Returning to the table, John hoped the conversation would lead to more information and perhaps more satisfying turns. Instead he was disappointed as Gillingham had retired to his berth, overly affected by what he saw, and Blake soon joined him. With only the silence and one another for company, John and Anna returned to his cabin to confer.

He sat heavily on his bed, Anna leaning on the wall across from him, and relayed everything he learned to her. To her credit, Anna remained silent until he finished. The last words left his mouth and John rested his head in his hands with a sigh.

"They're not guilty."

"I would've thought us eliminating two potential suspects off our list would bring a little more joy to your expression."

"It should, shouldn't it?" John shook his head, gripping the back of his neck with both hands, "And in other situations it might but I'm running into the same problem."

"What's that?"

"They've got no interest in helping us find out who is."

"Seems the ever repeating pattern with this case." Anna muttered, stretching her neck before pacing the short way to the small table. "But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"

"It's more that they don't seem to care about justice."

"You think they don't care about justice?"

"If they did they'd be more willing to help solve this case."

"Or maybe because they care about justice they won't help."

John raised his head, "What do you mean?"

Anna spoke softly her next words coming after a heavy silence. "They all believe Green got what he deserved and that justice was served. For that matter, so do I."

"You think the dead man in the freezer got justice? The man who died from ten stab wounds after someone drugged him?"

"Would he be less dead if he were hung back in England?"

"It'd be after a trial by a jury with a judge to pass sentence because the people believed his guilt."

"They believed his guilt."

"We've had this conversation before."

"I know." Anna bit at her lip, "It's just…"

"Just what?" John frowned and Anna raised her head to meet his gaze.

"What if we just told everyone the same story we told the Germans?"

"Excuse me?"

"We tell them that the killer escaped the train."

"Are you joining Mr. Talbot's side in this?"

Anna shrugged, "He had a point and the longer I dwell on it the more sound his thinking is. The killer's left the train."

"That's not true."

"But it is, John."

"Anna, we know that person is here." John stopped himself, "Or, more accurately, that those people are still here."

"And Mr. Green deserved what he got." Anna leaned forward, "Your job is to ensure justice is served. Hasn't it been?"

"Revenge isn't justice, Anna. That man should have been tried for his crimes."

"They tried once and he vanished, John." Anna put a hand forward, "The killer, or the spirit of their actions, has passed. It left when he died and they'll never do it again."

"They can't do what they did a first time. The system isn't built to give power to the vigilante but to the courts. To try people by a jury of their peers."

"And a jury is made up of eight to twelve men, John. Those people decide the fate of the guilty by listing their crimes and then weighing it in balance. If anyone knows his crimes it's the people on this train and they weighed them in balance for enough time." She took a breath, "There were ten wounds. That's a jury that found him guilty of his crimes and exacted justice on him."

"They executed him Anna."

"They did no differently than a judge in England would except they all buried the knife somewhere in his body instead of hanging him."

"It's not right, Anna."

"If that's what you think."

"It is."

"Then I won't trouble you any further." Anna nodded, moving to leave but John grabbed her hand. "What is it?"

"Where are you going?"

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Anna sat down next to him, "I thought-"

"Because I disagreed with you that I'd want you to leave?"

"Yes."

"No," John shook his head, shifting on the bed so he could hold her. "I don't ever want you to leave."

"This cabin or your side?" She smiled and he returned it.

"Either… or both."

"Eventually we will have to leave the cabin."

"I know but…" John took a breath, "I don't entirely disagree with you. The more I find out about this dead man the more I want him to stay in that freezer and have the world forget about him. But justice is blind and the sword is sharp on both ends."

"You're saying that their justice was served and now it's got to be served on them?"

"Unfortunately."

Anna nodded, resting her forehead on her shoulder. "I just think about that family, going into the nursery and finding their son missing. Searching the house, worrying themselves to a tizzy, and then getting that letter."

"It's got to hurt more since you know them."

"It does." Anna put a hand over her heart, pushing back to better take in John. "When you imagine it could've been your child and then…"

"Do you want children?"

"I always have." There was another moment of silence, noises from the corridor drifting toward them as they sat close to one another. "Do you?"

"I did once, when I was first married." John bit at the back of his jaw, vision clouding a moment. "But then… Vera never wanted children and I found out she'd… it didn't work."

"Did she get rid of one?"

