Page 29 of Cold and Bitter Snow

“Que s’est-il passé?” the conductor croaked.

What happened?

Conor ignored the man’s question for a more pressing one.

“Is there somebody else inside?”

Luc rolled his wheelchair over to them and translated it into French.

“Y a-t-il quelqu’un d’autre à l’interieur?” Luc asked.

Conor threw his friend a grateful look.

The train conductor shook his head shakily. “Non. J’étais seul. J’allais au dépôt.”

Conor and Luc exchanged a relieved glance.

At that moment the two remaining rail cars fell. In the morning silence, the sound was terrifying. The rail car the conductor had been in was pushed off the road. It rolled down the mountain, gaining speed until it slammed into a tree.

Conor looked at the rail cars now blocking the road and what seemed like half the mountain.

“The emergency services are going to have a field day with his one,” Conor said lightly. He still couldn’t shake off the impression he’d had, that the train had been speeding up as it’d reached the overpass.

At that moment they heard the first sirens. Seconds later the police and ambulance arrived, along with Markus Montgomery.

How did he hear about this so quick?

“What are you doing here?” Montgomery said, narrowing his eyes at Conor as if all of this could only be his fault.

“We were close by when the crash happened,” he said. “We came to help.”

“Il m’a sauvé, Monsieur Montgomery,” the conductor said, speaking over the shoulder of the medic attending him. His voice sounded a bit stronger now.

Montgomery flashed a look of irritation—whether at him or at the general situation, Conor couldn’t be sure.

Conor took a step backwards. There were people all around them now, two police officers, four firefighters. Conor recognized most of them. He imagined more people would come up from the valley soon. It was going to take a lot of work to clear this.

“We can’t be of any help here now. Let’s head back,” Luc said. Conor timed his strides to match the speed of Luc’s wheelchair.

Luc inspected the snowmobile ruefully, looking at the visible scrapes from when they’d raced down the mountain.

“I’ll take it to the shop for William to look at later today,” Luc said. “We did some good work together, didn’t we?” His smile was back, the earlier darkness in his voice forgotten.

Conor nodded. “We did. That train driver could have died.”

“Life’s short, man. But I don’t think I need to remind you of that.”

“Could you drop me off at Siena’s hotel, Luc?”

Chapter 10

Siena

Siena had just finished getting dressed when the crash sounded. It was eerily reminiscent to the sound of an aluminum can being crushed.

She rushed towards the southern window of her bedroom, the one facing the town, and caught sight of part of the train dangling from the overpass. She couldn’t see the rest of the rail cars but assumed they’d fallen onto the road below.

She resisted the urge to run outside knowing that, even if she was able to get there, there wasn’t much she’d be able to do to help. She wasn’t a trained EMT. But she could go to the office and check if there was any help she could give from there.