Chapter 10:

William had literally been looking for Madam Hébert's dog all day, to no avail. There was no trace of the damned Bobby, and he had no authorization to search the compartments of the twenty-four passengers. For him it was clear, the dog had fled during the night. Either he had put his head out the window and "flew away" - William smirked at the image - or he was hiding somewhere. But maybe he was also stuck somewhere. The young man reflects let's imagine for a moment that he has ventured into the engines of the train...

He sighed as he got ready for dinner. He tightened his tie one last time and took a deep breath. He got out of his compartment and headed for dining car number two. For the second evening, a small reception had been organized. A kind of dinner. Several tables had been made available to promote communication and get to know each other. And, in reality, it had not really gone as planned for William and he suspected his superior of having done it on purpose. When he had disembarked in the wagon, he spotted the Brackenreid family seated at a table of six. The other two seats were occupied by two men. He recognized one as Hiram Lagacé – the man who had appeared at the compartment door he had knocked on with Julia Ogden. On the other hand, he could not put a name to the second man with whom Thomas Brackenreid was discussing seriously.

William approached, not really knowing what to do. He had thought of eating with the Brackenreids…

"Murdoch! So? Did you find Elizabeth's dog?" asked his superior when he saw him.

William saw Margaret frown when she heard her husband calling the lady by her first name. However, he pretended not to have noticed.

"Not yet." he replied wearily, looking around, realizing, not without surprise, that the old lady and her maid were not present at dinner tonight.

"I didn't introduce you! Meet Detective William Murdoch!" he exclaimed to the two men who were now looking at him with kind little smiles. "I present to you Hiram Lagacé…"

"Oh, yes we have already crossed paths…" explained Hiram who quickly nodded to Murdoch.

"Oh! Perfect! And here is Mathias Rojas."

William looked at Monsieur Rojas tilting his head towards him. He had gray hair tied in a ponytail – a rather unusual hairstyle, the detective thought.

"Mr. Lagacé is a consultant in the San Francisco police and Mr. Rojas is a commissioner in Spain." Thomas smiled graciously.

"We are all housed in the same boat on this table." joked Rojas who, to William's surprise, had no foreign accent. He had automatically deduced that the man was Spanish. But maybe he was Canadian despite his Spanish-sounding last name.

"You will excuse us Murdoch. I thought you weren't coming anymore so we allowed these gentlemen to move in with us…" explained Thomas with a falsely guilty face. "There's room left with Madam Forbes."

He nodded to the red-haired young woman whom he noticed was deep in thought, her head turned towards the now completely asleep landscape of that November night. She was seated at a table of two people, and she was not accompanied by anyone.

He turned again to his superior who gave him a very inconspicuous wink. That's when he realized he had clearly and completely done it on purpose. And he was certain of it when he saw Margaret nudge her husband to tell him to be more discreet. Then she looked back at William and blushed when she saw him eyeing her suspiciously.

"Never mind, have a good dinner." William smiled politely.

"Thank you, Mr. Murdoch!" Bobby suddenly exclaimed, all smiles.

William laughed, completely moved, and quickly ruffled his hair. He winked at him then turned to look at the different tables and options he had. There was Colleen, alone. But there was also Westley Novak on a table of two with Nora Champagne. He saw Bastien Novak, his gaze darkened and murderous, on a table with the Savard couple. William quickly looked away, not wanting Nathaniel or Mildred to invite him to their table which had an empty chair.

Then he saw Walid and Alecia Champagne talking at a table with Pierre Barton, the chief driver. He saw two people he had not met before - an Asian woman with very long black hair and a traditional colorful outfit, and a man in a navy-blue suit, his red hair contrasting completely with his attire.

They must both be around the same age, mid-twenties maybe. And, at their table, they were in the company of Mr. Lazare Lamoureux, of whom he had heard several times spoken since he had arrived on that train. He was a very rich man, but no one really knew where this money came from, which was very suspicious. Besides, he was apparently very friendly with some generals and had very good relations with some people in their Canadian government. In short, no one had ever been authorized to open an investigation on him.

Finally, he made up his mind to quickly take a seat opposite Miss Colleen Forbes, whom he saw gazing at him with gracious hope. He approached her and she pretended not to notice him. She then turned her head with a rather well-acted fake surprise.

"William! Are you coming to keep me company?"

"If you allow me?" William asked politely with a smile.

"Obviously." She smiled seductively at him, her elbows resting on the table and her hands supporting her chin. "The food hasn't arrived yet, you're in luck."

William nodded, smiling, but his gaze quickly strayed to his left. In fact, he had rushed to Colleen when he saw who was occupying a table in the back of the room: Julia Ogden in a gorgeous light blue dress, her hair up in an elaborate high bun. But most of all he had seen Magnus Duval sitting across from her in his expensive and very elegant black suit, his blond hair slicked back, and his mustache perfectly trimmed into a point. He was very clearly trying to seduce her, it showed immediately. With his manly facial expressions… She seemed to love his company, so much the better for her…

He would do the same as her. He would enjoy Colleen's company as much as she enjoyed Magnus's. After all, she was very superficial as a woman. She complained all the time and it was always someone else's fault. William raised his eyebrows mentally as he pretended to listen to what Colleen was saying. Why was he reacting this way? They had spoken very little, and they had met only yesterday… He did not really know her to have this kind of remark. And he had never been one to judge people without knowing them.

Note: A quiet evening... But William spends it with Colleen when he notices that Julia is having fun with Magnus. He doesn't seem to like it.