'Ah, Detective-Inspector, I'm glad you are here sir'. 'Thanks sergeant, but I guess the reason for our little reunion is not such a happy one,' said the Detective-Inspector while pointing at the dimly lit disaster area. He couldn't make up much of the scene from where he was standing, but it didn't look well at all. 'Yes, sir, right you are,' said the small police sergeant, who wasn't much taller than his shoulders, but was a lot wider than his middle. The detective inspector got out of his classic black Bentley. 'Sergeant Bran, could you take me to the scene of the crime?' 'Follow me please, sir'. The small Sergeant walked through the fog, towards the dimly lit railroad, and the Detective-Inspector followed in his steps. Slowly but steadily, the apocalyptic train disaster appeared out of the fog. The massive steam locomotive stood silent on its tracks, blowing out clouds of steam, but not progressing an inch. The pilot of the steam-engine had wedged itself into the side of an automobile. Atleast, what was left of the automobile. Just like the roof of the automobile's cabin, the tires of the car were completely torn off, and the Detective-Inspector and sergeant passed the remains of one on their way up towards the car's remains. An ambulance car was parked close to the wreckage, and a makeshift canvas wall was shielding off the leftovers of the car's passenger cabin. 'What has happened here, sergeant?' asked the shocked Detective-Inspector. 'Nobody is quite sure, sir' stated the sergeant. 'Both the train-driver as well as the burner have stated that the car appeared out of nowhere. But some passengers of the train claimed to have seen the headlights of a car just before the crash'. 'Right, go fetch the train-driver for me please, I want to have a talk with him.' 'Yes, sir.' The small police officer nodded and walked in a hurry towards the locomotive's drivers cabin. The Detective-Inspector's eyes caught the white canvas wall in front of the steam engine. He walked towards the canvas sheet, and slowly pulled up one tip of the sheet. Behind the sheet a few hospital employees and police officers were busy trying to get some reddish thing out of the car. A young nurse walked towards him. 'Excuses me sir, you are not allowed to be here.' The Detective-Inspector got his police badge out and showed the nurse. 'My apologies sir, I didn't know you were an policeman.' 'No apology required Miss, could you perhaps tell me everything you know about the victim?' 'Well sir, not much. As you see, she is quite eh... disfigured. We do know that she is female, and that she was wearing an blue dress at the time of the incident. But she didn't seem to carry any personal belongings, so we aren't sure who she might be.' 'Ah, well, sorry for disturbing you, carry on.' The nurse walked back to the carnage and fumbled around in the back of the ambulance car. A small man appeared next to him. 'Excuse me sir, you wanted to see the driver of the train? He is outside.' 'Yes, thank you Bran. See if you can find any information about the woman while I'm having a word with the driver.' 'Very good sir.'
The Detective-Inspector once more pulled the sheet upwards, and faced a rather frightened man wearing soot stained clothes. 'You wanted to see me sir?' said the driver with a shaking voice. 'Yes, but please calm down first, sir. I need you to think with a clear mind, because any information you might have could be crucial in figuring out why this tragic accident happened.' The driver sighed, which seemed to release some of his tensions. 'Right you are, sir. How can I help you?' 'First of all, did you see the automobile?' The Detective-Inspector searched his pockets and found a small notebook and a pencil. 'Well, no, ofcourse I didn't saw the car. When I eventually noticed the car standing right there on the tracks, it was already to late. We were driving on full steam, it was impossible to stop in time.' 'So you noticed the car, just before the inevitable crash?' 'That's right.' The Detective-Inspector made little note in his notebook. 'What happened when the train hit the car?' 'Well, the whole train shook, and we, me and the burner, were thrown around like dolls. When we finally got back on our feet we immediately stopped the train ofcourse.' The Detective-Inspector looked up from his notebook. 'You didn't pull the brakes when you saw the car on the rail-tracks?' 'There was no time sir. When I noticed the car I tried to pull the brake, but the next thing I knew I was being lifted out off my socks.' 'What did you do when the locomotive had finally stopped?' 'I went to the front of the train to look for any survivors, with no succes. The burner went to inform the stewards and eventually the passengers. One of the stewards, if I'm correct, then ran to the nearest house to ask for help.' 'Alright, thank you, you can join the other passengers now.' The driver walked away, but stopped and turned around. 'Do you think I could have saved the victim?,' the driver asked with a saddened expression. 'If your story is right, no one could have saved her. This isn't your fault.' The driver looked around walked away to join the other passengers. 'Sir! Sir!' Sergeant Bran came running towards him. 'We found something!' The Detective-Inspector walked towards the sergeant. 'Show me.' The duo walked once more towards the front of the locomotive. 'An officer found it laying next to the railway, 50 yards away.' Sergeant Bran walked towards a well lit table, and handed a piece of paper over to the Detective-Inspector. He started to read.
"Dear Lyanna. This is the end. Not just my end, but the end of us. I caught you and James together in the mansion yesterday, and I can't carry on like this anymore. My dear Lyanna, I hope you are happy with your future. But because I can't see myself in a future without you, I won't make myself suffer anymore due to love. My dearest Lyanna, farewell. I hope..." The letter ended abruptly. The bottom half of the letter was covered in blood, and was unreadable. The sergeant looked at him. 'You know what this means. Don't you, sir?' 'Yes, Bran, I do.' A silence fell over the two police officers. Only now and then a loud hiss from the locomotive, which was trying to release itself of its steam, interrupted the silence. 'Bran, please go and call a funeral undertaker, I think we are done here.' 'Yes sir.' Sergeant Bran waited for the Detective-Inspector to get back into his automobile, which then drove off into the dark night.
