Kissin' Kate Barlow

from dining car 01

I don’t have anything against the little scamp, but I swear to god if they make me babysit him now like I don’t have my own problems to worry about. Like, hello? Three fucking parents and not a one of them can get their head out of the marital-crisis sand.

from observation car 02

Three hits in one room? As long as they don’t see what’s on me, it’s not like they’ll ever find out. I’m more worried about the pig, but he seems like a damn sucker, anyway.

from lounge 08

The way I see it, so many of us here were secretly (or even not so secretly, looking at you Dragon) involved in something shady, so wouldn’t it just figure that whoever put us here is someone super innocuous? Maybe that kind of thing only works in the movies, though. Well, looks like I have a visitor so I’ll whittle it down more later. Seriously, what part of “I need to think alone for awhile” does nobody understand?

see tapes

from dining car 03

Stained red from bloody fingerprints, the single word smeared from having been written from a shaking hand. It simply reads:

M E R C Y

from sleeper car 03

Perhaps the sin I’m being punished for is simply my silence. I wonder, was this to teach me that voicelessness doesn’t have to be a crutch? I suspected the truth from the moment our eyes met, but now...

from observation car 09

Why have I said nothing, still? I came into this knowing only that I, in some way, must be connected to all of these strangers. Only two of my fellow passengers are familiar to me, so even without knowing the reasoning, it wasn’t hard for me to understand what my purpose here was to be. I’m sorry. I have no way of telling you why I can’t blow that whistle. You must sense it already, that this will only end in tragedy regardless of what your intentions may have been.

from sleeper car 02

why did I think I knew so much

from lounge 06

less than three hours in and a body turned up
Caroline said she needed to rest her head and think alone for about an hour so she left for the sleeper car
my wife went to check on her and found her presumably asleep before realizing she had been strangled

why someone would do this I couldn't say
Lin was barely 16, and a sweet girl at that, always coming over in a pinch to babysit my step-son
never complained, never trashed the house

Krista is absolutely beside herself.

picture from sleeper car 01

A picture of a woman with her curled hair up in a nest of a bun, grinning and covered in paint, wearing overalls and holding a paint roller. She looks happy, but somehow anxious at the same time. In the background a dark-skinned man is carrying several clear bins stacked on top of each other, filled with different children's painting supplies. His back is to the picture; clearly he's in the middle of some work.

On the back, in faded pencil, it reads in clear, concise cursive:

Helping Henrietta before her big day. We both have high hopes.

It's dated simply "summer" with a number that matches roughly ten years ago.

from lounge 05

Figures I'd get kidnapped and stuck here with that dog Neil Pullman. I'd chalk it up to plain bad luck if it weren't for the rest of the crowd. Kramer and Officer Harbold are here, too, and poor little Michael... I hate that he'll have to know the truth about his father, the way this is all coming together. He's got more than enough hurt in his life after the fire.

from observation car 08

14 Michael Pullman
17 Henri and ?
5 Simon Hillard and Rowena Silver
23 ? and Neil Pullman
09 Mrs. Harbold and ?
22 Malorie Brooks and E. Kramer
04 Bertrand Harbold and Caroline

from sleeper car 04

The note seems to be more like a slapdash schematic than a fully-formed thought, with circles and arrows branching out all over the place, connecting the drawing of some sort of device with the phrases hairline trigger and potential override. There are ink smudges all over the place, like the hand of the writer darted over lines before waiting for anything to dry.

There's also a very large puncture wound ripping the note near clean in half.

from observation car 05

For the most part, a series of words and phrases connected to one another by bubbles and arrows follows. The progression of thought seems to go:

my knowledge about this design -> points to me as the kidnapper <- I have a motive <- inspired my thesis <- received sponsor -> cannot prove identity -> points to me being the kidnapper -----> the job was never about my thesis

Then, underneath:

hat’s this all about? Possible Connections:
used as patsy -> how could I do this alone?
tying loose ends -> no connections to unlawful persons?
relationship to something or someone -> who or what?

