Princess Nathalia Mirnoff

December 1974. I’m an old and ugly princess from Russia, my name is Nathalia Mirnoff. I’m traveling from Constantinople where I visited some friends at the Austrian Embassy. Together with me on this trip is my maid, Hildegard Schmith. She helped me with some stuff and gave me some massage at nights, because I have some rheumatic pains from which I suffer. When we jumped on the train, I saw many people, some regular some rich and many maids. I told my maid too carry my bags too my room, number three.

- Oh! I can hear some birds who are singing outdoor, so beautifully and wonderful. 

The train, ”Taurusexpress” was a very popular, nice and a beautiful train. Consisting of a dining car with a little kitchen, a sleep car and two passenger cars. When I came in to the train it was a red carpet on the floor, so beautiful and cozy.  I think that it was a bit cold on the train...

My first night was so weird. I was in the dining car and told the conductor to make up my bed. When I eat my dinner I sat with two older guys. After my dinner I went directly to my bed. I read until eleven in my british history book and then I turned out my light.

I couldn’t sleep because I had some pains, so I rang for my maid. I think the time was about a quarter to one when she came. Hildegard Schmith came and gave me some massage so I felt sleepy. I can’t say exactly when she left me.

I woke up suddenly when Hildegard woke me. She was pale and looked very frightened.

Mr Ratchett has been murdered tonight! And we had stuck in a snowdrift, so the train is fixed now and the murder can’t ran away from the train.

I was very scared because a murder are loose on the train, I felt discomfort in my stomach. Everyone went to the dining car because the conductor want to told us what’s happening the night. I felt so afraid then. But Mr Ratchett was a very stupid and nasty person. He has murder many children in his years so he deserve to be murdered, I think. But his family was of course sad about it.

I think the conductor is the murder, because he has all keys to the room and he was weird at the night. He was a bit quiet and suspicious. And the button from a conductor's uniform is found in Mrs Hubbard's compartment. The conductor's uniform is found hidden in the toilet in the Calais coach. He don’t like Mr Ratchett so much, so I think he is the murdered to Mr Ratchett murder.

Marco Foscarelli - Witness Report

Emily landrake - Story

She running down the platform, as the train is supposed to leave in a minute or two. She work as a waitress on the Taurus Express and I enjoy it very much, when we have nice passengers, otherwise it could be a bit boring. I am Emily Landrake and 22 years old. She is not like any other on this train. sometimes quite shy, but effective. Emily love to serve breakfast to the passengers because it´s good for me too move my legs. She look outside the window and see that it begins snowing. Emily does not like the snow. She would anyway not like to get snow in her face. Not so convenient. She turns around and suddenly a man in 24-year-old asks her where the toilet is. emily watching his beautiful eyes and gets nervous. She looks up again and asks the young man to ask about his question. Emily pointing to the left side and the man continues his way there. His eyes were as shiny crystals. There are not many who believe in first sight but Emily do. Emily continues with his job and then have days run out.Emily went to her compartment in paris coach. she changes her clothes to sleepwear and jumped into bed. She closed her eyes and begins thinking about the murder of Samuel Ratchett. Emily was in love with louis but today she was really impressed by the charming man.

