The conductor wouldn't allow anyone into the engine room, where the engineer was resting. "I can't let anyone into the engine room. The engineer needs his rest."
"Is he going to be okay?" asked the purple-haired waitress. "He and I are supposed to go on a date after the train ride."
"It doesn't look too promising," replied the conductor, looking down at his hands, tapping his foot slowly. The waitress broke out in tears, and a green-shelled Koopa Troopa tried to comfort her.
A short blue penguin with a Sherlock Holmes hat and a large magnifying glass pushed in through the crowd from the back. "Excuse me, excuse me, investigator coming through."
"Who are you?" asked the conductor.
"Why, I'm Pennington. World class investigator. Fortunately for everybody, I happen to be on the train right now, and I can help solve the mystery of who shot the engineer. Now, since the train hasn't stopped since we left, we can only deduce that the person who shot the engineer is..." he paused for effect, "on this train right now!"
Everyone gasped.
"So somebody on this train is a murderer?" asked Peach.
"Well," said the conductor, "the engineer isn't dead, so we'll just say there's an 'attempted-murderer' on the train."
"Oh my!" said Peach.
"That's-a awful!" Mario exclaimed.
The conductor spoke loudly so that everybody could hear. "Everybody, please return to your rooms. Mr. Pennington, I trust that you are a capable investigator. Please come with me so we can speak with the engineer."
Pennington and the conductor entered the engine room while everybody else returned to their respective rooms.
A few hours later, Peach and Mario sat on the small couch in their room, discussing why anyone could possibly want to kill the engineer.
"Maybe somebody doesn't want us to reach Poshley Heights," Mario suggested. "Maybe there's treasure there!"
"Oooh, maybe there is treasure!" Peach agreed. "But that sounds kind of preposterous, Mario."
"Well, let's try to figure out who shot the conductor, then," Mario suggested.
"Nobody shot the conductor," Peach said, disapprovingly. "The engineer got shot, Mario."
"Oh. Well, who do you think did it?"
"Well, it couldn't be the waitress," Peach said. "You know, the one with the purple hair? She is supposed to have a date with him. Why would she schedule a date with somebody whom she would kill? Then he wouldn't be there for the date, being dead and all, and she would get sad."
"Hmmm..." Mario said. He didn't know what to say. He honestly had no idea. He was getting tired, especially because of the events that had happened today.
"Well," said Peach, "I'm tired. I guess it's time to go to sleep." They both went to sleep. Mario slept on top. Peach took the bottom bunk.