Reasoner carried a round of drinks from the bar in the club car to the table.
"On me, ladies. A thank you for saving my life."
He set the tray on the table.
"It's not the first time Alicia has managed a miracle." Carol Ann sipped her Gin Fizzy.
Alicia looked up from her Traverse City Cherry Cocktail. "Mr. Reasoner. isn't interested in that story."
Reasoner slid into the seat. "Mr. Reasoner has got a thirty-minute train ride into the city. He's very interested and his name is Art." He took a drink of his beer. "Who else have you saved?"
Alicia stared into the dark burgundy liquor in her glass. She dipped the fresh black cherry in her drink.
"If you don't tell it, I will," Carol Ann said.
"Fine. I'll tell it."
The story rolled with the ease of the train.
"A few months ago I was in the city doing some shopping. I spent most of the day in Midtown but as the afternoon wore on I decided to have dinner in Riverburrough. Maybe I had one too many hard black cheery ice teas with my meal. When I left, I was feeling adventurous. I stopped at a place called the Mystic Candle. I don't know. I guess I thought it was one of those designer candle boutiques."
"It wasn't," Carol Ann said.
Alicia smiled at her friend. It was a warning. "Who's telling the story?"
"Sorry." Carol Ann took a drink of her Gin Fizzy.
Alicia continued.
"It wasn't a candle shop. "
"I didn't think so," said Reasoner.
"The Mystic Candle was the fortune-telling shop of some old lady. She sat at a table staring at a globe-shaped candle until I walked through her door. She looked up at me and said, 'You're back.' "
"Back?" Reasoner said. "Had you been there before?""
"Never. I told her that and she smiled. Told me her name was Eudora Lamb but said to call her Miss Eudora. She asked me to take a seat so she could read me. I was going to, but I caught a glimpse of a face in an antique mirror over the table. I saw myself, but I also saw this other woman standing behind me. I turned around but there was no one there."
"Who was it?"
Alicia shook her head. "I can't really explain it. I just kind of recognized her, like the way I recognized that old guy sitting next to you at the diner. I just pick up on their names."
"Recognizing strangers," Carol Ann said. "Did you ever hear of such a thing, Mr. Reasoner?"
"I'm learning a lot on this trip, Miss Brown." Reasoner looked at Alicia. "Please continue."
"Miss Eudora asked me what I saw. I told her I saw a troubled woman asking me for help. The old lady, that is, Miss Eudora said I had the gift and. I should help the woman. I laughed it off and left the shop. I figured it was just some smoke-in-the-mirror trick. I didn't think anything of it until I saw the woman's picture in the Port Pinnebog News."
"Who was the woman?"
"Agatha Kitchner. By then I couldn't do anything to help her. She was already in jail. After that, I swore to help anyone I saw in one of my episodes."
"So who else did you rescue?"
"The first one was Mildred Rouse. She was in a party of four that came into the diner. Her husband, Oscar, was having an affair with his business partner's wife, Judith. I waited until Mildred was alone at the table to say anything. When the other couple got up to dance and Mildred's husband went to the restroom, I shot over to her and told her what I knew. Mildred didn't believe me so I made it sound like I'd seen Oscar and Judith catching a train to Kalkaska instead of saying I had a premonition."
"Did she believe you then?"
"Well, she must have because next thing I know is there is a loud slap. Diner went silent, didn't it, Carol Ann?"
Carol Ann nodded. "Silent."
"Mildred Rouse marched to the door. She stopped, looked at me, and said, 'You were right about Kalkaska!' I thought I had made that part up but it turns out Oscar had a hunting cabin there where he would take Judith and other women."
A conductor walked through the club car announcing the next three stops. "Riverburrough, Midtown, the Ore Flats next three stops."
Carol Ann finished her Gin Fizzy. "That's our stop."
"Which one?" Reasoner asked.
"We're going to a private, velvet-rope party at the Swann Club in Midtown."
Reasoner smiled. "How'd you like a date?"
"What makes you think we don't have ones already?" Carol Ann asked. "Maybe we're meeting them there."
"We're not," Alicia said. "Mr. Reasoner knows that."
The train lurched forward as it slowed to a stop. Alicia bumped into Reasoner, looked up at him with her soulful brown eyes.
"You knew I was going to be your date all along, didn't you?" Reasoner asked.
A ghost of a smile slipped over her face. "Maybe."
"Then you know we have to make a stop first."
Alicia sighed. "If we have too."
"I'm afraid we do."
"I knew you were going to say that."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I tested the waters once more with the AI prose generator for descriptions of the Mystic Flame, some backstory on Alicia and Miss Eudora. All I used was 'help the lady'. The description was flat. The dialogue between the two not revealing enough.
Originally I was going to have just Alicia on the train with Reasoner but Carol Ann appeared in the picture so I sent her on the journey. I like the dynamic between the two colleagues.
I'm trying to make sure I don't wander off onto tangents. Anything I bring up I want to harken back to the story of Phyllis Norton's disappearance.
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