Out Of The Past

Part XII - Beginning The Search

Deciding Audrey was right, Layton began talking her suggestion to heart the very next day. Which also brought him right to her door first thing in the morning.

Banging on the door, Layton was treated to the usual amount of sounds of someone stumbling around behind the door with a great deal of expletives seeming to punctuate each move. But finally the door was opened in a manner that Layton swore came close to ripping it off its hinges.

A very tired, angry, and slightly hangover looking Audrey stood in the doorway.

"This had better be about a fire!" She stated in a manner that indicated a solid effort to get each word out. She quickly looked him over. "And since it's not YOU, this is already NOT meeting my expectations."

Layton tried to sound apologetic. "I'm sorry, Audrey. But after our talk last night, I figured maybe you were right."

The woman looked less than impressed. "And WHAT? I'm the first person on your list of suspects, DETECTIVE Layton?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Audrey pulled herself up straight with a remarkable amount of clarity as she stared him down without saying a word. But the message was perfectly clear.

"Look, Audrey, aside from Bennett, you likely know Melanie better than anyone on this train. Making you my best source of information."

"Go talk to Bennett." She replied as she stepped back and began to close the door in his face. But Layton beat her to the act and placed his hand firmly against the door.

An even sterner look answered the interruption.

"Audrey, please." He asked in the same apologetic tone. "Just a few questions."

"Three!" Came the stanch reply.

Layton gave a deep sigh as he quickly narrowed down his list to the most important three things he wanted to ask her.

"You say Melanie talked to you about this all the time."

"What I said, DETECTIVE, was that she talked to me. How many times was not indicated. It may have been three, it may have been four. It was NOT her favorite topic of conversation. Two."

"That wasn't a question!" Layton quickly protested.

"Little and Brown disagree with you. Two!"

Layton sighed again. Coming to Audrey early in the morning was definitely off his list of things to do in the future.

"All right. She spoke to you at least once." Layton replied. "In that conversation did she ever..."

"No." Came the quick reply. "One."

Layton paused for a moment. "I didn't even ask the question!"

Audrey gave him a pitying look. "You wanted to know if she ever mentioned if she had a place she would go to get away from you after she told you about the event."

Layton had to admit, he was impressed. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Seven years of running a bar, Mr. Layton. And I'll tell you want else I learned. How to count. That was your last question."

The door quickly closed in his face.

Layton stood there for a moment, trying to think of what else to do. He had had his share of doors closed in his face. The trick was putting something else on the table the other person wanted more.

Audrey was easy.

"I thought you wanted to help!" Layton yelled at the door.

The door opened so fast he barely had time to register the act.

"How DARE you insinuate I do not want to help find Melanie!" She stated, getting up in his face. "What is it you think I'm doing in all of this? Hiding her in one of my back rooms?"

"Are you?"

The Night Car manager suddenly looked like she was going to explode right there. But instead opted for slamming the door in his face again.

Layton persistently knocked again. "Audrey. Come on. I need your help."

Still no answer.

Well, appealing to her sense of needing to be needed hadn't worked. Maybe concern for her friend would work.

"Audrey." He called again. "We both want to find her. Just to know she's OK. Maybe Wilford did grab her. Maybe she's on Big Alice right now."

No answer came from beyond the door, but he could hear movement going on.

Maybe her sense of pride was the right path.

"Audrey." He tried once more, "you know everything that goes on on this train. When I need to know something, you are the person I come to because I know I can get answers from you. I'm just asking for..."

The door suddenly flung open again. This time, Audrey stormed out of it, fully dressed and looking like she had spent an hour in her room changing rather than five minutes.

Layton quickly hurried after her.

"How did you DO that?" He asked.

"Theater, Detective. You learn to change quickly." She replied, stepping behind the counter of the main bar. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she turned back to him, none of the irritation gone from her expression. "Now, because I like you, and Melanie is my friend, ask your questions."

Layton considered the offer. "Any of the times Melanie talked to you about this, did she ever say if she told me, what she might do afterwards?"

Audrey shook her head. "Andre, she never got that far. It was always just her fear of telling you. How you would react. How you would feel. How it would effect you. The act of telling you wasn't about her or what happened to her afterwards. It was about YOU. How it would effect you."

Layton paused for a moment, then turned back to her. "Well, she must have had some sort of plan. Melanie doesn't do anything without at least three backup plans firmly in place. And she can't stay hidden forever. Basic needs will see to that."

