Strangers on a Train (9 page)

We still hadn't seen any moose—and I hadn't done any more investigating—by the time Hiro stood up and said it was time for our section of the car to head downstairs for lunch. George hopped to her feet immediately.

“Finally!” she exclaimed. “I'm starved!”

“Really?” Bess raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Even after eating all my pretzels
and
my granola bar?”

George ignored that and stepped into the aisle. “Come on, let's get down there.”

Alan stood and moved into the aisle behind her. “After you, ladies,” he said, sweeping a hand forward in a little mock bow.

Bess smiled. “So gallant!” she cooed.

I crawled out of my seat and straightened up. “Thanks,” I told Alan. As he leaned down to grab his knapsack off the floor beneath the seat, I caught up with Bess and George. When we started down the stairs, we saw Tobias and his family ahead of us. The little boy turned and spotted us.

“Hey, where's Alan?” he demanded.

“Right behind us.” Bess glanced over her shoulder. “At least I thought he was.”

“Here I am,” Alan exclaimed, bursting into the stairwell. “Hey, Tobias. What's up? How's my girl Hazel?”

Bess, George, and I traded a glance as Alan and Tobias started chattering away, mostly about ­Tobias's pet spider. “I guess they must have bonded at the climbing wall yesterday,” Bess murmured with a smile.

We all continued downstairs together. There were plenty of windows in the dining car, so we were able to enjoy more scenic views as we ate. Tobias was at the next table, along with his parents and Wendy. The ­little boy kept turning around in his seat to talk to Alan.

“What can I say?” Alan said with a grin. “I have a way with kids.”

Tobias's mother heard him and turned with a smile. “Sorry if he's being a pest,” she said. “He was so excited when he found out you were an environmental studies major. He wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up.”

After the meal, we all headed back upstairs. Tobias went past his seat, following Alan down the aisle. “So do you get to study tarantulas in your college classes?” he asked.

“Dude, we study
every
kind of spider,” Alan said with a laugh. “It's awesome!”

I glanced around the car to see if Hiro was free. He was nowhere in sight, so I decided maybe it was time to look for Scott and Tatjana. Bess and George had already taken their seats together, but I hovered beside my row, realizing I couldn't tell them what I was really doing. Not with Tobias hanging around and several other passengers close enough to hear.

“I'll be back in a bit,” I said, patting my purse. “I'm going to the restroom to brush my teeth.”

“Are you kidding?” Alan exclaimed. “Didn't you hear what our waiter told us just now? He said we'll be coming up on a great view of Mount McKinley soon. You don't want to miss that!”

His voice was loud and enthusiastic, as usual. I cringed as several nearby passengers turned to stare at us. So far, letting Alan in on our real purpose hadn't helped much with the undercover stuff.

“Um, okay,” I said, figuring I could whisper my real plans to him once we sat down. “Want the window seat this time?”

“Nah, you can have it. I'm taller—I can see past you just fine.” Alan stood back to let me by.

Stepping past him, I dropped into my seat. “Ow!” I cried as I felt something jab into my skin. I leaped up again, almost hitting my head on the curved glass of the window.

“What's wrong, Nancy?” Bess exclaimed.

I stared down in horror. “Glass! Shards of broken glass all over my seat!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Narrowing the Field

“GLASS?” BESS CRIED. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

I was bending down, examining the gleaming shards on my seat. They were silver, almost invisible against the upholstery. But they were definitely there.

Alan leaned closer. “Glass?” he exclaimed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure.” I rubbed my backside. “Trust me.”

The commotion from our seats was attracting attention. Tobias was still hanging around, and he pushed past Alan to peer at me.

“Hey, did the glass poke you in the
behind
?” he asked loudly.

I ignored him, carefully cleaning up the seat. Meanwhile Wendy appeared by our seats as well.

“Nancy?” she said. “What's going on? I heard you yell.”

She sounded a little too eager. I glanced up and saw a camera in her hand. Could she have done this? Maybe set up a situation she thought could win her that breakthrough blog post she wanted?

“Someone dropped smashed glass on Nancy's seat,” Bess told Wendy.

“What? You're kidding, right?” Wendy asked.

“I don't know.” I forced a laugh. “But don't worry, everyone. I think I'll recover.”

“Let me see those.” Alan grabbed my hand for a closer look at the shards. “It looks like a glass was smashed—maybe from the dining car.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. This situation was spinning out of control. The last thing I needed was to become some kind of mini-celebrity on this train. If everyone was watching me, it would be that much harder to do any investigating.

When I opened my eyes, Hiro was making his way toward us. “What's going on back here?” he asked.

“Nothing. I'm fine,” I assured him.

“Nothing,” Alan said quickly. “Except that someone put slivers of glass all over Nancy's seat. Anyone who would do that must be a sick person. Who knows what he or she might do?”

Hiro looked confused and concerned. “Okay, somebody had better fill me in here.”

When he heard the story, Hiro insisted on contacting the train's security team. Several officers arrived moments later, shooing everyone in our car back down to the dining car while they searched the entire upper level. Finally we got the all clear and returned to our seats.

“Thanks for taking that glass for me, Nancy,” George said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. “That was technically my seat, you know.”

“I know. And you're welcome.” I stuck out my tongue at her. “You want it back?”

“No way,” Alan spoke up. “Go ahead and sit down, Nancy. After what you've just been through, you deserve the window seat. I'll sit right here with you and keep an eye out for any more trouble.”

“Um, thanks.” I sat down.

Across the aisle, I could see Bess and George with their heads bent close together, talking in whispers. I wished I could be over there with them, discussing this latest twist in the case. Because it had to be related, didn't it? There was no way it was a coincidence that broken glass had turned up on my seat.

