April 3, 1935: 10:00 a.m.: Just Outside of Needles, California:

The train finally pulled out of its first station stop in the Golden State of California. There were approximately eight more hours to ride on this fully loaded train before the final stop in Los Angeles. It couldn't come soon enough for almost all of the passengers who had been cooped up in the moving boxes for three whole nights. That was long enough for all but the hardiest of travelers. That sentiment was shared by three men who would never have even considered being on this train in the first place if circumstances hadn't forced it on them.

The Detective was particularly irritated. He could think of lots of better ways to spend some vacation time. Not that this trip was anything close to a vacation. His boss had called it that facetiously, but Brian Kinney knew he had a job to do. His Captain was relying heavily on Brian's gut instincts, which kept telling him that the man he sought really was on this train. The full-on search for the suspect in Vanderbeke's murder had revealed nothing in and around New York City. An APB on their only suspect hadn't elicited anything new either. It was as if Justin Taylor didn't exist anymore. Brian was certain the young man did, but had escaped the clutches of the law by hiding out in plain sight. It was what he would have done if the situation was reversed. Time was now limited to find the young man while they were still traveling. Once they got to LA, it would be even more complicated to locate his quarry. Brian decided he'd make his umpteenth trip up and down the cars searching for the elusive suspect. This time he would try and catch the eye of everyone he saw. He was certain he'd recognize those eyes no matter what kind of disguise the young man was using. 

In the meantime, the young man Detective Kinney was seeking was sitting only two cars down from the detective. Justin Taylor was congratulating himself on the success of his ruse. He had managed to fool an entire bevy of women, including the sharp Debbie Novotny, into thinking he was one of them. There hadn't been a single sign that anyone was the least bit suspicious. Justin had to laugh to himself. Maybe he should consider becoming an actor once he hit LA. He had more talent at becoming someone else than he would have ever imagined only a few days ago. Right now he was looking forward to arriving at their destination. The first thing he wanted to do was shed his female clothing and become the masculine young man he felt comfortable being. He did regret that he would have to leave Debbie without a singer for her band. He had grown quite fond of the tough old gal and her little troupe, but the longer he stayed in disguise the higher the risk of being caught.

Two cars down in the opposite direction from where Justin was sitting with a group of the girls from the band gossiping the morning away, sat the third man in this secret circle of players of this cat and mouse game. Johan was angrier than he had been in quite some time. He had been absolutely certain he would have no trouble finding young Taylor, and yet the kid had managed to stay hidden during the entire trip. Even bribing some of the train personnel hadn't gotten Johan any information that would help in his search for the kid. He had found Detective Kinney easily enough, thanks to a photo of the man given to him by one of his cop buddies. Keeping a close watch on the Detective hadn't proven very fruitful, however. It was obvious from the start that Kinney had no more of a clue as to Taylor's whereabouts than he himself did. Johan knew that today was his last chance to locate Taylor before the vast city of Los Angeles swallowed the kid up. He could still be found, of course, but it would take a lot more time and Johan didn't want to waste his time in that way. He decided it was time to make another trip through the train before lunch. Maybe he'd get lucky this time.

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Same day: 12:20 p.m.: Dining Car:

Brian entered the dining car, which was now fully packed. He stood in line at the end of the car and waited for his turn to be seated at whatever spot opened up for him. He was totally unaware that the man he should have been seeking was directly behind him waiting for his spot at a table too. Johan knew better than to dog Brian's every move but he made it a point of keeping the Detective in his sights as much as possible, especially when it was obvious the man was on the search again. When Brian decided to take a break for lunch, Johan saw no reason not to do the same. 

After a relatively short wait, a large group of travelers finished their meal and exited the car. Within seconds the waiters had cleared the table, leaving room for four new hungry patrons. The man in charge of seating stepped forward and gave the sign for the next four people in line to follow him. Two elderly ladies moved forward first, followed closely by Brian and Johan. The ladies sat down on one side of the booth while the two men sat across from them. Brian secretly prayed that the women wouldn't be the talkative type. Johan smiled politely at all three of them and avoided any further eye contact as he checked out the small menu the waiter had given him. Soon all four people in the booth were enjoying their meal silently, except for the occasional comment between the ladies. Only Johan recognized the irony in his sharing a booth with the very man who would have slapped handcuffs on him in a heartbeat had he known who he was actually sitting with. He found it humorous to be sitting so close to the Detective, but he didn't let on as he ate his meal in silence.

