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Great. We had a dead body that so far only I had discovered, and the only witness was a spoiled purebred who couldn’t really tell us anything, anyway. This case would be almost impossible to solve before the train arrived at the next station and the proper authorities had a chance to take over. Should I still try, or should I quietly alert the staff and do my best to secure the scene until help arrived onboard?

Our train passed through a tunnel, turning the night sky even darker than before. I caught sight of heavy stone walls from the hall window and shuddered. It felt like we were passing through a tomb.

How fitting.

I pulled out my phone to check the time. Just past four in the morning. We didn’t have any stops scheduled until seven thirty. Could we make it three and a half hours with a fresh corpse on board? And who should I tell given that the entire train seemed to be fast asleep?

The light flickered overhead and then blinked off with a startling pop. Oh, great, electrical problems were exactly what we needed now. Well, at least things couldn’t get much worse, right?

This was always a bad question, whether or not I asked it aloud.

Because at that exact moment, the train grinded to a stop right in the middle of that dark, tomb-like tunnel. We were stuck in the countryside with a murderer—a violent murderer—on the loose, and I couldn’t even see the hand in front of my face.

How very perfect.

Chapter Six

I pulled out my phone to activate the flashlight. Sixteen percent battery life remained. I really needed to invest in one of those portable chargers in case I ever again found myself trapped on a dark train with a violent killer in the future.

You know, providing I survived this time…

A giant shudder racked my body as my phone chimed merrily into the silence. It’s ringing!

Fumbling, I answered the call and raised the phone to my ear with shaking fingers. My mother’s voice burst through the speaker.

“Angie! Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Mom,” I cried. Normally, I was pretty cool under pressure, but this time I couldn’t help it. Seeing Rhonda’s butchered body up close and now being trapped in the dark right outside the door that led to her corpse, it was too much for me. It would be too much for anybody.

This wasn’t my hometown. In fact, I didn’t even know where we were on our journey from Maine to Georgia. I didn’t know the other passengers and had no idea which of them might be a killer. There was no one to trust.

No one except my cat and my parents.

“What’s wrong? Tell me how to get to you,” my mom shouted into the phone, instantly sensing something was wrong and thankfully not forcing me to say anything more until she could first make sure I was safe.

“Past the dining car. Past the viewing car. In one of the private coaches. Hurry.” I didn’t have to tell her to bring Dad, because I knew she automatically would. Maybe between the three of us, we could straighten this mess out. Of course, there would be no way to save poor Rhonda Lou Ella Smith. Not anymore.

I sank to the ground against the wall and hugged my knees while waiting for my parents to make their way back to us. I’d be the calm, rational detective later. Right now, though, I needed a few minutes to feel my emotions so that I could work through them and let them go.

Something furry brushed against my arm in the darkness.

“Why are you crying?” Octo-Cat asked me curiously. “You don’t cry.”

“It’s the dark. I think it’s making everything so much worse,” I sobbed while groping for him. As soon as my hand made contact with his fur, a bit of my bravery returned. We’d been through all kinds of dangerous scrapes before, but we’d always made it through. Together.

“The dark isn’t so much different than light. Right?” He moved away, and I shivered from the sudden absence of his warmth.

“Maybe for a cat. Humans don’t have night vision like you do.” While I explained this, I was struck with an idea. The two cats were the only ones on the train who could see without the assistance of a flashlight, which meant they were the only two who could sneak around without attracting attention.

“Octavius, Grizabella,” I called to them, not sure how close either was to me at the moment. “Can you two explore the train a little? See if you can find anyone suspicious?”

“What makes a human suspicious?” the Himalayan asked in her soft, melodic voice from across the dark car.

This was good. Focusing on the investigation helped to push the fear aside. Worry would only throw me off my game, and I needed all my wits about me, considering one of my senses had already been all but disabled.

“If they have blood on them for one. This person might also be sneaking around or searching for something. We still have no idea why someone would kill Rhonda, so until we figure that out, we need to look for general clues. Got it?”