Chapter 17
A few seconds following the discovery of the owl's dead body on the floor by Arthur and Hat Kid, several Express Owls gathered inside the room after being alerted by the boy's scream. All of them were shocked and frightened at the sight.
"Oh my God!"
"He's dead! Somebody just killed him!"
"How did that happen?!"
Many questions were being thrown around the room by the panicked Express Owls. And they were not the only ones... Arthur and Hat Kid were also in total shock. Of all the things that could happen on this train today, discovering a dead owl was certainly not something they expected.
The back door of the caboose opened, revealing the Conductor entering the room, confused by all the commotion.
"What's going on h-" the strange owl's question was suddenly cut off when he saw the dead Express Owl on the ground. A shocked and horrified expression formed on his face.
"A-a MURDER? On MY Owl Express?!" he yelled out in shock. "I can't believe someone would murder one of the Express Owls!" The Conductor then looked at the old lady cutout, before he frowned and looked at Arthur angrily.
"And I can't believe even more that it's yer uncle's sister Samantha!" he said in an angry tone, earning a confused look from the two children. Wait, this cardboard cutout was supposed to be Arthur's uncle's sister?
"What do yer have to say for yerself, Samantha?!" the Conductor asked 'Samantha' accusingly. ...No answer. Well, of course, it was just a cutout after all. "Yer givin' me the quiet treatment, eh?! That's what a murderer would do!" the strange owl said angrily, rolling his r's.
"Uhh, not to break your circuits there, but... it's just a cutout. So unless this one has a speaker or is possessed by a ghost, you won't be hearing much from it," Arthur pointed out.
"This is not the time for jokes, laddy!" the Conductor shouted angrily as he stomped his foot on the floor repeatedly. Arthur flinched at his tone and frowned. It wasn't supposed to be a joke... but whatever. It seemed like the Conductor was too angry and stubborn to listen to reason at the moment.
"Leave this case to us," a voice said from behind. Everyone turned around and saw it was the group of suspicious crows who kept asking for personal details. "We're CAW, the Crow Agent Watch. We've been monitoring everyone on this train since the last station," one of them explained as he held out some sort of badge in his wing.
Arthur and Hat Kid looked at each other with a raised eyebrow. These crows were agents all along? Maybe that explained why they kept asking for personal informations.
The C.A.W. agent who spoke up put his badge away and said, "We'll be searching the entire train for evidence. No one is allowed to go outside of this wagon." Everyone was dumbfounded to hear they were forced to stay here, especially the Conductor who glared at them.
"WHAT!? I can't even walk around in me own train!? How dare yer!" the strange owl protested, jumping up and down furiously. Arthur and Hat Kid grimaced at his outburst. They made themselves a mental note to never make him mad in the future.
The C.A.W. agent remained unfazed by the Conductor's anger and continued, "Once the clock hits midnight, we'll get off at the station with the murderer in cuffs."
The two children were confused as they looked outside of the window. Midnight they said? Impossible, it was morning when the duo got on the train, and judging by the position of the sun right now it must be near noon. However, they had a feeling they would get rebuked if they stated it openly, so they simply shrugged and decided to stay quiet.
"Stay here while we investigate further," the crow ordered. And with that, the group of C.A.W. agents exited the wagon to begin their investigation around the train. The Conductor growled and tapped his foot in frustration.
"Those C.A.W. peck necks can't tell me what to do! I bet they committed the murder, and are destroying all the evidence!" he muttered angrily. He then looked at Arthur and Hat Kid and approached them. "You two, how about yer go in there and investigate the case for me."
"Us? Why us?" Arthur asked, confused about why he would want two kids to investigate the murder case.
"Yer the ones with the detective clothes, aren't yer? And I trust you more than those crow peck necks to solve the case," the Conductor said. Both children were surprised by this. He trusted them? That's something they didn't expect to hear from the strange owl.
Well, it's true that something felt off about those 'agents' from C.A.W. For example, the old lady cutout was named 'Samantha', and only the crows knew that information since Arthur was the one who told them. The person on the phone also knew about this kind of information. Judging by what they said, they sounded like they were the murderer in question. But then why would this person give them detective outfits? Something in this story didn't add up...
