The Train (5 page)

    I want to go, too, Hannah thought. I want to go back home.

    Ms. Quick glanced around the room. There was dismayed awe in her voice as she said, “Isn’t this the most awful thing I can't believe…" Then she took a deep breath and said in a monotone, "I want you all to stay here until it's time to go to the dining car for dinner. No running around the train alone, not until we find out who's behind this horrible business. Dr. Lindsay has volunteered to return to Chicago with Lolly so that Mr. Dobbs and I can stay with all of you."

    "So what happens next?" Mack asked.

    "We're asking everyone on the tour if they have any idea who might have done this. They've all said no. What about you five - any ideas?"

    They all shook their heads.

    "Well, then, since no one knows anything, the conductor will be calling in a detective to get some answers. He'll come on board first thing tomorrow morning when we arrive in Denver. Until then, I must urge all of you to please stick together, okay?"

    They all nodded solemnly, and Ms. Quick left to continue spreading the news.

    Thoroughly shaken by the disastrous way their trip had begun, they all sat quietly, gazing out the window at the speeding landscape and the rapidly descending twilight.

    It was ten minutes past eight O'clock when Ms. Quick rapped on the door and said it was time to head for the dining car, reminding them once more to "stay together."

    The thought of eating dinner turned Hannah's stomach. But the others eagerly got up to go. "I need to stop back at our compartment first," Lewis told Mack. "Need anything there?"

    "I'd better come with you. I think Ms. Quick is right. We shouldn't be wandering the train alone. Not after…" Mack didn't finish the sentence. "I guess two qualifies as a group. Let's go."

    "Walk me back to my compartment?" Jean Marie asked. "Sherry and Ann are probably already there. I can go to dinner with them, but I don't want to walk back there alone."The three left together, with Lewis and Mack promising to return to go with Kerry and Hannah to dinner.

    A few minutes later, the train slowed gradually and came to a complete standstill. Hannah went to the window and watched as Lolly, flanked by the doctor and the conductor, was helped out of the tour train and into a red and silver train standing at the station and aimed in the opposite direction. As she watched the unfortunate girl collapse into a seat in the well-lighted train, Hannah couldn't help thinking she looked relieved. She's glad to be off our train, glad to be going back home.

    No wonder, after what had happened to her.

    Was it really safe to wait until morning and let the detective figure things out?

    It didn't feel safe. How could they be sure that Lolly's attacker had left the train?

    They couldn't.

    Dinner in the dining car would be creepy, Hannah thought. Everyone would be watching everyone else, trying to decide if anyone looked suspicious. There wouldn't be any laughing, the way there had been in the Cafe earlier, and if people talked about anything at all, it would be the attack on Lolly.

    Hannah didn't want to go to the dining car. But anything was better than staying in the compartment alone. That, she could not do.

    Soon they were on their way again, the wheels droning their steady ga-dink, ga-dink, ga-clink.

    Go-back, go-back, go-back…

    Hannah turned away from the window. "It was nice of the doctor to go back with Lolly. So she won't be alone."

    "Yeah, but what if she was the only doctor on board?" Kerry asked. "Let's just hope nothing else bad happens. I hope whoever was after Lolly knows she's not on this train anymore." Kerry pulled the barrette out of her hair and then replaced it carefully. "I wonder who it was? Why would anyone want to kill Lolly Slocum?"

    She means, Hannah thought with sadness, that Lolly wasn't interesting enough or important enough to have something like that happen to her. How awful. Hannah sighed, and slowly began to unpack her small suitcase.

    

    

    

    It seemed to Hannah that it was taking Kerry forever to get ready for dinner. Mack and Lewis came to get them twice. Both times, Kerry sent them back to their own compartment, insisting that she needed a few more minutes. They left grudgingly.

    "Kerry," Hannah finally said, "you've changed your hair four times. After what's happened, how can you stand there fussing with your hair as if life were totally normal? It's Scot."