Greta Ohlsson

The train driver started the motor and all the passengers were excited about the following days. I, Greta Ohlsson, opened the window of compartment 10, which is mine the whole trip, and my hair was blowing in the wind. It's Mary Debenham's to, the compartment, we share it, second class. The moon was shining in the dark and it reflected in my eyes. The train now have pretty fast speed so I pulled back my head and closed the window. I got kind of scared, because I didn’t notice that my roommate came in while I was living my life with my head out through the window. Right when I was going to fix my stuff and make my bed the waitress Sarah Walker came in and asked if I wanted any help to fix and pack up, she was a sweet girl and I received the help. Mary wanted to sleep in the top bed, so I let her, and then I made my bed. I felt hunger, I hadn’t eat since lunch, about 11 hours ago. Mary was packing up all her 3 bags, it was all clothes, clothes and some shoes... so well, I didn’t bather asking her to join me in the dining-car. I sat alone at my table, didn’t really know anyone, except Mrs. Hubbard and her daughter, but they had a kind of eagerly talk so I didn’t wan’t to disturb. Even though I was hungry I couldn’t eat that very much, it felt like something was wrong. I laid the napkin on the table and walked over to Mrs. Hubbard’s table anyway and had a little chat with her and her daughter. Right when I came, they stopped talking about whatever they were talking about before and instead we talked about dinner, which actually was very tasty. But after a while all three of us went back to our compartments. I walked through the hall and first when I came to my door I felt a terrible headache. I opened the door and walked strait to my purse and looked for an aspirin. No luck,  Mary Debenham wasn’t in the compartment so I couldn’t ask her for one. Mrs. Hubbard lived a few compartments away so I decided to walk over to her. But then I got unsure of witch was her compartment, and of course I chose the wrong door. There was Mr. Ratchett laying on his bed reading. He heard me and bracket his look in my eyes. 

- What are you doing here, Mrs. Ohlsson?

- I’m so sorry, Mr. Ratchett. I was going to Mrs. Hubbard but obviously I came wrong. I’m leaving. 

- You better. You are too old and too ugly, I don’t wan’t you in my compartment. 

I just got stabbed. Old and ugly? He doesn’t know how to talk with a lady. 

- Like I said, I’m sorry. 

I ended the conversation by closing the door pretty rough and then walked to Mrs. Hubbard instead. She was very welcoming to me from the moment she opened the door. 

- Hi Greta! What are you doing here? 

- I have this terrible headache and no aspirin. 

Mrs. Hubbard smiled too me and invited me in. She gave me an aspirin, we said goodnight and then I walked to my compartment again. My watch showed that it was 22:30 at night so I decided to go to bed. Mary was already sleeping in the top bed and snoring too which gave me a hard time trying to sleep and it took me nearly 30 minutes to fall asleep. 

It was morning. The sun looked throw the blinds and loose me right in my eyes. Outside the door I could hear people talking loud and upset. I got up and saw that Mary’s bed was empty. Right at that moment Mary opened the door and looked right at me. 

- Greta, come on! 

I didn’t care about changing my clothes, just walked out and there was really crowd of people trying to talk with the maid Wendy Lewis, all at the same time. 

- Mary, what have happened? why is everyone so upset? 

- Someone got killed last night. 

- Someone? who? 

- I don’t know, they are just about to tell us, quiet. 

Everyone had their eyes on the maid and she looked pretty nervous. 

- Ok, everyone just need to calm down. Go and eat breakfast and at the same time we that work here can talk about what we are going to about this accident. 

Mary took my arm and drew me back in our compartment. 

- Why don’t we go and eat breakfast? I asked.

Mary looked at me like if I should already know. 

- Are you really going and eat in public looking like that? 

I was only wearing my pink pajamas with teddy bears that looked like it was for someone in age 5. 

- Anyway, at 5 am this night I was going to the toilet, and I heard someone moaning. I called on the conductor and that’s when they found Mr. Ratchett. 

I lost my breath. 

- Did you hear anything else? 

- No, but Mr. Ratchett is dead. Now change if you are going to have breakfast with me, don’t go to the dinner-car with those lame pants. Or that shirt. 

Mary sighed and then walked out the door to the breakfast without me. I took a fast shower and then put on some new clothes. My jeans had holes on the knees but I didn’t bather, they matched my lazy t-shirt with flowers on. The clock was 10:am so I hurried to the breakfast so that I could eat with Mary. On my way to the dinner-car I met Mrs. Hubbard. She was kind of upset and right when she saw me she came right to me and started talk. 

- I need to tell you something, Greta. Yesterday it was someone in my compartment! I swear! So I called the conductor and when they came they was looking throw my room to sure me that there were no one there, and they found a knife! 

- Mrs. Hubbard! What was you doing with a knife? 

