Who was the Culprit, Take 1

Finally, a moment of peace. The Illusionist gathered his thoughts in his room, knowing he had only five minutes to unravel everything. Despite it all, he trusted in his bluff, and there were still two clues to inspect.

First, he pulled from his pocket an object that didn't seem like it could fit there. It was a broken piece of metal, shattered by the brute force of the Vampire direct from the killer. He had picked it up from the corridor shortly before entering the Heiress's room. Just that fragment wasn't enough to identify what it was, but it showed a piston and a spring. He remembered the killer; he had metallic claws too. If he was disguising himself as a vampire, maybe he was using machinery to replicate the physical abilities, just as the poison would simulate the effects of a bite.

If he was right, apart from the poison, the killer would have to store all this equipment somewhere, either in his own room or in the luggage compartment, and a metallic armor would be easier to find than the poison.

He put the object back in his pocket, and it seemed to have no volume there. From his sleeve, he retrieved the final clue he needed to indicate who the killer was, or else the Illusionist would still be lost.

He saw The Devil card, and it even made sense in his mind. It was good to be right, as his time had run out. He left his room, alert to not be caught off guard. There were still things that didn't fit, but he hoped it would all come together with the ultimatum.

He arrived at the restaurant, more crowded than ever, and everyone was staring at the entrance of the young man. There were the four train workers, the Noble with the Vampire, the Criminal opposite the Cowboy, three henchmen around the Heiress, and the Old Mobster nearby.

He moved to the middle of the car, and the door opened again, and the last henchman entered.

"I didn't ask everyone to stay here?" the Illusionist said, annoyed.

"I had to go to the bathroom," the henchman replied with a forced smile, going to stand behind the Old Mobster.

He turned to everyone in the room once again, feeling all the pressure of having to solve a crime in front of all those people, including the killer.

"Well, starting from the beginning, there's no vampire..." He was going to say that there were no vampires on the train, which wasn't entirely true, although he didn't want to expose the Vampire. "What I want to establish with you all is that the killer isn't any vampire."

Clearly, the one who seemed most indignant with this information was the Cowboy.

"How not? I've been hunting this monster for ages! All the corpses of his victims were just like the Cartomancer's."

It was true and a very important detail. Someone was setting him and the Vampire up, but why? The Vampire made sense, as she would have a scapegoat for the crime, but there was no advantage in bringing a lawman in to investigate the crimes. This piece still didn't fit, but he hoped it would all come together in the end.

"Yes, but none of those cases was a vampire. It was all a setup, maybe to try to blame a real vampire while the true killer went free. Believe me, a vampire attack wouldn't have been like that."

The Cowboy wasn't convinced after all his pursuit, but he let the Illusionist continue his explanation.

"Even if that's true, then who's the culprit? Who's playing this game?" the Noble asked.

"Exactly to disguise the true intention. The target of the attacks had importance, and it couldn't be connected to the real killer in any way. The vampire was just a fantasy."

"And who's the real killer?" the Vampire asked.

"Before we get to that, we need to know who the real victim was."

"The victim was the Cartomancer," the Old Mobster stated, staring very seriously at the Illusionist.

"No. She wasn't. At least, she wasn't the original target. She found out about the murder through her cards and decided to save the person. I think she already knew she would die doing it."

Saying that made him sad; the Cartomancer had only performed altruistic acts and ended up dead, while all the others on the train were selfish and got away.

"The real target was the Heiress," he finally announced, and everyone turned to look at her.

"Do you have proof of that?" the Old Mobster challenged, and a smile spread across the Illusionist's face. This was the only piece of information he was absolutely sure about.

"I do, and the Heiress herself can confirm it, right? You saw her on the night she died, didn't you? She came to talk to you, to warn you to escape, didn't she?"

The Heiress was still uncomfortable, and the Illusionist understood why.

"Don't worry, you're not a suspect. She came to warn you that you were in danger. You even went to the second class car, probably hid in her room during the night."

"This is madness, how could you know all this?" the Old Mobster asked, visibly bothered by how much the Illusionist was revealing about the Heiress.

"I'm connecting two clues. Lady heard three people moving through the corridor. The first was the Cartomancer going to talk to the Heiress; the second was the Heiress going to hide, and the third..." He thought it was the killer, but the direction the person came from didn't make much sense, and there was no way to confirm. "Heiress, please confirm this. I know you're innocent, and we need to find the culprit."

She wanted to help, but there was too much pressure on her, and she couldn't.

"Well, I can prove it further. Do you recognize this?" the Illusionist asked, pulling out The Devil card. Automatically, the Heiress's hand went to her pocket, searching for the object. "As you can see, this was in her pocket. It's one of the Cartomancer's cards. If you don't believe me, you can check with the Cowboy; he took the other cards and there'll be one missing, The Devil."

"Why did she leave a card with the Heiress?" the Vampire asked, helping him construct his reasoning.

"They were clues. The Cartomancer knew she would die if she interfered and left clues for me, three cards that indicated the crime. The Star was on the Cartomancer's body, representing the Heiress, the original victim."

"Did you take something from her body?" the Cowboy asked, getting nervous.

"And now I'm going to solve the crime with it. You're welcome." Despite it all, The Tower still confused him. He knew it represented tragedy, but he wasn't sure what to interpret from the crime. However, the last card was very clear. "The card the Cartomancer gave to the Heiress is the final piece of the puzzle; it represents the original criminal."

Everyone waited anxiously for the Illusionist's words, ready to act. The young man raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction.

"The Old Mobster!"

Everyone was surprised; some even distanced themselves from him.

"You must be joking!" he said, agitated.

"I'm not, and someone else can confirm. Criminal, you can admit everything now; the game is over."

With everyone's eyes on him, the Criminal shrank back a bit and remained quiet until the others pressured him to speak.

"Alright, alright! Yes, it was all the Old Mobster's plan!"

Absolutely right. The Old Mobster turned red with anger.

"All this elaborate plan for such a simple action! You just needed to kill her right away, and the family would have been mine!" He pulled out his gun and aimed it at the Heiress, and no one seemed to have had time to react to his reflexes. "Just because that man didn't..."

Bang, bang, bang. Three shots were fired, and the body fell to the ground.

The group looked incredulous as one of the henchmen had shot the Old Mobster in the back three times.

"He was about to shoot the Heiress; I was just doing my job," the man justified himself.

A morbid silence fell over the car, and another corpse lay on this train.