As much as Arthur didn't want to risk getting caught sneaking around the train by the C.A.W. agents, he didn't want to say no to the Conductor, especially with a temper like his. Besides the murderer had already rigged the crime scene by pinning the murder on... well... 'Samantha'... And if they wanted to make it look like it had more sense, they would try to pin it on him or Hat Kid or the both of them. He had no choice but to accept.
"We'll... see what we can find," Arthur said with a sigh. The Conductor was pleased to hear this.
"Thank you, lad!" the strange owl said with a smile, before pulling out two watches from his pocket. "Here, take these. You'll need them to keep an eye on time. Yer have to be back here before midnight so these peck necks don't see you two snuck out, y'hear?"
The two children nodded and took a watch each, putting them around their wrists. They checked the time. 11:00 PM. They had one hour to find enough evidence to point their fingers at the real murderer.
"Now get to it! Whoever did this... they will be brought to the dog house at once!" the Conductor said with venom in his voice, while looking at the victim's dead body.
Arthur and Hat Kid nodded and made their way to the door leading to the library, determined on finding out who committed the murder.
1 OWL HOUR LEFT
Hat Kid slightly opened the door to take a peek inside the library. She spotted three CAW agents looking around the room for clues. The small girl held her hand in front of Arthur to tell him to wait. With these three crows roaming around, there was no way they could get through without getting spotted. Examining the room, she figured that they could use the top of the bookshelves to get past them undetected.
When the agents weren't looking in their direction anymore, she made a gesture with her hand to tell Arthur to follow her. The duo used two crates to get on top of the bookshelves and quietly crawled on them, staying low to avoid being seen by the crows. After that, they quietly got down from the shelves and entered the rec room on the right.
Inside the room were a few billiard tables, and on the floor was some sort of folder. Strange... Hat Kid was about to move forward to take it, however Arthur stopped her by placing his arm in front of her.
"Wait," the young boy whispered as he pointed up at something. Hat Kid looked up and saw what Arthur was trying to show her. A crow was standing on top of a pillar, watching over the upper area. Thankfully, he hadn't heard or seen the two children enter the room.
While keeping an eye on the crow, Hat Kid quietly moved towards the folder and picked it up before stepping back out of sight. The two children read the title and it said 'Confidential: Suspect File'. Oh neat! One of the C.A.W. agents must have accidentally dropped it here. Hat Kid opened the file, and her eyes widened. The file was about the Conductor, with a picture of him inside of it. According to the file, the strange owl is known to have anger issues and prone to violent outbursts. Therefore, he could have attacked the victim out of anger if he did or said something he didn't like. No wonder he was considered a suspect in this case.
"So these files seem to tell a lot about the possible suspects on this train. Let's try to find more, and hopefully they'll have enough informations in them to lead us to the real murderer," Arthur whispered. Hat Kid nodded and put the file away.
The duo made their way across the rec room, while making sure to not get spotted by the C.A.W. agent on the pillar. They climbed up the wall to get to the upper area, and they decided to enter the night cabin on the left.
When they entered the room, they found two crows patrolling the area. Not wanting to be caught out in the open, they quickly hid in one of the dark corners of the room. From afar, Arthur spotted a key resting on one of the bed mattresses through a window on the wall.
He lightly nudged Hat Kid to get her attention and whispered, "I see a key on this bed over there. Must open one of the doors. I say we grab it and get out as quickly as we can." The small girl nodded in agreement.
They waited for one of the crows to walk past them, before making their move. Keeping their distances with the agent, the two children snuck around the wall and grabbed the key on their way. After that, they returned to the rec room through the same door.
The duo spotted a door on a platform that was on the other side of the room. Only problem is they had to get past the crow on the pillar, and for that, they needed a distraction. Hat Kid picked a billiard ball and threw it at the corner of the room, creating a noise. Alerted, the crow looked in the direction where the ball was thrown at, allowing the children to have enough time to sneak through by jumping on the platform on the left. They went through the door after that.
50 OWL MINUTES LEFT
They were now on platforms above the library. Avoiding a C.A.W. agent who was keeping an eye on the double doors on the right, they unlocked the door to the luggage room with the key and entered it. When they did, a familiar ringtone could be heard. It came from the phone on the wall facing them. Arthur walked up to it and picked it up.
