The railway guard stood and stared, and then turned abruptly away, rather than look at what was inside the toilet. He had to swallow hard before he could bring himself to say anything.
‘He looks dead. Is he dead?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Was it a heart attack?’
‘I don’t think so.’
I stepped inside the toilet cubicle, careful not to touch anything, and studied Sir Dennis closely. His neck was twisted round at a really awkward angle, he wasn’t breathing, and his eyes were fixed. There was a strong smell of shit and piss, mostly from his trousers, where he’d soiled himself in his last moments. I took hold of Sir Dennis’s head with both hands and turned it carefully back and forth. The neck was broken. I let go and stepped back to consider the body again, making sure I hadn’t changed its position. That might be important later. There were no defensive wounds, nothing to suggest a struggle, and no signs anywhere in the cubicle that the killer had left anything behind. I turned to look at the guard, who still had his back turned to the toilet.
‘This man was murdered, Mr Holder. Someone broke into the toilet, caught Sir Dennis by surprise and broke his neck. You’d better come in here and confirm my findings. You represent the railway.’
The guard shook his head firmly. ‘No, sir, I couldn’t look at the gentleman. I’m perfectly prepared to take your word for it.’
I stepped out into the vestibule. Given the kind of man Sir Dennis was, I couldn’t find it in me to feel much in the way of sorrow. Mostly, I was just angry that the killer had found a way to get past me after all. The guard turned reluctantly back to face me, and I nodded to him brusquely.
‘You’d better lock the door again. And put up an Out of Order sign. That should be enough, until we get to Bath.’
‘Are we going to just leave the gentleman like that? Sitting there, with his trousers … I mean, it’s not dignified, sir. Not respectful.’
‘There’s nothing we can do now to help Sir Dennis, except preserve the crime scene,’ I said firmly.
The guard nodded jerkily and was careful to keep his eyes on the remote control as he worked it, rather than on the toilet and its contents. The door slid smoothly into place and locked itself.
‘Don’t inform any of the staff about what’s happened,’ I said. ‘Above all, don’t tell the passengers. The last thing we need is a panic on our hands.’
The guard looked at me uncertainly. ‘I understand about not upsetting the passengers, sir, but why shouldn’t I tell the staff?’
‘Because we don’t know who might be involved in what happened here,’ I said carefully. ‘The murderer could have accomplices.’
The guard nodded slowly. ‘There are a lot of new people on the train tonight, sir. Taken off other services at the last minute to work this special express. But I’d hate to think any of them could be involved with something like this.’ He shuddered suddenly. ‘I’ve never had to deal with a suspicious death before, in all my years on the railway. I’m not even sure what the proper procedures are for dealing with a murder …’
‘All we have to do is keep a lid on things until we get to Bath,’ I said. ‘Then the proper authorities can take over.’
‘Of course, sir,’ said the guard. He nodded quickly, relieved at the thought of Sir Dennis’s death being someone else’s responsibility. ‘Let the professionals handle it. I’d better get back to my passengers.’
I looked at the next carriage along and realized for the first time that all of the lights were out. The entire compartment was dark from end to end. I moved over to the door, and it hissed open obediently. The light from the vestibule didn’t travel far, but I could make out enough in the dark to be certain there wasn’t a single passenger left in any of the seats. I stepped back, let the door slide shut again and turned to the guard.
‘What happened in there? Where is everyone?’
‘The lights failed, sir, not long after we left Paddington. Right after I’d finished checking the tickets in First Class. There was no warning, just a sudden blackout. Luckily, it turned out to be only the one carriage. I helped evacuate the passengers and found them all new seats in the rest of the train. Good thing we weren’t fully booked tonight. Passengers really don’t take kindly to being told they have to stand. I locked off the door at the far end of the carriage, to keep anyone from getting back in.’
‘Why would you do that?’ I said.
