Murders of the Past

In the Name of the Father

"Argo, I didn't expect your career with us to get off to such a wild start! A fire and a string of murders, that's quite something! But you know what they say of fire-forged friends. They're for life!" Maddie beams.

"You are certainly cheerful this morning, Madeline," Isaac remarked, "but I shall remind you that we've still got the matter of a possibly corrupt clergyman!"

She sighs, "it was troubling to learn that Father Donovan had committed a murder in his youth."

"And it begs the question of what else hides under his kindly demeanour! Have recent misdeeds pushed him into arranging to destroy the evidence?" he wonders.

"Well, someone certainly paid a thug to intimidate John Koll into starting that fire!" Argo states, "and it was someone with a secret to hide!"

"Argo, I just heard - Father Donovan... he's at the train station! But... oh dear, you'll have to see for yourself!" Evie cries, unable to fully explain the horror that awaited them at the station.

"What?" Maddie asks, "Argo, let us head to the station without delay!"

Argo follows Maddie off Alto, and they drive to the train station. When they arrived, they found only one train in the station, but it was stopped further down the tracks, away from the platform. The detectives followed the tracks to where the train was and gasped at what they found in front of the train. Father Donovan's body was laid across the tracks, cut in half at the torso from where the train had run him over. So much blood was spread across the tracks and front of the train, and his guts were splattered among the gravel.

"Argo, forgive me!" Maddie covered her mouth as her face turned green, "I'm not normally squeamish, but my breakfast is threatening to reappear! That poor man, dismembered by a train..."

"And this isn't just any poor man!" Argo exclaimed, moving closer to the body, "this is Father Donovan! How did this happen?!"

"Officers!" the train driver cries as he appears from the other side of the train, "this isn't my fault! The body was already on the tracks! I tried to stop the train in time... I swear, I did all I could!"

"Sir, yours was the first train of the day, correct? And you say the body was already on the tracks?" Maddie questioned.

He gave a shaky nod, "it - he... the man was just lying there, Detective. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was already dead!"

"Is that so? In that case, Argo, I say we take a closer look at the body, gruesome as the sight is..." she gulps.

Argo was already kneeling by the body's upper half, "Maddie, there's a gunshot wound in Father Donovan's chest! This was murder! The killer must've put the body on the tracks, hoping the first passing train would destroy the body beyond recognition!"

"That is... horrendous. I believe I shall be sick..." the train driver gags, looking equal as pale as he was green.

"Sir, thank you for staying to report the crime, but you needn't linger here any longer," Maddie dismisses the man who quickly makes his leave from the gruesome scene, "Argo, this murder must be linked to our investigation into Father Donovan and his actions! We ought to search the crime scene again post-haste!"

Caspian flies from Argo's shoulder as the detective stands up to search the train tracks from the sky. While the bird was flying above them, Argo and Maddie searched for clues they missed from the shock of the dead body. They found a broken pocket watch near another set of tracks, the golden shard shining in the midday sunlight. Caspian also found a clue near the platform: a dirty shoe that he had carried in his talons to the detectives.