“ Something is amiss, Miss,” said Missus Mister.“ Look at these corpses. Does anything seem strange to you?”
As I had not yet had the grave misfortune of having seen too many corpses to tell if something seemed off, I did not quite know how to answer, and so I just stood with a look which must have fallen somewhere between horrified and dumbfounded.
“ I object... faintly …,” I began, my throat catching,“ to two ladies observing corpses alone in the middle of the night. Yet other than that, I cannot say with any authority that I see anything out of the ordinary. They look like plain corpses, ready for burial. Very plain.”
Missus Mister nodded, then continued gravely,“ When we arrived, I made my customary rounds. I dare not set foot near the dead without making sure...”( Here, she gave me a solemn and knowing glance.)“ As is my custom. Therefore, as I looked upon these loved ones stacked neatly in a row, I noticed that they were indeed being buried with their usual wedding bands, favorite jewelry, etc. But look at them now.”
I observed the corpses nearest me with some slight hesitation, and indeed, as she said, there was a line on one of the fingers where a ring had been removed. I also noticed that there was a coffin missing towards the back, but perhaps death trains don ' t wait for a fully booked trip before heading for burial? Putting bodies in seats seems a nasty trick!
“ Do you think,” I asked, slowly turning my head away from the body,“ that someone on the train has been robbing these poor people ' s graves before they ' ve even been laid to rest?”
“ I have been keeping a keen eye on the goings-on of this train. It is my duty to keep the dead, dead. And I swear to you, not a single living soul has entered or exited this car since we departed the station. You are a keen girl of some sense, and the only one of us awake. Will you help