‘You don’t want passengers stumbling around in the dark, sir, and perhaps injuring themselves. Just because they think they’ve left something behind. Besides, I needed some peace and quiet in the vestibule so I could concentrate on studying the lighting systems. I’ve been trying to get them working again, but I’m afraid it’s beyond my abilities. I’m a guard, not an electrician.’
‘How long have you been in there, working on the lights?’ I said.
‘Ever since I finished relocating the passengers, sir. I don’t like to leave a carriage that way, but I think I’m going to have to.’
‘So you were there constantly?’ I said. ‘No one could have got past you?’
‘Oh, no, sir. No one’s entered this carriage since I locked it off. Apart from me, of course.’
‘Did you lock the end door behind you, after you came through?’ I said.
‘Of course, sir. I can find my way in the dark – after all my years on the railway, I know these carriages like the back of my hand – but I didn’t want to risk a passenger coming in after me and possibly coming to grief. Particularly if it did turn out there was a medical emergency in the toilet.’
He looked at the closed cubicle door and then looked quickly away again. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want the guard to notice the significance of what he’d just said. If the far door of the carriage had been locked all this time, and he was right there in the vestibule to keep an eye on it, then no one could have got to Sir Dennis from that end of the train. Unless …
‘Did anyone see you working in the vestibule, Eric?’
‘Of course, sir. Lots of people.’
I just nodded. That was actually something of a relief. With the darkened carriage acting as a barrier between First Class and the rest of the train, it meant I wouldn’t have to look far for my suspect. The killer had to have come from First Class. Even though I would have sworn no one got past me.
It bothered me that I hadn’t known about the lights going out in the next carriage. I’d been concentrating so hard on Sir Dennis, and all the other people in First Class, that I hadn’t given a thought to the rest of the train. What else might have happened that I didn’t know about? I fixed the guard with my best businesslike look.
‘Have you experienced any more problems, with the other carriages?’
‘No, sir,’ the guard said immediately. ‘The lights only failed in one carriage. We were lucky there.’
I wasn’t so sure about that. It seemed very suspicious to me that the lights only went out in this particular carriage, right next to the toilet in which Sir Dennis had met his death. But how did that help the killer?
‘If you’ll excuse me, sir,’ the guard said hesitantly. ‘Now the toilet is secure, I’d better go find that Out of Order sign. Oh … should I unlock the end door of the empty carriage? If any of the passengers in First Class need to use a toilet, the next nearest cubicle will be on the far side of that door.’
‘They can all wait till we get to Bath,’ I said flatly. ‘It isn’t that far. You make sure that door stays locked, and no one gets through from your end of the train.’
‘Of course, sir. I’ll take another look at the lighting system, but I don’t think there’s much more I can do.’
He disappeared into the darkness of the empty carriage, making his way quickly down the aisle despite the rocking of the train. I watched him all the way to the far door, and once he’d passed through it, I listened carefully until I heard the lock close. I scowled at the darkness filling the carriage. What did the killer hope to gain by emptying the carriage? No witnesses, presumably. No one to see him approach the First-Class toilet and carry out his commission.
But … if the killer had come from First Class, how could he have got to Sir Dennis without being seen? I’d had my eyes on all three businesspeople ever since we left Paddington. Except for when I’d been concentrating on the bodyguard as he was making his report. Even so, no one had passed by me. I was certain of that. The whole thing was simply impossible. Unless there really was a rogue psychic at this end of the train, hiding behind his shield and messing with everyone’s heads. Unless that was what I was supposed to think. Could all of this be nothing more than a really clever trick, some cunning piece of misdirection?
When in doubt, start with what’s in front of you. I approached the door to the darkened carriage, and it hissed open again. I stepped forward into the gloom and let the door close behind me. The light from the vestibule barely illuminated the first few feet, but I could still make out the rows of empty seats stretching away before me, and the long empty aisle. There was no one else in the carriage; I was sure of that. Even if someone had been hiding, I would have heard something. The only sound was the muted thunder of the wheels on the tracks. I looked carefully around the compartment, and then made my way down the aisle, steadying myself against the rocking of the carriage with a hand on each seat I passed.
