Jason looked at Rowena Remora’s friends. He wondered what they weren’t telling

him. He knew they were keeping something secret. He could tell from the way they

twitched when he asked them a question.

You usually saw that amount of guilt from criminals who knew they were on the edge

of going to the brig, and were trying to back things up.

“So none of you saw Rowena the night of the concert?,” asked Jason.

“That’s right,” said Laverne Gato. She seemed to be the oldest and positioned herself

as the one answering his questions.

“What do you know about this?,” asked Jason.

“A lot of people go missing up where the Pelicans performed,” said one of the other

girls. Laverne looked at her.

“You know it’s true, Verne,” said the girl. She raised her hands in a supplicating way.

“A lot of people go missing up there after dark. The Guard knows, but they aren’t

doing anything.”

“Up at the train stations?,” said Jason.

“Yes,” said Laverne. “We asked Rowena not to use the trains. We would have split

the cost for a cab if she wanted to do that. Too many people have ridden the train in

that section of the city and never made it home.”

“All right,” said Jason. He believed that part of things. He didn’t believe anything

else they told him. He just felt too many twinges.

Were they even going to see the Pelicans at all?

Jason didn’t have a way to break them down. He decided to talk with Pike. Maybe his

partner would see a solution to the problem.

“If you think of anything else, please leave a message at my office,” said Jason. He

handed over a card. “My partner and I will get back to you.”

He left the group of girls to head to the Toad. Once he had talked to Pike, maybe a

course would be clearer.

He glanced back once as he reached the gates of the school grounds. The group stood

with Laverne out front. They hadn’t moved from where he had confronted them.

Which one could he break down and get some truth out of to help what he was doing?

The girl who had broken ranks might give him something. He would have to try again

when she was alone. The others wouldn’t let her talk. They had a secret to protect,

and no one to trust.

Jason walked across Bern to the Toad. He watched everything. Someone had to know

what was going on. Maybe he should ask some of the Guard who patrol the areas he

was interested in.

Stories would have been told. They wouldn’t be believed, but someone would have

seen something, and told others about what they had seen.

And that would take him to the heart of the matter and allow him to carve that heart

out.

He hoped Pike had something more solid than what he had at the moment.

He noted an Alvas following him at one point. He paused every now and then to keep

an eye out. The Alvas vanished at one point.

He put that down on the list of things to talk to Pike about when they met. An Alvas

was rare in Bern, but they stood out when they did travel through the city to get to

places north. They dressed in rich garments and beautiful armor.

They didn’t dress in rags and skulk in the shadows trying not to be seen.

Jason didn’t like an Alvas showing up when he was looking at the disappearance of

a young lady, and her friends had a secret. It said something to the rule of threes and

he hated every arrival of such a thing when he saw it.

Jason saw the Toad ahead and paused as he looked at the street. His partner was

nowhere on the street.

He wondered if Pike had been able to do his tour in the time they had allowed. There

had better be a message, or there was going to be trouble.

The last time Pike had wandered off by himself, there had been an underground fight

and three buildings had collapsed before Jason could find him.

Extracting him from the situation had cost Jason part of his hair, clothes, and some

flesh.

Jason entered the Toad and frowned. Pike was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, Jason,” said the waitress/owner, Sadie Blackwing. She looked forty, was maybe

seventy, and could knock a man out with one punch. She had opened the Toad as a

way to keep moving and hear things from beyond Bern. “Your brother sent a note for

you. You owe me a gold piece.”

Jason shook his head.

“I don’t have a brother, I have a partner who has decided to saddle me with a great

debt,” said Jason.

He traded the gold piece for the note and read it. He put the note in his pocket. He

would be waiting for a bit. He decided to get a table at the back of the drinking room

and avoid anyone who wanted to start a problem.

He sat down at his table. Sadie brought him his mead and left him alone to think. He

pulled out a notebook from an inner pocket of his jacket. He wrote down everything

he knew at the moment. He looked at the basic facts in front of him.

The girls and the Alvas interested him. He searched his memory, and found the Alvas

standing there at the edge of the group as he gathered them together. He hadn’t

noticed that before since he was more intent on hearing what the friends were telling

him and reading their faces.

And when he walked away from the school, the Alvas did too. He saw him a couple

of times as he walked down the street. He didn’t see when the Alvas quit following

him.

So what did someone like the Alvas want with a girl’s school?

Maybe he should ask the Alvas some pointed questions about what was going on at

the school.

Pike strolled in with a girl in his wake. He said something to Sadie. He walked back

to where Jason waited. The finder looked reserved amidst the drinkers coming into

the Toad.

“Jason, this is Tilda,” said Pike. He gestured at the girl. “Tilda, this is my partner,

Jason.”

Jason put his notebook away and stood. He bowed slightly at the introduction.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, madam,” he said.

“What did you find at the girl’s school?,” asked Pike. He took a seat so he could see

the rest of the room. Jason was on his left.