- It’s not mine! I don’t know how it got there. But then Mary Debenham shouted and the conductors ran over to her. After like 30 minutes they came back and said that Mr. Ratchett was murdered, and they think that it was with the knife they found in my compartment! And now I’ve been talking them out of thinking it was me, but I think I’m still suspect... What shall I do, Greta?

- And you didn’t do anything? 

- Of course not! My daughter was with me all night so I have proof. 

I gave Mrs. Hubbard a hug and said that it was going to be ok, if she didn’t do anything then she doesn’t need to worry. I continued walking to the breakfast and right when I walked throw the doors I started looked for Mary. She was still at our table so I sat down besides her and obviously smiled very lame to her, because she gave me that look that a fashion-freak gives you when your shoes doesn't match your dress. While I ate my toast I studied all the people in the dinner-car. Someone I haven’t talked to yet is George Arthur, he is a colonel and a little bird whispered to me that they found a button from a uniform in Mr. Ratchett’s compartment, that might be kind of suspect... I also heard one of the waitress’s talking and they said that at 0.40 this night Mr. Ratchett called to the conductor and said; C'est rien. Je me suis trompé. By translation that means; It is kidney. I cheated follows. But I think that he pronounced some words wrong and then it means; It was nothing. I was wrong. That sounds more right, but why french? Mrs. Hubbard didn’t kill him, I know that, and not Mary either. My eyes was lying on they, I know what they did and they are all going to pay for it. Those people murdered Mr. Ratchett. 

Story

My name is Sue watson and i’m a maid on this train. I’m not going to tell my age. You are probably wondering why. It’s because I think the age dosen’t matter. It’s just a stupid number. So, I have black hair and I think I’m very effective when I’m working. I don’t like stand idle. 

I’am from Brighton. And I was a housewife before. But since me and my man divorced I’ve been working as a maid for the railway company and I don’t have any children. I work on the train because think the life is more simple on board trains. 

I will work alot during the christmas and New Year’s holidays. I don’t have any relatives to celebrate with and I really hate being alone during the holidays. 

I share compartment with maid Wendy Lewis.  

I’m a littlebit scared right now. I am afraid because of the murder committed on this train. Maby it will happend aigen. You can never be sure. Me and my job mate are watching out for eachother because both are really scared. Who will miss me if i got killed? 

So I went to the resturant wagon to see if it needed to be cleaned:

I walked past the long corridor when I heard footsteps behind me. I stopped for I while thinking if I’m gonna turn around and pretend to be scared or just keep on walking. I just stood there when I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder. At that point I got really scared. I turned around with very shaking hands. I looked up and saw Wendy

-Need som help?

-Oh my god! You almost made me shit my pants!

-Haha oh, i’m sorry Sue! I diden’t mean to. Haha but you should have seen you’re face thought. 

-Just shut up and come with me to the resturant wagon and see if it needs to be cleaned.

We walked without talking for a while. I guess everyone is a bit shocked since the murder was committed on Mr. Ratchett. I can’t go safe anywhere. Wendy interupt me in my thoughts 

-We haven’t talked so much about the murder. She said.

-Well, what is it to talk about? 

-I don’t know. Who do you think it is?

-We can’t talk about this here. Someone can hear us. 

-No, everyone is sleeping!

-Okey...

-So, who do you think it is? Some suspicions?

-Umh,actually... yes! I said

-Really? 

-Yepp. What about you?

-No. I have no idea. But tell me! Who do you think it is?

-Well, I think it is the conductor! Do you wanna know why? Ofcourse you want! I said and winked.

-Dah? Tell me! Wendy said.

-I think that because he has the keys to all roms. So he can easy sneak in to someones room, stab them and then walk out like nothing happened. 

I could see Wendy think on what she just heard me say. 

-Yeah, it seems logical!

-You think? I said.

-Yepp!

The day went quite fast. I sat in my wagon and listened to music when someone knocked on the door. It was late and I’am not the one who use to get scared but this time I got really scared. I was alone in the wagon. Wendy was out. I lowered the music and then it knocked again.

-Who is it? I said but no one answered.

-Hello? Who is it? I screamed.

