Excerpt from the book called The Frisby Waterless Murders
“She said that when the smoke came in no one came past her seat; it seems like everyone behind her went the other way. She looked at the Major briefly through the smoke and she thought he was trying to stand up with the help of his wife, but then Zoe began to choke and she had to leave them to it.”
“So the Major was still struggling for life at that time, around 10:10am, and yet was dead 10 minutes later. I wonder, Linda, if you could contact Zoe and ask her who was in the kitchen area when she arrived? It sounds like she would have spotted everyone although she may not have known them by name.”
“Will do, sir, although as you say she wouldn’t have known many, if any, of the people from the Round Table.”
“Seat 14 was Madge Williams, who is the sister of Doris Williams in Seat 16, and she was going to play the role of her sister in the Murder/Mystery too. I think PC Wang interviewed them both, Linda?” said Barnes.
“That’s right – Madge arrived on the train and didn’t move a muscle as she was sitting opposite the murder victim and she is considered the prime suspect for this reason. She had a good view of the Major who seemed to be popular as most people who walked by him stopped to say hello…”
“…damn,” said Knowles, “that makes life so much harder for us, sorry carry on Linda.”
“…Madge noticed the smoke coming in from the left-hand window – from her perspective i.e. facing towards the train. She nudged Doris and they headed to the kitchen area before the smoke became too bad. They waited around in the kitchen for a few minutes with around a dozen people. The train manager did go and shut the windows and the male steward went to the train to ask the driver to move the train from under the bridge, which thankfully he did after 2 or 3 minutes.”
“Well that’s consistent with other stories we’ve heard such as Zoe Casimir’s, so far so good,” said Knowles.
“And Doris Williams’ story is almost exactly the same although she went on at great length about how frustrated she was at not being allowed to die. PC Wang made a note as to how cold this seemed to him.”
“Good for PC Wang,” said Knowles, “I wholeheartedly agree, the woman is shameless, and we should arrest for being so self-centred and cold-hearted.”
“Could this just be a front for her being the murderer, sir?” wondered Barnes. “All she seems to care about is herself and she is certainly a very cold person.”
“Yes, but she’s drawing attention to herself and murderer’s tend not to do that, unless they are very brazen.”
“When would she have had the opportunity to shake the Major’s hand?” asked Smythe.
“Just as they were all sitting down?” said Barnes.
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 