Kathleen had fallen asleep on her arms folded comfortably on Danny’s hospital bed. She woke up with a start, lifted her head sleepily and checked the time on her wristwatch.
It was 11h25 pm.
When Danny gasped for air she was suddenly wide awake and jumped up. The machines started going wild.
“Sister Murphy!” she shouted mutedly. “He’s [...]
It was raining cats and dogs. There was not an animal in sight and the passengers were restless.
Danny went into Mrs. Carson’s compartment and found Bella there busy pouring tea for the disconsolate elderly lady. She placed the cup in front of Macy and took a seat opposite her.
Tears were streaming down Bella’s cheeks.
“Oh, Ma’am! [...]
It was after four o’ clock in the afternoon when three police investigators from Komatipoort turned up in the pouring rain. They came on horseback since they had to ride over rough terrain and unbroken land to get to the scene.
Danny stood by as introductions were made, horses were tied to tree trunks and the [...]
Olwyn’s cabin was the last in the carriage to be searched. They called him from the dining carriage and the three went inside. An exhaustive examination of the room was conducted but Mills and Leslie could find nothing amiss.
That was, until they opened his suitcase and started ruffling through the clothes.
The dagger, stained from the [...]
Most passengers, being wealthy, had booked compartments for sole or couple occupation. Half of these had already been searched and the occupants, cleared of suspicion, were requested to stay behind in their rooms and to please be so kind as to re-organize their belongings.
Mrs. Carson, Bella, Carl Archer and Felicity were among them.
Danny felt his [...]
Danny was flummoxed. Confounded. Every conclusion he came to ended up with an opposing argument. It was true what the detective had said: Somebody was deliberately feeding them wrong leads and thus creating a block.
Only three of James’ riddly suggestions started making sense or meant anything to Danny and he slowly started making deductions from [...]
The detective was looking at the sky from a table in the dining carriage.
“The clouds are gathering and it is getting darker,” he said to Bill and Leslie, swallowing down a piece of roasted pork with a swig of white wine. “I think we must change our plans and search outside first which shouldn’t take [...]
Buffaloes, zebras, impalas and waterbuck gathered at different spots on the riverbanks to drink water or cool down to the great delight of the passengers. The entertainment kept them busy for an hour or two while Mills and Leslie meticulously started searching for any clues in all the compartments.
While Danny followed them around, he was [...]
James would not let up on his irritating remarks to Danny.
“Don’t you think this is the best murder investigation ever? Are they now going to bring in the perpetrator or have they already passed them by? Let’s hear what the next one is going to say. I can’t promise anything though.”
Danny waved him away but [...]
James frowned.
“Poor stupid fellow. Owes me five grand and will do most anything to get rid of that debt!”
Danny stared at the spook in frustration. He tried to never speak to these apparitions but sometimes, just sometimes he badly wanted to shake them and get information out of them. He rather talked to himself now: [...]