A/N:You will note this chapter is 'REVISED'. All that means is there are some minor changes to the chapter. If you have a free thirty minutes, feel free to re-read it. It will not confuse you too much going forward if you do not.

The previous version of this chapter was deleted because otherwise it just got too confusing...not that it is not already.

Out Of The Past

Part IX - Missing - Revised

Early the next morning Layton found himself all but pulled out of his bed by an as usual overly excited Audrey.

"Layton! Get up!"

Trying his best to fend off the woman who was currently trying to separate him from his bed, Layton rolled over and grabbed hold of the mattress.

"Go away, Audrey! There's nothing I am even remotely interested in at this hour today."

"Then try this! I can't find Melanie!"

Layton gave a deep sigh as he clung to the mattress. "I already heard this from Bennett yesterday. My advice in the matter is go find Frank. You find Jackson, you found Melanie. Problem solved." He stated, grabbing hold of the mattress even tighter.

This was not the way he wanted this day to start. He, in fact, wasn't ready for this day to start at all. Sleep was a wonderful escape from what his life had become a little over 12 hours ago and he was perfectly happy to spend the next several days pursuing as much of it as he could get. Sleep freed him from having to face anything. The pain. The anger. The endless questions now crowding out every other thought.

But Audrey grabbed his shoulder and with more strength he would have bet the woman had in her, yanked him over onto his back.

"I already tried that." Was all but yelled in his face. "She wasn't with him."

Layton slowly pulled himself up with another deep sigh. But he quickly adjusted his level of agitation when he met her worried eyes.

"Audrey..." he stated in a slow, level voice, "...she's probably upset. When she's upset, she runs."

"Melanie does not run away, Andre!"

A look of utter disbelief answered her. "Lady, where have you been for the last 11 months!? YOU told me that!"

"And after 11 months, Andre, she stopped running FROM you, She runs TO you. You're her safe corner. The one person she feels secure with."

Layton had pulled himself out of the bed by now and was pulling on a clean shirt. "Well, after the other night I am pretty sure you can forget that."

"We still have to find her. After the other day there's no telling what..."

Layton quickly took the woman by the shoulders. "Audrey! Stop!" He stated, putting an effective end to her worried rant. He swore sometimes talking to the Night Car manager was like trying to communicate with that little Jack Russell Terrier he so often compared her to. "Melanie is as level headed as her train. I am sure she's fine. But like me, she's probably just taking some time to try and sort this all out."

"Then where. Is. She?" Audrey ask, punctuating each word.

Layton gave a deep sigh as he thought for a moment. "Did you check with Bennett again? Has he heard from her yet?"

Audrey was already shaking her head at him. "He hasn't seen her since after her last shift ended." The worried stare deepened. "Bennett said she didn't even say anything to him about needing her shifts covered."

"Well, it isn't like she got off the train at the last stop, Audrey." Layton said. "What did Frank say about her not being with him?"

"He didn't say anything. I just saw him in the hallway. Melanie wasn't with him. And I've been through half the people on this train it feels like. No one has seen her." The concerned eyes grew wider. "What about Joseph?" She asked.

"Audrey, I'm not asking Wilford if he's seen..."

But Audrey shook her head quickly. "No. Not if he's seen her. Andre, Wilford was able to take Hephaestus off this train and no one knew a thing about it. What if he employed the same method to get Melanie?"

Layton simply stare back at the Night Car Manager for a few seconds. Leave it to Audrey to bring up something his sleep deprived brain had not considered until now.

Layton quickly shifted into high gear, pulling on the rest of his clothes. While likely as angry at her as he had ever been, he still didn't want to even think about her being in Wilford's hold. He consoled himself over his sudden panic as being nothing more than not wanting to have a valued member of the train in such a situation again.

"We'll start with Frank." Layton stated, turning the woman about and directing her out the door. "She may not be with him, but he may know something about where she is."

Some time later, Layton and Audrey stood in Jackson's cabin as he poured some tea into a cup sitting on a small, white, china plate from a small electrical pot plugged into a side wall socket. Layton could only imagine the cup and saucer had been a gift from Ruth, respectfully 'borrowed' from one of the first class dining cars.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Layton," he replied to Layton's question on Melanie's whereabouts, "but I have no idea where Ms. Cavill currently is." The whole statement was delivered in his usual gentlemanly, if not casual manner. Something that prickled at all of Layton's detective instincts.

Jackson wasn't worried, or even upset no one seemed to know where his employer was.

The man knew something, he just wasn't going to share.

"Frank, I'm genuinely worried about her. I just want to know if she's safe."

Jackson had added some sugar to the tea and was now stirring the contents with a small, silver spoon.

"I appreciate the concern, sir." He replied just as casually. "But if Ms. Cavill is...'missing', might I inquire as to why you do not know her whereabouts? Or, as such that you do not, I can only assume she does not want you to know them for whatever reason."

Layton gave a small sigh. One thing he could always say about Melanie's enigmatic assistant. If he didn't want you to know something, you weren't going to know it. And he could tap dance around your questions all night and still never give you any meaningful answer.

But a small smile came to his lips. Maybe the man just needed a little help remembering this morning.

