INSTALLMENT 1

April 7th, 1940

I

Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock was sitting in her cab that was taking her to the station to quickly board the Venice-Simplon Orient Express leaving for Switzerland. Mrs. Peacock did not want to leave France, but didn’t have a choice. The British Embassy was insisting that she and her household leave immediately, but the thought of living in Britain again didn’t agree with Mrs. Peacock. If the Germans could invade France, England would be just as easy. Better to flee to a country where nobody knows you and is safe from danger of invasion. So, Mrs. Peacock had packed her bags and was leaving by the first available train to Switzerland. It was her luck to find herself traveling on the world-famous Orient Express.

II

Vivienne Scarlet had the same idea. After being panned by British critics, Vivien was offered a job in a French musical. Eager to get to a place where she didn’t have a reputation of bad acting following her around, Vivien relocated to Paris in October 1939. Unfortunately for Scarlet, the show she was in flopped and she had to look for a job. Finally, she found work as a waitress in a picturesque café, but war broke loose and a German invasion of France was imminent. The Embassy had ordered that she leave France, and with a bad reputation waiting for her back in England, Switzerland seemed a beautiful alternative. Since she was a fashionable girl, she decided to get to Switzerland in fashion and travel on the Venice-Simplon Orient Express.

III

Jonathan Green was in a hurry to get to the train. He wanted to be securely on his way before the Germans found out he was leaving. In France on a “business trip” and Switzerland being the next place he was told to go by his “employers”, Green jumped at the chance to ride on the world-famous Venice-Simplon Orient Express when he heard its route would take him to Switzerland. His problems were now over. He was safely in his compartment.

IV

Professor Plum quickly hopped on board the sleeping car with his one suitcase. He darted for his compartment and slammed the door. He locked it and chained it. He then moved to the window and locked it as well. He then pulled the shade down, flung his suitcase on the luggage rack and sat on the sofa.

“I’m safe now,” he thought. “They can’t get at me now.”

V

Mrs. Blanche White stepped inside her compartment.

“Yes, this will be quite suitable,” she thought. “How nice that I finally have a room of my own.” Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when a lady tumbled in through the door. A most undignified lady in Mrs. White’s opinion. Probably an actress. She stood there with her dark hair in a modern style and her clothes were tight and low-cut.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I appear to have the wrong compartment,” said the young lady.

“I most certainly hope so,” replied Mrs. White. “You’re an actress, aren’t you?”

“Oh, have you seen one of my shows? I’m Vivienne Scarlet.”

“I certainly have not and I hope I never do.”

Miss Scarlet left the room without uttering another word.

“Such a rude young girl,” thought Mrs. White. “Didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye.”

There was a reason why Blanche White didn’t have any friends: She wouldn’t allow for people to have different opinions than she. This was one of Mrs. White’s few vices, another was impertinence. Mrs. White never really intended to be rude to anyone, it just sort of came out that way. This was one of the two reasons men never really took an interest in her. The other was her age. Though, all that was about to change.

VI

A party of three made there way down the corridor to their respective compartments. One of these three was Graham Slate Gray. Graham entered his compartment and put his suitcase in the luggage rack and his briefcase on the table. He set a picture of his fiancé, Emily, on the table, but for some reason, the feeling he got every other time he looked at her wasn’t there anymore. Typically his heart would race faster and there would be a lump in his throat, but none of that was present. Could it be that after a year and a half years of courtship his fire for her had finally gone out?

“Impossible,” he thought. “I was in love with her enough that I proposed to her, but was that really love on my part? Or was it just infatuation?”

These rhetorical questions didn’t get an answer right away.

VII

Another member of the group of three was the previously mentioned Emily Peach. Emily was a girl of twenty-two, with long, fair hair and a beautiful face. At an early age, Emily had been abandoned by her mother and sent to her uncle to be raised. Her uncle had no idea how to be a father and had sent her to schools across Europe. Her last one was a finishing school in Berne, where she had made several friends and promised to return when she was called away because she was to receive her 20,000 pounds on her twenty-first birthday. This was her fulfillment of the promise.

