We ran roughly into the side of another vehicle, and she turned back to handle the driving.
I swallowed hard. “Who? Who set me up?”
“Shut up! We had a whole plan, and this murder worked into it perfectly. Those two Ceruleans were more than happy to trade dirty work. Take care of two asteroids with one rocket, so to speak. But then your crew wouldn’t listen to me!” She slammed her hand on the broken steering wheel, and when she pulled it back, blood was rolling down her wrist.
If she got me into the desert, who knew what she’d do to me? I looked around at the vehicle, hoping that maybe I could signal for help. Most of the other vehicles had pulled back, wary of an old-fashioned car careening and banging into everything that moved or stood still. But there was one I recognized as a small creature leaped from dashboard to driver to passenger then back again.
I blinked back tears, relieved that Raph and Jones were coming for me, even as I wasn’t surprised. Raph had said we were a team, and I believed him. I slid back into the seat and buckled up with a thin strap across my waist, hardly advanced safety features. I wasn’t sure what might happen next, so I kept my hand hovering over the release latch.
“Getting rid of me won’t fix everything,” I said.
Heather growled and turned to face me. “You’ve ruined every—”
Jones maneuvered up to the driver’s side and rammed the car. The impact spun the car around and over several times. Heather screamed as we rolled. Air bags were exploding, and all I could see were flashes of sky then pavement. When we finally stopped moving, I was hanging upside down. I undid the safety strap and collapsed onto the ceiling of the car.
Officer Heather’s purple hair was visible in the darkened car, and she let out a groan as I crawled out. I dragged myself across the pavement, cutting my hands on shattered safety glass. Trying to get up, I stepped on the hem of the dress and ripped off the bottom layer.
I had just managed to get to my feet when I was hit hard in the center of my chest by a small but insistent ball of fur. My face, neck, and ear were assaulted by licks, and tiny paws scratched at whatever skin was exposed.
“Easy, Pox.” I scooped him up to my chest, though his tongue continued licking anything of mine he could reach.
I attempted to walk only to discover that my right ankle no longer wanted to hold my weight without screaming pain. I sat back down on the ground just as Raph reached me. He took my elbow and pulled me up.
“My ankle!” I yelped, hopping and stumbling along next to him.
“Sorry, Cap!” he shouted. He picked me up and flung me over his shoulder. His clavicle bit into my stomach, and Pox banged against his back. I grunted, and Pox barked in time with each jogged step.
Raph threw me in through an open doorway, and the world spun around me as Pox continued his job of licking every square inch of my face. My ankle yelped with pain, while a growing ache moved across my hips and up to the shoulder I had landed on, which had also taken the majority of the impact from the air bag.
My brain felt like scrambled eggs, and my right eyelid twitched. But it could have been a lot worse. Raph got into his seat as I pushed up to a kneeling position.
Jones was at the steering wheel, staring at the car I had been in. It was flipped on its roof and leaking fluids. His eyes were unnaturally wide, and his skin was ashen. He muttered, “She can’t just take you. It’s not right. You can’t just grab people like that.” He turned to me, and when he gestured, his hand shook uncontrollably. “I said I would take care of you.”
“And you did, Jones. You saved my life.” I grabbed his hand and found it as cold as death. I pulled him back beside me. “Raph, you need to drive.”
There was an unnatural metal-on-pavement screeching, and the car listed like a wounded animal. Raph shifted to hover mode and backed up. The front fender fell off with a crash.
Jones caught my hand. “Go to the train station like you said earlier. I know someone who can get you a ticket.”
I nodded, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Heather crawling from the wreckage, her eyes wild and crazy. She raised something from her hip, a black square, and pointed it at the car.
“Go!” I shouted, thumping on the back of Raph’s chair.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I swayed back and forth with the rhythm of the train and inspected my image in the mirror of the private bathroom at the rear of the last car. I tried to imagine seeing myself with fresh eyes. Would I be recognizable?
“Can’t we just hide in the bathroom until we arrive?” I asked Raph.
In answer to my question, there was a furtive knock on the door. “Let me in.”
Raph unlocked the door and opened it.
A train employee stuck his head through the doorway. “You have five more minutes max. They are about done checking all the tickets, then everyone will be able to move around. They were fully sold out, so I couldn’t get you a seat.”
I gritted my teeth. “I thought anyone could ride the train?”
“Yes, it’s free, but people still reserve tickets because seating is limited. I got you onboard, but that is all I can do. I need to unlock this bathroom soon, or my boss will ask questions.” He started to squeeze back out of the door then paused. “You aren’t going to cause any trouble, are you?”
I shook my head. “No, we just want to lie low and get to the king for a fair hearing.”
The blue skin between his eyebrows scrunched up. “You don’t need to hide to do that. You would have immunity.”
“The fleet doesn’t think so.”
He grumbled a string of syllables that I didn’t recognize beyond having the cadence of a traditional curse. “The fleet is nothing but a bunch of sanctimonious busybodies.”
“Wait. If we don’t have a seat, then where can we go?” I asked.
“There are two cars in the middle of the train where people can mingle. One is a bar. Everything but alcohol is free. The other is an observation car. You can hang out in one of those until we get to the station at the castle in a few hours. I have to go, but you better be gone when I get back in”—he checked his watch—“three and a half minutes.” He slammed the door behind him.