Brian finished first and laid a small tip on the table as he indicated to his table mate that he needed to get out of the booth. Johan politely scooted out and waited for Brian to remove himself from the booth and then immediately sat back down. It was at that precise moment that the door slid open to the dining car and a rather noisy group of ladies from the orchestra piled through. They usually were the first to be seated during a meal but their rehearsal had run overtime and they were ravenous. There were at least nine or ten of them standing tightly squeezed into the small space available for waiting diners. Brian realized that he would have to make his way through the throng in order to exit the dining car, or choose to go the other way. He had no choice. He needed to leave by way of their end. 

Brian had not really taken a close look at any of the women before now. First of all he wasn't looking for a woman, and secondly he knew Taylor couldn't be in this group since the women all worked together and knew each other. A stranger would stand out like a sore thumb to these women. He was completely unaware that the singer, 'Sunny', was new to the band. He certainly had noticed the singer, but not in the way a cop would notice a suspect. Again he did take notice of the slender blond who had brought out such a strange reaction in him... one he had only experienced before when spying a particularly nice hunk of man. 'She' seemed to stand out in the crowd of women every time, at least for Brian.

'Sunny', the singer, was talking animatedly with the flirtatious dark-haired woman that Brian remembered being called Cherry. They seemed to be enjoying whatever the topic of their conversation was. As Brian started to move forward, prepared to be as gentlemanly as possible while pushing his way through the women, he realized that 'Sunny' and Cherry seemed to be staring right at him as they laughed at their own comments. Were they talking about him, he wondered? He did have a way of attracting the attention of women even though it didn't affect him in any way. For some odd reason he was a bit glad to know that the singer was noticing him. As he came closer to the girls, he found himself staring right into the blond's eyes only inches away from him. The first time he had seen those beautiful, blue eyes the contact had lasted only seconds. This time neither he nor the blond could seem to look away. 

Brian didn't realize it at first, but he had come to a full stop right in front of the singer. 'Sunny' and he continued to stare at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was actually no more than a half minute or so. It was at that moment that two more tables were freed up and the waiter again stepped forward to usher more diners to their seats. Cherry, who was at the head of the group of women along with 'Sunny', pulled gently on 'Sunny's' arm to get her to start moving.

"Honey, our seat is ready. Stop flirting with the nice man and let's go. The girls and I are starving."

'Sunny' blushed a charming shade of pink, which stood out clearly on 'her' porcelain-white cheeks. Brian hated to admit it but the sight was certainly charming. The thought crossed his mind that he would have definitely flirted back with the singer if he ever leaned in that direction. Just then 'Sunny' gave Brian a smile that flashed all 'her' ivory white teeth and lit up 'her' entire face. It was in that instant that Brian had a flash of why the singer's eyes seemed so familiar. He absolutely knew he had seen those eyes in a photo. For some reason that he couldn't even understand himself, he hesitated in doing what he knew he had every right to do. 

For the first time in days Brian knew exactly why he hadn't been able to find his suspect, but he wasn't so sure as to why he had no desire to embarrass the young man by grabbing him right there in front of everyone and making an immediate arrest. He masked his discovery quickly and made up his mind then and there that he would confront the young man in private. Now that he knew who the singer really was, he was certain the kid wouldn't try to escape as long as he still felt safe in his disguise... and what a disguise it was. Brian almost whistled out loud in appreciation of the young man's ingenuity, although Brian suspected that Justin's female friend back home might have had a hand in helping the kid so successfully. He had to admire her devotion, even if it had made his job much harder. Now that Brian knew where to find Justin Taylor, he broke eye contact with the blond and continued forward to leave the car. He had to decide within the next five or six hours when and where he would confront the young man. Once they actually got to LA he couldn't be sure that Taylor would stay with the band. He had to have him in handcuffs before then.

As Brian walked away he failed to notice his eating companion, who had just risen from their table and was about to leave too. Johan certainly did notice the Detective and the way he had stopped and stared for such a long time at the young blond from the girl band Johan had seen on board. He normally enjoyed a bit of music but he had been far too busy to stop and watch the band during any of their rehearsals, and on top of that none of the ladies of the band were anywhere near as sexy as his own mistress. Because of that he had paid scant attention to the girls. 

