235 A Murder on the Train

Milan flashed his badge and spoke firmly and loudly.

Seeing the man's official badge, the crowd made way for him, including the other man in the business attire. The shocked expression on his face was still apparent, and his hands were clearly shaking.

"Ma'am, can you come with me? Your husband asked me to move you to another seat," Graham said to Millan's wife. The man had asked him a favor to get his family away from the scene, although he couldn't move them to a different car completely because they were still suspects.

"Mama, why people here? Is a clown?" the little boy spoke curiously, his speech was still rather incoherent.

The wife was staring at her husband, looking for his approval first. The man, busy examining the body of the person in the business attire, finally looked at her and gave a nod.

"Alright. Let's go, dear," she held her son's little hand and walked with him to the front of the car after Graham cleared the way for her. They were now sitting on row B, just right behind the seats of two of the group of university students and next to the old couple.

"Please wait here until things are cleared, Ma'am," requested Graham politely. He then smiled at the little boy who was blowing bubbles at him.

"Thank you, we will," she replied and then nodded.

It seemed that she was used to this kind of thing because of her husband's occupation.

Walking down the aisle, Graham stopped at his seat and looked at his neighbor who was still fast asleep. His snoring was audible, although it was overpowered by the chattering of the crowd gathering near the body.

"Wake up!" said Graham with a nudge at the young man's shoulder.

Only after shaking Luuk's body several more times did his neighbor wake up. Luuk looked around in confusion as he yawned widely.

"Are we there yet?"

Graham shook his head.

"No. Someone's been murdered, and I suspect this is a Contractbound's doing. But there's a Police officer here, so we can leave it to him probably," he explained, "Now can you get a train attendant or the conductor to come here?"

Luuk nodded and lazily got up from the chair. He was still yawning all the way while walking down the aisle toward the car in front of theirs.

The train kept on speeding up past several more grasslands. There was a long bridge with valleys on the left side, while the right side was covered by a tall cliff. In the valley, the sunbeams were shining from the top, illuminating the blue river below and the rocky surroundings. Brown leaves were floating on the river like fish playing, joyfully going down with the streams.

"It's a shame that our beautiful trip is ruined by this accident. Let's just find what happened quickly and be done with it, Val," Graham complained as he looked out the window.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

"Are you the conductor?" asked Milan van Dijk, who gave the man a look after examining the body. He had put on a pair of gloves at some point.

"Yes, Sir. I heard you are an officer. How can I assist you?" replied the conductor formally. There was a hint of surprise when he saw the breathless man sitting on the seat, but he quickly controlled his expression.

"Please manage the people in this car. No one is allowed to leave until we find the culprit, no exception. I will ask questions to everyone later, so make sure they are sitting on their own assigned seats. I will need their identities as well. Also, make a report so that we can get the body down in the next station. Hopefully, we can also find the culprit before then," Milan explain professionally.

"Yes, sir. Is there anything else you want me to do?" asked the conductor.

"I'll let you know if there is," replied Milan, and then went back to examining the body.

After that, the conductor asked the other passengers to return to their own seats politely, although there was some hint of authoritativeness in his voice that made the people comply. Only the man in the business attire was seated somewhere else since his spot was needed for Milan to investigate, and his family who he had moved farther away as not to disturb the child.

"What's the cause of death?" asked Graham, standing on the aisle next with the letter I on the wall above the seats. He was observing the lifeless man sitting on the window seat in front of him.

The dead man was wearing a brown suit and a pair of brown cotton pants that looked expensive. On his hand was a small briefcase that didn't look like it had been opened recently. He looked to be in his mid to late thirties, seeing from the complexion on his face. The dead man's expression was that of shock, his eyes and mouth wide open as if he had just seen something horrific. It reminded Graham of the victim of Pravitatem, although not as extreme.

"My initial guess is heart failure. However, I don't know what might have caused it. It certainly doesn't look natural, that's why I didn't rule out the existence of a murderer. But how the culprit did it, I don't know," Milan explained shortly. He didn't seem to want to get into the detail of his reasoning yet, but Graham was sure it was not the man's first supernatural case.

"How can I help?" offered Graham.

Milan looked at the detective warmly and then replied, "You can come with me for the questioning and take notes. I'm sure as a detective that kind of thing is easy for you to do. But for now, I still want to examine this body and its surroundings. Tell the conductor to make sure no one comes near."

"Sure thing. Just come find me on row G if you need me," Graham said.

After telling the conductor Milan's instruction, Graham returned to his own seat, his neighbor already waiting for him.

"Was he really murdered?" he asked curiously.

"Most likely, and it looks like a curse or something. Let's switch seats and cover me,"

Graham, who was now seating by the window, had Luuk sit in such a manner that his body obstructed vision from the outside. That way, no one would see the illusory flame he would conjure. After that, he created the flame low enough in order for the train seats to naturally cover it as well.

Concentrating on the flame, he began asking the question.

'What killed the man in the business attire?'

