Doctor Fung and Dan Barrister

Arizona, 4th March 1942, 8:30am

Instinct took over. Dan tugged the doors aside and rushed into the next car. The door of the bedroom at the forward end was open. In the bedroom, the man who'd just been in the barber's chair was confronting the reporter—​the woman who'd been watching him at breakfast, and who Dan had spoken to last night in the bar. She caught sight of Dan, and the man turned to him.

"Is there a problem here?" Dan asked.

"I'll say there is," the man snarled. "I just found this dame trying to burgle me."

"It was nothing of the sort," the woman replied. "I got confused about which car my room was in, that's all."

"The door was locked, and she was going through my things."

Dan shook his head, hardly able to believe anyone would do that in broad daylight with no escape route. "Is this true, ma'am?"

The reporter stared at him for a second. Then her face went blank, and she collapsed, half on the bed and half off it.

"Great," the man muttered. Aloud, he said to Dan, "You're my witness, buddy—​I never touched her."

The door to the next car opened, and an old man in railroad uniform came through. He had a badge on his hat that said Conductor. "Is everything OK here? I heard a commotion." He saw the reporter and added, "Oh my."

"I caught her trying to burgle me," said the man from the barber's chair. "This guy," gesturing to Dan, "came to see what the noise was, and she fainted."

"Is this true, Sir?" the conductor asked Dan.

"It is."

"We'd better take her somewhere she can recover. Would you mind helping me with that, Sir? You look like a fit, strong man." To the other man, he said, "Can you find out whether anything is missing, please, Sir? The police will want to know that if we have to inform them."

"You could just search her," the man said.

"I'm not allowed to do that, Sir."

The man took a step towards her. "Then I'll search her."

"I can't allow you to do that either, Sir."

The man glared at him, fists tightening. "Fine! Just—​get her out of here."

The conductor gripped the reporter under her arms, and Dan took her ankles. She wasn't very heavy, but moving her in the confined spaces of the train was awkward. Eventually, they got her into a seating compartment in the next car, where they laid her on a couch.

The conductor took off his cap and mopped his brow with a handkerchief. "Well, Sir, I'm glad I don't have to do that every day. I'm going to find one of the crew who knows some first aid. Would you mind staying here until I come back, in case she wakes up?"

Dan agreed, and the man left. Dan opened one of the windows to admit some fresh air, then sat on the couch opposite the reporter. She was one of those women who seemed more beautiful when she was asleep. He put that thought aside and tried to concentrate on the facts as he knew them. Why would a reporter be trying to burgle a passenger's room? She couldn't be that desperate for a story. Or maybe she wasn't a reporter. And what was the meaning of all that spiel about the barber offering the guy a free haircut?

The woman's eyes flicked open. Dan almost screamed. She put a finger to her lips. "The Chinaman who was with you at breakfast. What's his name?"

"Doctor Fung," Dan replied before he could stop to ask why she wanted to know.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I thought so. I need to talk to him."

Before Dan could ask what she wanted with the Doctor, he glimpsed movement in the corridor. The conductor had returned with the bartender.