Release(89)

“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.”

* * *

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—

Ariana took a blaster from the woman she’d identified as Tildy’s hand and gave it to Keirth. “In case we have to shoot our way out,” she said.