This is a snippet of the story behind Loco Motive. Characters do swear in this snippet; the other writing examples are clean.
This work is from October 2023.
I was rudely awakened by screaming. Waking up to the sound of screams is never a good thing, especially when you’ve been hired in case a murder occurs. I leapt out of bed, preparing myself for the worst. I walked over to the couch and roughly shook Hunter to wake him up. He blearily grumbled then said ,”Just five more minutes, mommy. Tell the school bus to wait,” before falling back asleep. I sighed. Of course it wouldn’t be easy to wake him. I yanked the pillows out from underneath him, then lightly punched him.
“Ow!” I exclaimed. His muscles were as hard as a brick. Some combination of removing the pillows, yelling, or punching him awoke him, and he looked around at me. “What’d you do that for?” he indignantly said, before pausing and hearing the screams. He then got up, stretched, and threw on a shirt. We threw open our door, grabbing our key before we left, then followed the yelling to the Lounge. When we arrived, there was a cacophony of yells and agitated voices, as well as a woman sobbing. Alex was holding Brady by his shirt collar as Brady smirked. Dominic was sitting at one of the tables, trying to confront Hana as tears streamed down her face. When Hunter and I walked in, the room went quiet.
“What’s happening?” Hunter asked.
“I..We were f-f-fighting last night and I slept in h-here a-and when I, when I, when-” Hana started, before bursting into tears again. Her shoulder shook as she sobbed. Dominic carefully put his arm around her to comfort her.
“This asshole here murdered Josephine!” Alex yelled, shaking Brady. At the word “murder”, Hana’s sobs intensified. Brady gave a slight smile and held up his arms like he was surrendering.
“Look, Alex,” Brady said, loading his name with sarcasm, “I’m not that much of a dick that I would kill her. You’re out of your fucking mind if you think it was me. Just because I don’t like the way the company is going doesn’t mean I’d fucking kill someone over it! I’m not your murderer, regardless of what you want to think.”
“Clearly one of us did, and we all know you hate her!” Alex said.
“Yeah, well, you’re the one next in line to take over the company! You’ve got the most to gain with her out of the picture,” Brady snipped back. The two were about to turn their fight from verbal to physical as Alex set his jaw and readied his fist. He swung it towards Brady’s face and with a loud Thwack! it hit. I hadn’t seen Hunter move, but he now stood between Alex and Brady, holding the punch he stopped in his hand. He stared Alex in the eyes, then gently dropped his hand.
“No violence,” Hunter said. He glanced back and forth between the two.
“Yeah, tell that to the fucker who killed her,” Brady egged on. Hunter glared at him for a moment before repeating, “No violence.”
“Oh dear. This isn’t the experience you two probably imagined having when you won the trip with us,” Dominic said. I looked at Hunter and gently tilted my head, asking a question. He gave me a nod.
“Actually, we knew this might happen,” I said. The room went quiet as everyone turned to look at Hunter and I.
“W-What do you mean?” Hana asked. I took a deep breath and let it out, steeling myself for my next words.
“Let us formally introduce ourselves. I am Detective Casey and this is my assistant, Hunter, of Casey Files Detective Agency,” I said. The room remained silent for a few moments, before Hana angrily stood up.
“Y-You mean you knew something might happen? My wife is d-d-dead! And you knew it could happen?” she said, marching towards Hunter and I. He stepped in front of me and put his arm out to shield me.
“Yes,” Hunter said.
“Earlier this week, I received a phone call from Mrs. Josephine asking for our help. I know tensions are high right now, but trust me, we will figure out who murdered her. I ask that you all remain in this room while Hunter and I investigate the train.
“We will be conducting interviews with each of you. It is to your advantage to cooperate and provide us with any important information you may know surrounding this case. I will not rest until we are able to find the culprit and put them behind bars,” I finished. I motioned for one of the train staff members and told them to make sure no one left this room, save Hunter and I. They agreed to help.
“Now,” I said, turning to leave, “if you’ll excuse me, I have a crime scene to investigate.” Hunter turned and followed me out of the Lounge, as did one of the train staff. The squabbling started back up as we left, but we paid them no attention. We had more important things to deal with.
