Release Read online

  Within a few moments, a woman with frizzy hair appeared at Praxider’s door, holding a net tablet. “Sir?”

  Praxider opened the door wide for her to walk through. “Nandi, you keep a pretty detailed record of the Duke of Risciter’s movements in the sector, don’t you?”

  “Sir?”

  “Oh, come now,” said Praxider, “I’ve seen you working on it at your desk. You’ve got a timeline, going back years, of all the planets he’s been on and when.”

  Nandi hung her head. “I’m sorry, sir, I know I should have been working, but—”

  “You’re not in trouble,” said Praxider. “Just pull it up on your tablet, please.”

  Nandi looked surprised, but did as she was told.

  “Check these dates, will you?” said Praxider. “Can you tell me if the duke was on Hallon during each of these periods?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ariana leaned into the front of the speeder. “Now you know to where to pick us up, don’t you?” she asked the driver.

  He nodded, looking excited. “Driving the getaway car, I am. Never thought I’d get a chance to be doing something like this, miss.”

  “Just be there.” Ariana straightened, smoothing her dress and putting her fan in front of her face so that only her eyes were visible. She hid her blaster behind the fan as well. She joined Aunt Tildy who was picking at the bodice of her too-tight dress. “Leave it,” Ariana said.

  “It’s quite uncomfortable,” Aunt Tildy said. “I swore after that party earlier this season, I’d never wear it again.”

  “But you look stunning,” said Ariana.

  Aunt Tildy looked down at her cleavage, which was struggling to get out of the dress. She grinned wickedly. “I do look that, don’t I?”

  “Now you remember what the plan is?”

  “Of course I remember. I’m not an idiot, am I?”

  Ariana certainly hoped not. She’d already taken Aunt Tildy’s flask away from her since the woman couldn’t seem to do anything without drinking. Fluttering the fan over her face, she followed her aunt into the Risciter Planetary Prison. This wasn’t a large prison for long-term inmates, but a relatively small place kept for those just arrested or awaiting trial. In Keirth’s case, since he was to be executed so quickly, she supposed they hadn’t seen the necessity of moving him. It made things easier all around, though, since there wouldn’t be nearly as much security to get through. At least Ariana hoped there wouldn’t be.

  Aunt Tildy marched ahead of Ariana, head held high, a look of distain on her face as she passed each person. Most people looked away immediately. Good. So far, everything was working out.

  She followed Aunt Tildy through the front door. Just inside, there was a man in uniform sitting next to the blaster detector. He was reading his screen, but looked up as they entered.

  Aunt Tildy walked through the blaster detector, and Ariana followed quick on her heels.

  The detector began to beep.

  The man in uniform stood up.

  Keep walking, Ariana thought at Aunt Tildy. Just keep walking.

  Aunt Tildy, seeming to remember the plan, did exactly that.

  “Excuse me,” said the man in uniform, but he was behind them now as they swept inside in the main room.

  Aunt Tildy kept walking. Ariana followed.

  The man was running up to them now. “Excuse me,” he said, more loudly.

  Aunt Tildy ignored him, making her way across the room towards the lifts that would carry them down to the bottom of the prison, where the prisoners were kept.

  The man caught up to them and wedged himself in front of Aunt Tildy. “Excuse me,” he said pointedly.

  Aunt Tildy took a step back, her hand fluttering over her exposed cleavage, and managed to look utterly disgusted by the man. Good. “Yes?”

  “You’ve set off the detector,” said the man. “You’ll need to walk through it again.”

  “I haven’t set off the detector.” Aunt Tildy’s voice contained the perfect amount of disbelief and scorn.

  Excellent. She was performing perfectly. Ariana did her best to stay calm behind her fan. She didn’t want to have to start shooting before it was absolutely necessary.

  “It beeped,” said the man.

  “Well, I’m sure I don’t know why that happened,” said Aunt Tildy. “I’m in a hurry. Step aside.”

