DAY THREE
"So," Peach asked the conductor at breakfast, "have you found out who shot the engineer?"
"No, not yet," the conductor said, stirring sugar into his mushroom tea.
"Oh," Peach said.
"We'll be in Poshley Heights in about 20 minutes," the conductor said plainly, "but we'll probably be early. I guess we've got no choice but to allow everybody off the train. Are you all packed for arrival?"
"Yes," she said. "Won't the attacker get away if we all leave the train?"
"Oh, probably, but at least we have records and evidence of everybody who was on this train. We could just call you all up if you've been accused or something."
"Ah, I see."
Peach returned to her table to finish eating her mushroom pancakes with Mario.
"I wonder who did it," said Mario, pouring some maple syrup over his pancakes.
"I think we're all wondering that," said Peach.
Suddenly, there was a loud shout from the kitchen area. Everyone looked over.
"NO!" Chef Shimi was shouting from the kitchen. Nobody could see around the wall inside the kitchen.
"Come on, just a few more!" said a familiar voice.
"No. No more pancakes! There won't be enough for the other passengers!" Chef Shimi yelled in an angry voice. Suddenly, somebody in a pirate outfit was thrown from the kitchen.
"HIM!" the engineer rose from his seat, slowly pointing a trembling finger at the figure in the pirate costume. "He's the one who shot me!"
The person in the pirate costume slowly rose to his feet.
Peach was surprised. She knew who was in the costume. "Pennington!"
"Yes, it was me, all along," Pennington declared, then started staring at his feet. He took off his pirate hat and the eye patch.
"But why?" asked the purple-haired waitress.
"I wanted to solve a mystery. I love it when everybody gets together to help solve a great mystery. Even if I already knew who really did it, I wanted to solve a mystery. Sorry, all, but it was very entertaining."
"Y-you shot a man for your own entertainment?" Peach asked in bewilderment.
The Koopa Troopa nudged the fat Toad in the arm. "This guy's crazy," he muttered.
The conductor was a little confused. He asked the engineer, "Why didn't you recognize Pennington as the person who shot you?"
"Well, he was wearing that pirate costume!"
"You didn't recognize Pennington in that costume? Shimi could!"
"Well, the eye patch completely threw me off! It's all I noticed!"
"Perhaps you need to get glasses," Pennington said.
Everyone turned toward Pennington. "Get him!" They all rushed toward Pennington, who rushed out through the back of the dining car, through the freight car, went outside the train, and climbed up the ladder on the back to the roof of the train. Everyone but the engineer, who was not in good enough health to chase, followed Pennington onto the roof.