"So you think you two can just sneak around the train like this? Just drop the detective act. You'll never catch the real murderer... he he he," the mysterious person from earlier taunted evilly.
"We'll see about that, you bastard," Arthur answered with venom in his voice.
"You can't point your finger at someone without clues. The clock is ticking. Will you be able to find enough clues to point your finger at the murderer?" the person said defiantly.
*CLICK*
The mysterious person hung up before Arthur could reply. The young boy placed the phone back on the wall and turned to look at Hat Kid.
"This guy is toying with us. Let's make sure to collect enough files and evidences so we can put an end to their little game," Arthur said bitterly. Hat Kid nodded firmly. She also wanted nothing more than to catch this jerk and have them sent to jail.
Arthur checked his watch and said, "We have 50 minutes left, kid. Let's hurry it up."
The two children got back on track immediately. Sneaking past two C.A.W. agents who were patrolling the area, they found another suspect file in the corner of the room.
When they opened it, they saw that it was about the C.A.W. agents. According to the file, they were considered as suspects because of all the personal questions and the fact that they insisted on investigating the murder case. Strange... Why would the crows even put themselves as suspects here if the files were theirs? ...unless they weren't the ones who made the files? In that case, that could explain why they insisted on investigating. If they were the ones who murdered the Express Owl, they could be searching around for evidences to destroy them. Even more reasons to find all of the suspect files as quickly as possible.
The duo retraced their steps and climbed on the pile of luggages. Hat Kid found two yarns on the way and took them. They reached a door at the top, but it was locked. They needed a key to open it. Before leaving, Hat Kid stepped on a button on the floor, which activated a blue trapdoor below. Convenient! With it, they won't need to climb the pile of luggages up again, which will allow them to save time.
The duo returned to the library and entered the cafeteria. They snuck past the C.A.W. agents at the tables who were still telling 'jokes' to each others, and went up to the VIP room.
40 OWL MINUTES LEFT
Without the Express Owl from earlier blocking the way, the two children were able to go to second part of the room. However, they had to be careful as crows were patrolling the area. The duo were able to find a third suspect file on one of the tables.
Going to a quiet place to read it, they formed unamused looks. The file was about 'Samantha', a.k.a. 'Arthur's uncle's sister'. 'She' was a suspect because she was the first one to be seen with the victim's dead body when it was discovered. However, the duo knew it was impossible she committed the murder since 'she' was just a cardboard cutout. Therefore, this file was useless.
As they decided to search around the room for the key, they found a relic in the raven suite. A small toy train. They figured they could put it with the mountain set they found back in Dead Bird Studio. But first, they had to solve the case and get back on the spaceship... if they don't get caught here that is. Next, they climbed on top of a large TV, jumped on some platforms, and found the key on the last one. Before leaving, Hat Kid found another yarn on a balcony above the raven suite.
They returned to the luggage room and used the blue trapdoor to get back to the top faster. Since Arthur didn't have the ice hat, Hat Kid had to grab his hand so he could also be turned into ice and the both of them were able to be launched upward at the same time. It was a weird and cold sensation for Arthur to be turned into ice, but it wasn't as bad as he imagined it, especially since it was only temporary. After that, the duo unlocked the door and went through it.
They were on a platform above the library with a glass wall on their left. A platform with a button on it was in front of them. Arthur stepped on it, opening the glass wall. Then, they saw the platform where the C.A.W. agent was standing on – the one who was keeping an eye on the double doors – move down to the ground.
The crow seemed very confused that the platform he was on suddenly lowered down without a warning. He looked up curiously but saw no one up there, since the two children crouched down on the platform to stay out of sight. The crow figured that the platform simply malfunctioned and shrugged, before hopping down and heading inside the rec room to return to his position. The duo sighed in relief and quickly headed through the double doors before the crow returned.
30 OWL MINUTES LEFT
The duo found themselves in a large room with a big group of C.A.W. agents watching the monitors and talking among themselves. The two children quickly hid behind a machine to avoid being seen. Arthur checked his watch quickly and his eyes widened.
"30 minutes left. We don't have much time left, Hat Kid. Let's pick up the pace," the twelve-year-old boy whispered. Hat Kid nodded.