  “I’m sorry,” said the man, “but it’s the rules. Everyone has to go through the detector. It’s for safety, you understand.”

  Aunt Tildy gave him a withering look. She gestured to her very tight dress. “And where, pray tell me, would I keep a blaster in this outfit?”

  The man eyed her, perhaps lingering a little too long on her breasts. He stuttered. “O-only the rules, m-miss.”

  “Don’t ogle me in that manner,” Aunt Tildy said, sounding horrified. “I feel completely harassed. If I were to tell your superior the way in which you treated me—”

  The man was totally flustered at that point. He waved them on. “I’m sure you’re fine, miss. My apologies.” He turned to go.

  Ariana let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in.

  The man turned back. “But your companion—”

  “My sister most certainly is not carrying a weapon either,” Aunt Tildy said. She took Ariana by the arm with a haughty huff and gave the man a reproachful look as they got on the lift.

  He gaped at them as the doors to the lift closed.

  Aunt Tildy began to laugh. “I can’t believe he bought that. This is the most fun I’ve had in—”

  Ariana poked her. “There are cameras,” she hissed.

  Aunt Tildy composed herself. She touched the screen inside the lift for the proper floor, and the lift began to descend.

  * * *

  Armed with evidence that the Duke of Risciter had been on Hallon during every single murder fitting the description in the past fifteen years, the similarity between the murders on Hallon and the murders on Scranth, Keirth’s supposed motive, and the story of Miss Gilit, Tramet felt confident as his speeder raced across town. The nets had just confirmed that the prince had arrived on Risciter and that he was settling into his estate. The execution of Keirth Transman was set to take place tomorrow at dawn.

  Leaving nothing to chance, Tramet was going to him directly. It had been quite some time since he’d spoken with the prince, but they were close in age and had been boyhood companions on occasion, especially when the royal family had come to visit the planet Tramet. Still, while there was a bond, it was a distant bond, stretching back over the years. Tramet hoped the prince would remember their childhood together. He especially hoped that the prince would have fond memories of Cecily. That, indeed, was key.

  As it stood, the prince might not be disposed to receive visitors at all. He’d just arrived from his trip. He might want only to be left in peace. Since Tramet had not arranged this meeting, he knew there was a chance he’d be denied an audience with the prince.

  He had to try. When his driver stopped at the door to the prince’s estate, Tramet leapt out and went to the door. He was met by a servant, a stiff elderly man, most assuredly the butler of the estate. The butler was a shrewd man, however, since he recognized him immediately. “Your Lordship, the Duke of Tramet,” he said, bowing slightly. “The prince was not expecting you, at least not that I’m aware of.”

  “No,” said Tramet, “but I’ve come to beg an audience with him just the same. Will you find out if he’ll see me?”

  The butler led him into a parlor and went to deliver the news of his arrival to the prince. Though he’d been told to make himself comfortable, Tramet paced the room instead, his pulse pounding.

  * * *

  The lift opened onto the bottom floor of the prison and Ariana and Aunt Tildy got out. They emerged into a room with low ceilings and no windows, since it was underground. Above them, the lights were bright and harsh. The room wasn’t large. There was a built-in desk along the far wall, and a u
niformed man sat there, eyeing screens that displayed the interior of cells.

  Aunt Tildy, still displaying the kind of attitude Ariana had coached her on, strode up to the desk as if she owned the place. Ariana stood behind her.

  Aunt Tildy tapped her fingers on the desk. “Young man, we’re here with the Prisoner’s Charity League Women’s Auxillary. We’ve come to visit the prisoners.”

  The man gave her a strange look. “I don’t know a thing about that.”

  “We’ve been planning this for over a month,” said Aunt Tildy. “Just open up one of those corridors so we can go down and speak to these lost souls.”

  The man stared into Aunt Tildy’s cleavage. “Um, that is the last thing you want to wear if you’re visiting prisoners.”

  Aunt Tildy cleared her throat.

