Tegan stared out of the window, watching the lights of distant villages
pass. Closer to the track, a lake gleamed dully under the night sky.

"What did I tell you about motives?" Sara said. "They've all got one. Maria
if her father threatened to stop her marrying Sutton."

"She wouldn't," Tegan said, not for the first time.

"Sutton the same, suitably reversed. And it looks as if Gilbert had some
hold over the Colonel, and was bleeding Mrs James for her money."

"And of course all us four, same as before," Rose said. "What did you get
out of the steward?"

Sara shrugged. "Precious little. He can't explain what happened to the
lights and he maintains nobody gave him any bribes."

"Where's the switch for the lights?" Liz asked.

"In the vestibule."

"I'd like to see it."

Sara and Liz disappeared into the corridor, leaving Tegan and Rose on their
own.

"We still haven't got anywhere," Rose said gloomily, after they'd spent as
long as they could bear alone with their thoughts.

"I know. Got any ideas? I'm out of them."

"Well..."

Tegan looked up. "Come on, out with it."

"We're dealing with a family, aren't we? I'm just thinking about families.
And arguments."

"What about arguments?"

"People tell the truth in them, don't they? They come out and tell all sorts
of secrets just to make someone else angry."

Tegan nodded slowly. "So we get everyone together and see what they say. Do
you think it'll work?"

"No idea." Rose shook her head. "Normally I could get my mum to go off on
one, no problem. But I don't know if I could do it if dad was lying there
with a dagger in his back and blood spurting everywhere."

"What did you say?" Liz's voice asked sharply.

They looked up. Liz was standing in the doorway, Sara just behind her.

"Well, I just said if it was my dad that was stabbed..."

"Yes, yes." Liz nodded, her eyes bright. "That's an interesting point."

"Rose was just saying we should get everyone together," Tegan said. She
raised her voice slightly, since Liz didn't appear to be taking in what she
was saying. "See if we can get them to quarrel and give something away."

"Risky," Sara said.

"No, she's right," Liz said, sounding emphatic. "Back where the body is.
We need to get everyone together in there."

"But there's a dead body there!" Tegan protested.

"It's essential."

From somewhere under the floor was a groan of brakes, and the carriage
shuddered gently.

"We're slowing down," Sara said. "If we've really reached London there isn't
much time left."

*

Even in the dining saloon, there wasn't that much room between the tables.
Everyone was gathered in an uneasy huddle at the far end from where the body
lay, trying not to look at it. The train had slowed considerably, but showed
no signs of stopping yet. Outside the windows, the buildings of some nameless
town could be seen. Houses and factories drifted past, ghostly in the
darkness.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Tegan said. Somehow, she felt it was her place to
kick things off. There was a scrape of a match somewhere behind her, as Liz
lit her pipe. "I'm sorry we've been such a trouble to you this evening, but
these are exceptional circumstances. We thought" -- she glanced at Rose --
"We thought it might be an idea to get everyone together and talk over what
we know."

"And what do you know?" Mrs James asked peevishly. "You've been asking us
all the most impertinent questions. If you haven't found out anything
important I shall be making a complaint."

"Who to?" Rose whispered to Tegan.

Sara cleared her throat.

"For a start," she said, "everybody here could have had a motive for seeing
Mr Gilbert dead. In the case of Miss Gilbert and Mr Sutton, the thought was
that he might not approve of their secret engagement--"

"Maria!" Mrs James gasped.

"--And as for Colonel Harris and Mrs James, you were both being blackmailed
by Mr Gilbert."

"Blackmail?" the Colonel said. "Nonsense."

"But you were," Tegan said. "Maria overheard you talking to Mr Gilbert, late
one night. Something about buying land in Manchester."

"No mystery there. Firm's building a new factory."

"Then why meet him in secret? At night? I think he wanted you to pull a few
strings in the War Office and get him the land for less than the asking
price. And if you didn't, he was prepared to reveal... I don't know what.
But something damaging."

"Ridiculous."

Tegan realised she'd run out of things to say, and nudged Rose.

"We know he was blackmailing Mrs James," Rose said. "She told us so. It
wasn't her choice to invest all that money in the business."

"Just a minute," Sutton said. "If you're making out that RG was a
blackmailer, that puts you four under suspicion too. Any of you could have
known him. All that stuff about being private detectives could be a complete
lie. One of you could have killed him and then tried to put the blame on one
of us." He turned to the other members of his party. "I don't think we
should waste any more of our time with these people."

