Chapter 4 - A Silent Cry
"Have you found anything?" Mark asked his son as Amanda took her two children off to an empty neighbouring compartment.
"Well there was a couple of things." Mark raised an eye-brow quizzically. "Well, Amanda found a puncture mark entering the main vein in the left fore- arm. She says it looks like someone introduced something alien into the blood stream. There are no repeated marks to show signs of drug addiction, so it would imply that that mark was a factor in Daniel's death, though of course, she can't say what until she has done an autopsy."
"So definitely foul play?"
"Yes Jesse, of that there is no doubt. There is however something else that needs to be considered - why was he on board this train and how did he happen to fall into our carriage."
"Did you find nothing else that may give us a clue to his purpose for being here?"
"Well Dad, there was one thing." Said Steve smiling, as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "I had to temporarily dispose of this until those awful rail staff disappeared. I found it in his shoe - don't ask."
"What does it say?" Asked Jesse, curiosity overriding the animosity he had felt when first informed of the victim's identity.
"Get Mark. There is danger everywhere, so much so, that I cannot go myself. Make sure that Jesse is safe. Take care and stay safe. Find me here before the curse strikes. All my love. SR" Steve read.
"SR?" asked Jesse. "But Susan's second name is. oh!" he said, suddenly realising. "They got married? I can't believe she got married and didn't tell me."
"She did want to make sure you were safe Jess, that's got to mean something." Steve said, trying to keep his friend's temper in check.
"What's this? Where are we meant to find her?" asked Mark looking down at the scrap of paper.
"Well, presumably it will be where she went to with our friend here. I mean that is her home after all."
"No son, if the danger was as great as Susan was implying, which certainly seems to be the case given the evidence in front of us, I think she would have moved on, and that she's given us a clue in her note."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Carmel!" said Jesse. "Susan is in Carmel."
"You sound very sure of that Jesse. Do you not think you're being a little hasty?"
"No Steve, I'm not. Susan is in Carmel. I think we should go there and find out what on earth she's playing at."
"Jesse, how can you be so sure. There are so many places she could be?" Jesse looked at Steve incredulously, shocked that he could not see how obvious it was.
"There is something in the note to tell us where she is, isn't there Jesse? It's the bit about the curse that gave it away."
"Oh come on Dad, don't tell me that you actually buy that. 'The Curse' could just be another name for the people who are after her."
You two were never very lucky in Carmel, were you Jess?"
"That's an understatement Mark, we only had to mention the 'C' word and that was it. Anything that could go wrong went wrong, and more besides!"
"All right," Steve conceded, "if she is in Carmel, how do we know where we'll be able to find her?"
"I guess we'll just have to go there and see."
"Yeah, I would most certainly like to know what on earth she's playing at. I mean married."
"Show a little compassion Jess, her husband's just been killed."
"Did she have any compassion for me when she married him? I don't think so Steve. Who did she give her contact details to? Me? No, it was to your Dad. Anyway, she must have known he'd be in danger, sending him with a note like that. She might even have known that he could get killed. All men are just things to be discarded to Susan."
"Jess, she said to make sure that you were safe," Steve reiterated "Does that not mean anything to you? She didn't want to see you get hurt. She made her clue as to her whereabouts so that it would be you who was able to work out where she is. Now, does that sound like the actions of someone who has no regard for others. No. Not others, you Jess."
Jess nodded his head in resignation.
"Now, you two go and join Amanda and the boys, I'll stay here and make sure that no one gets to the body until we are able to get off of and start enquiries. We should be at the station in less than an hour from what the guard was saying. Now off you go and put your heads together to see if you can think of where Susan might be. Anything could help."
And that they did. Still none of them could think where in Carmel Susan might be waiting for them.
"Do you know if she's got any relations there, Jesse?" Amanda tried a new tack.
"Look Amanda, the only thing I know about Susan as far as Carmel is concerned, is that she and I were jinxed whenever we mentioned the word. Knowing Susan though, she's probably got at least a half a dozen ex-fiances there. No Amanda, I'm sorry, I don't know why and where in Carmel."
"Did you plan to do anything particular when you got there?" Mark pushed.
"Mark, hey, as far as we were concerned we could have gone anywhere, I mean, hey, to us, we saw Carmel as the city of love if you know what I mean? Well, it would have been had we actually ever made it there. Did I say I think we were jinxed?"
"Yes Jesse, repeatedly." Amanda rolled her eyes. "Ever since you first tried to go and something went wrong."
"See, as soon as we said the 'C' word something went wrong. Jinxed!"
"You were running scared. Susan wanted to go and you didn't."
"You mean she got someone killed just to get me to Carmel?! Woah! That woman is crazy!"
"Come on Jesse. Think." Mark interrupted the banter, they really did need to get on. Susan may be in grave danger.
