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“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Sheriff D’arxx,” he announced in a deep voice. “There has been an incident of a criminal nature on this train. Therefore, no one will be leaving until they have been questioned and cleared for exit.”
A chorus of whispers and groans filled the dining car.
“I thought there was a whole class of first-levels on this train,” he said to no one in particular.
“All passengers were held in place for the lockdown, sir,” the conductor bot said.
“Hell’s bells,” the sheriff said. “Where were they?”
“All but one are in their compartments,” the bot replied.
“And the last one?” the sheriff asked.
“One is in the refresher,” the bot said.
“You’re saying one kid has been trapped in the can, alone, since you sounded the alarm?” the sheriff asked in disbelief.
“All passengers must be held in place for lockdown,” the bot said.
“Get the kid out of there,” the sheriff said. “And turn off those godforsaken lights and alarms. We can keep the doors and windows locked without all that fuss, can’t we?”
“Yes, sir,” the bot replied. “What about the car-betweens?”
“Get everyone in here, and then lock those too,” the sheriff said. “Good thinking.”
“Right away, sir,” the bot said, sliding off toward the door between cars, presumably to rescue the poor tot in the refresher and bring everyone else to the dining car.
“Now what’s in there?” the sheriff asked, pointing to the door on the other end of the dining car.
“That’s the kitchen,” one of the two rough looking men said politely.
“It’ll do,” the sheriff said, tapping his bracelet and scanning something. “All right, let’s start with… Tag Pricketts.”
“Glad to help any way I can, Sheriff,” the rancher said, jumping to his feet.
“I’m sure you are, Tag,” the sheriff said. “Let’s save the chatter for the interview.”
The two disappeared into the kitchen car, leaving everyone else to speculate about what was going on.
“I’ll bet whoever it is was stealing something,” one lady said to another.
“Then why would they question us?” her companion asked.
“I don’t know,” the first one admitted. “Maybe it was too heavy for one man to carry?”
He obviously wouldn’t say anything in front of the others, but Rafe knew there was no way the train would be locked down and the sheriff questioning everyone for a simple robbery.
Someone was dead.
“So, who’s missing?” Jade whispered.
He already knew, and he saw the exact moment when she figured it out too.
“Judge Gaxx,” she breathed.
“Unless it’s the schoolteacher or one of the kids, yeah,” Rafe said.
Jade pressed her lips together as if she had figured out why that was bad, and luckily also figured out that the worst thing they could do was talk about it.
