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I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. A migraine wasn’t exactly what I needed right now. “So at least our circumstances aren’t getting worse,” I reminded everyone.

“You girls stay in here,” Dad instructed, moving toward the door. “Dan, bring that big light of yours and come with me.”

I chased after him, refusing to be left behind.“Excuse me. None of that macho nonsense. Wherever you’re going, I’m coming, too. So spill.”

Dad sighed and placed his hand against the wall in defeat.“Why do you always have to assume it’s something like that? I chose Dan because he has the best light and we’re going to need it.”

Yeah, there was no way I would be sitting out the next leg of our investigation. I turned to the young redheaded worker and held my hands out in supplication.“Dan, may I please borrow your light?”

He reluctantly handed it over, and I turned back to Dad with a giant smile of triumph.“You were saying?”

He chuckled at let out a low whistle.“You are just like your mother sometimes. C’mon, we’re going to go nose around outside and see what we can find.”

“Will you stay with my wife?” Dad asked Dan, and they shared a manly nod.

“I’m coming, too!” Octo-Cat called, jumping off the bed and joining us at the door.

“And I’m staying,” Grizabella said, crossing her paws in front of her.

“Let’s go, Dad,” I said, lifting the lantern high as I followed him to the end of the car. We found an exit toward the outside there, but it appeared to be jammed up tight. In the next car over, we found the door already slightly ajar, having swung back into the car a couple inches.

“Hopefully, somebody just needed a cigarette break really, really bad,” Dad told me with a shrug and then pulled the door open the rest of the way so we could exit into the tunnel.

Very little space lay to either side of the train. Dad and I could walk side by side, but not comfortably. The stone walls pressed in close as we studied the gravel beside the tracks. Add in the intense darkness and it was almost like we’d been buried alive. Creepy.

Dad stopped walking and put out an arm to stop me, too. With his other hand, he pointed a few feet ahead.“Blood.”

Sure enough, dark red droplets stained the light scattering of stones and pebbles. Even creepier.

“Did you see any earlier?” Dad asked, sweeping his phone light back toward the exit we used.

I shook my head soundlessly, then continued forward to see if the blood might form a trail.

“Stay by me,” Dad called out, a quiver moving through his strong voice. “We don’t know how close the murderer still is. For all we know, he could be right here hiding in the tunnel just a few feet away. And I’m not risking losing you.”

I gulped and returned to his side.

Dad hooked his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close.“We do this together. Understand? You have my back, and I’ll have yours.”

“Awww. That’s great for you guys. I’ll go check things out on my own, though,” Octo-Cat said, trotting off in the direction I’d just abandoned.

It worried me, him going off on his own, but what reason would a murderer have to hurt a random cat? There’s no way the culprit could know that Octo-Cat was investigating this crime.

Dad and I moved slowly, using my light to illuminate our path and his to search the gravel.“I’m not seeing any more blood,” he said. “Are you?”

I’d never been so disappointed not to find evidence of a violent crime. At least if we had a proper trail to follow, we’d know that the killer had left the train—and we may even be able to follow the drops to find him.

“No,” I answered with a racking sigh. “Someone was definitely out here, and given how close the exit and the blood are to Rhonda’s room, I’m guessing it was our killer. But I don’t think he was injured. It’s probably a bit of Rhonda’s blood that dripped off his hands or something.”

“But if he had the blood on his hands, wouldn’t it be on the door?” Dad pointed out, continuing to move the tiny point of light from his phone around the path. “And also, why are we assuming the killer is a he?”

“Touch?,” I said. “It could definitely be a woman. Good thought, though. Let’s go check out that door.”

We closed the rest of the distance back to our entry and exit point, and I was just about to step through into the train when an anguished cry rang out from deeper in the tunnel.

A cat’s cry.

“Octo-Cat!” I shouted and took off running. There was no way I was leaving him to face whatever danger lurked nearby on his own. I just hoped Dad could keep up.

Chapter Twelve

“Angie, wait!” my dad yelled, but I kept running as fast as I could toward the spot where Octo-Cat had cried out into the black night. By the time I found him lying on his side amidst the gravel, I’d practically run out of breath both from the burst of exercise and my pumping adrenaline.

Please be okay. Please be okay.

Praying hard, I scooped him into my arms and clutched him against my chest.“What happened? Are you okay? Octo-Cat, talk to me!”