All he had intended to do was a little 'personal space' invasion. But as soon as he took the first step towards the man, all he remembered after that was being on one knee, one arm behind his back, and an incredibly painful pressure being applied to the inside of his wrist.

Leaned over slightly next to him, Jackson was as calm as ever. In his free hand the cup sat still perfectly balanced on it's saucer.

"I am not accustom to being attacked in my own quarters." He replied in that same infuriatingly calm tone of voice. "But I will not hesitate to defend myself just the same."

Layton bit his teeth together as the pressure increased. "I wasn't attacking you!" He forced out each word. "I was simply trying to make a point."

Jackson leaned down a bit more. "Then with that understanding established between us, I am sure you can make your point from where you were standing."

And with that Layton found himself unceremoniously released. When he got to his feet, Jackson had put several additional feet between them. Regardless of anything he said or did now, Layton could tell the man was on his guard.

"Look," Layton tried another approach, "Melanie...might be upset...and not herself right now."

Again the man quickly cut him off. "I am well aware that you and Ms. Cavill are having your usual difficulties..."

"How could you possibly know that?"

The man gave a sigh, continuing in a tone that to Layton sounded like he now felt he was addressing a small, disobedient child.

"Because you are here, Mr. Layton, trying to ascertain her whereabouts."

Layton breathed an exasperated, defeated sigh. "This isn't the 'usual difficulties', Frank. This is a little more serious."

The man gave a small, but equal sigh of his own. "As I surmised by her actions."

"Her actions?"

Jackson turned from them as he stepped across the small room. "Ms. Cavill informed me by messenger the other morning she would not be requiring my services for several days. I was to view this as...a vacation of sorts."

"And you didn't think that was a bit odd?"

"I merely assumed she would be working in the engine. It is not an uncommon thing for her to do."

"And now?"

"Having made inquiries and taking note of several events, I am assuming now that conclusion was wrong."

"Events?"

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Her guards, Mr. Layton?" Came the unexpected question.

Layton gave him a confused look. "Her guards? Those brainwashed automatons you have following her around?"

Jackson returned a slight frown. "'Brainwashing' is a very outdated term, Mr. Layton. In my experience, we prefer 'Operant Conditioning'."

"Call it what you like. It doesn't make them any less dangerous."

"They were not trained to protect Ms. Cavill in a 'kind' nor 'gentle' manner, sir. Anyone meaning her harm would not be likely to return the favor."

Layton gave a slight sigh. "So what about them?"

"Had you been searching for Ms. Cavill this morning as I have, you would have noted they are no where to be found."

Layton gave him a small, but none to friendly smile "Maybe, like you, she sent them on vacation."

"Ms. Cavill is able to order her guards to do many things, Mr. Layton." Jackson replied in the same calm, conversational manner. "And they are well trained enough to follow such orders to the letter. But the one thing she may not do is order them away. Two of them are always ordered to be on duty protecting her. Seen or unseen."

Layton gave a deeper sigh this time. "Don't I know it. Those guards of her do everything but sleep in the bed with us."

"I would not be so disparaging of their presence, Mr. Layton." Jackson added.

"Why not?"

A small smile proceeded his answer. "Because they also protect you."

Layton was slightly surprised by the answer. The ever present guards never seemed interested in anyone but Melanie. They, in fact, rarely gave him so much as a passing glance.

"So wherever she is, her guards are with her." Layton reasoned.

Jackson gave a slight nod as he took a sip from his tea. "A fair assumption, as they well know the consequences for failing that particular order."

"Consequences deemed by you?" Layton asked.

If the man took offense at the tone of the question, he gave no sign of it. "Proper training requires consistency above all else, sir. Rewards, as well as disciplinary actions are, therefore, given solely by me."

"Of course." Came the flat toned answer.

Jackson felt Layton still was not seeing the point. "A failure in one's duties, Mr. Layton, is a failure in one's training. Should one of 's guards fail to protect her adequately, I feel that reflects on their training, which was done by me. So in some part, I am responsible for that failure. As does it fall to me to correct it."

"So they don't just get shoved off the train then?" Layton asked half-seriously.

Jackson returned an affronted look. "Most certainly not! Each of those men individually, and as a group, are extremely valuable to this train. Mr. Wilford may treat his own men in such a frivolous and inhumane manner. I can assure you, I do not."

"Good to know." Layton replied in a less than sincere tone. "Would your training of these men happen to allow you to know where 'they' might be then?"

"One might safely assume with Ms. Cavill."

Layton gave a deep sigh. "Don't you have a dog whistle or something to call them home with?"

The comment met with a stern look.

Feeling her friend was just digging himself into a deeper hole with every word, Audrey grabbed Layton by the elbow and dragged him towards the door. What was it about these two men that caused them to seemingly get into a territorial war of words whenever they got together?

"We are sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Jackson." She offered by way of leaving. "But we thank you for you're help just the same."

But Layton had one last statement for the man. Pulling against Audrey's hold, he leaned a little closer to Jackson. "When I find her, Frank, she had best not have come to any harm because your 'guards', so well trained by you, failed in their 'duties'." He stated in a none to friendly voice. "Or you AND your guards will answer to me!"

Jackson gave the warning one of his gentlemanly smiles as he faced down Layton's anger.

"Understood." Was all he replied as Audrey yanked him out the door.