Death Takes a Holiday (7 page)

“Autograph?” Grace asked. “I
heard what you said.”

“Oh, no!
” The woman in pink stamped her foot lightly. “I was afraid you heard me. Now I’ll have to start all over.” She shook her finger at Grace. “It’s very impolite to eavesdrop.”

Grace, feeling her eyebrows rise up her for
ehead, looked over at Henry who was smiling. “What is going on?”

“Is this the woman you overheard plotting the murder?” Henry asked.

Grace nodded.

Henry patted Grace’s arm gently.
“This is Felicity Gray.”

“Felicity Gray?” Grace asked
, wondering why that name sounded familiar.

“S
he’s a writer,” Henry said slowly as if speaking to a small child.

“Best-selling novelist,” Felicity corrected.

“She writes those little mysteries you find at airports,” Henry said.

“There’s nothing little about my mysteries and they’re not mysteries. They’re thrillers.” Suddenly noticing Kyle, Felicity arched her back and smiled up at him. “
Romantic
thrillers. Hello.”

Kyle
returned her smile. “I love your books. I’ve read every one of them.”

“Thank you.”

“Where do you get your ideas?”

“Research.” S
he winked at Kyle. “Lots of research,” she said, dropping her voice to a low purr.

“And that’s why you were talking ab
out killing people,” Henry said, more for Grace’s benefit than any other reason.

Felicity looked at him
for a half second before she said, “Yes, that’s why. My next book will involve a murder on a train like this one. My main character will have a torrid romance with a handsome stranger, but awake to find everyone dead,” she said, lightly touching Kyle’s arm. “How does that sound to you?”

“It sounds horrific,” Grace answered for him
. “Can we get back to my problem and the threatening message I found.”

“What
threatening message?” Kyle asked.

“
Well, your friend
says
that someone wrote in lipstick on your bathroom mirror that you’ll be dead before you know it,” Henry said softly.

Kyle’s eyebrows rose as he looked to Grace for confirmation.

It didn’t escape Grace’s notice that Henry seemed to put a touch more emphasis on “your friend
says
” than she felt was necessary. “Someone did write that on the mirror. I’m not making it up.”

Henry held out a placating hand. “Of course not. I
didn’t say you did.”

Grace wasn’t convinced.
She turned in time to see Felicity’s companion enter the car. “Look, I did receive a threat.”

Felicity suddenly threw herself into Kyle
’s arms and clutched her chest. “Me too! I received a message, as well.”

“You did?” Grace asked, surprised and somewhat doubtfully.

“Yes . . . I was so frightened. That’s why I came out here to find the conductor,” Felicity said, reaching out and gripping Henry’s arm. “Someone threatened to . . . murder me in my sleep.”

“Really?” Grace asked, wondering if she appeared as dramatic as Felicity appeared right now. No wonder Henry wasn’t convinced, Grace thought. “What color was the lipstick?”

“Oh, a horrible shade of . . . pink,” Felicity said looking over her shoulder. “Parker here can confirm it.”

“Absolutely. It was horrifying,” Parker said in a monotone.

“Mine was in red,” Grace said.

Felicity reached out and pulled Grace into a hug. “Oh, you poor child. You must have been so frightened. Let’s go back and look at it. Maybe we can compare the writing.”

“We can’t. Someone,” Grace said, glancing at Henry, “wiped it off.”

“Really?” Felicity asked. “Oh, that’s too bad.”

“We could go see yours,” Grace said.

Felicity hesitated briefly before saying, “Of course—”

Parker lowered himself into one of the chairs. “Nope. Someone wiped ours off, too.”

Felicity placed her hands on her hips. “I told you to guard it with your life.”

Parker shrugged. “Whoever did it must have slipped by me when I was chasing that rabbit down the hall.”

“Rabbit?” Grace asked.

Henry’s brow creased. “Oh, this is rather troubling. I still believe it’s some sort of prank
, but don’t worry we’ll get to the bottom of this.” He looked at Kyle. “I’m sure you are in no danger.”