"She found a way to miscarry the one child we ever had." John sniffed, wiping at his eyes a moment before Anna's more gentle fingers removed the tears. "I was devastated and that's when she told me she never wanted a child."

"But she was unfaithful. Surely there were consequences to that."

"There were," John agreed, swallowing to cover the cracks in his voice. "But they were the kind of gifts you don't share with your friends."

"Oh," Anna quieted, "Is that how you divorced her?"

"I proved, through a doctor, that I wasn't the one who gave her the VDs and with the other evidence I had of her infidelity I got the court to grant me a divorce."

"But at the cost of your happiness?"

"We were never happy together and the horrible truth is we never could be."

Anna's voice had gone soft again, her shoes dropping to the floor as she pulled her feet onto the bed, "Why not?"

"When you realize that all you had in common with someone was the desire to drink and delve into the black oblivion that follows together… the cold light of day helps you realize you made a mistake."

"Did she drive you to drink?"

"We drove one another to drink." John gave a bitter laugh, "We could throw barbs at one another for hours as we swirled the edges of consciousness together. And then, if we became physical, it was all teeth and nails. There wasn't anything to it but that animalistic drive that leaves people empty."

When Anna responded to it her voice was barely a whisper, "Did you ever love her?"

"I thought I did but then I knew it was a lie. A lie I told myself to sleep past all those feelings and emotions that rose up when I knew I chose incorrectly."

"And now?"

John's face clouded, "How do you mean?"

"Do you think you chose better with me?"

"I think I couldn't chose better than you." John managed a sheepish grin, "Though we've only known one another three days and we've had more romantic encounters than I usually do with women I've known in that many years."

"Then I'll take the compliment in that." Anna stroked her fingers over his cheek. "I've never had someone who respected me like you do."

"Is that why you stayed?"

"I stayed because you wanted me to stay." Anna withdrew her hand, "But I don't know if I can help with this case any longer."

"Why not?"

"Because we can't investigate this case if you think, even for a moment, I'm not helping you."

"Why would I think that?"

"I didn't tell you that I realized Mary was probably the one who dosed the tea with Barbital."

"I thought about that."

Anna's eyes widened, "You did?"

"She mentioned going to get the tea and seeing the scene in the corridor. It didn't take a genius to realize that she took the time to dose his peculiar tea with the Barbital to help him sleep so they could kill him."

"You think Mary helped?"

"Lady Mary has the unfortunate hormonal reactions of a pregnant woman. That means she's prone to two instincts." John held up two fingers, lowering them one at a time. "First, she's protecting her unborn child and that inspires the maternal instinct. Second, she's defending the honor of her family and that kind of revenge gives one the strength to plunge a knife deep."

"It might also be to her disadvantage that she's been waspish since we left."

"I attribute that to carrying around a child who probably kicks and moves when she wants nothing but sleep." John closed his eyes, "It's why I understand their motive to kill Green."

"You do?"

"They're trying to assuage their pain. As you said, they've had a long time to think about it, to plan this, to suffer their grief. Eventually that runs its course and they believe his death will allow them the peace they need."

"But it won't?"

John shook his head, "Nothing heals that pain. They'll feel justified, except for the nerves they possibly have at the moment, but otherwise the pain'll still be there. They lost a child and there's no replacing him."

"What about the nerves?" Anna hurried to explain, "Once they tall took their turn in stabbing the man to death, what was their plan."

"How do you mean?"

"If they're wondering what happened to his body, knowing someone should've found it but the Germans only asked about him being missing, what was their plan?"

"You think they had one?"

"If it'd been me I would've tipped him out a window once I finished him off and then had a few people swear to seeing him on a platform and never reentering the train but no one did that. They just left the body there."

"Maybe they had plans to remove it at the next station but when the train hit the snow bank they weren't expecting to wait." John sniffed, sitting back on the bed and leaving his shoes to drop to the floor as well. "But you're right, for all the fore planning the rest of this seems a bit underdone."

"Why not just poison him? It's easy enough to hide since there's no forensic unit to tell the difference and all you would need to say is that he died of something simple, like a weak heart."

"There's no satisfaction in poisoning someone."

"No?"

"When you're looking for revenge you want to feel it when they die." John rested his head back against the wall. "There's no good answer for what they planned and, at this point, it hardly matters. Our concerns lie with how to answer the inevitable question of what he's doing in the freezer and how he got in the shape he's in."