I stopped back at our room and took out my briefcase. I packed it with all of my equipment I had brought, ensuring I had plastic evidence bags at the ready. Hunter grabbed his camera and passed my notebook to me. I passed him a pair of gloves and shoe covers, then applied them to my own hands and feet. When investigating a crime scene, it was important to not contaminate the evidence. I nodded to the staff member who had followed us. He gestured to the deluxe car, saying “Right this way.” I nodded and followed him.
When he unlocked and pushed open the door marked with “Josephine and Hana”, the first thing I noticed was the overpowering stench of blood. The next thing I noticed when we walked into the room was the body. Josephine, was sprawled on the floor and was laying in her own blood. As Hunter and I approached the body, I set my briefcase down on a nearby table and opened it. I pulled out my tags and tape to mark where we found the body and changed into a plastic suit to avoid contamination. Hunter took a photo of the body laying on the floor, then changed into a plastic suit as well.
“What do you make of it?” I asked him.
“Well, she looks dead,” he said. I gave him a sharp look, then he amended his words and continued. “There’s a lot of stab wounds, but the clothes aren’t soaked with blood in all places.”
I knelt next to her body. This was the part I hated the most. I carefully examined Josephine’s body as it appeared before me. Her head was facing the ceiling and her chest was marked with stab wounds, the blood soaking part way through her clothes. The pool of blood she was laying in was a deep red jelly, although it was starting to separate into the clear plasma and red clots. Clearly she had been dead for several hours by this point. I turned my attention to the stab wounds. The clothing near them had been sprayed, but was not fully soaked through. Additional examination indicated they were straight, indicating they occurred without a struggle. The blood had partially clotted in them. There was no weapon to be found, but it looked like they came from a knife. She still had her room key on her.
Asides from the body, the rest of her room seemed fairly organized. There were two large suitcases in the room, presumably one for her and one for Hana. The curtains in the room were closed, although the lights in the room were on. Suit jackets hung from the hangers in a neat and orderly fashion. There was a small table in front of the curtained window. It had two chairs next to it. One of the chairs was a bit away from the table like someone had been sitting in it, while the other chair was pushed in.
I stepped around the body and took a closer look at the table. There was some sort of liquid residue on the table. It wasn't quite water and it certainly wasn't blood. I pulled out a vial and eyedropper and collected some of the liquid in a vial, then placed that vial in an evidence bag. There was also a note on the table scrawled in an unfamiliar handwriting. It looked like it was ripped out of a notebook and the person had tried to disguise their writing.
"I know what u did. U cant hide it 4ever. Im gonna make sure they know what u did."
Scanning the room again, I saw Hunter taking photographs of the body and the room layout. I motioned him to come over and take photos of the table. As he passed me, he said, "Did you see the note?"
"The note on the table?" I asked, confused.
"No, not that one. The blood note," he said. He pointed back to poor Josephine's body then raised his finger up a little until he was pointing at the wall. There were blood splatters on the mark and a very interesting pattern. "That note," he said.
I walked over and took a closer look at the note. Someone had dipped their fingers in blood, presumably Josephine's blood, and scrawled on the wall, "She got what she deserved". Dang. What did Josephine do to warrant this? First the mysterious note, then this message? She was right that someone had it out for her. I wonder how long this has been going on. I took a sample of the blood and once Hunter had taken a photo of the note, I put that in a bag as well, making sure to tag where it was located. I then turned my attention back to the body and examined it for further clues.
Finding nothing, I turned my attention to other sources. I searched through Hana and Josephine’s belongings and found a will in Josephine’s bag. She must have been really paranoid to have brought this with her. I had Hunter take a photo of it, but I wasn’t about to seize an official document.
When Hunter and I had finished our investigation, he and I exited the room and closed off the crime scene. I then pulled out my notebook and started discussing what I had seen with him.
"Someone must have really had it out for her," Hunter said sadly. I nodded.
"It seems like she was being blackmailed or threatened by someone based on the notes the killer left, assuming the note on the table was from the same person who murdered her," I said. He nodded. “The blood note was ominous,” he said.
“I agree. It must be someone who knows her or has a lot of hate and anger for her. Otherwise, they would not have written the note,” I started. I then paused and thought for a moment. Something about the crime scene seemed strange to me.