“
Are you sure someone threatened to kill me?” Kyle asked Grace.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t me,” Grace said wryly. “Of course, then again, maybe the messenger was psychic.”

“I’m afraid the young lady is a bit upset about it, but I promise you, we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Henry said. “But first and this is rather awkward—” He stepped forward as the door behind him suddenly opened
Steve
excitedly walked up to Kyle. “Oh man, you need to meet this chick. She’s absolutely the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I think . . . I . . . I . . .” He came to a stop and looked from Grace to Felicity and then back at Grace again. “What are
you
doing here?” he asked in a plaintive whine.

Henry raised
his hand. “Actually that’s what I’m wondering, too.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a piece of paper. “You see here, Ms. Holliday,” he said, unfolding the paper, “you aren’t listed as a passenger. I’m sure there’s some sort of mix up. It happens all the time. People will change their mind at the last moment and decide that they would rather take the Excursion instead of the Express, so they’ll go and upgrade their ticket while they're waiting. In that case you wouldn’t end up on our list, but . . .” He looked apologetically at Grace. “I just don’t remember taking your ticket this morning. I’m afraid, I’m going to need to see your ticket stub.”

CHAPTER
FIVE

“I’m telling you
, she’s in love with me,” Steve whispered.

Kyle brought his attention back from the picture
-perfect winter scene outside the lounge car. “I invited Grace here, Steve. She’s not stalking you.”

“That’s what she wants you to th
ink. That it was all your idea.”

Kyle scoffed. “
Don’t be ridiculous.’

“Didn’t you tell me that she found the tickets and just assumed you wanted to take her?”

Kyle nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, so?”

Steve blew out a breath. “Now don’t take this the wrong way ‘cause I know you’re kinda sweet on her, but she’s just using you to get to me.”
Steve looked over his shoulder. Grace stood next to the bar talking to a rather unhappy looking server. When she caught Steve staring at her, she scowled and slammed the jar in her hand on the counter.

Kyle looked at him doubtfully.

Steve turned back and shook his head. “See the way she’s staring at me? I’ve seen that look on women’s faces before. A lot. Trust me, she wants me. She somehow found out that I was on this train and tricked you into bringing her along.”

“Steve, I think you may be wrong on this one.”

“Haven’t you learned anything from me? I’m training you to be a detective and you’re missing all the clues,” he said, snapping his fingers in the air in front of Kyle’s face.

Kyle resisted the urge to grab Steve’s hand.
“Such as?”

“Haven’t you noticed that she’s been showing up at the office quite a lot lately? And she’s been wearing these really sexy outfits.”

Kyle had noticed, but was pretty sure Grace wasn’t wearing those outfits for Steve’s benefit. He ripped open a packet of sugar and poured it into his coffee. “Steve, Grace and I—”

“Nope. I know what you’re going to say
, but you’ve got it all wrong. Hey, I thought she was interested in you too, at first, but now I see that it’s really me that she’s after. You can’t see it because your powers of observation are really low.”

Kyle choked on his coffee. “Really
?”

“I mean
, don’t get me wrong, you’ve come a long way in the short time you’ve been working for me.”

“
With you.
”
Kyle carefully set the coffee cup down on the game table. “Working
with you
, Steve. My name is printed on the door right next to yours.”

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I’m the detective here, not you pretty boy. You’re just the bait to bring in the big bucks,” Steve said
, referring to his agreement not to rat Kyle out to the authorities about Kyle’s made up New York detective agency.

Kyle leaned back in his seat. “I think I’ve been doing pretty well the last few months. If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have ever found out who stole all of Evan Orr’s money or even how they did it.”

“I just said you’ve come a long way under my guidance, didn’t I? But you seem to lose all focus when Grace is in the room. And as a detective that’s not a good idea. You need to know exactly what’s going on at all times. Your life may depend on it.”

Kyle lifted up his hands in a sign of surrender. “All right. Fine. G
ive me some examples of Grace’s all-consuming love for you.”