They took a good look around the room from their position. They spotted a lift leading up to two double doors: the boiler room and the engine room. On the right was the lounge, but the doors were locked. And on a surface above the monitors were double doors with the words 'KEEP OUT,' written in red on them. These doors were also locked. So they needed to find two keys to proceed in both rooms.
Being more careful and sneaking past a few wandering crows, the duo got on the lift and headed to the boiler room on the left. A few crows were sitting at the tables and were also telling unfunny jokes to each others, but somehow it still made them laugh. The two children spotted a key on a platform on the other side of the room. They needed to make their way around the giant boiler to reach it. Doing so, they made sure to sneak past the crows when they were busy laughing. At some point, they were halfway from reaching the key. And as they were hiding behind a wall, they suddenly heard one of the C.A.W. agents say something very unpleasant.
"I met these two little children earlier and I asked them about the least favorite part of their bodies," the crow said to the others. Arthur and Hat Kid froze and listened closely. It was the same crow they met in the cafeteria and he was currently talking about them. "One of them told me he was ashamed of his eyes. And dear lord, I've never seen such terrifying eyes." And with that, he and the other crows laughed loudly. Arthur gasped as a few voices from the past rang through his head.
"Haha! Take a look at this ugly abomination!"
"What's with the ugly face, kid? Hehe!"
Arthur felt hurt and a few tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. He gritted his teeth and tightened his fists in anger. Those crow bastards! He was so glad he didn't tell them the truth about how he was ashamed of his entire self. It just comes to show that you can't trust anyone when it comes to talking about yourself.
Hat Kid noticed the look on Arthur's face, and she suddenly felt her own anger build up in her. How dare these crow meanies say such things about her friend! These jerks should take a look in the mirror before saying that! If they weren't on a stealth mission right now, Hat Kid would have run up to them and beaten them up with her umbrella to teach them a lesson.
"Let's get this case over with and get out of here. I'm getting sick of this nonsense," Arthur muttered angrily. Hat Kid gave him a sympathetic look. She felt bad that he had to hear the crows making fun of him. But like he said, the priority was to find the suspect files so they could find the link to the real murderer, and as soon as they do, they'll be able to put an end to this.
The duo snuck past the C.A.W. agents when they laughed again, and reached the end of the room. Hat Kid grabbed the key and used a blue trapdoor to launch herself and Arthur back to the beginning of the room. The duo then exited the boiler room.
20 OWL MINUTES LEFT
Before going to the lounge, the two children decided to check the engine room first. When they entered, they spotted a wood-cutting machine who appeared to be functioning at the moment.
Suddenly, the same ringtone from the previous phone calls was heard again. Arthur and Hat Kid frowned in annoyance. Great, what did this guy have to say now? This time, Hat Kid took the initiative to pick up the phone on the wall.
"You don't give up, do you?" the voice asked in an annoyed tone.
"Nope!" Hat Kid answered tauntingly with a smug look on her face.
The mysterious person growled angrily and said, "It seems the only way I can get rid of you both... is to make you run out of time. So here's a fun-time eater: Rumbo has gotten itself in an unusual situation. It's hanging onto a thin rope for dear life, just above a wood cutting machine. What an odd coincidence!"
The two children looked up and spotted a carboard cutout of a puppy tied up to a rope a few feet above the wood-cutting machine. Another cutout with a random name given earlier? This guy sure liked to toy around with them...
"What are you gonna do? Save Rumbo from becoming saw dust, or figure out who the murderer is?" the voice asked tauntingly.
*CLICK*
Annnnd they hung up again... Hat Kid put the phone back on the wall with a sigh.
"Seriously? It's just wood cutout. Why should we waste our time for it?" Arthur asked unamused. However, as he squinted his eyes, he spotted something attached on the cutout. "Hang on a sec', is that a file on it?" he asked with a puzzled expression.
As soon as he said that, a mechanism sound was heard and the rope holding the puppy cutout began to slowly move down towards the wood-cutting machine. The duo's eyes widened.
"Dammit! We need that file!" Arthur said in a panicked tone. He looked up and spotted a control panel with a lever next to it on a platform at the top. "That lever up there! See if you can flip it and bring down the cutout to safety, or else we'll be left with nothing but confetti to read." Hat Kid nodded with determination in her eyes.