Liz, who'd been quietly smoking, removed her pipe.

"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," she said. "You've overlooked the
matter of the lights."

"What about the lights?"

"At the time Mr Gilbert was stabbed, the lights had gone out. I have
examined the lighting controls, out there in the vestibule. They had been
tampered with. A time switch was placed in series with the normal switch, so
that at a time convenient to the murderer the lights were shut off. This
particular time switch was based on a simple clock mechanism, but several of
the components were stamped 'Gilbert Electrical'. In short, it was almost
certainly made by someone with regular access to your company's products and
workshops."

"That could be any of you," Sara said. "But none of us have ever been near
your factories."

"And then Rose made an important point," Liz said. "She talked about blood
spurting everywhere. And she's right. From a stab wound like that, I would
expect to see some blood spatter."

"No-one's got any blood on their sleeves," Sara said. "I checked."

"Yes, exactly. Suggesting that whoever did it wrapped their hand in
something, which they later discarded."

Tegan nodded. "And that means you won't leave fingerprints, either."

"It was after dinner, so no-one had a napkin," Liz continued. "They'd have
had to use their handkerchief. Now, we went through everybody's pockets.
Three of the four people dining with Mr Gilbert had handkerchiefs; one did
not. Mr Sutton, where is your handkerchief?"

Sutton, the blood draining from his face, patted his pocket.

"Must have dropped it," he said.

"I wonder." Liz put her pipe in her mouth, pulled on her surgical gloves,
and pushed her hand down the side of the overstuffed aisle seat, between the
frame and the cushion. When she straightened up, a square of white linen
dangled from her gloved hand, with a number of reddish-brown stains on it.

"Yours, I believe," she said.

"And it's even got his initials on it," Sara added drily.

Sutton's face was shading from white towards green. "Perhaps you've also
come up with some fairytale about why I would murder my employer?" he
demanded.

"He was buying land in Manchester, to build a factory," Tegan said. "And
the Colonel talked about a promotion for you. I reckon he wanted to put you
in charge of setting up the factory. Perhaps he told you."

"And why shouldn't he?"

"Oh, no reason. Except that Maria wouldn't be going with you, would she?
She'd be staying in London."

"Maybe you were afraid she'd find someone else," Rose added. "Or that her
dad would try to marry her off to some rich aristocrat for his money. 'Cos
from what I'd have heard, he'd have done that, too. And you couldn't turn the
job down, 'cos then you'd have to tell him about you and Maria."

"Tom!" It seemed that Maria had regained the power of speech. "Did you..."

Sutton turned to her, and reached for her hand. "Darling, how can you think
such things?"

She snatched her hand away. "Tom. Tell me the truth."

"Then..." He took a deep breath. "Yes, it's true. All of it. I killed your
father."

"And I thought you were a gallant knight." Maria collapsed into a chair,
her hands over her face.

"Doesn't a knight kill for his lady?" Sutton glanced around. "And I'll do
it again, if anyone tries to stop me."

He took a step backward, and pulled the Colonel's pistol out of his pocket.

"You should be more careful what you do with this old relic, Colonel,"
Sutton continued. "It's careless of you to leave it in your jacket pocket
for anyone to steal -- but I'm very glad you did." He backed away from the
group, covering each in turn with the gun. "If anyone moves, I'll shoot them."

"He's going to jump off the train," Rose said. "Don't do it. You'll break
something."

"If the police get me, it'll be my neck. Don't try to stop me."

Someone did move, then. Maria got up and began to walk steadily towards him,
pale but resolute, blocking his line of fire.

"Tom, don't you understand?" she asked. Her voice was small but clear; tears
were still running down her face. "We can't let you get away, and I know
you'd never shoot me. Give me the gun."

She was close enough to touch the pistol, now. She reached out for it.

"There's no way out of this for you," she said.

He gave her one long look.

"I'm sorry," he said. Letting go of the gun, he pulled a pen out of his
jacket pocket, put one end in his mouth, bit--

"Stop him!" Sara shouted, surging to her feet.

Sutton collapsed to the ground. His body convulsed once, then went rigid,
the eyes staring. Liz hurried over and knelt by the body, but it was obvious
that there was nothing to be done.

"Prussic acid," she said. "He's dead."



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