Steve lifted his hand and began counting off his fingers.
“One. She keeps calling me all these little cutsie affectionate names, like pumpkin or pookie. Last week she called me cupcake.”

“You don’t say?”
Kyle refrained from pointing out it was usually done sarcastically and in response to whatever sexist drivel Steve had just thrown at her.

“
Two. She keeps showing up wherever I am.”

“That’s because
you’re usually with me.”

“Yeah?
Remember last Wednesday, when I took over that stakeout after you came down with the flu?”

Kyle quickly nodded his head. He had been perfectly healthy that night
, but bored to tears. The last thing he wanted was to sit in a car in front of the local motel waiting for the local doctor and his mistress to show up. He decided his time could be better spent with Grace, so he faked an illness and headed over to her place. Unfortunately, she had been out.

“We
ll, no sooner had you left than Grace came by with a plate of food.”

“She did?” Kyle asked in surprise.

“She tried to act surprised to see me, but I knew what she was up to.”

“What did she do?”

“She got all flustered, handed me the food and left. It was my favorite, too. Sirloin.”

Kyle
bit his lip to keep from smiling. His favorite, as well. “Maybe she was just being nice.”

“Nice?
That’s not nice, it’s scary and now she’s leaving messages on my bathroom mirror.”

“Steve, it wasn’t a love message on the mirror. She said it was a death threat.”

“Exactly! That just proves my point. She’s tried everything else to get my attention, but I’ve told her I’m just not interested. So, now she’s trying to play the damsel in distress.”

“How?
” Kyle asked in exasperation. “The threat was for you . . . or possibly me . . . more than likely you. Definitely not her. Except for me, no one knew she was even going to be on the train.”

Steve ignored him. “
Soon, I’m going to be hearing, ‘Oh, Steve, I’m just so worried about you.’ And then it’s going to be ‘Can I come sleep with you tonight?’ It’s sad. Just sad. I’ve never seen this level of stalking before. She is relentless.” Steve lifted a hand to his forehead. “Do you think you could talk to Grace? You know, get her to back off? Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but I just don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

Kyle glanced back at Grace.
For some bizarre reason she had moved to stand behind the bar. He watched as she picked up a towel and began wiping down the counter. Just as he was about to leave Steve to his paranoia and find out what Grace was up to, she suddenly stopped what she was doing and glared at their table. He gave her a small smile and a wave, not too terribly surprised when she ignored him and whispered something to the train attendant standing next to her. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Steve.” He watched as Grace disappeared into the next car.

To Kyle’s surprise, the
woman Grace had spoken to looked straight at their table as she began cutting up fruit. Kyle smiled politely as she continued to stare in their direction.

Wondering what had captured Kyle’s attention, Steve looked over his shoulder. Noticing Grace was now gone, he sighed in relief
. He looked at the attendant and held up his empty coffee cup.

Eyes narrowing to slits
, the young woman muttered something before slamming the knife into a melon and stalking out of the car. Kyle had the feeling it was going to be an incredibly long trip.

Steve lowered his arm to the table and shrugged, clearly more concerned with Grace and her stalking than anything else at the moment.
“Maybe Grace would be willing to go to counseling. My cousin, Jerry, is a therapist. I could give her his card.”

“That’s a great idea. Can I be there when you ask her to go to therapy
? For emotional support, of course.” After all, Kyle thought in amusement, Steve’s going to need all the emotional support he could get once Grace got through with him.

Steve looked down at the table and nodded sadly. “I know what it’s like when you love someone so much
, but they don’t feel the same way.”

Kyle’s expression softened.
Steve could be overbearing at times, but he did have a soft side.

“I just need to get Grace out of the way before she ruins my game with other chicks.”

A soft side carefully hidden under layers of delusion, Kyle thought, with a shake of his head. He glanced up just as Grace walked back into the dining car and headed their way. “Here she comes, Casanova. Just act normal,” Kyle advised softly.

Steve glanced up nervously as Grace appr
oached. “Hi there, honey.”

