Page 54 of Death on a Scottish Train

“Any news about the murder?” Angie whispered so the driver didn’t hear.

I shook my head. “Nothing definitive. One thing I wanted to run by you all is did any of you see the victim with a server at the train party? The person wore one of those Scottish hats that has the pom-pom on top.”

They shook their heads.

“Why? Do you think one of the volunteers killed him?” Mara asked. “That’s terrible. I have the list of servers if you need it. Well, I already gave it to Ewan.”

“I spoke with him, and he and his team are following up,” I said. “I only wondered if one of you might have seen the face. The person who told me about the food server outfit only saw them from the back. And if it was our killer, there is a chance they borrowed the outfit for the night.”

“The ones who wore those outfits came from the catering company,” Mara said. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t responsible for checking them in, as they were part of the vendors. I only checked in volunteers and guests.”

“So, someone could have snuck in without you knowing?”

She nodded. “And if that person never made it on the train, I wouldn’t know,” she said. “They could have gone onto the platform but taken one of the paths into the forest behind the station.”

I hadn’t thought of that. I’d been thinking the killer would have to go back through the front entrance. But the platform behind the station had steps on each side with paths going in different directions. That waypeople exiting the train didn’t necessarily have go back through the building.

That was how the murderer could have escaped. I wondered if Ewan had considered the same thing. Most likely he had. When I texted him earlier, he said he would meet us at the art fair.

And yes, he’d been joining our crime television nights. He sometimes made fun of the procedural elements on a few of the shows, and I’d learned a great deal from him when he explained what was proper.

“I’m surprised you don’t have a booth for your pâtisserie,” I said to Jasper.

He laughed. “I needed my nights off. I’ve been baking twenty-four/seven the last few days to keep up with the demand of the festival. Even with help, we’ve been exhausted.”

Jasper’s business had grown so much in the past year, I wasn’t surprised. Everything he made was delicious.

“I hear you,” Mara said. “I’m ready for summer to be over. Though, our summer help will be headed off to university. We have such a strong crew, and they are like family. I mean, who works for free at that age? They all volunteered to help out on the train that night as different characters.”

I snapped my fingers. “Maybe, we could ask them if they noticed anything strange that night.”

Mara laughed. “I kind of did already, and they didn’t remember anything out of the ordinary. But now that we know the person might have been dressed in one of the server uniforms, we can ask. Come by tomorrow before dinner service.”

“I’ll do that.”

The van pulled up to the huge stone library on the edge of town. The fair was in a large field behind the building where several booths had been set up.

“It’s loud,” Tommy said softly.

Abigail reached into her bag and pulled out his noise-cancelling headphones. He was sensitive to sounds and too many people. They would be sticking to the outskirts, except for the small Ferris wheel inthe center of a small carnival. I’d drawn the straw for riding it with him as his sister was not a fan of heights. It was her brother’s favorite thing at the carnival.

“Come find me when he’s ready,” I said. “I’m going to look at some of the art.”

“He’ll want to play games for a minute and throw all my money away.” She laughed.

“You love those games just as much as he does,” I said, smiling.

“Aye.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jasper said to Abigail. “Can we start with the ring toss?”

Tommy made a thumbs up.

I laughed.

“I need to find some new art for the pub,” Mara said.

“Let’s hit that first row,” I said looking out over the colorful booths.