“How do you think she died?” I asked.
“Didn’t you see all the stab wounds? Obviously someone stabbed her. Several times too,” Hunter said. I nodded carefully. That was my first thought too. However…
“Mhh. Did you notice anything strange about the blood and body while you were examining it?” I asked.
“No. Should I have?”
“The blood had started to separate, indicating she’d been dead for several hours. The murder probably occurred last night or early this morning. It certainly looked like she died from the knife wounds, but I’m honestly not sure,” I said. I could tell my voice was more hesitant on the last few words. Hunter gave me a questioning look, then I continued.
“Do you remember the Uptown Murder case we recently closed?” I asked. Hunter nodded.
“Yes, where the garbage man was stabbing people at night,” he said. I pressed my lips together.
“Yes, that one. Do you remember what the bodies looked like?” I asked. He thought for a moment, furrowing his brow. I could tell when he understood what I was getting at because his face lit up.
“Oh. Oh! They were sprawled and looked like they were in pain. It must’ve hurt,” he said.
“Right. Their stab wounds were twisted and strange shapes. The wounds on Josephine, however, were straighter, like they occurred after her death instead of causing it, and the blood was already clotting when they occurred. I believe someone was trying to hide the true cause of death, “ I said. Hunter looked thoughtful for a moment.
“What killed her, then?” he asked. I shrugged.
“I don’t know yet. For now, let’s investigate and ask about the knife to reduce suspicion,” I said. I peeled off the plastic outfit and deposited it into a trash bag to save for later. I then turned back in the direction of Hunter and I’s room, making a mental note of what items I needed to restock.
~~~~
Having dropped off the evidence collected from the Crime Scene and starting a report, it was time to turn our attention to the suspect’s rooms. Up first was Alexander’s room, as it was the closest room to the crime scene. I pushed the door open, not knowing what to expect.
The first thing I noticed when I entered was the relative messiness of the bed compared to the rest of the room. While the bed was unkempt with blankets strewn about and sloughing off of the bed, everything else had its own place. There were several suit jackets hung on the coat rack, neatly placed without a wrinkle. Alex’s suitcase was sitting closed next to the chair in the corner. The small table near his window looked in pristine condition, although, unlike our room and Josephine’s room, the blinds were open. I stared for a moment as the hilly green scenery rolled by.
His room had the same layout as ours. The bed was in the same space, as were the chairs, table, and couch. Similar to Josephine’s room, Hunter pulled out his camera and started taking photos as we entered. I walked over to Alex’s bed first to start my examination. He had clearly made this space his own. There was a small photograph in a stained wooden frame next to his bed. In front of it was an alarm clock, its bright red numbers proudly declaring it was 8:26 AM. I picked up the photo frame and carefully turned it around. The photo featured a young man who I assumed was Alex standing with a beautiful lady and a small child. The back of the photo had a small note saying “My wonderful family!” and a small key taped to the back of the support. I took the key.
An examination of his bed yielded nothing, but his clothes were far more interesting. I pulled his suits off of the coat rack and carefully checked the pockets of each. I found a few sticks of peppermint-scented gum and gum wrappers. One of his breast pockets had a white handkerchief. He had several business cards stashed in his pockets. I took them out and slowly flipped through them, finding they all contained the same information.
“Alexander Pearce
CFO for Defiant Door Studios
Telephone: 329-248-4528
Mobile Phone: 329-324-7403
4282 Main Street, Coalaudy, Zugspele
AlexanderPearce@ddfmail.com”
I suppose it never hurts to have your cards on hand. I walked over to the table. Although the window had been opened, the table was largely untouched, save for a book Alex had set there. It was called “The 8-Step Process: How to climb the ladder and become the CEO of your current company.” Interesting. I turned my attention to the last piece of his room: His suitcase.
I wasn’t surprised that, when I unzipped his suitcase, everything was neatly folded and packed together. I had Hunter take a photograph of each layer before I removed it, searching each item for any clues, then repeating the process with the next. The book on the table was not the only one he had packed. I ran across several more books while going through his belongings, all of which related to running companies or becoming a CEO. His travel bag turned out normal- There was a small towel in it with some dried blood that gave me a shock for a moment before I examined his razor and found a small blood droplet on it as well. While it was likely a shaving injury, I still took samples of both blood spots. I would check them later to see if they matched or if they belonged to another person, like Josephine.
