I remembered this time to post in the first week of the month. Go me. November and December are difficult months for me, hopefully you all are doing better than I am.
-Rose B.
Smoke in the Air
6
I tip my hat to the staff and move to the table Madam Losster rests on. Chips, cards, and drinks are still on the table. I lift the cloth a little and see I was right; it is the woman I ran into before. She's paler, and there's a slight tint of blue to her lips. I put the sheet down and go to the only other occupied table.
"Excuse me, I'm Jacob Williams and this is my assistant," I gesture to the woman following me and gives a small bow, "I'm offering my assistance to help this terrible situation along. Could you tell me what happened and your connection to the deceased."
They look at each other, then Lord Hurston speaks, "Are you the Detective Williams that was in the paper a couple months ago?"
I nod and there is a brief flash of panic across their faces. It's replaced by that odd calmness and Mr. Ethan coughs before speaking, "I guess we were lucky a trustworthy detective was on this train."
I smile slightly, "I'm just glad I can help, if you don't mind I would like to get started I don't want to take up more of your time than necessary."
Lord Hurston sits back in his chair, "Very well, I'm Lord Alexander Hurston. I was business partners with the Madam's late husband. She took over after his death, and we regularly take this trip to discuss business and play cards with friends. The dealer usually doesn't have a hand going when we hit the tunnel, so we were having a small break as the tunnel approached. I was sitting farthest from Madam Losster and was chatting with Mr. Ethan. When we came out of the tunnel, she was dead."
Ms. Grace grabs a glass on the table with a shaky hand and drinks some of the liquid. It doesn't smell, so I assume it's water. "I was to be married to Madam Losster's son, but he died in the war. She had health problems after his death, and even though I couldn't be married into the family anymore, I continued to assist her. She was slowly teaching me about the business, I think she brought me on this trip to announce I was going to take over for her."
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