Train To Nowhere

Making her way through the mostly-empy train, Jackdaw searched for a nice spot to 'perch' on, as some of her fellow runners would say. A nice seat by herself, which gave her a good overview on both the outside and inside. Old habits, paranoid as they may be, die hard. And who knows, perhaps one day her carefulness would pay off.
She put a single earbud in, putting on a random trid-show that didn't require much visual attention. Normally she would use time like this to do some studying on possible threats and whatnot. Today, she just wanted a bit of distraction. She idly stared out the window, using the reflection to also keep an eye out on the rest of the wagon.
The next hours, the train made stops frequently, but in most cases nobody left or entered. No surprise, cars and intercity trains were faster after all. This train existed solely for the neglected places and people. It wasn't meant to run a profit or draw people, it was there if they ever needed it. Even then, it still was one of the reasons the trainline existed still.
The north had too many drowned lands, too few people. The corps would use the roads or seas to get their stuff in place. There was no proper profit in a rail connection. But then a few small corps sponsored the attempt, as did the royal family. Now the north was still connected and the corps realised they could make use of the line with less maintenance expenses.
Nowadays, the intercity trains ran properly again as before the Eurowars, as did the cargo trains. The line made enough money to maintain its standards and its goal, the existence of the train to nowhere. It just ran once a week and made its way to every small stop on the way. No rush, no travel of importance, just a slow ride.
Now that she thought of it, the idea pulled her heartstrings. A feeling she put aside, focusing on the whodunnit while being convinced the real culprit obviously was the detective's assistant. She wondered if the twist would be that the detective had manipulated the assistant in the first place. As she thought of ways to handle the murder better, the scenery and time went by.