Watchin' The Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance by Louise Hathaway Page B

northbound
Amtrak. She looks around at the other diners and doesn’t see her
detective in the crowd. She decides to wander around the restaurant
a bit and grabs her wine glass and purse. She walks along a narrow
hallway that has a single row of tables lining the windows, looking
out at the trains. To the right is a small room with a brick arch
that says, “Waiting Room”. It has a gas fireplace that’s been
turned on. There is only one couple inside and they are having a
serious discussion. The woman is crying and the man is holding her
hand. His cufflinks sparkle in the firelight. Isabella does a
double-take and stops in her tracks.
    Oh my God ! Isabella thinks when she
recognizes the couple who are having the tete a tete. It’s Karen
Black and Hamid from the mystery dinner theater . She stops,
backs up, and peeks her head around the archway, trying to overhear
what they are talking about. There’s a loud football game playing
on the TV in the nearby bar, but Isabella manages to hear Karen
say, “I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this!” Karen
then stands up out of her chair and throws down her napkin on the
table. Isabella scrambles away before she can be recognized by
either of them. Hamid follows Karen out the door towards the
parking lot. Isabella is right on their trail and going out the
door when she hears her waiter say, “Madame, you haven’t paid your
bill yet.”
    She is very embarrassed and says, “Oh. I was
just going to the restroom.”
    “It’s inside; not outside,” he reminds
her.
    “Of course it is,” she says. “How stupid of
me. Where’s my head these days?!” She settles her bill and walks
out to the parking lot. There’s no sign of either of them. She
comes back inside to finish her tilapia, but sees that the busboy
has already cleared her table. She tells the waiter that she wants
it back and he’s able to retrieve it. After that, she’s too
embarrassed to stay much longer and abandons her hope to casually
bump into the detective tonight.
     
    *******
     
    On the train ride back home, Isabella closes
her eyes and concocts her latest fantasy starring herself and the
detective. This one finds the two of them in Paris, where he has
just booked two tickets for a trip on The Orient Express. They will
be traveling overnight to Venice. She tells him, “Don, you
shouldn’t have. We can’t afford the $5000 tickets.”
    He answers, “We only get married once. This
is the perfect excuse to splurge.”
    They hurry to find their special train. They
see the trademark blue coaches with yellow piping, adorned with the
Orient Express seal. There are stewards in blue uniforms with white
gloves helping passengers to their Pullman cabins. Isabella and Don
have their own dedicated steward named Henri, who promises to
attend to their every need. He leads them to their cabin, and when
seeing their room, Isabella is lost for breath. She says, “This is
the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen. Look at these gorgeous
polished wood panels,” she says, running her hands along them. “And
the carpeting and sofa colors!! Their purple and blue designs are
so vibrant and amazing!”
    Henri tells them that he’ll leave them alone
so that they can get settled in their room. “Perhaps you’d like to
dress for dinner? It is in thirty minutes. I’ll come and get
you.”
    After he leaves, Isabella says, “I thought we
were already ‘dressed for dinner’.”
    She and Don laugh. She says, “Isn’t this
marvelous? I feel like I’m back in the 1920’s—the golden age of
travel. She starts opening the cupboards. “Look at this precious
little sink here in the corner.”
    Don says, “I feel like Hercule Poirot.”
    “Just don’t wax your mustache like he
does.”
    “How would I look with a mustache?” he
asks.
    “You’d look great. Grow one out. You could
take me on mustache rides.”
    He pulls her over to him and says, “Come
here, you saucy wench. Who taught you to use such