  Ariana was getting nervous. She knew this was the weaker part of the plan. It didn’t matter too much anyway. Maybe he’d let them in or maybe not. She still had the blaster.

  “Look, I’ll have to use the comm to ask upstairs if they’ve got any record of whether or not you’re supposed to be here,” said the man.

  “Is that really necessary?” asked Aunt Tildy.

  The man was pressing buttons on the wall comm. “Those are the rules.”

  Screw this, Ariana thought. She dropped her fan and pointed the blaster at the man, checking to make sure it was set for stun. She pulled the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  * * *

  The prince appeared in the doorway of the parlor, his eyes bright. “Nigel!”

  Tramet bowed. “Your Majesty.”

  “Oh, please, Nigel,” said the prince, striding across the room to pump Tramet’s hand furiously. “Call me Gulien. It’s been too long. I had no idea you were on Risciter.”

  This seemed to be going well. Tramet relaxed a bit. “Just arrived, actually. I came to sort through some things, and I’ve discovered something I think you’ll want to know about.”

  “Well, all right,” said the prince. He settled down on a couch and gestured for Tramet to do the same. “Shall I ring for some tea, then?”

  “If you like.” Tramet didn’t think he had the stomach for anything at the moment, but he waited while the prince used his comm to direct the servants to bring up some refreshment.

  Finally, the prince turned back to Tramet. “You seem awfully serious, Nigel. Has someone died?”

  “No,” said Tramet. “That is, not yet, if you and I can do something about it.”

  The prince raised his eyebrows. “Is this about that Transman person? Nasty business, overall, I think. I was horrified when I heard. I simply had to oversee the execution of a monster like that.”

  “That’s the thing, Gulien,” said Tramet, “I’m not sure they’ve got the right man.”

  “Oh?” said the prince, looking mildly interested.

  Tramet opened his mouth to say more, but they were interrupted by a maid bringing in tea and cakes. He was prevented from saying anything else by the prince urging him to try a certain pastry the cook at his estate made which the prince declared “absolutely divine.” It was full of caramel. Tramet chewed.

  * * *

  The blaster wasn’t turned on. Ariana cursed, punching the button to activate it.

  The man at the desk was pulling out his own blaster.

  Ariana pulled the trigger again, and he slumped to the ground.

  “Oh my,” said Aunt Tildy.

  “He wasn’t going for it,” Ariana explained.

  The wall comm beeped. “Jones?”

  Damn it. Ariana hurried behind the desk, stepping over the body of the man inside. She pushed the talk button on the wall comm. Deepening her voice, she said, “Uh, everything’s fine here. I called by accident.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got a cold, Jones.”

  “No, no,” said Ariana, trying to keep her voice deep. “Nothing wrong down here.”

  “We can send down a few men if you—”

  “Everything’s fine.” Ariana hit the end button on the wall. She reached down and got the man’s (Jones’s, she supposed) blaster. She handed it to Aunt Tildy. Then she searched in his pockets for a key ring to the cells. She found it, a small square with a screen on it, like the keys she used for her ship. “We’ve got to move fast. I think they suspect something.” She took in the wall of screens beside her, looking for Keirth.

  There he was. Cell 4-A, down the A hallway.

  She wished she could turn off the cameras entirely, but maybe that would be suspicious as well. She really had no idea how to do that anyway. She came out from behind the desk and took Aunt Tildy by the arm. “Come on.”

  They darted down the A hallway, using the man’s key to open the wing. Keirth’s cell was number four, but the way things were numbered that meant he was all the way down the hall. Ariana ran as fast as she could, but Aunt Tildy was bound up in the tight dress and could hardly keep up.

  Ariana didn’t wait for her. She needed to get Keirth out, and then they’d be coming right back up the hall. She skidded to a stop in front of the door to his cell and punched things on the screen to open the door.

  It slid open.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “My dear boy,” said the prince, “you can’t tell me you believe that girl, Miss Gilit? She’s clearly traumatized, moving the blame from her captor to the Duke of Risciter. Ridiculous.”

