Excerpt from the book called The Frisby Waterless Murders
“Barry?” asked Knowles. “I am Inspector Knowles from Scoresby CID and I would like to ask you about today’s journey.”
“Hello Inspector, so I have the dubious pleasure of being interviewed by the big boss, do I?”
“You do, because you are the most important piece in this jigsaw, Mr Kenyon – why did you stop on the tracks just after the Scoresby road bridge. According to Gerald, you don’t normally do that as there are no other trains on this line and no signals.”
“Gerald isn’t quite correct when he says that; we normally slow down because…how should I phrase this… the track under the bridge has been known to have things thrown onto it by people who are trying to get rid of their rubbish. For this reason I always slow down to make sure there’s nothing that could get stuck in the wheels of the engine. And this time there was something on the track…an old pram…so I removed it before proceeding, which is why I stopped.”
“And where’s the pram now?”
“On top of the coal just to the right-hand side.”
“Did you see anyone on the bridge? Watching you?”
“No, I didn’t – but you should ask Carl, my lad, who was helping me with the shovelling, because he might’ve seen someone.”
“Right I will, where is he by the way?”
“He’s around somewhere, doesn’t like crowds you see, so he’s probably eating his sandwich on the platform bench.”
“How long do these excursions normally last?”
“Three hours – a slow chug down to Frisby. Then we spend an hour turning the engine around on the turntable and a slightly faster pace back to Flixton which is where the denouement normally happens and the murderer’s revealed. Then everyone eats lunch together including the murderer and the victim.”
“Have you ever taken part?”
“Just the once, didn’t have a clue who did it – it was something in the food given to the victim.”
“Isn’t it always?” said Knowles.
“You’d know better than me, Inspector, you have more exposure to this type of crime.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t in this instance; did the person who dunnit in your murder/mystery work in a motorway services, by any chance?”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 