It was a dark and stormy night and the year was 1985. There was train a headed to London from Manchester. A group of eight people gathered onto the train; Elizabeth Cunningham, a wealthy socialite, her husband, Charles Bartholomew, her sister, Julieta Clarke, Peter Dawson, the conductor, Christopher Jones, a bakery owner, Rose Hastings, a writer, and detectives Aria Montgomery and Henry Hughes. They all thought this would be a peaceful ride, little did they know… evil was afoot.

It was around 9 o’clock when Charles and Elizabeth entered the dining car for a glass of champagne. Aria and Henry were also in the car discussing details about a case they had just completed, and Rose was reading a newspaper while eating her sandwich. The wind had gotten more intense as the hours passed, then, all of a sudden the lights in the dining car went out. Peter, the conductor entered the dining car to make sure everyone was alright and assured them the lights would come back on shortly. Soon after the lights came back on, Elizabeth was feeling tired so she decided to retire to her sleeper. “Darling, I’m so very tired, I think I’ll just return to our room and call it a night.” “Oh Lizzie, do finish your drink before you go. You wouldn’t want to waste this delicious champagne.” replied her husband. “ You're quite right,” said Elizabeth as she tossed the drink back and retreated back to her room. Along the way, she brushed by Christopher who asked her if there was anything good to eat in the dining car. “The Champagne is divine, and I saw a girl eating a sandwich that looked quite appetizing.”

A little while later, Charles decided that it was time to turn in for the night. Peter was checking the cars to make sure everything was in order when he heard a loud scream. He ran to where the sound was coming from and found Charles holding his wife. “She’s dead, she’s dead!” Charles shouted. The shouting brought the attention of the other passengers and soon everyone was at the scene of the crime. Aria and Henry took control of the situation and started to investigate the crime scene, they had both come to the conclusion that she was poisoned. They immediately targeted Charles as the prime suspect. Charles defended himself saying that Elizabeth was the love of his life and he would never want to do anything to harm her. Elizabeth’s sister attested this. “Charles would never do that to Lizzie,” uttered Julieta “He worshiped the ground she walked on. It had to have been someone else, anybody else. Not Charles.” Since they had no substantial evidence to make an arrest they continued their investigation. A few hours later in another part of the train, Christopher was looking for a washroom. All of them seemed to be occupied except one. As he entered the washroom, he saw the killer flush the poison down the drain. As he attempted to call for help, the killer grabbed him by the neck and smashed his face repeatedly into the sink. The killer had claimed his second victim.

Meanwhile, Aria and Henry were still investing inside Elizabeth and Charles’s room, trying to find any clues the killer might have left behind. While walking around the room, Aria stepped on a pocket watch. She picked it up and saw that the watch had the initials P.D. engraved on the back. “Henry, what is the conductor's last name?” asked Aria “Uh, I’m not sure. Why do you ask?” replied Henry. “This watch, it has the initials P.D., I think we might have to go ask the conductor some questions.” At that moment, Peter the conductor came running the into the room saying that he had found the body of Christopher. Aria and Henry immediately ran to the washroom and saw Christopher’s body, then began examining the crime scene. The examination was inconclusive so, Aria and Henry went to interrogate Peter,  asking him about where he was at the time of each murder and why his watch was in Elizabeth’s room. “During the time of Elizabeth’s demise I was sending a telegram for another passenger, and just now I was having a smoke outside. As for why my watch was inside her room, I don’t know, I must have dropped it without realizing.” Peter replied. “Can anyone corroborate your story? Asked Aria. He had no one, and Aria and Henry thought there was enough substantial evidence to detain him.

As Henry headed to the dining car for a late night snack, Rose had approached him and began to ask questions about the case. She thought this would be her next big story. “ Mr. Hughes, can you give me any details about the case? Why do you think the conductor did it? Was he having an affair with the socialite? Or is he just a psycho serial killer?” berated Rose. But, Henry wasn’t having it. “ I’m not going to give you any details. You’re just gonna twist everything into some stupid puff piece. That’s was all you journalists do. Anything to push ahead your career.” answered Henry. “Aren’t the stupid journalists the ones who made you famous Mr. Hughes? Sounds like you need us to stay relevant.” retorted Rose, “ You know what, forget this, I’m done talking to you, I’m going for a smoke.” stated Henry.

Henry felt the icy cold air hit his face as he exited the train car. It felt like knives piercing his face, but he needed to smoke. The smoke from the cigarette blew out into the night. Rose had started to cast doubt in Henry’s mind. What was Peter’s motive? Suddenly, the door flew open and a dark figure joined Henry outside then in one move pushed Henry off the train. In that moment Rose had come to join Henry outside to continue asking him questions. She gasped in horror as she saw Henry’s body disappear into the night. The killer heard this and grabbed her to shut her up. Rose used every ounce of strength she had to get away, but the killer was too strong and he threw her off the train to join Henry.

A couple of hours had passed since Henry was last seen and Aria started to become worried so, she began to look for her missing partner. Aria was searching everywhere for Henry but, he was nowhere to be found. She had looked throughout almost every train car, but there was no sign of him. The last place to look was the baggage car. As she entered the car she noticed the lavish suitcases that belonged to Elizabeth and Charles. When she took a closer look she noticed that there were papers sticking out of one of the suitcases. She pulled it out and started reading the paper. Written on the papers were notices of payments that were long past due. Aria became suspicious and opened the suitcase to investigate further. Inside the suitcase, she found documents with information about Elizabeth’s insurance policy and an empty bottle of poison. That’s when it all clicked. As she got up to go and apprehend the correct criminal, she turned around, and there he stood, right in front of her. “You weren’t supposed to see that.” said Charles, “I get why you killed Elizabeth, you didn’t want her to see all your gambling debts and how you were spending all her money. So you poisoned her and tried to pin it on Peter and then you would collect her insurance policy. But why did you kill Christopher, and where is my partner, Charles?” replied Aria. A sly grin came upon Charles’s face. “Very clever, I never thought that the woman detective would figure it out,” said Charles. “ Well, I killed Christopher because he saw me flush the poison down the sink, but that’s not all. I killed Rose because she was asking too many questions and because she saw me kill your partner,” stated Charles. “You're going to jail for a very long time, with any luck you’ll get the chair,” said Aria. “I don’t think so Ms. Montgomery. No one, especially not a woman will best me. You’re going to suffer the same fate as your partner.” replied Charles. Suddenly, Charles lunged at Aria but she kicked him in the abdomen, then Charles tackled her to the ground and attempted to strangle her. Aria was able to grab hold of cane and whacked him upside the head. He crouched in pain and Aria was able to get the cuffs on him. The case was over and the murder was solved. A few hours later the train reached London and Charles was charged with the murders of the passengers on the train.