Finally, circled aggressively: THE FIRE?

from sleeper car 08

I just watched a little boy burn to death, and there was nothing I could do. Is that what it was like when Perry got trapped in that gallery? Did they both die thinking that surely their loved ones would save them? I have to get off this train.

sleeper car jigsaw puzzle

The front side of the jigsaw puzzle shows two teenagers relaxing against one another against a tree. Kids with backpacks mill around in the background, unaware of the scene. The girl is petite, with a round face and wide-set eyes, and from where she's tucked under a big arm she gazes up at the boy by her side. Instead of looking back at her, he's looking forward and caught in the middle of a fit of laughter. He's a large boy, but it's hard to make out if his bulk is muscle or not with how baggy his clothes are. On the back, a handwritten letter:

To my husband on our Anniversary,

We've grown a lot since the kids we were when this picture was taken, and our relationship has been a lot like this puzzle. At times fragile, there have been times I feel as if our connection has fallen into pieces...but all I have to do is remember why it is I've always loved you, and then when I pick those pieces back up again, they fit together like they were meant for each other.

Here's to seven more years,
K

The box it came from gives the feel of something long abandoned.

from dining car 07

I know that I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but involving my family? My baby? What do any of us have to do with this? Even at our worst...we’re good people. At least, I think we are. Aren’t we?

from observation car 07

It’s okay if he hates me, or if all of them hate me. Neil, Bertrand, Arthur, how could I do anything but love them all? But my son, my son needs to live. Please, God, strike me down but save Michael, he’s a good and misunderstood little boy. Save my baby, who has done nothing wrong in this world.

from lounge 07

I should have known. It all happened so fast. Married for seven years to Neil and suddenly with no provocation he divorces me, with no explanation but full expectation, as always, that I will simply be pushed over and do as I’m told. The paperwork hardly officiated when I’m being swept off my feet. I thought that married to a policeman I’d finally feel safe.

It wasn’t for me. I didn’t ask him to save me or Michael. He took that responsibility on himself and expected my love in return for the sacrifice of his morality. And for what was it even for? Neil abandoned me and his son but came right back into my life acting like I still belonged to him.

Maybe I do. Maybe I always will. I’ll never be free from fear, will I?

There's a wedding band that came with this note.

from observation car 03

I keep looking up at the lights. The longer I look at them, the more I feel like the world takes shape in a way that Van Gogh must have seen the starry sky. The sounds of the accusations and mutual hatreds bleed away and then I just see the people behind them. Is that who they really are? Or is this just a collage of fear and desperation?

I’m afraid, too.

from lounge 04

We're about to put a disfigured man out of his misery. I'm not the one with the gun...but I can't let her do this when I'm the only one who's noticed the way her hands shake so. I wish I could tell him how sorry I am...poor Simon, you didn't deserve any of this.

I never expected that the darkest moment of my life would happen so close to the end of it.

from sleeper car 07

Can’t he see that the only kindness she ever shows him is the way she looks at the diamond on her finger? The extent of Rowena’s vicious pettiness is so incredibly vast one would think that she wanted him for more than his money. There’s a part of me that sees those sad pale eyes and just wants to scream at him to stand up for himself.

But that’s not my place. I’d be a hypocrite...I’ve never been able to do as much for myself. Not against her attacks and not against anyone else’s. I’ve let everyone think of me as they will, simply hoped the rumors would end if I ducked my head and stayed quiet. Of course that’s not how it works for any of us. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?