I checked each set of seats carefully. Nothing had been left behind, to show the passengers had ever been there. Not a discarded magazine, an empty cup, litter on the floor. The guard had been very thorough. I even took a good sniff of the air, but nothing stood out.
I reached the far end of the carriage and tried the door. It was definitely locked. That simplified things. The last thing I needed was more staff entering the carriage to see what had happened, or to take selfies of themselves outside the toilet. I’d told the guard to keep the news to himself, but it was inevitable that he’d talk to someone, eventually. The best I could hope for was that he’d hold out until we got to Bath.
I made my way back down the empty carriage. Something about it didn’t feel right. I didn’t like the way the dark seemed to press in around me, oppressive and unnerving. I couldn’t shake off a growing conviction that I wasn’t alone. I kept glancing around, positive I’d caught some sudden movement on the edge of my vision. I was alone in the carriage; I knew that … but I wasn’t sure I believed it. I couldn’t shake off an uneasy suspicion that the psychic assassin was standing silently in the shadows, watching me from behind his shield of invisibility, defying me to find him. I stopped abruptly and spun around, straining my eyes against the gloom … But there was nothing there. Nothing at all.
I didn’t move for a long moment, breathing hard, and then I deliberately turned my back on the dark and walked steadily towards the light in the vestibule. I had to trust my abilities and my training, that I would know if someone was trying to hide from me. I needed to believe that I was alone in the carriage, that the murderer, psychic or not, had done his work and moved on. Because if I couldn’t be sure of that, I couldn’t be sure of anything. I reached the door and turned around, refusing to let myself be hurried. The darkened carriage stared back at me, giving nothing away. I stepped through the door, into the bright, comforting glare of the vestibule, and the door hissed shut behind me, cutting off the darkness and all it contained.
I stood in the vestibule for a long moment, getting my breathing back under control. I was going to have to tell the people in First Class that Sir Dennis was dead, and I needed them to see me as cool and calm and completely in control of the situation. Or I’d never get them to answer my questions. I looked at the toilet door. Not a good way to die, and not a good way to be found, sitting on the throne with your soiled trousers at half-mast. Perhaps that was the point … not just to kill the new Head of the Division before he could take up his post, but to humiliate him as well.
To make a statement.
I hadn’t taken to Sir Dennis in the short time I’d known him; even so, he deserved a better end than this. I might have failed to protect him, but I could at least avenge him. I straightened my back, put on my best professional face … and went back into First Class.
Once I was back inside the compartment, I glanced quickly around to make sure everyone was still where they had been. The bodyguard sat up straight in his seat when the door opened, expecting to see Sir Dennis, and then looked away again when he saw it was only me. Sir Dennis hadn’t been gone long enough for him to be properly worried yet. He wasn’t going to react at all well to discovering his client was dead. And I doubted he’d take much comfort from finding out he’d been right all along: that he should have insisted on standing guard outside the toilet until Sir Dennis was finished. Of course, if he had, the killer would probably have dealt with him as well.
None of the three businesspeople so much as glanced at me. The younger of the two men was staring out of the window at nothing, smiling slightly, as though contemplating something pleasant he planned to do when he got to Bath. The other man was staring emptily at his laptop, as though what he saw there depressed him unutterably. The young businesswoman was still pounding away at her keyboard. Whatever she was working on, it had her full attention.
I sat down beside Penny. She looked up from her magazine and saw immediately that something bad had happened. She put the magazine aside and gave me her full attention. I leaned in close, lowered my voice to a level only she could hear, and brought her up to date on everything. Including all my thoughts and suspicions. She listened intently, not interrupting once. When I was done, she sat quietly, thinking hard.
‘How could the killer have got to Sir Dennis without us noticing?’ she said finally.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I should at least have heard the attack, but I didn’t. Unfortunately, I got distracted listening to the bodyguard phoning in a report. I was concentrating so hard on him that anything could have happened outside this carriage and I wouldn’t have heard it.’