I was unpacking and checking the pockets of a pair of jeans I had pulled out when I ran across another business card. This one, however, was different. It was almost the same, but there was one difference.
“Alexander Pearce
CEO for Defiant Door Studios
Telephone: 329-248-4528
Mobile Phone: 329-324-7403
4282 Main Street, Coalaudy, Zugspele
AlexanderPearce@ddfmail.com”
CEO? That’s different. Was he the one who murdered Josephine so he could secure a higher position within the company? I took the unique business card and put it in an evidence bag with one of the previous cards I had found. The search through the rest of his room was uneventful, yielding no bloody knife or clues indicating he had stabbed someone. The most interesting item we came across after that was a mobile gaming device with several game cartridges nearby, including the Blades of Miracles game he had mentioned at dinner yesterday. When I had finished my investigation, I turned to Hunter and asked, “Ready?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding. He looked at the photo. “I hope it’s not him. I don’t want his kid to lose a parent.”
“I hope so too, but one can never know,” I said. I tucked the evidence away, then we stepped out into the train hallway and advanced one door. This one was labeled “Dominic.” I put my hand on the door handle, then turned it and slowly opened the room.
“This is…” Hunter started.
“Yeah,” I finished. Dominic’s room was a mess. I wondered if he had just taken his suitcase and emptied it on the floor, then threw clothes around. The chairs were still at the table, but they were adorned with pairs of pants. I just looked at Hunter with a blank look. This would be fun.
“Where do we even begin?” I asked, feeling rather hopeless at the large task in front of us.
“The start,” Hunter said. I gave him a pointed look, then sighed.
“Yes, of course. We begin at the start,” I said, rolling my eyes. I then sighed.
“I’ll start with the bed. You start with the suitcase,” I said, heading that direction. I didn’t have to take his sheets off the bed like I did with Alex because the sheets were all over the place. I was not expecting to find a handheld gaming console where the pillows usually are. It was plugged into a nearby outlet and was still turned on. I tapped the controls and saw it had a “current run” time. What? How has he been gaming for a solid 7 hours? I made a note of that in my notebook.
There was nothing of note in the bed, although there was a stack of books on the nightstand nearby, featuring titles like “Home Remedies: A Guide to Medicinal Plants,” “Frogs of the Rainforest,” and “Water Hemlock, Nightshade, and Foxglove: Beautiful but Deadly.” Is he into homeopathy and natural remedies? Interesting. I picked up the books and briefly flipped through them, skimming the pages. There’s a lot of overlap between medicinal plants and toxic ones. I wonder how people determined what a ‘safe’ amount of exposure was. I thought about it for a moment more, then shuddered. On second thought, I don’t want to know.
I turned around. Hunter had started organizing Dominic’s belongings into several piles, although he wasn’t being neat about it. There was a loose pile of clothes over on the chair in the corner and scattered books, papers, and computer peripherals on the floor. Unsurprisingly, Dominic had brought his laptop, a monitor, a computer mouse, and charging cords with him. Makes sense he would bring what he needs to game.
The rest of the books he had brought focused on amphibians, reptiles, plants, and how to properly take care of them, or focused on video game theory. He seems very passionate about nature. Sure enough, when I examined the table by the window, I found it was the one space left clear. There was a small pair of scissors next to the vase and an elegant pile of dead leaves and dying flower heads next to the vase. There was a small cup of water sitting next to it. Like our room, the curtains were shut.
I turned my attention to the pile of clothes. It was an amalgamation of dress clothes and casual wear. The white pants he had worn yesterday were crumpled up and thrown into the corner. There was a pair of black pants that had some sort of liquid dripped on them. I tried to take a sniff but only smelled an overwhelming scent of herbs and cologne. I still tried to take a sample of it. Like with Alex’s clothes, I made sure to check the pockets on everything, but I wasn’t able to find any additional potential evidence hidden in his clothes.
“They’ve been friends for a while,” Hunter said, passing a book to me. I took the book and opened it to the page Hunter had marked. It was an old high school yearbook with him and Josephine in it. As I flipped through the pages, they appeared together fairly often. They would be playing games or attending sport events with the same group of people. Josephine had signed his book “I’ll kick your ass in games anytime!”.