* * * * *
Steve rested his feet along the seat. Man, guard duty is dull, thought Steve, I mean it's not even as if the guy's liable to get up and run off. Oh well, only 49 minutes and. 23 seconds left until we can make some proper headway with this. On terra firma. I swear, if I didn't know this was a train, I would feel distinctly seasick.
* * * * *
"Do you think we should go to 'you-know-where' straight away Mark?"
"Well, we're due to stop in about 45 minutes in Magerville. Steve wants to get the investigation underway from there if at all possible, and there should hopefully be somewhere for Amanda to carry out the autopsy. Then we'll be able to hire a couple of cars and go on from there and hopefully we'll know more what we're dealing with."
"You thought of anything more on the cause of death yet Amanda?"
"Well, I said he was injected with something, and I stand by that, bur there are no signs of a struggle so that means he either injected himself, or by someone else whom he had no reason to distrust. I spoke to the steward and she said that there was no registered passenger with the surname Robinson. Had there been, I would have gone to search his carriage."
"Could he have used his Christian name as a surname?£
"No, I got them to check, everyone who booked in advance was part of a party. He probably just came 'on speck' - it would be harder to trace him that way, and he'd have more freedom to move around the train, or on the other hand, more privacy, should he want it. He must have known though, that you would be on the train."
"So he must have been in touch with the hospital and then found out that I was on vacation. I suppose his going to the beach house would have been to obvious if the killer knew he was coming to find me."
"How will we know who did it?" Jesse asked "It's not as if there's only a couple of people on here."
"I've thought of that already." Said Amanda. "When I was asking Jane whether Daniel was booked on this journey, I asked her to go round and compile a list of all the travellers on board as well as people who may have booked in advance and not shown - that's the best thing about this old fashioned train system is that if you want to book in advance you have to give a lot of details. Unfortunately the procedure's not as thorough for passengers who just turn up on the off-chance. With Jane's list though, we should be able to find the necessary information. She's also getting me a list of all the train crew. I also took the liberty to ask whether she saw anything suspicious before he died, seen as she was seemingly one of the last people to see him alive."
"Anything?"
"She said he seemed short of breath."
"Well he could have just run from somewhere, had an asthma attack, panic attack, anaphylactic shock, it could be anything!" an exasperated Jesse said.
"I did have another thought, given the injection mark, but I'll need to take x-rays in order to be sure."
"Air embolism?" Mark said, catching on.
"That's what I'm inclined to think." Amanda nodded.
"Have you found anything?" Mark asked his son as Amanda took her two children off to an empty neighbouring compartment.
"Well there was a couple of things." Mark raised an eye-brow quizzically. "Well, Amanda found a puncture mark entering the main vein in the left fore- arm. She says it looks like someone introduced something alien into the blood stream. There are no repeated marks to show signs of drug addiction, so it would imply that that mark was a factor in Daniel's death, though of course, she can't say what until she has done an autopsy."
"So definitely foul play?"
"Yes Jesse, of that there is no doubt. There is however something else that needs to be considered - why was he on board this train and how did he happen to fall into our carriage."
"Did you find nothing else that may give us a clue to his purpose for being here?"
"Well Dad, there was one thing." Said Steve smiling, as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "I had to temporarily dispose of this until those awful rail staff disappeared. I found it in his shoe - don't ask."
"What does it say?" Asked Jesse, curiosity overriding the animosity he had felt when first informed of the victim's identity.
"Get Mark. There is danger everywhere, so much so, that I cannot go myself. Make sure that Jesse is safe. Take care and stay safe. Find me here before the curse strikes. All my love. SR" Steve read.
"SR?" asked Jesse. "But Susan's second name is. oh!" he said, suddenly realising. "They got married? I can't believe she got married and didn't tell me."
"She did want to make sure you were safe Jess, that's got to mean something." Steve said, trying to keep his friend's temper in check.
"What's this? Where are we meant to find her?" asked Mark looking down at the scrap of paper.
"Well, presumably it will be where she went to with our friend here. I mean that is her home after all."
"No son, if the danger was as great as Susan was implying, which certainly seems to be the case given the evidence in front of us, I think she would have moved on, and that she's given us a clue in her note."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Carmel!" said Jesse. "Susan is in Carmel."
"You sound very sure of that Jesse. Do you not think you're being a little hasty?"
"No Steve, I'm not. Susan is in Carmel. I think we should go there and find out what on earth she's playing at."
"Jesse, how can you be so sure. There are so many places she could be?" Jesse looked at Steve incredulously, shocked that he could not see how obvious it was.
"There is something in the note to tell us where she is, isn't there Jesse? It's the bit about the curse that gave it away."
"Oh come on Dad, don't tell me that you actually buy that. 'The Curse' could just be another name for the people who are after her."
You two were never very lucky in Carmel, were you Jess?"
