Who is the Culprit, Take 2

The Illusionist was conversing with the Vampire in a corner of the second class car, while the Noble and the Train Conductor dealt with the body. He noticed the Ticket Collector rushing in but didn't realize when he had left to return.

"There's still a murderer here. I don't trust the Cowboy, but I need to know more about the Noble," he said nervously.

"I've already told you, I don't know much about him. He's a very wealthy man with many possessions. As far as I remember, this train line was causing losses. It didn't have the audience he expected, but that's about it."

"Alright, one more thing. You're in danger. Somehow, the Criminal knew you were the Vampire. Unfortunately, we can't figure out how, but he told the Cowboy that the Vampire was a woman and made sure she was on this train. You need to be careful."

The Vampire didn't seem frightened.

"It's been a while since I've killed a human, but this one might be ok. He's a very brutal man who wouldn't think twice about killing me."

"No!" the Illusionist protested, momentarily disillusioned. He trusted the Vampire, but she had killed before; maybe she truly was a monster. "Three people have already died on this train. We have to stop this, please."

The Vampire pitied the Illusionist's innocence.

"I won't promise anything. If he comes after me, I won't hold back. I'm tired of playing the damsel in distress."

Realizing this conversation wouldn't lead anywhere else, the Illusionist gave up, determined to prevent any more deaths on the train. He bid farewell to the Vampire and approached the Noble.

"Could I have a moment of your time?" the Illusionist asked as the Train Conductor and the Ticket Collector carried the third body away.

The Noble rubbed his temples, clearly bothered by everything that was happening.

"We've already sorted everything out. Why do these things keep happening?"

They hadn't sorted everything out, but the Illusionist didn't want to share everything with the Noble. At the moment, he was the most detached piece from everything that was happening, and the Illusionist wanted to ensure he stayed that way.

"There's still a lot of tension here. But what about you? What do you think of all this?"

"A tragedy! A terrible story where there seem to be no heroes, only villains."

"Just to confirm, when the Cartomancer died, you were with the Lady, and when I saw the killer in the corridor, you were with the Old Mobster. You have strong alibis."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled. "This has already been resolved, hasn't it?"

No, but the Illusionist didn't want to divulge more information than necessary.

"Right. And you didn't know anything about the Old Mobster's plans, after all, you were drinking with him those days."

"I'm a businessman; I need to socialize with people. It was nothing more than that."

The Illusionist thanked him for the answers and went into his neighboring room, sitting in the armchair and taking a deep breath. This time, he had the time to think, but he still felt that with each passing minute, the killer's plans were drawing closer to fruition.

With The Tower card in hand, he considered everything that was happening. The clues were connecting in his mind, and he felt he knew the identity of the killer. Or at least something close to it. He no longer believed the Heiress was in danger, but he remembered all the people who seemed to be in the wrong places and thought she might be the best person to speak to now.

He went to her room and caught her just as she was returning, accompanied by three henchmen.

"Where's the other henchman?" the Illusionist asked the Heiress.

"Henchman 2? He needed to go back to the bathroom after..." Her gaze turned distant, but he knew what she meant. He was the one who had killed the Old Mobster.

"Listen, Heiress, the real Henchman 2 is likely dead by now. He was probably thrown off the train to avoid leaving any clues."

"What?" the Heiress asked, weary of more tragedies. The Illusionist felt bad for this, but he needed to warn her.

He looked around. All doors were closed, with only the Heiress and her three henchmen. He needed to trust that none of the three was who he thought they were, but he was quite confident.

"The truth is, there's someone else on the train. From the very beginning. Someone who disguises themselves very well and is behind all of this."

She looked surprised and anxious, thinking the killer could be anywhere.

"Don't worry, he probably won't come after you now that the Old Mobster is dead. Still, you should stay in your room with all your henchmen. Don't separate under any circumstances, and don't trust anyone. More importantly, don't tell anyone about this. The killer can't know that we're onto him."

She opened the door to her room, and her henchmen entered, but she waited, staring at the Illusionist.

"You need to tell me everything," she demanded.

He was concerned about the killer's presence, but maybe it was good to verbalize everything. Sometimes things make more sense when spoken aloud.

"What happened was this," he began once the door was closed. "On the night the Cartomancer came to talk to you, she met with the Master of Disguise. He was prepared to kill you, pretending it was a vampire attack, but the Cartomancer uncovered everything and died because of it. The next night, he was back, about to kill you, but me and the Vam… the Lady caught him just in time. When he fled, we only found the Cowboy, but he must have still been the Master in disguise, as the real Cowboy said he didn't remember our encounter. And today's events support this, with various people appearing and disappearing. The Master of Disguise must have been growing desperate, and he turned into Henchman number whatever and killed the Old Mobster, who knew too much and could've exposed him. The Criminal also knew a lot, and the killer assumed his identity to anger the Cowboy and make one kill the other."

The four of them watched in astonishment at the conclusions he had drawn.

"How did you figure all this out?" the Heiress asked.

"Firstly, with this," he said, showing her The Tower card. "It took me a while to understand, but with the other evidence, it became clear. The Cartomancer was drawing a card for each passenger that night, and what happened was that she drew one extra card – The Tower, the Master of Disguise. There's also the matter of my room being empty; don't tell anyone, but I sneaked in here without a ticket, and there was an empty room that likely belonged to him. But the most important thing is that it couldn't have been any of us. We all had alibis for some of the cases, so it had to be someone from the outside."

She absorbed everything, but a new question arose.

"But what about this vampire story? Was it just a ruse? After all, it attracted the Cowboy."

Yes, that was the only part of his conclusion that still didn't entirely make sense, but the Illusionist had two theories.

"The Old Mobster hired the Master of Disguise to kill you, but there's definitely someone else involved, someone who wanted to create this conflict between the Vampire and the Cowboy. I don't know if that person is the Master of Disguise himself or another passenger. I still don't exactly know what the idea is, but I believe it won't be finished as long as either of them is still alive."

With everything resolved, there was just one more question in the Heiress's mind.

"And what are you going to do now?"

"Ask for help. Tell all of this to the Cowboy and to... someone else to assist me. The three of us working together can hunt down the Master of Disguise, capture him, and uncover the truth."