She began to make her way up to the lever, jumping on unstable platforms and sneaking past a few C.A.W. agents. She had to do it quick before 'Rumbo' reached the wood-cutting machine. She was almost there, and the puppy cutout was getting dangerously close to the machine.
"Hurry up, kid..." Arthur said under his breathe, panicking in the inside.
Finally, Hat Kid managed to reach the lever and flipped it. When she did, the rope moved 'Rumbo' away from the wood-cutting machine and lowered it safely on the floor. Arthur sighed in relief, while Hat Kid smiled proudly. The small girl climbed back down and went to Arthur's side.
"Nice work, kid!" Arthur praised her with a smile. Hat Kid smiled back and put her hands on her hips proudly. "Now let's see about that-"
"Thank you kind humans for saving me. Woof. Woof," a voice strangely similar to the one on the phone suddenly came out of the puppy cutout. Arthur and Hat Kid froze in place.
"Did this cutout just talk or am I going crazy?" the twelve-year-old boy asked in total confusion. However, he realized the voice came from a small speaker on the cutout.
"I found this clue on the murderer. Hope it helps you. Woof. Woof," 'Rumbo' said, before going silent again. Arthur looked at Hat Kid completely lost and confused. The small girl only shrugged in response.
'Okay, this murder case is getting weirder by the minute...' the young boy thought, sighing deeply. Indeed, something definitely felt... off about this murder case. From the way how things looked so far and these cutouts, it was almost as if the whole thing was just a stage. But he didn't have time to think about it. He looked at his watch and saw that they only had 15 minutes left to solve the case. They had to hurry!
He untied the suspect file from 'Rumbo', causing the cutout to trip over and fall on the floor. He opened the file and began to read it with Hat Kid. This one was about the Express Owls. According to the file, the owls had their differences with the victim and were suspected to have killed him over a possible argument that escalated. Huh, strange... The duo had a hard time imagining the Express Owls murder one of their own, but then again, the one they saw in the VIP room said he lost his contact lens somewhere. If it was the case, how did he find his way back to the caboose with a bad eyesight? He must have been helped by the others... or he lied about it. Anyway, it was best to hold onto this file.
They exited the room, and quickly and quietly made their way to lounge and unlocked the double doors with the key they found. Once inside, they snuck past a few patrolling crows and found another suspect file on a server cart.
Opening the file, the next suspect was... the victim? Arthur and Hat Kid were both confused by this. As they read the file, they discovered that the victim had tendencies to be extremely lazy. Not just that, but the Express Owl was also known to suffer from depression and have suicidal thoughts. Therefore, he could have commited suicide. Arthur sighed sadly. Looks like he wasn't the only one who suffered from depression and wanted to die. At least if the owl did commit suicide, he certainly had more courage than he does.
After putting the file away, the two children made their way up and entered the sauna. Once inside, some steam clouded their vision and the temperature felt hotter. Well, it made sense since it was a sauna. Still, Arthur didn't handle the heat very well and he pulled on the collar of his black detective coat by reflex.
"Man, this is the life. Nothing beats a hot sauna," a voice was heard in the sauna. Startled, the duo hid behind a bench and peeked around. They saw two Express Owls talking to each other as they were relaxing on another bench. What were they doing here? Weren't they aware that a murder happened on this train?
"Did you hear some noise outside?" one of the two Express Owls asked.
The other one shrugged and said, "Eh, peck it. I don't wanna go out in the cold."
Yup, it seems like they weren't aware of the situation at all. The two children decided it was best to not disturb them, because the owls could accidentally alert the crows in the lounge if they spotted them. They snuck past the two owls and made their way across the sauna, while making sure to avoid the other three owls who were wandering around the area. The duo found another key in the showers, then they quietly made their way back to the lounge.
10 OWL MINUTES LEFT
The two children made their way across the room and walked over a plank to reach some double doors. After going through them, they found themselves on a platform with a button on the floor. Hat Kid stepped on it. From a distance, they saw that the lift leading up to the double doors labelled 'KEEP OUT,' was now activated. Now, they could reach the last room, and with the key they found, they could unlock the doors.