    But, in truth, she was grateful… The thought of leaving the safety of the compartment for those dark, narrow corridors made her palms sweat. There would be no bright sunshine relieving the darkness now. The windows and skylights would reflect only empty darkness. The corridors would seem airless, confining…

    "You're right, Hannah. I'm being petty and shallow and silly." But in the next second, Kerry peered into the mirror over the small sink and cried, "Look at this purple eye shadow. Purple! I feel like a peacock. Wait just one minute, let me try this beige.

    The salesgirl at Bonham's talked me into the purple. I could strangle her."

    The word "strangle" hung in the air and Kerry's eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. "Oh," she said softly, glancing guiltily at Hannah, "sorry. I wasn't…"

    "It's all right. Just hurry up, okay? Mack and Lewis must be starving. If you send them away one more time, they'll go without us." And I don't want that, Hannah added to herself. I definitely don't want that.

    The minute Kerry finally finished primping, she became impatient. "Where are those guys, anyway?" she complained. "I've been ready for five minutes and they're still not here. Let's go get them."

    Lolly's swollen, purpled face danced before Hannah's eyes. "You know what Ms. Quick said. And you told the guys to give you more time. They'll be here. If we leave first, we could miss them."

    "Hannah. There is only one way to get from their compartment at the other end of the car to ours. It's not like the train has side streets. C'rnon, we'll surprise them. It'll be fun."

    "No. Ms. Quick said - "

    "Hannah, the guy who tried to throttle Lolly left the train when she did, I'm sure of it. Why would he hang around here?"

    "Okay," Hannah said, "you're right. We'll probably run into Mack and Lewis on the way."

    But as they left the compartment, her stomach began churning again. The corridor was so dark, and completely empty. Kerry had taken so long making herself beautiful that everyone else had already left for the dining car.

    They had gone only a few steps when Kerry let out a piercing shriek and stopped in her tracks.

    Hannah gasped and whirled, expecting to see a crazed maniac holding a knife against her best friend's throat.

    "I forgot my gold chain," Kerry cried. "The one Lewis gave me for my birthday. I never go anywhere without it. I promised him I wouldn't. But I took it off when I was brushing my teeth because it kept dangling over the stupid little sink and I didn't want to get toothpaste gunk all over it. Wait here. I'll be right back."

    "I am not waiting in this hall alone," Hannah said, "and do not ever, ever shriek like that again on this train.

    "Sorry. It was dumb. You okay?"

    "Yes. But I'm coming with you."

    "Hannah, don't be silly." Kerry was already backing away. "Our compartment is only a few inches away. I'll be right back. I know exactly where my chain is. And Mack and Lewis should come along any minute now."

    Their compartment was more than "a few inches" away. More like a few hundred inches. But Hannah did feel silly refusing to wait alone in the corridor. Hadn't she already decided that Lolly's attacker had left the train when Lolly left?

    "Okay," she agreed, "but hurry up. Are you sure you know exactly where that chain is?"

    "Of course I do. Wait right here. Back in a sec."And Kerry hurried away, her black hair swinging behind her like a pendulum.

    The minute Hannah stood alone in the corridor, lost in a sea of dark paisley, her nerves tightened like piano wires. She couldn't help it.

    The train wheels whispered, ga-dink, ga-dink, ga-dink…

    When Kerry didn't return immediately, Hannah, restless and impatient, moved on down the hall to the door at the end of the car. Its window looked out upon a dark, moonless night, but in the distance, lights appeared and disappeared, blurring into one, long, pale gold ribbon. The black and gold panorama was hypnotizing and Hannah became lost in it, unaware of the passing minutes.

    A sound behind her snapped her out of her trance.

    "It's about time," she said, as she began to turn around. "Couldn't you find the chain?"

    Without warning, something thick and fluffy and cottony covered her mouth and nose, stifling her cry of surprise.

    A strong arm fastened itself around her chest, pinning her arms against her sides. The arm began dragging her backward, her legs dangling helplessly. She fought to touch the ground with her feet, but when she did, the only result was the sound of her sneakers hitting against the dark carpet.