An image gradually appeared from inside the flame, and looking at it made people feel like they were looking at a giant movie screen. That was why Luuk avoided the divination flame because he needed to keep watch.

The image in front of him showed Graham the event that had transpired.

It was the scene from when he was outside talking with the Police officer. Inside the train, one of the two intimidating women stood up and went to the toilet that was at the front of the car, walking all the way down the aisle. It struck Graham as strange because there was another toilet right behind her seat.

Graham's attention was then caught by something that appeared on top of the dead man, who was still alive at that time. It looked like a green apparition that no one else could see, seeing that no one reacted to something that apparent. Its body was see-through like an illusion and its arms were long with sharp claws at the end. The apparition's head was blurred beyond recognition, just like Graham's early day divination but much worse.

The apparition was hovering over the man for several seconds before finally, it descended and stood face to face with him. It then stretched its right hand and pierced through the man's chest, seemingly grabbing his heart directly. A second later, the man let out a cry that Graham couldn't hear, and then his expression became the one that was immortalized in his death. The apparition disappeared after that, along with the image from his divination.

"Val, our conjecture has been proven correct. So that's how a curse looks visually. That might mean someone with a vision for that kind of thing can avoid being cursed technically, right?" he muttered quietly and then looked around.

Luuk seemed to no longer pay attention to the detective's muttering now.

There was still no one around him, and Milan hadn't come looking for Graham, so he continued on with his divination.

'Is the killer of the man sitting here in this car with us?'

The flame flared and showed him a piece of paper being burned. The flame consumed the paper fully and quickly, indicating a positive response to his question. The killer was indeed there.

Since he was dealing with a Demise, he didn't know if it was wise to use divination directly on the person. However, he then remembered that his illusory flame was, in fact, illusory, so even if it flared up and exploded, he would be uninjured. He just needed to beware of another kind of Divination Curse that he wasn't aware of.

'Who is the person who killed the man?'

The illusory flame in front of him burned violently, as he expected. After that, it exploded in a blaze, which surprised even Luuk. Luckily, they weren't hurt by the illusory flame that Graham quickly got rid of, and no one seemed to have noticed anything thanks to the cover by his neighbor.

"What just happened?" he asked while looking around, making sure the situation is under control.

"We are up against a Demise, so I can't use divination against them," Graham replied.

"So they are here in this car with us?" asked Luuk, looking seriously at Graham.

The detective nodded.

"The most suspicious one is that rich woman with her large bag. A Demise needs an altar to do their cursing ritual-- except for that woman Fear from Pale Society. She seemed to be able to do curses without an altar just fine for some reason," Graham explained, remembering the past event when they were fighting against Fright and Fear.

"So what are you going to do? There is a Police officer here, right? But if he is just a normal human, he won't be able to do anything," Luuk asked.

"Yes, but we have to find the real culprit first before taking action. Divination doesn't work, so we have to go with the old-school method," Graham said meaningfully.

"What method? Interrogating them all one by one?" asked Luuk curiously.

"That too, but I am worried about those two women at the back. There is something off about them. On top of that, one of them went to the toilet at the front before, instead of the one behind them. That is certainly another point we need to consider. They might even be Contractbounds as well, so we have to be careful. We don't want any meaningless fight."

Luuk nodded.

"Then I'll go check the toilet. There might be something inside there that we can use as a clue," he said.

"Please do. Meanwhile, I'll take a short nap," Graham said, which didn't garner Luuk's reaction. It seemed to be just an everyday thing to him now.

After getting up, Luuk approached the conductor who was standing in front of the door to the other car to prevent exit.

"May I go to the toilet, please?" he said.

The toilet was placed outside the car, on the platform that connected the car with the one ahead. The exit doors were also located there, on the left and right sides of the platform.

The conductor thought for a few seconds and then nodded. He opened the door for Luuk and stood on the platform door so that Luuk couldn't sneakily leave the car. Although all three doors were closed firmly, the sound of the train engine was louder there compared to the inside of the car.

Meanwhile, Valentine had woken up, replacing Graham. His sense of secret was triggered instantly the moment he became conscious, telling him there had been a curse at play in the car. However, it was very faint as time had passed since the event happened and he couldn't pinpoint where it came from. He just had a vague feeling about it, but it was enough to confirm that the apparition he saw through Graham's divination was indeed a product of a curse.

Valentine felt a chill on his wrist coming from the bracelet he was wearing. He was sometimes jealous of Graham who could wear Gloom's Redress without any negative effect because of that.

"I'll take this off for now," he muttered and took off the bracelet.

After that, he fixed the ring on his left middle finger and got the needle artifact ready, in case he needed to quickly and secretly incapacitate someone. He had previously dipped the needle in the essence made from a paralyzing plant that Luuk had gathered. His neighbor's extensive knowledge of herbs had come in handy once again.

"Mr. Hymes, it's time to do the questioning. Let's start from the kids at the front," Milan said.