“They did seem very friendly with each other,” I said. I made a note of the yearbook and my findings, then tucked it back with Dominic’s belongings. Once Hunter and I were satisfied we had found all the evidence we could access for now, we exited Dominic’s room.
“He had a lot of books with him,” Hunter said.
“Yes. He seems very passionate about nature given his books and the care he showed the flowers in his room,” I said. I shut his door behind us.
“Ready to see what secrets the final room has?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been friends with a Brady and he was nice. I don't think this one’ll have much to hide” Hunter said. I took a step back and let him grab the doorknob and push open the final door in the car we hadn’t been in, Brady’s room. Like the other three rooms on this car, it had the same layout. Unlike the other three rooms on the car, it also had…
“Did the other Brady you know own an extensive knife collection,” I asked. Hunter shook his head.
“No. He had a lot of cute cats. Ooh what if the knives are secretly cats? That would be cool, Casey!” he said, excitedly. I rolled my eyes.
“Knives are not cats,” I said. Hunter sighed.
“One can hope,” he said. We walked into the room, keeping a careful eye on the knives. I didn’t want to trip and inadvertently become the second death of what was supposed to be a peaceful train ride. When Hunter and I had safely made it inside, I closed the door.
“I hope no one runs across this room and panics upon seeing all the knives,” I said. I motioned for Hunter to start photographing the room. Surprisingly, asides from the knives, it was the most normal and well-kept room. His curtains were open and the bed was made. There was a laptop sitting on the table in front of the window and a cup of coffee next to it. His suitcase was closed in the corner and there weren’t any areas that stuck out as being explicitly messy. Why does the crazy one have to be the most organized one? I sighed, then started to investigate his knife collection.
“Why on earth would you bring a knife collection on a company trip with you?” I asked. Hunter shrugged.
“Late night snacks? Speaking of which…when’s lunchtime?” he asked. I spun around.
“We are trying to figure out who murdered someone and you’re worried about lunchtime?” I said. He apologetically shrugged, saying, “I’m hungry.”
I can’t believe him. How on earth did he get into this line of work anyway? I focused back on the knives. I took a pair of gloves out of my briefcase and put them on before carefully picking up and examining the knives. For all my concerns about why he brought not one, but several knives, onto a train, I couldn’t overlook their beauty. There was a knife with a carved wooden handle with patterns etched onto its handle. One of the knives was made of jade. There were small brown circles on the blade. Upon closer investigation, they were part of the stone. Another had a beautiful curved tip. Any of these knives could be the one Josephine was stabbed with. I knew for a fact, however, the final knife was not used in the murder. For all that is good in the world, why on earth would you bring a fucking MEAT CLEAVER on vacation with you?
I shook my head in disbelief, walking away from Brady’s insanity. I carefully examined his bed, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Oops, I should make mine when I get back to our room. His pillows were aligned nicely. I tried to remake it to the best of my ability, but in my mind, it looked messier than it did before I investigated it. The only thing on his nightstand was a notepad with several pages torn out of it. I could see the indentations from where he had written messages, but wasn’t able to decipher what they meant. There was a piece of torn paper underneath it, but I couldn’t make out enough of it to determine what was said.
His laptop was a high-end top of the line gaming laptop. It looked very sleek and was very nice. It was locked behind a password, though, and I was not very good at hacking. I left the computer’s contents a mystery. Hunter had been searching through Brady’s suitcase.
“How’s the progress?” I asked.
“I’ve found clothes and toiletries, but nothing else,” he said. Strange. It’s interesting that Brady would be the most organized. I guess his focus lends to his clear vision for the company? I was preparing to leave the room after a largely mundane room search when a small piece of paper caught my eye.
“What’s that?” I asked, leaning down and picking up the paper hiding under his couch. I unfolded it and started reading.
“Defiant Door Studios,
Your game sucks. The mechanics are slow and outdated. The graphics are so bad even a potato could run it. You should stop making games and use your time for something better instead of marketing games that no one likes, like learning how to make actual good games.”
Lovely. I suppose his hatred and outburst at dinner last night wasn’t a one time thing. I showed it to Hunter.
