Page 41 of Noel Secrets

Or was there something she had missed?

She wanted off this train. Outside, snow blurred the window, but they were stopped in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Inside, silence pressed like another death. No one was safe, on or off.

The door rattled. Jayda jumped to her feet, wiping her hands on her coat just as the knob turned. The conductor filled thedoorway, his cap dusted white, showing he had been outside. His face paled as he took in Simon sprawled across the bunk.

“My God. So it’s true,” he whispered. “What happened here?”

Jayda fought to keep her voice calm. “He was shot. There’s a killer on board.” She swallowed hard, praying the conductor couldn’t hear the quiver in her words. “You need to call the police.”

He stared at Simon and then warily at Jayda. “We’ll have to radio ahead. You should go back to your cabin, Miss. Everyone will need to be accounted for…the police will need to speak to you.”

Jayda nodded, gripping her coat closed. “His parents are in the next car, in Ginny’s cabin, number 25, I think, if you need them. That’s where they are.”

Her heart hammered so hard she thought he must hear it echoing off the walls. She must look and sound guilty, and maybe she was, even if she didn’t pull the trigger.

As the conductor ushered her from the room, she spotted Simon’s phone behind the open door. Her pulse jumped. If Simon had been sending messages, if he had been playing some dangerous game, then the answers might be right there.

She followed the conductor out and returned to her room.

“Go on,” he said firmly. “The authorities will take it from here.”

Jayda nodded but waited until she heard him rush out of the car and into the next before she stepped back into the corridor. In her wallet was Simon’s extra keycard from the day he had slipped it to her, though she never planned to use it. He had just been suave Simon being Simon, having no idea she was in trouble.

Or had he?

Jayda needed to find out. She removed the card from her wallet, never thinking she’d need it to break into his room because he was dead.

His door lock clicked over, and she rushed into the room. Quickly, she bent and reached behind the door, slipping the phone into her pocket with one smooth movement and backed out in seconds.

Her breath caught when she heard the train car door slide open. She leaned against the wall, her fingers clutching the stolen phone as if it were a live grenade. Two men talked about the police being called and about checking every room while Jayda slunk back to her cabin and slipped inside. The train began to move again, almost knocking her over.

“The Denver police will take it from there,” one man said as they passed her room.

With the door locked and the shades drawn, her hands shook as she swiped the screen, remembering when Simon had input his code at breakfast one morning. She opened his texts—one thread caught her eye—short, sharp exchanges with someone saved only as “A.”

A:Don’t lose them.

Simon:They trust me.

A:Trust is temporary. Deliver the girl. Now.

Her stomach dropped.

Deliver the girl?

Simon:I want out.

A:Too late. You’ve already been paid.

Jayda pressed her palm over her mouth to keep from crying out. That girl was her. Simon hadn’t been protecting her—he’d been playing a dangerous and traitorous game. Maybe he regretted it in the end, and that’s why they killed him? Or maybe he didn’t know who he was messing with, but the truth staredright at her. All his ploys and flirtations had been calculated. His reason for being on this train had nothing to do with family.

Her hands trembled as she scrolled down, sinking her heart further, cutting her deeper.

S:Train stop in Chicago. Second payment ready IF you deliver her to me. Otherwise…

The betrayal was complete, the weight of it crushing. Simon’s kindness, his cryptic help—it had all been part of a bargain. Maybe he’d turned at the last second. Maybe that’s why he was dead. But it didn’t matter now.

She shoved the phone into her coat pocket and sat heavily on the bunk. For a moment, fear suffocated her. If Simon had been ready to hand her over, then who was waiting to collect? The hitman? Was he on this train now? How many men were on this train, hunting her down, waiting for the moment she showed herself? All for the documents they thought would lead them to Veronica but wouldn’t.