Chapter 5: Murder and Revelation.

Zootopia-Express-9H00

The passengers gathered in the lounge.
Nicholas Bouc: Ladies and gentleman, I regret to inform you that some of you will be delayed in arriving at your destination due to the fact that we are stuck in the snow.
The passengers all looked disgusted.
Bonnie Hubbard: Why did I listen to my daughter saying that a trip on the Zootopia-Express will do me good when we're stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Greta Bellwether: I have to visit my sister and unfortunately my boat is setting sail after tomorrow.
Mary Gazelle: Aren't Mr. Bouc supposed to do something about this kind of situation?
Nicholas Bouc: That's right, I'm not doing anything, because at the moment at Tundraville station the station master must have seen that we are 4 hours late, so he will quickly understand our situation and send a team to get us out.


Meanwhile, Judy was getting dressed in her compartment, putting on her dark blue suit with a yellow tie, she was about to go out to go to the dining car for breakfast, while she saw Mr. Koslov carrying a tray with coffee and a croissant, knocking on Mr. Doug's door.
Edward Koslov: Mr. Doug your breakfast is ready. He knocked again.
Edward Koslov: Mr. Doug?
Judy Poirot: Is there a problem Mr. Koslov?
Edward Koslov: Well I came to wake up Mr. Doug by bringing him his breakfast as he asked me to, but he doesn't answer.
Judy leans on the floor and notices a cold draft coming out of Doug's room, and gets up.
Judy Poirot: Call Monsieur Michel and have Monsieur Bouc come.
Edward Koslov: Right away miss.
A few minutes later Koslov returns with the director of the Zootopia-Express and the driver Benjamin Michel. The driver opened the compartment door with his key but on opening the door they saw that the chain had been put on, he cut it and could open the door definitively.
From the outside, they saw inside the body of the ram lying in its bed covered in blood with the window open. Everyone was shocked when they saw this scene.
Nicholas Bouc: Oh my god, first we got stuck in a snowdrift and now we have murder on board.
Judy Poirot: Do we have a doctor on board? Nicholas Bouc: We have Doctor Emmitt Constantine traveling in the Oasis-ville car.
Judy Poirot: Michel brings him here.
Benjamin Michel: Good miss Poirot.
Moments later, Doctor Constantine, a bespectacled otter in a brown suit, arrived at the compartment in question and began to examine the body.
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: He was stabbed eleven times, but only 3 fatalities, but I notice a slight wound in the back of the neck that was made by a needle.
Judy Poirot: Do you know what time the murder was committed?
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: With the window open and this cold it's hard to tell, I'd say around midnight to 2am.
At this point Judy and Nicholas walked away down the hallway so they could talk alone. Nicholas felt very worried.
Nicholas Bouc: Please Judy you have to help me solve this case, if we don't turn over a murderer to the police then they will choose anyone at random, like Hardman because he is a fox an species considered untrustworthy, or Mr. Manchas who is a black jaguar considered unlucky. If that happens then no one will ever want to ride on my train again, and I'll be broke.
Judy Poirot: I wouldn't want such things to happen either, much less put someone out of work. I'll take care of this case.
Nicholas bouc: Thank you Judy, we will all be at your disposal, and to answer your questions we will be here.
Judy Poirot: Let's first ask the question 'Where did the murderer go to enter the compartment, and exit after murdering Mr. Doug'?
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: Maybe out the window, but I don't see any tracks in the snow.
Judy Poirot: A ruse by the killer to make us think he escaped this way in the blizzard. The sleeping cars are locked at night?
Benjamin Michel: Yes it's true, only me and the other conductors can open the doors of the train with our keys. And once everyone goes to bed, we lock the car doors overnight, it's almost impossible to get in or out.
Judy Poirot: Then there is no doubt the murderer is among us!