People don’t forget when they’ve been hurt.

from dining car 04

ISN’T FEAR SUPPOSED TO MAKE BITCHES HORNY? GUESS I’LL FIND OUT IN THE NEXT SEVEN HOURS.

from dining car 06

IF YOU’D JUST LET ME GET HIM THAT PRESCRIPTION, SHE SAID. LIKE ANY SON OF MINE IS GOING ON CRAZY PILLS. FUCK THAT. FUCK THAT AND FUCK HER.

from dining car 10

EVERYONE’S JUMPING ON MY ASS THAT I DID THIS BECAUSE OF MY REP BUT WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT IS THAT? A COP AND A DOCTOR I HAVE IN MY BACK POCKET, TWO OF MY WOMEN, ONE OF MY CRONIES, MY OWN DAMN FLESH AND BLOOD? WHY WOULD I TRY TO GET RID OF THEM IN SOME WASTE OF TIME SCHEME? MUCH FASTER TO THROW SOMEONE IN A RIVER WHEN THEY LET YOU DOWN.

IT’S THAT REPORTER THEY SHOULD BE WATCHING OUT FOR. SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN’T HAVE SOMETHING TO LOSE FROM THIS. THE LONGER WE SWEAT, THE MORE SHE GETS FOR HER GROUNDBREAKING STORY. THIS NIGHTMARE IS HER GODDAMN PAYDAY.

from dining car 05

I wonder what these seats would look like burning.

from observation car 04

I saw it. Mommy and Daddy are dead. I don’t think they know I saw it happen, but I did I don’t want to die to but I’m scared because what happens if I don’t die? One time I heard Granma and Granpa tell Mommy that I'm a bad seed from the devil so if I'm all alone where will I go? Is it better to bee alone and alive or dead with youre family?

from observation car 10

He doesn’t get to call her a slut that bastard that asshole that goddamn jerk I’ll kill him I’ll get him I’ll burn him alive and then he’ll be so so so sorry I HATE him! I hate him hate him hate him!

from lounge 01

I think I’d still have loved him, despite the truth.

from lounge 03

As I die with the woman I love already dead in my arms, my one consolation is that she never found out what I've done. If I'd had been the third man to break her heart, what would that have done to her?

from observation car 01

Avoid, avoid, avoid:
- Smoking Dragon (duh).
- That psycho redhead and her whipped bf banker.
- That one tweaker.
- Girl who keeps complaining about not having her phone. Like, come on.

from lounge 02

MOST LIKELY TO BE UNSUB:

Someone who could build this.
- 6 is the only engineer, but also super chill?

Someone who could afford this.
- 3, 13 (formerly lol), me technically if I’m being fair.

Someone who could imagine this.
- 9, maybe? Aka the sickest bastard of all bastards.

Someone who would want this.
- Almost all of us have a motive or an enemy on board…

Do our motives have connections? A common source?

Underneath, UGGHHHH has just been written with an annoyed pen scribble beside it.

from dining car 09

I don’t care. I’m not sorry that she’s dead and I’m not sorry that I stole her inheritance. She tried to shoot me in front of everyone; even if what happened afterward was an accident, she pointed that gun at me and pulled the fucking trigger. I’ll see you in hell, Madame Silver.

from dining car 02

I can’t believe I’m stuck here with that savage.

from sleeper car 06

I didn’t mean to do it. I swear, I didn’t. I know the kind of person I am but it was all just a bluff and they surprised me and I acted on reflex. Are they going to call me a murderer, now? Are they going to chase me down and get me back when I’m not even the one that started it? This is so wrong...so fucking wrong.

from observation car 06

I’ve realized something...I don’t care who actually set this up, and I don’t care who’s really responsible. Everything in my life was perfect until she came along with her ratty hair and awful cuticles. I’m going to destroy her and then I’m going to finally wake up from this nightmare.

from sleeper car 01

He wasn’t using it so it’s fine. Nobody needed it, so it’s fine. There’s nothing anyone could have done to save her anyway. They don’t need to know.

from sleeper car 05

It’s like my skin is covered in bees. I just don’t want to feel it, that’s all. Is that so bad? I just need to be numb again. Nobody can blame me for wanting that right now.

from dining car 08

As soon as I saw that mask I knew what was going to happen. But what am I supposed to do? If I say anything, they’ll think I’m the one who did it. I didn’t touch her! I can’t say it was him, either. He’ll kill me next, for sure.