There was a knock at the door and Graham entered. He informed her that he was going to bed early and that she had better go on to dinner with Robert (Robert was Captain Robert Brown, her uncle). Graham exited after reporting.

She tried to remember the first time she had met Graham. Was it when she and her uncle went to receive her trust? Yes, it was. She had run into him (literally) while coming out of old Mr. Slate-Gray (recently deceased)’s office. There had been a moment where they both stood staring at each other over a pile of papers, which had been scattered over the hallway floor. Her heart was beating like a drummer in London Symphony Orchestra. Now, when she saw him, he was just another man who was absorbed in his work and didn’t really pay her any attention. She was sick of him, but really couldn’t break off the engagement. What would Uncle Robert say?

Emily’s mind changed directions and she decided to go to dinner.

VIII

The last of the party of three was Captain Robert Brown. He was an older man with a moustache and thinning hair. He opened his compartment door and collided with a woman coming out of hers.

“Oh, I am so sorry!” Brown exclaimed. He stood and looked at the woman he had collided with. She was about his age, rather heavy-set, not very good-looking, but still, he could not resist looking at her. The feeling was entirely mutual on the woman’s side.

“That’s, uh, that’s quite all right,” said the woman.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, yes, I’m quite well.”

“I suppose we’d better introduce ourselves. I’m Captain Robert Brown.”

"I’m Blanche White.”

“Are you Mrs. White or Miss White?”

“Mrs.”

“Oh.”

“I’m a widow.”

“Oh. Tell me, Mrs. White, are you dining alone this evening?”

“Well, yes I am. My employer’s very fond of table hopping.”

“Oh, are you in service?”

“Yes, I’m a cook/housekeeper.”

“Well, if you’re eating alone, my I have the pleasure of dining with you?”

“Oh, yes, that would be lovely.”

IX

Emily Peach entered the dining car. She looked around to see if she could find anybody sitting by themselves. She found such a person. Emily approached the girl’s table and asked,

“May I join you? My fiancé’s being terribly boring and went to bed early and my uncle’s dining with a woman he met in the corridor, so I’m all on my own.”

“Oh, yes, please, sit down.”

“I’m Emily Peach.”

“Vivienne Scarlet.”

“Wait a second, aren’t you that actress?”

“Oh, you know who I am?”

“Only from critical reviews.”

Well, then I wish you didn’t know me.”

“Are those reviews true?”

“I hope not. Well, anyway, let’s not talk about me, it’s too depressing. Tell me about you.”

“Not that much to tell, really. My mother abandoned me at birth and I was sent to live with my uncle. I got engaged last summer to Graham Slate-Gray. That’s about it.”

“How interesting.”

“No it’s not, but thanks for saying so.”

“Are you really hungry?”

“No, exactly the opposite. I’m thirsty.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Let’s go to the bar.”

Emily followed Vivienne’s suggestion and they sat themselves at the bar in, what else, the bar car.

“What’ll you have, my treat,” asked Vivienne.

“Oh, thank you, pink gin.”

“Make that two pink gins, bar tender.”

“Well, look, two beauties at the bar,” said a man. “I’m Colonel Mustard, sweetheart, what’s your name?” He was addressing Vivienne Scarlet.

“You’re drunk.”

“Well, I admit I had a couple of tinsy-winsy beers.”

“Are you trying to pick me up?”

“Yes, yes, I am. Come on over to compartment C.”

“Only when pigs fly, buddy.”

Colonel Mustard (or at least that was his name for tonight) took his leave. Emily and Vivienne laughed.

After having their drinks, Miss Scarlet and Miss Peach returned to the sleeping car. Miss Scarlet entered his compartment and Miss Peach was about to enter hers when Graham came out of a compartment down the hall.

“Graham!”

“Emily, I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“No, I don’t suppose you were. That wasn’t your compartment, so you better have a good explanation.”

“I was just playing bridge with some fellows.”

“What were those fellows’ names?”

“One I didn’t know, the other two introduced themselves as Mr. Green and Colonel Mustard.”

At the name Colonel Mustard and the thought of what kind of trash Mustard had brought in to that compartment, Emily slapped him, stomped to her own compartment and slammed the door.

To be continued…

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