  “There’s been a similar string of murders on the planet Hallon,” Tramet said, showing the prince the information he’d gotten from Praxider.

  The prince took the tablet and read silently to himself.

  “The police think it’s quite likely that the same person that killed these women on Hallon killed the women on Scranth.”

  The prince handed the tablet back. “So, Transman had an early start. That proves nothing.”

  “I don’t have solid proof, Gulian,” said Tramet. “I have only a few pieces of evidence which I think cast reasonable doubt on Transman’s guilt. One is the fact that Risciter was on Hallon when every single one of these murders was committed.”

  “Coincidence?” asked the prince. “That doesn’t make him a murderer, Nigel.”

  “No,” Tramet admitted. “It is a bit odd, of course, that Risciter would spend so much time on Hallon, especially during seasons when it isn’t fashionable, and most of the nobility is elsewhere, but in and of itself, it means very little. I must concede that. However, these murders go back fifteen years, and Keirth Transman is a young man. Unless he was murdering women while he was younger than ten, I think it’s unlikely he perpetrated all of them.”

  The prince raised his eyebrows. “That is troubling.”

  Tramet sighed. “Do you remember my sister Cecily?”

  “Of course I remember her,” said the prince. “Don’t be ridiculous, Nigel. I was practically engaged to the girl before the tragedy happened to your family.”

  “I only thought, with it being so long ago, and the rest of my family’s deaths overshadowing it all, that it might have slipped your mind,” said Tramet. Years ago, his entire family had been on a large family cruise ship in deep space when the ship had been attacked by gellococcus. Everyone had been killed. Only he and his sister Cecily had survived and that had been because they hadn’t been on the ship. They’d chosen to stay at school, even over the protests of their mother.

  The prince sighed. “You can hardly expect a man to forget the fact that a woman ran away to escape marrying him, can you?”

  Tramet looked away from the prince. “I don’t think that’s why she ran away, Gulien.”

  “Well, we’ll never know,” said the prince. “She’s never been found, has she?”

  Tramet took a shaky breath. He scrolled through some of the files on his tablet and then handed it to the prince.

  The prince looked at the tablet for a moment and then dropped it with a clatter. He was on his feet and across the room, gasping, “Nigel, that can’t be.”

  * * *

&nbs
p; Keirth looked up as the door to his cell opened. He’d had no word, even though the time had passed since he’d been supposed to die. Every time someone came to his cell to give him food, he prepared himself for this being the moment when they’d take him to his execution. It was the waiting that was killing him at this point. It was driving him mad.

  And when he saw who was standing in the doorway, his first thought was that he really had gone crazy. She was a mirage, obviously. His brain was playing tricks on him, making him see things he wanted.

  “Keirth, get up,” said Ariana.

  “Ariana...?” It couldn’t be. But there she was in a dress, holding a blaster.

  “I’m here to rescue you,” she said.

  Keirth’s illusion certainly looked tangible. He wondered if his brain had only made her appear to him, or if he’d be able to hallucinate touching her too. He got up and went to her, gathering her in his arms. She felt real enough. If this was all in his head, he didn’t mind, he supposed. He put his lips on hers, tasted her sweetness. He could die happy now, even if he was crazy.

  Ariana pulled away, looking a little dazed by the kiss. “Later,” she whispered, gazing into his eyes. She seemed to force herself to look away from him. “We’ve got to go, now.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of his cell, leading him up the hallway.

  There was a woman standing in the middle of the hallway wearing a very tight dress.

  “This is my Aunt Tildy,” Ariana said. “She’s helping us. Her speeder is outside waiting for us, and she’s going to let us use her ship. We’ve just got to get to the docking bay.”

  Hold on. This was beginning to seem less and less the way he’d dream Ariana if she were a figment of his imagination. If he’d made her up in his head, he supposed he’d be kissing her still, possibly figuring out how to get her out of that dress. If she was talking about docking bays and speeders—