Murder on the Orient Espresso by Sandra Balzo Page A

that the Everglades had become.
    And with thoughts of rabbit, inside alligator, inside python, no less. The concept of turducken – a de-boned chicken, stuffed into a de-boned duck, in turn stuffed into a de-boned turkey and baked – had always seemed exotic enough, without imagining the Everglades own sushi version of the same. The one remaining comfort being that human beings weren’t on the menu.
    At least until the pythons ran out of rabbits, deer and alligators.

SIX
    â€˜I f you want to get technical,’ Missy Hudson snapped me out of my snake-themed reverie, ‘pythons don’t really eat their prey so much as crush it so they can swallow it whole and digest it.’
    Lovely. ‘And this differs from “eating” in what way?’
    Missy looked up, apparently startled by the edge in my tone. ‘Well, no chewing, of course.’
    â€˜Oh.’
    â€˜That’s nothing, though. You want to know something really scary?’
    I hadn’t realized that what we’d already been talking about didn’t qualify. ‘Sure.’
    â€˜They’ve found a number of African rock pythons in the Everglades. Including a pregnant one.’
    â€˜And that’s worse than a Burmese python?’ Or tens or hundreds of thousands of them?
    â€˜Oh, yes. The rock pythons are Africa’s largest snake – over twenty feet long. And the fact one was pregnant means they’re reproducing here.’
    â€˜And not-too-tightly-wrapped people kept those things as pets, too?’
    â€˜Yes, can you believe it? The herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville said the species is so aggressive they come out of the egg striking. His theory is that breeders didn’t expect them to be so vicious – and hence so unmarketable to consumers – that they released them into the wild, too. The fear is the African rocks will mate with the Burmese and spawn a large and powerful population of hybrids – like a kind of Super Python.’
    Just gets better and better. ‘You sure seem to know a lot about these creepy-crawlies.’
    â€˜Well, most Floridians who live near the Everglades have heard the news reports, or at least should have. Knowledge is power. Besides,’ Missy was back to picking at the tape, ‘I needed to research them for
Breaking and Entering
.’
    â€˜There’s a snake in the book?’ Other than the trouser variety, I meant.
    â€˜Well, yes. Rosemary wanted Kat, the umm, heroine to have an, umm … encounter with one. Or was it two?’ The corner of the tape came loose. ‘Damn.’
    The subject of our conversation had gone from bad to worse. It was one thing to exchange views with someone my own age, but Missy couldn’t be more than six years older than my son Eric, who was in his second year of college.
    â€˜Why don’t I hop up into the train and open the window?’ I suggested. ‘You can hand me the rope and I’ll secure it to something.’
    â€˜That’s a wonderful idea! This is the passenger car, so—’
    In my haste to get away from the images in my own mind, I didn’t wait to hear the rest of Missy’s instructions.
    Entering the train, I turned right and nearly ran into a broad-shouldered man. He was wearing a boxy three-piece suit with a gold watch chain, presumably leading to a pocket watch in the vest. ‘Can I help you?’ he said, holding open a sliding door into the next car.
    â€˜Oh, I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I was just looking for the passenger car.’
    â€˜This is the club car,’ he said, hiking a thumb behind him. ‘I’ll be serving coffee and espresso drinks in a few minutes.’
    â€˜So our Orient Espresso will really have espresso?’ I asked, spotting a brewer on one of the bars.
    â€˜That’s the plan. Though it’s not ready yet.’
    â€˜Oh, not a problem. I’m actually