They climbed down and quietly made their way to the lift, avoiding the patrolling crows as they did. They used it and were able to get to the double doors. Hat Kid pulled out the key and unlocked the doors.
The last room contained some sort of podium in the middle with a spotlight shining above it, and two suspect files were sitting on it. Before they could pick them up, the duo spotted an X-ray image of them on the wall, which showed the skeletons inside their bodies. As Arthur looked at Hat Kid's X-ray picture, he noticed something... different. There were... vertebrae in her ponytail?
"Uhh... Hat Kid? Do you have bones in your ponytail?" Arthur asked, giving her a puzzled look. Hat Kid nodded. "Uh... Sorry to ask, but... can I...?" he asked awkwardly.
The small girl knew what he was asking. He wanted to touch her ponytail to see if there really were bones in it. It was a bit embarassing for her to hear him ask that, but... sure, why not. She slowly nodded. Arthur gently wrapped his hand around the girl's ponytail to feel it, while making sure to not hurt her. His eyes widened when he felt something hard hidden in the ponytail. Holy crap, there really were bones in it!
"Well, damn..." Arthur said awkwardly, letting go of her ponytail. Hat Kid rubbed the back of her head, feeling very awkward. "Ahem, anyway... let's, uh, take a look at those files, shall we?" the young boy said, trying to change the subject. Hat Kid nodded in agreement.
The two children picked up a file each and opened them. Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Arthur muttered in an angry tone.
The files were about them! One about Arthur, and the other one about Hat Kid. According to them, the two children were the last ones to get on the train before the murder happened and they were seen with the victim's body alongside 'Samantha' when it was discovered. Therefore, they were suspected to be her 'accomplices' or the other way around.
The duo grew nervous. Now they were also suspects in this case, but they knew they didn't do it. They were in the locomotive when the victim was killed. Though, it seems like the real murderer managed to make it look like they were involved in the Express Owl's death.
"Dammit..." Arthur said as he put his file away. He sighed and said, "Alright. I think we've searched everywhere around the train, kid. It's time to sum up everything we know so far." Hat Kid nodded in agreement.
Arthur put his hand on his chin and said, "I know for a fact that you and I didn't do it. Obviously, 'Samantha' didn't do it because she's... y'know, a cardboard cutout. It could be a suicide, but I don't think that's the case. If it was, the knife would be in the chest and not in the back. So that leaves the Conductor, the C.A.W. agents, and the Express Owls. What do you think?"
"Hmm..." Hat Kid hummed, putting her hand on her chin. She thought about all the suspect files they had found, the descriptions and the reasons each of them had to commit such an act. Finally, after some thinking, she came to a conclusion and snapped her fingers. She whispered her theory in Arthur's ear, and the young boy nodded.
"Yeah, it makes sense. Alright, we need to get back to the caboose and tell everyone about this," Arthur said. He looked at his watch and he gasped. "We have five minutes left, kid! We need to go back there before the crows find out we're missing!" Hat Kid's eyes widened and she nodded.
Without wasting any more time, the two children made their way back to the caboose as quickly as they could, while making sure to avoid the crows as they did. It was time to reveal who the real murderer is.
A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the second part of Murder on the Owl Express! I gotta admit, I didn't expect this act to be so long in my story, but that's how it is. As you can see, Arthur and Hat Kid found all the suspect files and finally found out who the real murderer is. 'Who is it' you ask? Heh, you'll know it in the next chapter. ;)
Anyway, time to answer a few reviews!
To Katoptris12: Haha! I can imagine him do that too. xD
To Mr. Mega1423: Thank you very much! ^^
To Mad King C: Well, Arthur struggles with depression, and it's combined with a rough past. Therefore, it's very hard for him to think positively when everything seems to be going wrong in his life. And unfortunately, it had a big impact on his personality as you can see. But he is aware that he acts harshly and complains a lot sometimes. He had just come to accept it over the time. Also, if you look on the web, you'll see that depression is very different from simple sadness. When you have it, it's almost impossible to feel any positive emotion at the moment (and sometimes you don't feel any emotion at all). I never had depression myself, but I know two friends who have that and I can tell you, it's nothing simple. Anyway, thank you.
To PatoMayo: Haha! Glad to hear that! XD
Anyway, that's all for today, folks! See you in the next chapter!