"I assume you're not talking about the freezer itself because we'll have to answer to that."

"I meant about who stabbed him to death." John rubbed a hand over his face. "This whole thing… it feels wrong."

"What?"

"I thought I was doing the right thing, answer Mr. Moseley's request to help solve this murder but, like I said, the more I find out about him I wish I'd left it all as it was. I wish I'd taken his offer and protected him because I could've saved ten people feeling the guilt running through them right now."

"You wouldn't want to save Green?"

"I don't care about Green." John faced Anna, "I care about those people who have to answer for his death, no matter how justified, to not only themselves but also to the courts and to whatever gods they worship. That's what I care about."

"Is that all you care about?"

"And you."

Anna's hand on his face guided his lips to meet hers ever so slowly. As slowly as she unbuttoned his waistcoat and shirt, helping him slide them all free to drop in recognizable thumps on the floor. His larger hands fumbled slightly on her finer buttons but eventually managed to free her skin to his gaze.

With concentrated lips and focus, John traced the contours of her bones and muscles from her jaw to her collar to the line of fabric holding her breasts steady. But with his tongue and gentle caresses, it proved no more a barrier to him than a way to tease her to greater heights. Dragging the laced fabric over her, tugging it with his teeth, and sucking at her nipples to send Anna's fingers raking through his hair to grip and steer.

Her skirt bunched under them and Anna hurried to free herself of it with the one hand she risked away from his head. John stayed occupied at her breasts, freeing them from their confines to lay his kisses over the exposed skin. The soft cries of pleasure matched the shift in Anna's legs and hips when John bit, tugged, teased, and laved over her breasts to leave her panting under him.

The clink of his belt and the swift snap of button before the slide of his zipper had them both struggling to free John of his trousers. When they caught slightly they laughed softly, risking a moment to finally free themselves of the last traces of their clothing, and returned to their kisses with a bit more lightness to them. The same lightness that guided John's lips lower over Anna's body.

She worked her way over the bed, hand flailing toward the door to lock it, and then dug her nails into John's shoulders and scalp when he licked over her folds. It only took the nudge of his shoulders to spread her legs wider so his fingers and tongue could leave her gasping for air. And only a few minutes more of suckling and sliding to let a shriek rip through Anna.

John massaged her back from her high, tempted to send her over the edge again before he continued. With a grin he did just that. Anna's fluttering breaths and the twitch of her trembling thighs led to the furrows she scratched over his skin to match the pleasure he felt of her clenching inner muscles wrapping his tongue and fingers. In less time than the first, John withdrew his fingers from her spasming inner walls and laid a kiss on the bundle of nerves he finished tending before sliding forward to rest his arousal on her weeping folds.

Anna met his eyes, hazy and dazed while they blinked furiously to bring her back to reality. John pecked at her lips to encourage her back to the moment and her weak arms wrapped him closer to her. When her hips finally lifted, responding to the rolling glide of his hips teasing his erection closer to her, John thrust forward.

Both paused, breathing deeply with the acclimation of her body tight around his, and basked in the moment. Anna's legs tightened over John's hips, one of her heels digging into the skin of his ass to match the determined grip of her hand in the same place. John choked a moment and immediately plunged forward again to drive as deeply as he could.

Soon they worked into a rhythm, the bed under them creaking slightly as John gripped the edge of the frame, and the sensation at the base of his spine built. He worked his fingers between them, trying to press and rub Anna back toward the edge with him. She, however, already lifted her hips and tugged him closer with force to find her own pleasure.

When her tongue snaked around his and she cried out into their kiss, John let go. His finesse and moderation lost to the feel of lips, legs, and luxury washing over him. A final drive left him finished and they just lay there a moment while they tried to breathe normally again.

Eventually they rolled, Anna slotting herself at John's side, and filled the room with the sound of their steady breathing to match the scent of sex. John stared at the ceiling above him and let out a sigh. "I wish we could go back to when this was all we expected to have happen to us on this train."

"I wasn't even expecting this." Anna admitted. "I couldn't have imagined it."

"Me either, if I'm being honest."

"I guess we've got to take the bad with the good."

"If only the bad wasn't the kind that has me questioning if it really was the good."

"If only." Anna breathed over his skin, "We'll figure out what to do."

"I hope so." John hugged her closer. "I do hope so."