“What do you think? Is he as nice as the other Brady you know?” I asked.
“No. I was hoping he would be. I like the other Brady,” he said.
“We’ll have to agree to disagree, then. I have never met a Brady I liked,” I said.
“I’ll introduce you when we get back,” he said. I knew I wasn’t going to win this argument, so I simply said, “Fine.”
We left the room then moved one door down and returned to our own. I laid out all of the evidence Hunter and I had collected on our bed, then pulled out my notebook and sat down to go over our investigations.
“Let’s start with evidence collected from the crime scene,” I said, reshuffling the items and pulling out the vials of her blood, the mysterious liquid on the table, and the note. Hunter opened his saved photos and pulled up the ones from the crime scene.
“We know for a fact that Josephine died and has been dead for several hours. She was alive last night when we met with her and she was dead this morning. She was killed sometime in that timeframe by an assailant. She was stabbed, although it is unlikely she died from her stab wounds and was likely dead by the time those were inflicted. She had been receiving threats beforehand, but we do not know whether or not the same person who sent those killed her,” I said.
“They wrote a message on the wall too,” Hunter said, opening the photo. We held the photo and the note next to each other, examining the handwriting.
“They look similar,” he said.
“I don’t think we can say for sure whether or not they’re the same person, but it looks that way,” I said. I took a closer look at the bloodstains in the photo. They weren’t very high on the wall or spread out.
“Do you have a photo of the stab wounds?” I asked Hunter. He nodded, switching to a photo that focused on one. I took the camera from him and zoomed in, looking at the skin and clothing around it.
“She was certainly dead before this stab wound. See the color of her skin and the lack of blood? If she was alive when she was stabbed she would have bled more,” I said, pointing at the wound in the photo.
“So we aren’t looking for a knife?” he asked.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to. If we find the knife, we can likely find the culprit. We have enough information to figure out a potential motive for several of them,” I said.
“Asides being a jerk, why would someone want to kill her? She seemed nice,” Hunter said.
“Based on his position within the company, Alex is likely to become the next CEO. He had several books in his room about running a company or climbing the ladder, plus the business card with “CEO” on it. I don’t know of a motive for Dominic yet, but he had all of the books about poison, which is suspicious to bring on a train. Brady had his knife collection with him and we know a knife was used to mark the body. Plus, we know his motive: Given all of the hate messages we saw and what he said, he disagrees with how the company has been led and is trying to make change happen. Finally, Hana stands to gain all of Josephine’s money and possessions,” I said. Hunter gave me a blank look.
“Could you repeat that? I sort of fell asleep as you were talking,” he sheepishly said.
“Alex will probably become the CEO. Dominic has books on poison. Brady has knives and hates the company. Hana will get everything Josephine owns,” I summarized.
“Oh, I see. Why’d you have to use so many words to say that?” Hunter asked.
“There was also the will Josephine had brought with her. I know she was concerned about an attempt on her life, but bringing a will on a vacation seems odd, in the same way that Brady bringing his knife collection does.”
“I guess he really loves knives. Hey, do you think Josephine and Hana love each other?”
“...Hunter, you know they are married, right?”
“They are? I thought they were just good friends!”
“Good friends who live with each other, have the same last name, and share a bed?”
“Well maybe one was sleeping on the couch, I don’t know!” Hunter said, indignantly. I was silent for a moment.
“I’m going to start an analysis on these liquids. While I do that, what do you think of Alex’s room?” I said, walking over to my suitcase and pulling out a small portable liquid testing kit. I pulled out the vials of liquid and the sample of dried blood out of their evidence bags, then started a quick analysis on them to see if there were any shared substances across the three. Once I had that set, I turned my attention back to Hunter.
“He seems nice. He has a kid. I hope it’s not him,” he said.
“Agreed. He seems to care a lot about Joseph given the note on the photo. I do not know what the key on the photo frame is for. Given all of the books, though, it’s clear that work is often on his mind, although he seems to have time for fun like the gaming console as well,” I said.
“Do you think he was playing games with Dominic? They were talking about that one game yesterday,” he said.
“It’s possible. We will have to ask them,” I said, “Speaking of which, it’s about time we go and ask them some questions..."