    Help me! Hannah tried to cry out, but her mouth, mashed cruelly into the cottony fluff, made no sound.And it occurred to her dazed, terrified mind that even if she could scream, there was no one to hear her.

    The corridor was empty.

    Snapping out of her paralysis of fear, Hannah began to fight back. She tried frantically to slow their progress by digging her heels into the carpet, but the soft rubber soles of her sneakers were useless. Her attacker plodded onward, toward the baggage car. Hannah's desperate attempts at resistance seemed to go unnoticed.

    Why hadn't Kerry returned? Hannah wondered. She had said, "Back in a sec." She'd been gone much longer than a second. Much longer…

    She heard the door to the baggage car slide open.

    If only someone… a porter… the conductor… someone was in the baggage car to help her.

    Hannah realized they had moved inside the car. A booted foot pushed the door closed. Hannah's eyes, seeking help, darted wildly about the room.

    There was no help. There were only boxes and cartons and containers, which offered no help at all. There was no porter, no conductor… no one to help her.

    They shouldn't leave all this luggage unguarded, she thought angrily, crazily. When I get out of here, I'm complaining to the conductor.

    Complain? I'm losing my mind. I probably won't even get out of here… alive.

    Lolly's tomato-hued face danced before her, and nausea rose in her throat. Calm, calm… must stay calm… mustn't panic… must think… think… think…

    Think, Hannah! Think or die!

    How could she think when she was so scared?

    Because she was being dragged backward by the grip around her chest, she couldn't see where they were headed; which only made her feel more helpless.

    Who was this person dragging her along? And what were they planning to do with her? Was she going to die here?

    Suddenly, the dragging stopped and the hand that was gagging Hannah removed the cottony wad over her mouth. Stunned by the unexpected release, Hannah found herself standing upright, freed from her awkward backward-tilt. But her arms were still imprisoned.

    Immediately, she opened her mouth to scream for help.

    The blow came from behind. Hannah never saw the arm descending, never saw the blunt object that slammed against her skull, sending a sickening shaft of pain zig-zagging, like lightning, from the top of her head all the way down to her toes.

    No scream left her lips. Before any sound could escape from her open mouth, darkness swooped down upon her.

    

    

    

    Hannah awoke into a blackness that was as thick and cloying as tar. Her eyes, aching from the blow on her head, searched for the tiniest sliver of light, and found none. She closed her eyes again, hoping that when she opened them, the darkness would be gone.

    It wasn't. Wherever she was, there wasn't so much as a pinprick of light. She felt like a mole burrowed into the deepest part of the earth.

    Her head hurt terribly. Sharp shafts of pain stabbed at her skull. She put her hands, unfettered now, to her forehead. They were cool, almost clammy, but soothing. Slowly, maddeningly slowly, her mind returned to full consciousness.

    Where was she?

    She was lying flat on her back, legs stretched out, on something soft and silky… so slippery that when she tentatively bent her leg at the knee and slid it up toward her, her sneakered foot promptly whooshed back into a flat position again as quickly as if she were lying in melted butter.She raised the other leg. But this time, she didn't bend it at the knee. Instead, she lifted it higher and higher, testing, until the foot touched something, some kind of cover over her head - over her body - over all of her. The cover felt very solid. Maybe… wooden. She pushed against it with her foot. But the wood covering her remained firmly in place. There was no "give" to it. She pushed hard, then harder still, using all of the strength in her legs. But whatever was lying over her, covering her in the dark, was solid and thick and… sliding her hands over it… wooden. Satin smooth wood. Thick… solid… totally immovable wood.

    Where was she? What was she doing in all this cold blackness?

    She raised both legs and pushed once more against the overhead surface with all of her strength.

    Nothing. The wooden covering remained firmly in place.

    Hannah's left arm moved away from her forehead to reach out to the side. Another solid surface, this one close, very close. Too close.