Murder on the Orient Espresso(70)

He caressed my hair. ‘Take the stool and sit on the sleeping-car side of the door. Don’t worry about touching things, the police can always take and then exclude your prints. If anybody tries to come through this door, warn them you’ll shoot. They keep coming, blow them away.’

‘Gotcha.’

Pavlik tilted my face up toward his. ‘I’m serious.’

‘I know you are. I won’t let anybody in.’

‘It’s not protecting the crime scene I’m worried about. It’s your being hurt.’ Pavlik’s eyes were about as dark as I’d ever seen them.

I pulled his head down to my lips and kissed him. ‘Please come back soon. And safe. I’ll be OK, but just … please come back.’

‘You got it.’ He was smiling. ‘Believe me, the last thing I want to tour is the inside of a python’s gut.’

‘Which would be the last thing you ever toured. Promise me if you come across any predators, you’ll shoot first and worry about environmental protection later.’

‘Promise.’ He crossed his heart with his fingertips and then touched them to my lips.

I smiled and stepped back. ‘Got your cell phone? And is it all charged?’

‘Yup, and Boyce is AT&T and I’m Verizon, so we’ve got at least those two carriers covered.’

‘Would you like to take mine, too, just in case?’ I dug it out of my pocket. ‘It’s not doing me any good here.’

‘I could, but then how would you count the minutes until my return?’

‘Huh. That’s very true.’ I slipped the phone back into my pocket. ‘Now get the hell out of here and save us.’





THIRTY





When Pavlik and Boyce left the train at 8 a.m., I waved goodbye through the window.

Happily, the day had dawned bright and sunny. Locals said that sunset would be around 6:30 p.m. this time of year, so that would give the two men more than ten hours of daylight. I hoped that was enough.

In fact, I was kind of hoping they’d walk about 100 feet, raise the cell phones over their heads like I always did when I was looking for service and, bingo, there it would be.

Once they’d been gone a half hour, though, I decided to do as Pavlik suggested.

‘I’m going to move into the next car,’ I told Missy. ‘Would you make sure people know it’s still off limits? Pavlik told me I should shoot to kill.’

Missy’s eyes grew wide. ‘You know how to fire a gun?’

‘Pavlik taught me,’ I said. ‘But what about you? I keep hearing how everybody here has a permit to carry.’

‘Oh, I do, too,’ Missy said, ‘but I barely know which end of my gun to hold. They only have you fire three bullets to qualify at the gun range.’

South Florida sure did seem to make it easy, but given the wildlife, I wasn’t sure I blamed the authorities. If an alligator or python walked or slithered into my backyard, I might want some way to protect myself and any kids or pets.

Leaving Missy behind, I went through the door into the vestibule, where I’d found the matchbook, and then on to the sleeping car. The interior of it was very quiet.

Setting down the gun and the box of extra bullets by the door to the roomette where Potter’s body lay, I returned to the passenger car to retrieve the stool.

‘Am I in your way?’

I turned to see Danny sitting across the last two seats on the right, back against the window, feet poking into the aisle.

‘No, you’re fine,’ I said, folding up the stool. ‘I just need to take this back. If you’re going to be sitting here, could you let people know the sleeping car is still off limits?’

‘Sure.’ He swung his legs off the seat and leaned forward. ‘Missy already told me that, though. I think she went to get cardboard and markers to tape something up on the door.’

The girl was a natural event-planner. When in doubt, make a sign.

‘Missy’s great,’ I said, figuring it couldn’t hurt to build her up in his eyes. Maybe something good could come of this trip. ‘She’s very … efficient.’

Way to go Maggy. Every guy is looking for a woman who’s … ‘efficient.’

‘Yeah, and kind of sexy, too.’ I brightened momentarily, but he finished with, ‘Too bad she’s not my style.’

I wondered who was. Audra Edmonds, perhaps?

I perched on the edge of the seat across from him, thinking that with Pavlik off on his mission to find help and get us out of here, this might be my last opportunity to grill Danny. Or at least I hoped it would be. ‘Bet you didn’t expect all this when you signed up for the conference.’