"And maybe one of her backup plans was having that particular part covered?"

"She still needs to eat, Audrey. In order to do that, she needs to be able to get access to food. That requires someone at some point seeing her."

"But who would question her showing up at the cafeteria, Andre? That's not so unusual an event."

Layton sighed. "Maybe I need to put out an APB on her then. Let the train know we're looking for her. That would make it harder for her to hide."

"Or make her dig deeper. Remember, Andre, no one knows this train like Melanie. On Big Alice she built Priest Holes and tunnels. Who's to say she didn't do the same thing on Snowpiercer?"

Layton fell back into his thoughts when a hand over his caused him to turned back to the Night Car manager.

"Andre, when you do find her, what's your plan after that?"

Layton paused again before answering her. "I'm not really sure. First I just need to know she's safe, Audrey. What if you were right all along and Wilford has her?"

"Do you believe that?"

"I'm not sure. We haven't seen any trace of her guards. Frank said they wouldn't leave her, even if she told them to. So I am working under the assumption right now she's with them."

"But." Audrey pressed.

"What if Wilford did make another sneak attack, attacked Melanie and her guards, and took them as a group. Two guards against ten aren't good odds. Especially if the ten are armed."

A worried look answered him.

"We know Wilford has a bone to pick with Melanie like no one else on this train. And he's shown over and over again his callus disregard for anyone's life. If she is on Big Alice, we need to get to her as fast as possible."

"What about Alex? Surely she would know if Wilford had her mother."

"I'm not so sure about that. If Alex knew Wilford had Melanie, and had hurt her, nothing would sever that small thread still holding her to him than something like that. So it's more likely Wilford would do everything he could to keep her away from Alex."

The same worried look answered him.

"All right," Layton continued on. So we move on to the second part."

"Second part?"

"I don't know where she is, you don't know where she is, and Bennett doesn't know where she is. That's the three people on this train who know her best. So now we have to go to other sources. You said there were other people there."

"Yes. But, Andre, if the three people who know her best don't..."

"Then maybe she said something to someone else, Audrey. Like I pointed out already, it isn't like she got off at the last stop. She IS on this train somewhere."

"And she could stay hidden for years if she puts her mind to it."

Layton shook his head. "But she won't. She loves this train too much to abandon it. I'll ask Frank if he can post discreet guards around the engine. If she did show up, that entire group would lie through their teeth if she asked them to."

"And then what?"

"Then you make a list of anyone else she mentioned ever talking to about this."

Audrey gave a slight huff. "That'll be a short list."

"I don't care if it has one name on it, Audrey. That's one person more than I have now."

Audrey considered his plan for a moment. "I'll give you your list, Detective." She finally stated. "But answer my question for me first."

Layton turned back to her.

"If you do find her, then what?"

Layton met her stare for a few seconds. "I'm not sure. I just need to find her for now. Know she's safe."

Layton started to move, but Audrey quickly stepped in front of him. "Why?"

Layton returned a confused look. "Why what?"

"Why is it so important to you to find her?"

The question could be taken on many levels. But Layton knew Audrey too well to miss her meaning.

"Look, Audrey," he stated, pulling back slightly as he met her stare, "I was angry at first. It was...a shock...to hear her story. But we've both been in the same place. We both have had to make choices that...maybe weren't the best." He gave a deep sigh before continuing. "Only two people on this train know what it is truly like to lead her. What it really takes." He slowly shook his head. "And I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Now, I don't know how this will end for us. I truly don't. But like you said, when Melanie told me her side of things, she was upset, scared, and unsure of what was going to happen. I just...want to sit down with her...when she isn't upset, scared, or uncertain, and asked her what happened again."

Audrey gave him the smallest trace of a smile. "That sounds like an interrogation, Detective."

"Call it what you want. I just need to get to the truth of this matter."

"And if you already have it? What if you two do sit down and talk and nothing changes. Then what, Andre?"

"That's why I need to talk to the other people that were there. The smallest detail can change the whole perspective. Something Melanie didn't remember. Something that happened different than how she remembered it. Audrey, she couldn't even tall me for certain what happened after she ran from the room. That's a whole part of the story up for speculation. I don't want speculation. I want the truth. A solid, complete truth. Not just from her. And not just from you. I need to hear the whole story. And I can only get that from the others that were there."

Audrey gave a small sigh, than began reading off the list of other people Layton may want to talk to.