Johan was a student of human behavior, however, and he couldn't help noticing the subtle change in Brian's body language just before he moved on from the group of ladies waiting to be seated. It caused Johan to give the two ladies who seemed to catch Brian's attention the most, very close scrutiny as he passed by them. It was the first time he had actually looked at any of the women on board so closely and it answered his question as to why he hadn't spotted the young man he had been seeking much sooner. Johan had also been carrying a photo of Justin, and as soon as he looked into the blond 'girls' eyes he saw Taylor. He had to give the kid credit. The SOB had thought of a disguise that would have never occurred to Johan. Now that he knew, he only needed to get the kid alone. He sensed that the Detective had figured it out too, but he couldn't be sure. He realized that this might not be as easy as he would have hoped, but he would take care of business no matter what the risks were. By the time they hit LA, Justin Taylor would no longer be a problem. 

As Johan passed through the sliding door to head back to his room where he could try and work out a plan, he didn't hear the soft giggling between Cherry and 'Sunny' as they followed the waiter to their table. Justin had come to like Cherry quite a lot and actually enjoyed gossiping with her. She reminded him a lot of Daphne, with the same irreverent sense of humor and joy in poking fun or critiquing the men around them. Of course Daphne knew that she was sizing up men with a gay boy next to her, while Cherry thought she was sharing the fun with another gal like herself, but other than that they were very much alike. Justin actually wished he could be truthful with Cherry but his sense of self-preservation was too strong to take the risk in exposing himself to her. 

The two 'gals' had noticed the tall slender brunet more than once on this trip. They both agreed that he was quite a looker and would make a good catch. Of course they knew nothing about him but the mystery was half the fun. Justin figured he was no doubt a hetero man, but it didn't hurt to dream... and dream he did. He had already had one very sexy dream about the stranger with the hazel eyes just the night before. Of course it was only fantasy. He would soon be in Los Angeles, city of dreams, and there he would hopefully find the real thing. The stranger certainly wasn't it, even though it had been odd just moments ago when the brunet had stopped short right in front of him and couldn't seem to take his eyes off Justin. 

Justin would have worried that the stranger had seen through his disguise, recognizing him as a man dressed in women's clothing if he hadn't moved on without saying a word once they lost eye contact. Justin had to admit though that there had been an intangible something that seemed to pass between them in those brief moments that their eyes were locked together. If it was flirting that the brunet was doing, Justin felt sorry for him. He would certainly have been disappointed if he had tried to pursue the object of his flirtation any further. Justin couldn't suppress the grin that crossed his face as he pictured the stranger kissing him and reaching a hand under his skirt only to discover the bulge he kept tightly encased underneath. When Cherry slid into the booth and noticed the grin on her friend's face she pulled at 'Sunny's' wrist.

"What in the world just gave you that Cheshire grin on your face, Missy?" Cherry asked pointedly.

"Oh nothing," the blond responded dismissively.

"You were thinking about that delicious morsel that just passed us, weren't you. Go on, admit it. I saw the way you two looked at each other. Hey, maybe he'll finally introduce himself before we get to LA. So, if he does will you be wiling to give him a tumble? Brother, I certainly would."

Cherry laughed out loud, making the others curious as to what was so funny. 'Sunny' just ducked 'her' head and mumbled something under 'her' breath.

"What did you say?"

"I said I don't have time for romance Cherry. I'm on this trip for one reason and one reason only and finding a man isn't it... at least not for fun and games. Besides we don't know anything about him. He could be anyone. I'm not eager to take a chance like that. He seems really nice, but you know that looks can be deceiving. Things aren't always what they seem you know. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about," the blond concluded.

"Yeah right," Cherry huffed. "Well believe me, if he gives me a second look I'll be happy to respond. Your loss kiddo."

With that the girls placed their order with the waiter. Everyone was on pins and needles. They were almost to their destination. Everyone had big plans for the future. Only the blond singer knew that 'her' future was completely uncertain. Only Justin Taylor had reason to worry about what would happen once the train rolled into Los Angeles. Only he had the possibility of never making it there, or getting to stay there even if he did make it. But Justin was blissfully unaware of what plans were being hatched in the minds of two different men nearby as he dug into his lunch while the train continued clickety clacking down the tracks, moving inexorably nearer and nearer to its final destination on this particular trip.

To be continued...........................