“Hello
babycakes,” Grace replied coldly as she passed their table. Kyle almost didn’t recognize her. Her red hair was now pulled back into a bun and her skin-tight red dress had been replaced by an oversized drab server’s outfit. He took in her sudden change of wardrobe with a sinking feeling.

“See, what
I mean, dude,” Steve whispered. “She’s obsessed with me.”

*

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Meredith Mallory, ran a shaking hand over her face. Putting a couple of bobby pins in her mouth, she grabbed her ponytail and wound it up into a bun. A few bobby pins later, she had the messiest bun Grace had ever seen. Bits and pieces of mousy brown hair hung at odd angles around her head.

Grace sat behind the bar in the lounge car and watched her
new co-worker with amusement. “Would you like a mirror?”

“I just want to get this over with. I hate trains.
I wish I could be on the Express. At least the torture would be over with quickly. Why would anyone pay for this?” She pointed to the window next to the bar. “What’s so special about this?”

Grace looked out the window at the majestic
mountainside, the trees laden with snow, and the beautiful reindeer prancing and frolicking on an over crop next to the tracks.

“Oh my gosh, did you see that?” Grace leaned forward and excitedly pressed the side of her face to the window, trying to
catch a glimpse of the reindeer retreating into the distance. “Did you see the deer?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Have you ever seen one up close?” Meredith backed away from the window and crossed her arms. “They bite and they carry ticks. Do you want Lyme disease?”

Grace restrained herself from pointing out that it was impossible to get Lyme disease by simply observing the deer from a moving train. She turned back around to find Meredith staring straight ahead as she stabbed a melon and began angrily hacking away at it.

Grace followed Meredith’s gaze.
Steve was sitting at the game table located at the far end of the lounge car. The blonde Grace saw sprinting to the train earlier in the day was sitting next to him, laughing as she shuffled a deck of cards.

The only other person at the table was
Kyle who was watching Grace with a wary look on his face. He started to rise, but was pulled back down by Steve.

Whatever story
Steve was telling obviously needed embellishing. He was waving his arms around like a cartoon character suddenly falling out of a plane. Grace half expected him to take off at any moment, but with a final sweep of a blue and white checkered arm, the coffee cup sitting in front of him went flying off the table.

“I hate people,” Meredith said matter-of-factly. Picking up another plate of fruit from the mini fridge,
Meredith shook her head as she speared a sliced pear.

“
Do you mean everyone or just someone in particular?” she asked as Meredith shredded the pear in ever decreasing slices.

Meredith didn’t answer. She tilted her head and stared
past Grace’s shoulder.

Grace turned to see
a distinguished older ma
n
in an expensive tailored pinstriped suit walk unsteadily into the lounge car.
He held both arms out like a tight rope artist as he navigated his way down the aisle. Grace wondered if it was the train that was making him so unsteady or something else. He got half way through the car before sitting—actually more like falling—back into an empty recliner.

She noticed Steve look up in surprise. He exchanged a friendly wave with the man before turning back to
the blonde sitting next to him.

Grace looked at the older man more carefully.
He was a rather handsome man, with piercing blue eyes and jet-black hair with just a few streaks of gray peppered throughout. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t quite place him. “Do you know who that man is?” she asked Meredith who was still hacking away at the fruit. “I know I’ve seen him somewhere. Is he an actor?”

Meredith snorted. “No, he’s no actor.
His name’s Asa Wellington.”

Hearing the bitterness in Meredith’s voice, i
t occurred to Grace that there might be a bit of history between the two. Of course, she had to admit, Meredith had the same exact tone in her voice when discussing the weather earlier in the day.

“
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of him. He’s always in the news for something or other.” Meredith looked up thoughtfully. “Although, I haven’t seen his name in the papers in quite some time. I think he mainly teaches now.”

“
You seem to know quite a lot about him.”

Reaching into her pocket, Meredith shrugged. She brought out a folded piece of paper and
handed it to Grace. “Here’s the passenger list. You should probably make a copy.”