A moment later my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and found a text from George.

BESS & I THINK U SHOULD GET CHECKED OUT BY A MEDIC WHEN WE GET TO DENALI, JUST IN CASE.

I didn't bother to text back; I just leaned forward so I could see past Alan to their seat. Both Bess and George were staring back at me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

A moment later, another text came:

SRSLY, NANCY. WHAT IF A. IS RIGHT AND SOMEONE PUT SOMETHING ON THE SHARDS? COULD BE THE SAME PERSON WHO PUSHED U OFF THE WALKWAY IN K.

This time I typed a return text:
LIKE U SAID, G, THE GLASS WASN'T ON MY SEAT. IT WAS ON YOURS.

George texted back again:
HM, GOOD POINT. MAYBE THE BAD GUY IS AFTER ALL OF US NOW.

I realized I hadn't thought of that. Just then Alan glanced over.

“Who are you texting?” His voice sounded impossibly loud.

“Um, nobody,” I said. “I mean, I'm just sending a note to Ned. My boyfriend.”

“Oh, right.” Alan nodded. “I met him that time we all went out to dinner together, remember? Nice dude.”

I smiled weakly until he turned his attention back to the scenery. Then my fingers flew over the tiny keyboard.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE BE AFTER U GUYS NOW?

The response came quickly:
MAYBE WE R GETTING TOO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH.

I leaned back, feeling troubled. Could my friends be right? Were we all in danger now?

After a moment I texted them again:
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

The response:
U SHOULD STAY PUT. B & I ARE GOING TO INVESTIGATE.

I frowned and texted:
NO! IF SOMEONE IS AFTER U TOO, IT'S TOO DANGEROUS. WE NEED TO COME UP W/A PLAN.

I sent the text and waited for the response. Instead I heard the sounds of activity across the aisle. Glancing over, I saw Bess and George getting up.

“Where are you two going?” Alan asked before I could.

“Just taking a walk,” Bess said sweetly. “Keep an eye on Nancy while we're gone, okay? She needs to relax and recover.”

“Absolutely.” Alan reached up and squeezed her arm as she went past.

“Hey!” I called as my friends hurried up the aisle. But neither of them responded. “Let me out,” I told Alan. “I'm going with them.”

“Ah, ah, ah!” He shook a playful finger in my face. “You heard the lady. Relax and recover time.”

I gritted my teeth, tempted to kick him in the kneecap and make my escape. But I held myself back. He was only trying to help. Besides, how much trouble could my friends get into on this train? I decided to let them go. Maybe I could convince Alan to lower his voice enough for the two of us to discuss the case. A fresh perspective might be just what I needed.

“Okay,” I said, turning to glance out the window. “If anything can help me relax, it's looking at all this.”

“I know, right? Beautiful.”

We spent the next few minutes chatting about the scenery we were passing. At some point I realized it was probably the first time I'd ever had a real conversation with him, just the two of us. It was kind of weird. But kind of nice, too.

After a while Tobias appeared. Seeing my friends' empty seats across from us, he flopped into the aisle seat. “Hey, Alan,” he said. “My dad says Mount McKinley is the tallest mountain on the whole continent. Is that true?”

Alan grinned at him. “Hey there, little man,” he said. “I bet your dad is right.”

“Oh.” Tobias looked impressed. “Do you study mountains and stuff in your classes, or just animals?”

“We study it all,” Alan replied. “The whole shebang.”

I looked at him. For a while, I'd almost forgotten that he wasn't on this trip only because of Bess. He was also supposed to be getting a head start on his college research project for the next year.

“That reminds me,” I said. “Have you had any ideas for your big sophomore project yet?”

“Not really,” he said. “But it'll come. I'm just taking it all in, letting it simmer.”

“Need any help brainstorming?” I offered. “I'm usually pretty good at coming up with ideas for stuff like that. What are the parameters of the project?”

Tobias sat up and perched on the edge of the seat. “Do you have to write a report for school?” he asked Alan. “You should write about spiders! I got an A on the report I did about Hazel.”

“Cool,” Alan told him. Then he glanced at me. “And thanks. Maybe sometime, I guess.”

“Wait! I have a better idea.” Tobias swung his leg around, kicking the seat in front of him. “You could write about the bone smugglers!”

“The what?” Alan asked.

“My mom read about it in the newspaper when we were getting ready for this trip.” The kid sounded excited. “She said the police arrested some guy for stealing tusks and bones and stuff from rare Alaskan animals.” He poked Alan on the arm. “Which ­Alaskan animals are the rarest? Think we'll see any when we tour the park tomorrow?”

“I don't know, little buddy. What do you mean by rare?” Alan said.

“He probably means endangered species,” I put in. I wasn't too interested in their conversation, though I couldn't help being a little surprised that Alan didn't seem to know much about Alaskan wildlife. Still, I guessed an environmental studies degree covered a lot of ground. He couldn't be expected to know everything about every ecosystem in the world, especially after only a year of study.

“Right.” Alan shrugged. “Maybe you can ask the tour guide at Denali about it, Tobias.” He grinned. “You can also ask him if there are any tarantulas there!”

I shot him a look, pretty sure he had to be kidding this time. Even I was pretty sure that tarantulas were mostly found in warmer parts of the world.

“Yeah, right,” I said. “Tarantulas in Alaska?”

“Hey, there are spiders everywhere, right?” Alan shrugged again. Then his face lit up. “Here come Bess and George.”

I glanced up and saw my friends hurrying toward us. Tobias saw them too and jumped out of their seats.

“Switch places back?” Alan said, standing up quickly as they reached us. “No offense, Nancy. But I miss my best girl.”