She ran in the alleys until she found a public comm. Then she sent her Aunt Tildy a message. “Remember how you said you’d do anything to help me?”
* * *
Tramet arrived at Winfield to find it in a panic. It seemed that Miss Gilit had knocked out one nurse, put a needle in a guard’s neck, stolen his blaster, and stunned another nurse. She’d gotten out of the hospital, and no one knew where she was.
He left the place almost immediately. He couldn’t find out anything here. And if he were honest with himself, he didn’t know what he could discover from Miss Gilit. Obviously she believed that Keirth was innocent. Whether she was crazy or not was a matter to be left up to doctors, not dukes. He was probably wasting his time. If he wanted to do something about Keirth’s execution, he needed to act fast. Wavering by trying to interview a girl who was possibly mentally ill was only treading water.
Still. What if he were wrong? What if he were only projecting Keirth’s character onto him because he so desperately wanted it to be true?
Tramet sat outside Winfield in the backseat of his speeder, unsure of what to do next. He pulled out a tablet and skimmed through the news stories on the nets that he’d read a million times before. But something jumped out at him this time. It was a quote from a police sergeant who’d testified at Transman’s trial. Nol Praxider, when questioned if he was glad justice had been so swiftly carried out had said, “Well, it certainly was swift, wasn’t it?”
That was all. Praxider certainly wouldn’t speak out against the decisions of the Star Chamber, but Tramet suddenly wondered if he wasn’t convinced by the case either. He checked on his tablet for Praxider’s office address, and then gave it to his driver.
If he spoke to Praxider, perhaps he’d have a little more of an idea whether he would be doing the right thing to interfere or not.
* * *
Aunt Tildy’s speeder pulled up on the street where Ariana had told her to pick her up. The door slid open and Ariana scrambled inside.
Aunt Tildy was waiting, her face shining. “This is so exciting, Ariana. A prison break.”
Ariana didn’t feel excited, only grimly determined. “You’re announcing that loudly enough. Does the driver know what we’re doing?”
“Oh yes, miss,” came the answer from the front. “Bloody well time, if you ask me.”
“I told you that the servants were all on your side,” said Aunt Tildy.
Okay. Well, there wasn’t much Ariana could do about that. She hoped Aunt Tildy’s driver was trustworthy, that was all. “Did you bring the things I asked you to?”
“I did,” said Aunt Tildy, “but I can’t see what you’re going to want a dress for.”
“I can’t wear this, can I?” Ariana gestured at the baggy nurse’s uniform. “Give me the dress.”
Aunt Tildy handed the parcel over.
Ariana set the blaster down on the seat next to her.
Aunt Tildy gasped.
“What?” said Ariana. “We’ll probably have to use these, so get used to it. You ever shot one before?”
Aunt Tildy shook her head wordlessly.
Ariana bounced over next to her. “It’s pretty easy. You turn them on down here.” She demonstrated and the blaster came to life. “Then you’ve got a dial over here.” She pointed. “That adjusts the intensity, so you can simply stun someone or you can turn it all the way up and incinerate them.”
“And you just aim it at someone and then pull the trigger?”
“That’s the general idea, Aunt Tildy.”
“Oh, I’m not going to be able to do that,” said Aunt Tildy. “I’ll mess it up.”
“You will not,” said Ariana. “You’ll be fine. But you are going to have to do most of the talking, because people will recognize me from the nets.”
“They might recognize me too and know I’m your aunt.”
Ariana shook her head. “People in our social circle might, but I don’t think the prison guards will. Did you wear that dress I told you to wear?”
“Yes, I had my maid dig it out for me, and help me put it on, but the damned thing is impossibly tight.”
“That’s the idea.”
“What’s the idea? Tell me what we’re planning, would you?”
“Okay,” said Ariana. “Now listen closely, because we won’t have time to go over it more than twice.”
* * *
“Listen, my lord,” Sergeant Praxider was saying, “whatever you might have thought I implied with that comment in the news article, I assure you I did not.” He was standing just outside the door to his office, looking annoyed.