asked, walking into the kitchen. She strode passed Grace and opened the pantry door. She slammed it shut and looked around the small room before opening the double cabinet doors under the sink.

“Is there something I can help you find?” Grace asked.

Tracy slammed the doors shut hard enough to cause a bottle of wine to tip over. “Yes, you can help me find Jack.”

Grace caught the wine before it crashed to the floor and set it into the wine rack in the corner. “I doubt he’s hiding in the cabinets. They’ve been all over this train. What makes you think he’s here?”

Clenching her hands, Tracy took a step toward Felicity. “Someone must be helping him.”

“Well, it’s certainly not me,
sweetie,” Felicity said with a laugh.

“Don’t give me that Felicity. I know you two were close.” She lowered her voice. “If I find out you’ve been protecting him . . .”

Felicity drew herself up to her full height and took a step forward, bringing herself nose to nose with the other woman. “You’ll do what?” She laughed when Tracy backed up a step. “That’s right. Just as I thought. You’ll do nothing.”

Tracy’s face reddened. “He killed my Robert.”

“Oh, your Robert is it?” Felicity asked nastily. “I don’t recall you caring much about Robert last year.”

Tracy reacted as if she had been struck. “How dare you—”

“Drop the act, Tracy. I would figure you’d be happy. Now you’re free to be with the man you truly love. That is if he’ll have you.”

Tracy’s face crumpled. “How could you be this cruel, Felicity?” She wiped a hand across her streaming eyes and walked out of the galley.

“I’m sorry, you had to see that, Grace.” She looked over at Parker. “I should probably apologize.”

“Oh, why start now,” Parker said.

Grace watched Felicity’s face for some sort of reaction, surprised when the older woman just nodded in agreement. “True. It might set a bad precedent.”

“Who’s Tracy’s true love?” Grace asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry dear, but I don’t gossip.” Leaning in closer, she lowered her voice. “It’s unattractive to the opposite sex.” She leaned back and walked to the door. “Well, time to get to work. I do my best writing at night,” she turned back around. “I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot done tonight. Come, Parker.”

*

Kyle crossed the lounge car toward Asa Wellington. He avoided looking at Robert who was still sitting at the game table. They all agreed that Robert should stay just as he was until the train pulled into the station and the authorities had a chance to observe the crime scene.

Wellington
volunteered to stand guard in order to ensure no one disturb the body. Kyle had wondered who would stand guard over Wellington, but no one else felt a second guard would be necessary. He had quickly discovered that the old detective’s stature and reputation in the community was such that he was unquestionably trustworthy in the eyes of the other passengers.

Kyle had attempted to discuss the possibility with a few of them that Wellington may not be
the best person to be in charge—after all, he was just as much as a suspect as everyone else—and received nothing, but shocked stares in return. Apparently, Asa Wellington’s honor was beyond reproach.

Wellington
sat in one of the leather recliners at the back of the car, still as a statute, with his eyes closed, head tilted back and mouth hanging open. The man definitely knew how to nap under any circumstance, Kyle thought in amusement, glancing over at the dead body a few feet away. He doubted he could do the same. He had spent far too many nights watching horror movies to sleep comfortably in the same room with a corpse. He reached forward and shook the detective awake.

Finally roused,
Wellington looked around a few seconds before finally settling on Kyle. “Ah, Mr. Drake, is it? Do you mind if I call you Kyle?”

“No
, not at all.”

Wellington
looked intently at Kyle. A knowing smile played across his lips as he leaned forward. “I’m glad you’re here, Kyle. I had hoped that you would lend your assistance to this matter.”

“Of course. I’m happy to help.”
Kyle rubbed his palms on his pants. He couldn’t deny that he was a bit uneasy. Here he was standing in front of
the
Asa Wellington. Even though he had never heard of the guy before tonight, he was still nervous to be this close to him.

According to Steve and what little Grace could remember from the TV movie about him, the man was a living legend in the detective world. Part
Elliot Ness, and part Sherlock Holmes with a touch of Columbo mixed in. According to them—and the publicity for the TV movie—Wellington saw all and what he didn’t see, he would uncover soon enough.

Unfortunately, that was a problem, he thought nervously, as
Wellington looked up at him with a kind of cocky self-assurance. Steve had warned him to stay away from the detective. He was convinced—and spent several minutes trying to convince Kyle—that Wellington would be able to tell that he was a fake within seconds of meeting him. Kyle had snorted in derision at that statement.

After all, it had been so easy to fool everyone in Grace’s hometown.
No one doubted him. Not the sheriff, the DA, or Grace’s family. No one. Kyle wasn’t an actor, but he had worked a stage a time or two. He had always been confident in his abilities to convince anyone of anything. Charm and good looks could get a person very far in this world.