Chapter 6

I pressed the start button on the coffee machine as Willie walked into the kitchen.

“Tired?” I asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep well.”

“I kind of figured that. You were tossing and turning a lot.”

“I’m sorry, did I keep you up?”

“No, I slept fine. I could just tell you were moving around a lot.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ellen and Darlene at the Amtrak station.”

“You know it’s going to be almost impossible to figure out the location of the train station she heard in the background,” Willie said. We were both leaning against the counter, watching the coffee brew, and it seemed like it was taking forever.

“I know, but what if it was Darlene? Maybe she purposely didn’t say anything because she wanted the phone to pick up the loudspeaker?”

“Go on,” Willie said after a brief pause.

“You know how in airports and bus stations they make those announcements frequently? I would imagine the train station is the same way. What if Darlene was there, and knowing she couldn’t talk, called her mom’s number to hear the announcements in order to give her some kind of message?”

“And what kind of message would that be?”

“That’s the part I don’t know.” The coffee pot was almost full, so I grabbed two mugs from the cupboard, pouring a healthy amount of caramel macchiato creamer into my cup before filling Willie’s.

“You want some toast?” Willie asked, and I nodded, leaving him to make it while I took a seat at the kitchen table.

“What if somehow she got friendly with some people from Friends First and they were traveling together? Maybe recording the destinations was her way of giving a hint about where she would be going.”

“That would make much more sense if she’d only recorded one destination, but you said she recorded three.”

“Yeah, but they were one right after another, so it would probably be hard to record just one.”

“Then how do you propose figuring out which one of the three destinations she was going to?”

“That I don’t know. Maybe there’s a way to find out how many people got on each of those trains and how many got off at each station. Maybe there could be a correlation?” I suggested.

“I don’t want to burst your bubble, Katy, but I’m sure there are more than four people getting on and off the train in Atlanta, and at each of those destinations. It’s going to be really hard, no, make that impossible to figure out if Darlene was one of those passengers.”

He was right, of course. That was one of the things that had kept me up all night.

“I don’t suppose you thought about calling the ticket agent to find out if Darlene was on one of those trains?”

“The ticket agent isn’t going to give you that information. They can’t.”

“Surely there has to be a way to talk someone into it.”

“You didn’t hear this from me, but sometimes a sad story can tug at someone’s heartstrings and get them to break company policy.”

“So what you’re saying is if I got Ellen to call, we might have a better chance of getting somewhere?”

“I’m not saying anything. I’m just suggesting,” he said, giving me a wink and a kiss. “I’m going to hop in the shower before heading to work. Will you still be here when I get done?”

I had showered and gotten ready right when I woke up. It was the only way to wake me up, even on nights when I did get a good night’s sleep. So I was ready to go.

“No, I’m just going to eat my toast and then head out.”

“Well, stay out of trouble today,” he said, and I nodded before he left the room. I finished the last couple of bites of toast, finished my coffee, grabbed my travel mug from the drying rack where I had washed it out last night, and filled it up before heading to work. I grabbed my phone and checked the calendar. I didn’t have an appointment until 9:30, so I was just going to go in and take some inventory to place an order for shampoo, conditioner, and color. But I could probably find time to do that later today in between appointments and go to Ellen’s right now. I was pretty sure she would have no problem giving an Amtrak ticket agent a sad story to try and convince them to share travel information.

And I was right, because thirty minutes later, I was sitting in Ellen’s kitchen with a blueberry muffin in front of me about the size of my head while she made some notes on what to say when she called.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

“Well, it’s not guaranteed to work, but I figured it was worth a shot.”

“It’s totally worth trying,” she said, dialing the number for Amtrak customer service.

“Hello, my name is Ellen Whitlock, and I was hoping you could help me with something. My daughter has been living her best life and traveling for the last nine months or so, and she missed our last couple of scheduled calls. I’m worried.”

We figured honesty was the best policy, and the story didn’t need to be embellished to pull at someone’s heartstrings. We thought it probably wasn’t best to say we thought she had been kidnapped, because that would automatically tell them the police were involved, or should be, which might make them less likely to help us out.

“I took notes of her itinerary, but she changed it a few times. I know she was in Atlanta the last time I talked to her and was going to go to one of three locations. I was wondering if you could tell me which train she got on so that I can try to meet her and make sure she’s okay.”

There were a few seconds where Ellen didn’t say anything and just looked at me. Someone was talking on the phone, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying.

“I understand. And I know you’re just doing your job. Do you have kids?” Ellen said. The woman must have said yes, because Ellen continued, “Then you’ll understand. Even though my daughter is an adult, moms never stop worrying.”

I looked at her expectantly, and she shrugged, which told me it wasn’t an immediate yes, I’ll help you, but she hadn’t hung up yet, so that was a good sign.

“I understand. I totally get that. All right, well, thank you, and you have a good day.”

“I take it she didn’t give you the information?” Not that I had my hopes up too high, but I was really hoping there would be some luck with us and whoever answered Ellen’s call would be willing to help.

“Not directly, but if I read between the lines of what she said, then my guess is Darlene is headed to Chicago.”

My brow furrowed. “So she didn’t tell you where Darlene was going, but she gave you a clue?”

“I’m pretty sure. She said she could confirm that the passenger in question was on an Amtrak train, and then she asked me if I was a baseball fan.”

“A baseball fan? What does that have to do with anything?”

“When I called, one of those ‘you’re on a recorded line for training purposes’ messages came up, so I think she was being extra careful to make sure she was toeing the line while trying to help me at the same time. She mentioned the Cubs and how well they’re doing.”

“She was talking about baseball? How is that a clue?”

“Because the two other cities the train is going to have baseball teams, and all doing well. The Cubs are having a horrible season. Lucky I follow baseball.”

“Oh, so you think she was trying to emphasize that Darlene was on the train headed to Chicago?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. She told me without telling me,” Ellen said.

This was actually some good evidence to go on. When I had done my research yesterday, the train was getting into Chicago today at noon. If I left right now, I’d be a few minutes late, but I might be able to spot her getting off the train. I immediately called Jared. I needed a partner for this.