"That's an understatement Mark, we only had to mention the 'C' word and that was it. Anything that could go wrong went wrong, and more besides!"
"All right," Steve conceded, "if she is in Carmel, how do we know where we'll be able to find her?"
"I guess we'll just have to go there and see."
"Yeah, I would most certainly like to know what on earth she's playing at. I mean married."
"Show a little compassion Jess, her husband's just been killed."
"Did she have any compassion for me when she married him? I don't think so Steve. Who did she give her contact details to? Me? No, it was to your Dad. Anyway, she must have known he'd be in danger, sending him with a note like that. She might even have known that he could get killed. All men are just things to be discarded to Susan."
"Jess, she said to make sure that you were safe," Steve reiterated "Does that not mean anything to you? She didn't want to see you get hurt. She made her clue as to her whereabouts so that it would be you who was able to work out where she is. Now, does that sound like the actions of someone who has no regard for others. No. Not others, you Jess."
Jess nodded his head in resignation.
"Now, you two go and join Amanda and the boys, I'll stay here and make sure that no one gets to the body until we are able to get off of and start enquiries. We should be at the station in less than an hour from what the guard was saying. Now off you go and put your heads together to see if you can think of where Susan might be. Anything could help."
And that they did. Still none of them could think where in Carmel Susan might be waiting for them.
"Do you know if she's got any relations there, Jesse?" Amanda tried a new tack.
"Look Amanda, the only thing I know about Susan as far as Carmel is concerned, is that she and I were jinxed whenever we mentioned the word. Knowing Susan though, she's probably got at least a half a dozen ex-fiances there. No Amanda, I'm sorry, I don't know why and where in Carmel."
"Did you plan to do anything particular when you got there?" Mark pushed.
"Mark, hey, as far as we were concerned we could have gone anywhere, I mean, hey, to us, we saw Carmel as the city of love if you know what I mean? Well, it would have been had we actually ever made it there. Did I say I think we were jinxed?"
"Yes Jesse, repeatedly." Amanda rolled her eyes. "Ever since you first tried to go and something went wrong."
"See, as soon as we said the 'C' word something went wrong. Jinxed!"
"You were running scared. Susan wanted to go and you didn't."
"You mean she got someone killed just to get me to Carmel?! Woah! That woman is crazy!"
"Come on Jesse. Think." Mark interrupted the banter, they really did need to get on. Susan may be in grave danger.
* * * * *
Steve rested his feet along the seat. Man, guard duty is dull, thought Steve, I mean it's not even as if the guy's liable to get up and run off. Oh well, only 49 minutes and. 23 seconds left until we can make some proper headway with this. On terra firma. I swear, if I didn't know this was a train, I would feel distinctly seasick.
* * * * *
"Do you think we should go to 'you-know-where' straight away Mark?"
"Well, we're due to stop in about 45 minutes in Magerville. Steve wants to get the investigation underway from there if at all possible, and there should hopefully be somewhere for Amanda to carry out the autopsy. Then we'll be able to hire a couple of cars and go on from there and hopefully we'll know more what we're dealing with."
"You thought of anything more on the cause of death yet Amanda?"
"Well, I said he was injected with something, and I stand by that, bur there are no signs of a struggle so that means he either injected himself, or by someone else whom he had no reason to distrust. I spoke to the steward and she said that there was no registered passenger with the surname Robinson. Had there been, I would have gone to search his carriage."
"Could he have used his Christian name as a surname?£
"No, I got them to check, everyone who booked in advance was part of a party. He probably just came 'on speck' - it would be harder to trace him that way, and he'd have more freedom to move around the train, or on the other hand, more privacy, should he want it. He must have known though, that you would be on the train."
"So he must have been in touch with the hospital and then found out that I was on vacation. I suppose his going to the beach house would have been to obvious if the killer knew he was coming to find me."
"How will we know who did it?" Jesse asked "It's not as if there's only a couple of people on here."
"I've thought of that already." Said Amanda. "When I was asking Jane whether Daniel was booked on this journey, I asked her to go round and compile a list of all the travellers on board as well as people who may have booked in advance and not shown - that's the best thing about this old fashioned train system is that if you want to book in advance you have to give a lot of details. Unfortunately the procedure's not as thorough for passengers who just turn up on the off-chance. With Jane's list though, we should be able to find the necessary information. She's also getting me a list of all the train crew. I also took the liberty to ask whether she saw anything suspicious before he died, seen as she was seemingly one of the last people to see him alive."
"Anything?"
"She said he seemed short of breath."
"Well he could have just run from somewhere, had an asthma attack, panic attack, anaphylactic shock, it could be anything!" an exasperated Jesse said.
"I did have another thought, given the injection mark, but I'll need to take x-rays in order to be sure."
"Air embolism?" Mark said, catching on.
"That's what I'm inclined to think." Amanda nodded.