Chapter 1 - The Chocolate Milk
The train jolted for barely a second.
That was all it took for six-year-old Lucy Dawson’s chocolate milk to splash across Margaret Vale’s expensive emerald-green blouse.
And before Lucy could finish saying, “I’m sorry,” Margaret slapped her across the face.
Hard.
Lucy stumbled sideways and fell onto the carpeted aisle of the first-class dining car.
The sound of the slap seemed louder than the train.
Every conversation stopped.
Silverware froze over plates.
A man near the window slowly lowered his coffee cup.
Lucy sat on the floor with her light brown ponytail hanging over one shoulder. For several seconds she looked too shocked to cry.
Then her face crumpled.
“The train moved!” she sobbed.
The half-empty carton had rolled beneath a nearby table.
Margaret did not bend to help.
She stood above her granddaughter, furious, dabbing chocolate from her pearl necklace with a linen napkin.
“You should have stayed in your seat!”
Lucy touched her reddening cheek.
“I was coming back.”
“I told you not to walk around while we were moving.”
“You said I could get milk.”
Margaret’s expression sharpened.
“Do not argue with me.”
The passengers nearest them exchanged looks.
Margaret Vale was sixty-three, elegant, wealthy and accustomed to rooms changing when she entered them. Her silver-blond hair was perfectly shaped. Her diamond watch probably cost more than the dining car server made in two years.
A minute earlier, she had looked untouchable.
Then she noticed everyone staring.
Her anger became calculation.
That was when a calm voice came from the end of the aisle.
“Ma’am.”
Margaret froze.
Conductor Daniel Mercer walked toward them.
At forty-seven, Daniel had spent twenty-two years working passenger rail. He had broken up drunken fights, handled medical emergencies, evacuated passengers from a disabled train in a snowstorm and once delivered a baby outside Cleveland.
He had also just watched Margaret strike a six-year-old child.
“Move away from her.”
Margaret straightened.
“Excuse me?”
Daniel stopped beside Lucy.
“I said move away from the child.”
Something in his voice made Margaret obey.
Daniel crouched.
“Lucy, right?”
She nodded weakly.
“Are you hurt anywhere besides your face?”
“My knee.”
Daniel checked without touching until Lucy nodded permission.
A small scrape.
No obvious serious injury.
Margaret folded her arms.
“She threw the drink at me and then fell.”
Daniel slowly looked up.
Margaret forced a smile.
“She became upset. Children do that.”
“That isn’t what I saw.”
Her smile vanished.
“You were twenty feet away.”
“I was looking directly at you.”
“You misunderstood.”
“I watched you slap her.”
The passenger with the coffee cup spoke.
“So did I.”
A woman across the aisle raised her hand.
“Me too.”
Another passenger said, “She hit that little girl hard.”
Margaret’s face flushed.
“This is a private family matter.”
Daniel stood.
“Not anymore.”
“I am her grandmother.”
“That does not give you permission to assault her.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“You should be very careful with that word.”
Daniel touched the radio clipped to his vest.
“I already am.”
Then Grace Kim appeared from the service galley.
The twenty-four-year-old dining-car server had been kneeling beside Margaret’s table after the spill.
She was holding something small.
Her face was tense.
“Sir.”
Daniel turned.
“There’s something you need to see.”
Margaret’s eyes immediately dropped to Grace’s hand.
Her entire body changed.
“What does she have?”
Grace opened her palm.
A red metal USB drive lay across it.
Tiny silver initials were engraved on one side.
E.V.D.
Margaret took one step forward.
“Give me that.”
Grace pulled her hand back.
“It fell out of your handbag when you stood up.”
“It belongs to me.”
Lucy stopped crying.
She stared at the red drive.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Lucy slowly stood, holding Daniel’s hand for balance.
“That was Mommy’s.”
Margaret went pale.
“Lucy, you’re mistaken.”
“No.”
The little girl pointed.
“Mommy kept it in the blue box.”
Margaret’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lucy shrank slightly.
Daniel noticed.
Grace did too.
Daniel held out his hand.
Grace placed the USB into it.
Margaret reached for it.
Daniel closed his fist.
“You said it belongs to you.”
“It does.”
“The child says it belonged to her mother.”
“My daughter is dead.”
Lucy flinched.
Daniel’s eyes tightened.
“When did she die?”
Margaret glared.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
Lucy whispered, “Fourteen months ago.”
Grace knelt beside her.
“What was your mom’s name?”
“Emily.”
Grace glanced toward the initials.
Emily Vale Dawson.
E.V.D.
Margaret saw the connection register on everyone’s faces.
“That drive contains confidential corporate material,” she said quickly. “My daughter worked for our family company. I am legally entitled to it.”
Daniel did not move.
“Then ownership can be sorted out by police.”
Margaret’s composure cracked.
“Police?”
“I have already requested rail police at South Bend.”
“You cannot detain me.”
“I can require you to remain in this car until law enforcement arrives after I witnessed a passenger strike a child.”
“I am not some criminal.”
Daniel looked at Lucy’s cheek.
“I didn’t say you were.”
The silence said enough.
Margaret turned toward Grace.
“You went through my handbag.”
“No.”
“Then how would you know where that came from?”
“It slid under the table.”
Margaret lowered her voice.
“I suggest you remember who operates the hospitality contract on this train.”
Grace blinked.
Daniel heard it.
“So now we’re threatening employees too?”
“I’m explaining consequences.”
Lucy suddenly tugged Daniel’s sleeve.
“Mr. Daniel?”
“Yes?”
She looked toward Margaret.
“Grandma said Daddy isn’t allowed to know about the red thing.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“Lucy.”
The child stepped behind Daniel.
He positioned himself between them.
“Don’t speak to her like that.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
Lucy continued.
“She said Daddy would steal my money if he found it.”
Daniel looked down at her.
“What money?”
Lucy shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Margaret grabbed her handbag.
“We are getting off at the next stop.”
Daniel blocked the aisle.
“You certainly are.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“But not alone with Lucy.”
For the first time, Margaret looked genuinely frightened.
Outside the windows, the Indiana countryside raced past beneath a gray afternoon sky.
The train would reach South Bend in eighteen minutes.
Daniel looked at the red USB in his palm.
A dead woman’s initials.
A terrified grandmother.
A six-year-old child whose cheek was still red.
May you like
And a warning about money.
Whatever Margaret Vale had been afraid of before she slapped Lucy, it was suddenly clear that the ruined emerald blouse was the smallest problem she had.
