A Borrowed Name

The unconscious man’s name was Daniel Pike, according to the wallet Ortiz found in his coat. He was sixty-three, lived in the valley town of Alder, and carried a photograph of two children holding an enormous pumpkin.

Mara put the photograph back. Whatever had happened to him, he was somebody’s ordinary evening gone terribly wrong.

Ortiz fetched the medical kit herself. Its oxygen cylinder was full, its seal intact. While Mara checked Daniel’s breathing, the conductor made a call on her radio. Static answered her request for medical assistance at the next station.

“Wind’s bringing the wires down,” she said. “We’ll try again past the ridge.”

Calder offered to search for a doctor. Mara watched him leave through the forward door before she leaned closer to Ortiz.

“Do you know him?”

“Rail security sent a name through this afternoon. Calder. Special inspection.”

“Did they send a photograph?”

Ortiz’s expression changed by a fraction. “Stay with Mr. Pike.”

She went forward, carrying her radio.

Daniel stirred. His eyes moved without finding Mara’s face.

“Don’t let her give it back,” he whispered.

“Give what back?”

But his eyes closed again.

Someone touched Mara’s sleeve. The woman in the red scarf crouched in the aisle, her face almost colorless beneath a wool hat.

“Please don’t say my name,” she said.

“I don’t know your name.”

“That helps.” She glanced toward the forward door. “I thought he was following me. I thought Daniel was one of them.”

“One of whom?”

The woman swallowed. “My name is Lena Saye. I work for Northline Infrastructure. Worked. I’m supposed to meet a transport investigator in Dunmere at six.”

Mara looked at the sleeping passenger, then back at Lena.

“What happened to his tea?”

“I didn’t touch it.” Lena’s voice shook. “Calder offered to carry drinks from the buffet. Daniel sat beside me afterward and told me not to trust anyone wearing a company badge.”

The train lurched. Somewhere ahead, a coupling cracked like a snapped branch.

Lena pulled a flat brass key from her glove.

“If he asks, you never saw this.”

Mara did not take it. “Tell me what it opens.”

Lena looked toward the black window.

“Something they can’t erase from a distance.”