‘Good timing on the part of the killer,’ said Penny.
‘Suspiciously good,’ I said. ‘If the killer knew when the bodyguard was supposed to make his call, and planned his attack to coincide with the one time he knew I’d be distracted … But then he’d also have to know in advance that I can hear things other people can’t.’
‘Could the bodyguard have deliberately made that report, in order to distract you?’ said Penny. ‘Because he’s working with the killer?’
‘It’s possible,’ I said. ‘Any man can be bought, or pressured, into switching sides. But the bodyguard’s not supposed to know we’re here.’
‘If there’s a psychic assassin on this train, how can we be sure what anyone knows?’ Penny said darkly.
‘Well done,’ I said. ‘I really needed something else to depress me.’
‘You mean apart from the fact that one of the people in this compartment must be the killer?’ said Penny. ‘And was able to sneak right past us?’
‘Unfortunately, it’s not even that simple,’ I said. ‘One or more of these people could be working with the killer, to distract us and confuse the issue. Maybe all of them …’
‘Just once …’ Penny said wistfully. ‘Just once, I’d like a simple, straightforward case. The butler standing over the dead body with a smoking gun in his hand, shouting, I did it and I’m glad! That sort of thing.’
‘We don’t get the simple cases,’ I said. I shook my head tiredly. ‘We only had one thing to do: keep Sir Dennis alive for an hour and a half. And we couldn’t even manage that. The Organization is not going to be happy with us.’
‘Or the Division,’ said Penny.
‘Exactly. So all that’s left to us is to work out who killed Sir Dennis, along with the how and the why, before we get to Bath.’
‘How long is that?’ said Penny.
‘About an hour.’
‘Oh, great,’ said Penny. ‘No pressure, then …’
‘It’s only a deadline,’ I said. ‘We can do deadlines.’
‘Couldn’t the authorities just hold all the passengers when we get to Bath?’ said Penny. ‘Until the Division’s psychics have had a chance to take a peek inside everyone’s head?’
‘Confining that many people in one place would be bound to attract media attention,’ I said. ‘And then there’d be all kinds of unfortunate questions. The Division can’t afford to be dragged into the spotlight.’
‘All right,’ said Penny. ‘Let’s concentrate on what we have. Do you believe Sir Dennis was killed by a rogue psychic? The man on the stair who isn’t there?’
‘The killer broke Sir Dennis’s neck,’ I said. ‘I would have expected a psychic to give him a heart attack, or a cerebral haemorrhage … or a dozen other things that would have made his death seem natural. A psychic wouldn’t even have needed to enter the toilet to do that.’
‘But wouldn’t the Division psychics watching over the train have spotted something like that?’ said Penny.
‘Not if our rogue is really good,’ I said. ‘Of course, Sir Dennis could have been deliberately killed that way, to make a statement. To humiliate the Division, and show that whichever group is responsible can get to anyone.’
Penny looked quickly around the carriage. ‘Could the psychic assassin be in here with us, right now, hiding behind a don’t-see-me shield?’
‘I think I’d be able to tell,’ I said.
Penny looked at me sharply. ‘You think? You said you could always spot a psychic!’
‘But I’ve never gone up against a really powerful one before,’ I said steadily. ‘Not many have and lived to tell of it. Fortunately for the world, talents of that calibre are extraordinarily rare.’
We sat quietly together for a while, thinking our own thoughts. Finally, Penny shook her head and scowled unhappily.
‘Is it wrong of me that I don’t feel bad about Sir Dennis’s death because I didn’t like him? Because I knew the kind of man he was?’
‘We can’t always protect good guys,’ I said. ‘He’d been made the new Head of the Psychic Weapons Division; that’s all that matters. An attack on Sir Dennis is an attack on the whole country. We have to find his killer.’