-It’s me! The conductor! Oppen please! he said.

I got even more scared.

-Umh.. I can’t oppen. I’m not dressed! I said fast. 

Then I heard he took up his keys and he oppened my door.

-Hello Sue!

-H..he..hello conductor

-why are you lying to me? You are dressed!

-Sorry! I’m so sorry sir!

-Yeah yeah. Well, I’ve heard that you talking about me! Is that true?

-What? No! Who told you that? I said with very shaking voice.

-You don’t have to know that. Just tell me the truth. Someone said that you think I have murderd Mr Ratchett!

-W...what? No, no I haven’t sir! 

-WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME?! He screamed. At this very moment, I wish I was dead.

-Okey. I have. But sir, I diden’t mean it!

-But now when you know my secret I have to kill you!

-So you are the murder?

-Haha stupid women!

That was the last thing I heard then everything went black. 

Marco Foscarelli

I’m Marco Foscarelli. I’m from Italy, but i  lived in Chigaco for 10 years now. I work as a salesman for Ford motor cars. People say that I’m a very happy person, I talk a lot and I love to talk about my work. I was on the train because I had business in Milan. So i was on my way to Milan. The night when the man was murdered, I sat in the dining-car for a long time. It was very nice there. I ate a big steak with mashed potatoes. I was talking to two americans. They sat with me and we talked about our work. We sat there a couple of hours and we bought some drinks and talked. It was really nice and we became good friends. We asked for the bill and then we all payed our food and drinks. One of the guys thought it was really expensive and was complaining about the price. But then it was something wrong on his order, they fixed it and he payed the money. Then i went back to my compartment it was empty. my roommate, Mr Masterman, wasn’t there so i watched some TV. I watched a football game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, El classico. It was a great game and it ended 2-2. Then it went to penalty shoot-out and Barcelona won. 

When the game was finished Mr Masterman came back from Mr Ratchett. He was down and felt very weird. He sat in his corner and read a book. The conductor came in to our room and made our beds. I was very pleased that he made my bed beacuse I was so tired. It was very hard to sleep because Mr Masterman had a toothache so he groaned all night. He kept me awake for hours. When i slept he woke me up a several times with his noices. Suddenly i woke up and heard weird noices from the compartment next to us. It was from Mr Ratchett’s room. I heard a scream, from a man. And then footsteps. I ran in Mr Ratchetts compartment and i found him lying on the floor, coverd with blood. His last word was:

- It was her. Mrs... 

Then he closed his eyes. I called for the staff and a doctor. They carried away his body and whispered to eachother, they told me to go to sleep again. When i woke up in the morning i went to the dining-cart and had a great breakfast. I sat with the two americans again and i told them about what I saw. One of them took a bit on his fresh sandwich and told me he saw Mrs Hubbard running to her compartment in the middle of the night. He was on his way back from the toilet. She was covered with a something and her shirt was destroyed. It was dark and he asked what she had done. She said she droped her shampoo when she took a shower. He thought it was weird to shower in the night but he was so tired so he went to sleep again. Then I told him what i heard and saw:

- I heard he was talking to Mrs Hubbard. They were argued about something. I think they were in love. Mrs Hubbard said she saw Mr Ratchett with another woman, Greta Ohlsson. She saw them kiss. Mr Ratchett said she attacked him and he pushed her away. But she got mad because she knew he lied to her, I said. 

 We talked about it for a while and we decided to go to Mrs Hubbards room and have a little talk with her. When we got there she wasnt there. But her door was open, so we went in. Under her bed we found a knife! Then in her bag we found bloody clothes. We ran fast to  Mrs Swanson’s compartment. She told us to show what we found and we went to 

Mrs Hubbards compartment again. She called for the conductor and his staff and they all came to take a look. We told everyone to gather in the dining-cart. Mrs Hubbard showed up and looked very uncomfortable. Mrs Swanson told everything and the conductor and the cook took Mrs Hubbard and locked her in the closet. On next station the police arrived and took Mrs Hubbard. 

witness report