Chapter 47:
When William was finally in the hallway, he sighed in relief. The atmosphere had been tensed to say the least with the Novak. He was rowing a little to be completely honest. He had no evidence of anything, and they knew the murder weapon was potentially in the victim's stomach. He could not really work without it. Moreover, he had not found anything particular on the crime scene which had been in the engine room. It had been completely polluted when Pierre brought the body back to the main room.
He was not authorized to search the passenger compartments, which would have greatly helped him. They were not in their legislation at the moment since they were in Alaska. And he did not think he would be able to get a warrant from anyone before returning to Toronto. Unfortunately, once there, he would not have the power to force passengers to stay put while obtaining a warrant to search their compartments. They would all leave as soon as possible. Especially given the circumstances.
He sighed again. And put his hands on the railing of the hallway that faced the windows. How was he going to do it? He will never get out of it. Suddenly he thought he was losing his balance as the train moved. He looked outside and smiled. The train had just started moving again! Finally! At least some good news.
When he opened his compartment around 2:00 p.m. the same day, he was slightly disappointed. He had hoped that Julia would still be in his room, but no. He suspected it, but he had the right to dream, did not he? He shuffled over to his bed and lay down on it wearily. He thought. He had to put his ideas back in place.
He had just interviewed Nora Champagne who had seemed totally western. As if it had nothing to do with anything. She was very young, and she had seemed terrified by the interrogation. William had learned nothing. She seemed to say she had not known about her mother's relationship with Lamoureux and she had an alibi for the time of the murder since he had seen her in the dining car.
Needless to say, Walid Champagne had not been very happy with his daughter's interrogation. He was completely in a parallel world since he discovered his wife's infidelity.
To sum up, he had not yet questioned the Savard couple who were the last on his list, and the Novak brothers and Magnus Duval had no alibi for the time of the murder. The train had left, and they would arrive in three days now. The murder weapon was potentially in the victim's stomach, and it could have been a handkerchief with the killer's initials on it. In the end, he would need the legislation of someone important to be able to search the compartments of the train. Without that, not being in his sector, he could not do anything unfortunately. So how would he get it before he got to Toronto?
He looked at the rapidly passing landscape and smiled. It might not be as difficult as he thought. All he had to do was ask Walid Champagne. A man as influential as he could get legislation. And that could only be good for the old man. Indeed, when they all returned to the Night Train Station, the rumor of a murder on one of the company trains would quickly travel across Canada and it would hurt his business if the murderer was not exposed and punished.
The young man quickly walked to the front of the train and just passed Walid Champagne who was leaning on a banister in one of the corridors, his eyes fixed on the landscape.
"Mr. Champagne?"
"Ha! Mr. Murdoch! Excuse me, I was lost in thought…I was thinking about my wife…" he said sadly.
William grimaced. He had been thinking about Walid Champagne since the truth had been revealed. He had felt sorry for him, wondering what he had felt…
"Please, sir…" he hesitated. "I beg your pardon, but I have a favor to ask of you…"
"What is it?" Walid sighed, turning back to William, and leaning against the railing.
Detective Murdoch refrained from raising his eyebrows at the old man's fully sunken and tired face.
"I…I will need to search the passenger compartments…Unfortunately Inspector Brackenreid and I are not within our law and have no warrant to…" the young man tried to explain.
"Where are you coming from, Mr. Murdoch?" Walid suddenly asked, hands on hips.
"We need a warrant to search the passenger compartments."
"And how does you get this permission?" asked Champagne with interest.
"Well… Normally it takes a lot of time. You have to ask for it at the nearest police stations. We thought that if you send them a message from the telegraph office on the train… Since you are an influential person…" William muddled slightly.
"Look Mr. Murdoch, I can't do such a thing. If my clients' compartments are searched, they will never come back, and it will be very bad for my business. Especially since they will certainly talk about this catastrophic trip around them!" he raged, emphasizing the word "catastrophic".
"And you think it won't hurt your business if we go home without exposing the killer? Once in Toronto, there is nothing more Inspector Brackenreid and I can do. The passengers will all flee as quickly as possible, and we will have nothing. So far, we haven't found anything. We have no proof or anything to back it up…" the young man said slightly impatiently. "If we go back and the killer is on the loose, your society will be known as a dangerous place, a place that cannot be trusted."
At that moment, he saw that he had hit the bullseye. Walid Champagne's face fell, and he saw the cogs spinning in his head.
"I…I'll think…" he began. "Did you really find nothing?"
William shook his head negatively. "Look in the corridors, there is no one left. We don't meet anyone. Everyone is scared and stays in their compartment... Do you want it to be like this for your next trips?" he insisted.
"Okay, that's good, I'll send a telegram to the nearest Canadian Police Station..."
"Thank you, sir. Keep me posted as soon as you have any news, please…"
William nodded and turned to leave when Walid called out to him.
"Detective Murdoch… I wanted to know if… well if you suspected my little Nora… As you questioned her and the Novak brothers." the Night Train Station boss asked nervously.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Champagne... I can't tell you anything at the moment..."
Walid nodded in understanding, then turned to look back at the scrolling Alaskan landscape.
William lowered his head, pained, then decided to join Inspector Brackenreid, whom he knew was in his compartment.
Note: Difficult all that... Let's hope William will get the legislation.