‘Oh, of course, darling,’ said Penny. ‘I just wish I could have liked him more.’ She thought for a moment. ‘You said you searched the darkened carriage. And you didn’t see or hear or smell anything out of the ordinary?’
‘There was no evidence I could detect,’ I said carefully. ‘But if we are dealing with a professional killer, I wouldn’t expect there to be.’
‘Should we contact the Colonel?’ said Penny. ‘Tell him what’s happened?’
‘He made it very clear that we’re on our own,’ I said. ‘No backup under any circumstances, remember?’
Penny turned suddenly in her seat, looking at me sharply. ‘Ishmael … You are sure Sir Dennis is dead? It couldn’t just be some mental trick by the psychic?’
‘I held his broken neck in my hands,’ I said. ‘I don’t believe I could be fooled that completely.’
Penny subsided, frowning. ‘Do you think the Division will blame us, for letting Sir Dennis be killed?’
‘Not if we find the murderer before we get to Bath,’ I said. ‘Once we identify him, the Division can find out who’s behind this.’
‘How dependable is that railway guard?’ said Penny. ‘Can we trust him to keep quiet about what’s happened?’
‘I don’t think he’ll tell the passengers,’ I said. ‘But I don’t know how long he’ll be able to keep himself from sharing the story with someone else on the staff. If only for moral support. Just another reason for us to find the murderer as quickly as possible. We don’t want a bunch of well-meaning people turning up here wanting to help, and getting in the way.’
‘How bad will it be for the Division, that their new Head has been murdered?’ said Penny.
‘Strictly speaking, not very,’ I said. ‘Sir Dennis was just a political appointee, the contact man between the Division and the Government. Easy enough to replace. The point of this attack is to demonstrate to the rest of the world how vulnerable the Division is. In the espionage game, the perception of strength and weakness is everything.’
‘The things you know,’ Penny said admiringly. She looked down the carriage at the three businesspeople and the bodyguard. All apparently completely unaware that anything had happened.
‘If one of them did manage to sneak past us,’ Penny said slowly, ‘either because they’re psychic or through some really clever subterfuge … how are we supposed to figure out which of them is the killer?’
‘We question them,’ I said. ‘Work out possible motives, methods, opportunities … Eliminate the ones who couldn’t possibly have done it, and whoever’s left must be the killer. Hopefully, once we’ve figured out how Sir Dennis was killed, that will help determine who did it.’
Penny looked at me dubiously. ‘That kind of detective work isn’t really what we do best, Ishmael.’
‘Then we’d better learn fast,’ I said. ‘We only have … fifty-six minutes before the train arrives at Bath. If we haven’t identified our killer by then, we’ll have no choice but to let these people go. And then the killer will just walk away, along with everyone else.’
‘Fifty-six minutes, to solve an impossible murder?’ said Penny. ‘Ishmael, that just isn’t enough time!’
I smiled. ‘We’ve had harder cases.’
Penny scowled, thinking it through. ‘How are we going to handle it, if they refuse to answer our questions? It’s not as if we’re the police.’
‘If we act like we have the authority to question them, then they’ll act like we do,’ I said.
‘All right,’ said Penny. ‘We can do this. No, wait, hold it … Do the psychics watching over this train know Sir Dennis is dead?’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘But the Division won’t be able to do anything until we get to Bath.’
‘But won’t they know who killed Sir Dennis?’
‘They’re only watching for psychic attacks,’ I said patiently. ‘A purely physical attack wouldn’t show up on their radar. That’s why the Colonel wanted us here.’
Penny turned away suddenly and looked around the carriage, studying each face in turn. ‘Ishmael, I just had a horrible thought. If one of these people really is a psychic assassin, could they have left a mental image of themselves sitting in their seat and then walked right past us to kill Sir Dennis?’
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘That is a horrible thought. And just when I was running out of things to worry about. But it doesn’t matter. These people are our main suspects, however they killed Sir Dennis, just because they’re here. Unless, of course, that’s what we’re supposed to think.’
‘I hate this case,’ said Penny.