Judy, Nicholas, Benjamin and Koslov returned to the lounge to brief the passengers on the situation while Doctor Emmitt Constantine remained to watch over Doug's body.
Nicholas Bouc: Your attention please, we ask all of you to remain calm. We had another problem on board.
Judy Poirot: A passenger was murdered last night. Mr Doug.
Hearing these words the passengers were all shocked upon hearing these words.
Bonnie Hubbard: First we got stuck here because of the snow, and now there's been a murder. Nothing but bad things happen on this train.
Hector Finnick: So they finally got it. He had many enemies.
Jack Andrenyi: And unfortunately we don't have any police on board.
Nicholas Bouc: We are always lucky to have this rabbit with us (Nicholas points to Judy).
Gideon Hardman: And who are you miss?
Judy Poirot: My name is Judy Poirot, and I'm known as the world's greatest detective.
Nicholas Bouc: Mademoiselle Poirot has proven herself all over the world. We ask you all to keep at his disposal.
Bonnie Hubbard: You think the culprit is on board?
Judy Poirot: With the cold outside the killer would not have come out. There is a murderer among us.
At this point Judy returned to compartment 2 to attend the doctor. Nicholas followed her.
Judy Poirot: Nicholas I need the map of the Zootropolis car and all the tickets and passports for each passenger, and make a list of each occupied compartment.
Nicholas Bouc: I'll take care of that right away Judy.
Judy Poirot: And since you and Doctor Constantine are traveling in the Oasis-ville car, you'll both be assisting me.
Nicholas Bouc: Good Judy.
Nicholas Bouc was about to return to the living room when they encountered Hector Finnick with a bottle of bourbon in his paw.
Hector Finnick: Excuse me miss Poirot but I have to talk to you.
Nicholas Bouc: Mr. Finnick, do you think it's time to drink?
Hector Finnick: My boss died so I lost my job.
Judy Poirot: How long have you worked for Mr. Doug?
Hector Finnick: About a year and a half ago, I met him in Desert City on one of his trips. I was unemployed, so he offered me one. I was his secretary and I served as his translator, he only spoke with a northern accent. I organized his trips and paid for his meals.
Then a few days after leaving Reptile-ville, he started receiving threatening letters. Besides, that was what I wanted to talk to you about, here you go.
Finnick pulled out of the right pocket of his dark blue jacket some folded sheets with the right paw while the other paw held the small bottle of bourbon.
Judy took the letters, the folders and read '' We're going to take you for a ride, it's soon. We're hot on your heels.'', ''You thought you could pass us and get away with it, didn't you? Not alive anyway. We'll look for you, Doug, and we'll find you!"
Judy Poirot: Thank you Mr. Finnick for providing us with these documents. Tell me what were you doing last night after you left your boss?
Hector Finnick: Around 8 p.m. he asked me to put away some documents on old business, I put them in my briefcase which I left in my compartment. Then at 9:00 p.m. I met Colonel Bogo, then we started talking about the animalism that appeared in Russia and then, we met you in the corridor, we continued the conversation in my compartment while having a drink or of them. We left around 2:00 a.m. We were starting to feel tired, then I went to bed.
Judy Poirot: Thank you Mr Finnick, that will be all for now.
Nicholas and Finnick returned to the dining car while Judy went to Doug's compartment where she found Doctor Constantine.
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: There you are again Miss Poirot, I haven't touched anything while you were gone.
Judy Poirot: Good doctor. Did you find anything?
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: Well several wounds on the body are different. Some were made by a left-hander. We can think of two killers, but some wounds are deeper than others, so it could be a man and a woman.
Judy Poirot: I think so too, but looking at the position of the body Mr. Doug lay in bed and accepted death, not resisting.
Judy looked at the pillow and found the gun she saw hidden under the bed.
Judy Poirot: While he had this gun at his fingertips.
At this point Dr. Constantine found a white porcelain cup at the foot of the bed, he sniffed inside and then passed it to Judy. Judy sniffed and concluded.
Judy Poirot: Barbital! Mr. Doug was drugged so he couldn't react.
She finds a gun under the pillow.
Judy Poirot: Because he had a gun to defend himself.
Emmit bent over Doug's body and found a small chain. He took his handkerchief and grabbed it and saw that it was a broken and bloodstained pocket watch as he pulled it out of the blanket.
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: The watch says 1:45 a.m., it would probably have been broken during the attack, indicating the time of the crime.
Judy Poirot: Indeed.
