The Ming Poodle: Chapter LIV

Hugh Hamilton

"Hi," Hugh said to a man in a navy blue uniform that oozed importance.
"Hi," replied the man in the navy blue uniform that oozed importance.
"By any chance, is there a man by the name of Craper aboard this train?"
"Craper ay?"
"Yes."
"All right, I'll go check my files. You wait here and prepare the $25 dollars you are about to give to me."
Hugh sighed and began fishing around in his wallet. The man returned holding his hand out expectantly. Hugh soon decorated it with crisp bills and was immediately informed that there was no one on board with the name Craper.
"I suspected as muc,h" said Hugh. "He must be under a pseudonym."
"Indeed," said the man before quickly escaping the conversation.
Hugh thought it best to return to the bar, but, just as he began to use his legs to propel him in the desired direction, a typical lady’s scream rang out. Just in case you don't know what a typical ladies scream is, here is an example:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIEEEEE" - only much higher.
Having nothing but a negative effect on the reader, the joke scurried away leaving the plot exposed.
Hugh ran towards the direction of the scream and eventually found its source. It came from the vocal cords of a strikingly average looking woman in a jet-black dress. The cause for her stress came from the bloodied body of a dead man slumped across a bed with ruined sheets.
"Wow," said Hugh quite tastelessly.
Soon a crowd gathered outside the small room.
"Stay back, I must inspect the body," Hugh said with a good deal of undeserved authority.
He was quickly chauffeured out of the way by staff that began searching the body.
"Looks like he's been stabbed over twenty times," said a uniformed man in shock.
They retrieved a wallet from the dead man's pocket and handed it to a man in a navy blue uniform that oozed importance. Hugh quickly snatched the wallet from his hand and ran from the room. No one expected him to do this so it took no great skill on Hugh's part to disappear into a small room before he was spotted. He quickly searched the wallet and pulled out an ID card. The name on it read: "Nathan Crooner". He put the card down and emptied the rest of the wallet. A few receipts and phone numbers lay scattered across the table. His curiousity was not yet satisfied so he began to feel around the wallet for hidden treasures. He felt something hard beneath the leather and quickly ripped it out. It was another ID card. The photo was the same, the name was different: "Nelson Craper".