“The girls are lying about something,” said Jason. “I’m not sure what. There was also

an Alvas interested in our conversation for some reason. I am still trying to think of

what he could have wanted.”

“Rowena?,” asked Pike.

“They said they arranged to go up to the show, and had warned Rowena to be careful

because of the disappearances. Apparently the north side is ripe with that kind of

thing,” said Jason. “So if they are hiding their link to the missing girl, I would have

expected the we didn’t see her at the very least.”

“Tilda said there is a death train operating on the tracks into the North Side,” said

Pike.

“A death train?,” said Jason. “Tell me more.”

“There’s another train running the tracks on that side of town,” said Tilda. “I saw it

once. I think it picks up people and never lets them go.”

“How do we find this death train?,” asked Jason.

“I think it copies the schedule for the regular express,” said Pike. “Finding it won’t

be a problem. Stopping it will be the problem, depending on what it is.”

“And we still wouldn’t be sure if it took Rowena,” said Jason. “On the other hand, we

have nothing to lose by looking at this train and seeing what it can tell us. After we

have discarded it, we can look at other options.”

“So you two think you can take on a train?,” asked Tilda.

“It depends on what it is,” said Jason. “Some things are easier to take on than others.”

“How do you want to handle this?,” asked Pike.

“We should look at this death train,” said Jason. “Then we’ll know if we can take it

on, and if we’ll be able to ask it for Rowena back, or where it took her. It goes

without saying that if we find any evidence that it is eating people, it will have to be

put down whatever it really is.”

“I would like to see this,” said Tilda. “I have never heard of anyone executing a train

before.”

“We’ve done some things,” said Jason. “I don’t know if you want to sit in on this,

Tilda. It could be dangerous.”

“I’ve done some things too,” said Tilda. “I think I can handle myself.”

“All right,” said Jason. “Let’s get some dinner, and some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll head

over to the North Side, and set up to catch this train.”

“You’re not going to try for it tonight?,” asked Tilda.

“We might have to wander the byways of the tracks for days before we catch it,” said

Jason. “I think we need to look at this with a plan. We certainly aren’t going to try to

take this thing on with just one of us on the scene.”

“All right,” said Tilda. “When do you want to start?”

“Come by the office at sundown,” said Jason. “We’ll start roaming the tracks then.”

“Dinner is on us tonight,” said Pike. “Put it down as a partial payment for helping us.

We’ll have some kind of coins after we get answers for Mister Remora.”

“All right,” said Tilda. She squinted at the partners. “Where do you want to eat?”

“Go ahead and pick somewhere,” said Pike.

“Let’s eat at the Wall,” said Tilda. “I can walk home from there.”

“And the food is cheap,” said Jason. “I like it.”

“I knew you would,” said Pike. “Let’s go.”

“Right now?,” said Tilda. “I haven’t got a drink yet.”

“You can drink while we eat,” said Pike. He stood. “Let’s go.”

Jason stood too. He smiled.

“I advise drinking lightly if you want to search for an evil train tomorrow,” said

Jason.

“I can drink like a fish,” said Tilda.

“I would like to see that,” said Jason. “But not tonight. Tomorrow, we hunt. You’ll

have to be sober.”

“I can still drink like a fish and be ready to go tomorrow,” said Tilda. She joined the

partners as they walked to the front door.

“That’s what every amateur says,” said Jason. “You know what happens?”

“What?,” said Tilda.

“They wind up with everything on fire, lost their hat, and can’t figure out which way

to run,” said Jason.

“I don’t wear a hat,” said Tilda. She smiled at him.

“That’s the other thing they always do,” said Jason.

“Really?,” said Tilda.

“I don’t wear a hat,” said Jason.

Pike shook his head. He led the way through the streets until they reached the Wall.

Jason and Tilda talked about things, but not about themselves, or the death train. That

seemed to be things they would leave for when they knew each other better.

He covered the cost of the meal for the three of them. His mind drifted to the idea of

a murdering machine just wandering the town without anyone knowing about it. He

thought the Guard, or some of the local witch hunters, would have taken notice.

The three separated after dinner. Tilda walked off in the direction of her apartment.

Jason and Pike started in the direction of their office. After a few blocks of walking,

Jason veered toward the nearest train station.

“What are you doing?,” asked Pike. He followed in his friend’s wake.

“We’re not waiting for tomorrow,” said Jason. “We’re going to see if we can find the

death train tonight before it murders someone else.”

“Are you sure this is something we should be doing on our own?,” asked Pike.

“We’re the only ones who can,” said Jason. “Tilda would have gotten hurt trying to

help us. It was better for her to take the rest of the night off and then come by the

office tomorrow. If we don’t find it tonight, I’ll try to come up with an excuse why

she can’t go out with us.”

“She’s dealt with the Rhiem,” said Pike. “That means she can take care of herself.”

“And that has nothing to do with things,” said Jason. “We’re not here to drag others

into our hunting, we’re here to protect them from monsters.”

Pike made a face as he followed his friend into the night.