Judy started to look at the door to the next compartment and noticed that it was locked.
Judy Poirot: The door is closed so the killer couldn't get through here.
Then she glanced over at Doug's nightstand and found a few items on the table.
Judy Poirot: We have some clues on this table. There is a pipe cleaner which can only belong to the killer or leave to accuse another passenger since Mr. Doug smoked cigars. A tie pin from which you can see a small sign engraved on it. The tip of this needle appears to be the cause of the wound on the victim's neck.
Dr Emmit Otterton: Yes that seems to be the cause. But why would the killer seek to use his pin to prick the victim in the neck when he had a knife?
Judy Poirot: That's up to us to find out, doctor. And we have an ashtray which contains a piece of charred paper and two different matches, one belonging to the victim and the other to the murderer to be able to burn this paper which was to contain a very important clue. I'm gonna need a hatbox, a hot spring to analyze this evidence, and my magnifying glass to try to identify this pin.
Nicholas arrived and Judy sent him into the living room to ask one of the ladies to pass her a hat box and a hot spring, while she went back into the compartment and took her magnifying glass out of her jacket and then went back into the compartment. Doug. She began to look at the pin with the magnifying glass and was able to identify the engraved sign.
Judy Poirot: It's the letter B that's engraved on the lapel pin. It must surely belong to Colonel Bogo.
At this time Nicholas comes back with what Judy asked him.
Nicholas Bouc: I was able to borrow a small gas stove from Klaus in the kitchen, and Mrs. Hubbard gave me a hat box.
Judy Poirot: Thank you Nicholas.
Judy put the stove on the table and lights it, at which point a flame appears. In the hat box she took out the metal frame where she put at the top, the small piece of charred paper before placing the frame above the flame.
Judy Poirot: Be careful the letters on this paper will only be visible for a very short time.
At that moment, the ink began to blush and a few letters appeared before disappearing.
Nicholas Bouc: You have......blood...Armstrong...on your hands....die...this.
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: Do you understand what that means?
Judy Poirot: I understand.
Judy looked at Doug's body on the bed with an angry look.
Judy Poirot: This man's real name was not Samuel Doug but, Ramses Casseti. And this murder is linked to one of the most heinous crimes in American justice. 5 years ago little Cotton Armstrong a young bunny was kidnapped on Christmas Eve night from her parents' mansion in Bunnyburrow. She was the daughter of Colonel Stuart Armstrong, a rabbit and of Marian Armstrong a vixen who was the daughter of the great tragedian of the time the rabbit Linda Goldenberg In these families there were many Rabbit-fox couples to show that two different species can mate. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom that could ruin the young couple, but they were ready to do anything to get their daughter back. After paying the body of little Cotton was found, she had been strangled for 2 weeks by Casseti before the ransom was demanded.Having heard the news, Mrs. Armstrong who was pregnant with another child, under the shock had a miscarriage which killed her as well as her baby. Colonel Armstrong never recovered from this double loss, eventually committing suicide in his home. 5 days after his death, Weaselton and Chuckles were arrested for kidnapping Cotton and agreed to testify against Casseti. Casseti was arrested as the leader of the gang but the sentence was overturned, he probably bribed or threatened someone to change the case. Then he was able to continue his life around the world, traveling under the name Doug, avoiding the United States where he would be hanged.
When on the message I know the missing words ''You have Cotton Armstrong blood on your hands you will die for this''!
Nicholas Bouc: How do you know that, the newspapers didn't mention all those details.
Judy Poirot: Colonel Armstrong sent me a letter to investigate Casseti, but when I got there he was dead.
Nicholas Bouc: Anyway, that sheep got what it deserved. I would have congratulated his killers if they hadn't cracked down on my train.
Dr. Emmitt Constantine: Are there any Armstrongs still alive?
Judy Poirot: There is Linda Goldenberg but since the death of her granddaughter followed by her daughter, we haven't heard from her anymore. However she had a second daughter younger than Marian. Unfortunately I don't know any more, let's go and question the witnesses.

Zootopia characters and Robin Hood belong at Disney and the murder on the Orient Express belong at Agaha Christie, the letters of Doug from video games the crime of the Orient Express on computer and the movie of branagh and the pocture belongs at KendallCollins