I sighed and looked at my reflection again. “I guess this is a good enough disguise if we don’t run into anyone.”
Raph tutted. “Are you questioning my abilities? You look nothing like yourself. I used contouring to hide your features, and the bright eyeshadow changes the shape of your eyes. Combined with the outfit, no one should know you.”
I looked down at the gorgeous dress that he had shredded with a small pair of scissors he had found in Persephone’s makeup bag, which we had “borrowed” when we left the car, promising Jones that we would be careful.
The skirt was short and stuck out in every direction, but more noticeable were the strips of fabric he had used to wrap my injured ankle then twisted around each calf. He called the wraps “leg warmers,” as if I needed to stay warm, given the temperature outside and inside the train.
Pox was asleep at my feet. I hadn’t even given him a thought until we were halfway to the train and he was still bounding alongside me. I worried he would draw attention until I noticed a few others with the same creatures in tow.
I turned to Raph and flinched when I caught sight of his face, which had matching pink-and-yellow glittery eyeshadow, making his eyes look as though they were framed by two flowers. “Geez. That catches me off guard every time I look at you.”
“Exactly.”
“But isn’t the point to blend in? Everyone is going to be staring at us.”
He pulled his head back. “Did you notice the people on the platform? There were a ton of people done up like this. They call it Valley Girl style after some old-fashioned fad on Earth.”
I rolled my eyes. The history that Earth preserved was strange. They lost a bunch of science, but thank goodness, they saved old fashion magazines. Somewhere in there was some telling psychology about what people re
ally valued. “And how do you know what it’s called?”
“I started watching some of those shows I get for Chloe. We had a lot of hours to kill on the ship, especially since Horton and Eugene had things running so well.”
“Did you know about Eugene?”
“Nope, but it all makes sense now. Don’t tell Chloe about the shows.” Raph grinned at me. “I like giving her a hard time.”
“Like you did when you said she wasn’t paying attention? Why didn’t you know any of that stuff about the gulpers and spiders?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t in the best mood when I snapped at her, and I’ve only watched about six episodes, half of which just showed the people at a party. Come on. We need to get out of here.”
“And the fact that we aren’t Cerulean isn’t going to give it away?”
“They have a high tourist population and enough immigrants, many of which dress in the Valley Girl style. Plus, with Pox on your shoulder, we’ll fit right in. Now, we need to get out of here. Remember to roll your shoulder forward and slouch. You’re not a fleet captain right now. You’re a disillusioned outsider.”
“Not much of a stretch,” I grumbled as I stepped out of the bathroom and pivoted around a line of people waiting to get in.
As I made my way to the cars the employee had mentioned, I had to admit that the disguise seemed to work. The population on the train was half Cerulean, but the other half was a mix of off-world visitors, and sure enough, a good portion were dressed like us and with similar makeup.
As we passed, we got suspicious looks and clutched belongings from the Ceruleans and casual nods of acknowledgement from the other Valley Girls, whether male or female. But no one seemed to recognize us or call for fleet backup.
I kept my head ducked as the other biggest risk was running into the particular Ceruleans who had been on our ship and must have had a hand in the murder, something I intended to prove to the king to clear my own name. When we finally got to the drink car, we grabbed two beverages and moved to a small two-person table in the corner.
The atmosphere was party-like, and no one was giving us a second glance. After thirty minutes, the press of the crowd caused a stifling heat. But no one had even looked in our direction the whole time, so I started to relax. Since neither of us wanted to get up, we were carefully nursing our drinks a sip at a time.
“Raph, how do you know how to do makeup?”
“I went to an arts high school on Clara before I joined the fleet. The acting majors were always putting on plays, and none of them wanted to be the waitress or boyfriend or whatever small parts were needed, so those of us in other majors would fill in. It was a low-pressure way to hang out and meet girls.”
“If you weren’t an actor, then what did you study?”
“Music. You should come hear me play sometime when we get a new ship.”
“Totally,” I said as I gazed out the window. There might not ever be another ship. “Why did you join the fleet?”
“Music is a tough career, and I thought I wanted something predictable. I love navigating, but the environment doesn’t really match my personality, until I worked with you. You get my artist ways.”
I nodded. “I can see you being a musician.”
I looked away from the window as two Cerulean men squeezed in at a table directly behind Raph. They were practically shouting at each other over the noise, and the sound carried well to where I was wedged in the corner.
I grabbed Raph’s hand and leaned in to whisper, “Don’t move. Right behind you is Rick, the ambassador, and Todd, the valet.”
He frowned. “Who?”
“The two Ceruleans from the ship.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
To say that Rick and Todd were behind Raph would be overstating the fact. As more and more people pressed into the space, they had backed up until the table and chairs were crammed into half the space that they should have been.
Rick, the smaller of the two men, had his chair next to Raph, and he sat shoulder to shoulder with him, though he faced the opposite direction.
Todd adjusted his seat, banging into Raph. He partially twisted around and said, “Sorry.”
Raph grunted back a general “No worries” but kept his eyes on me.
I kept my head down, staring at my drink. Raph had combed a large section of my thick hair in side-swept bangs that I could use to hide most of my face.
Ambassador Todd leaned over and jabbed a finger at Rick as he spoke. I struggled to hear what they were saying. The rowdy crowd around me only let me catch bits and scraps.
“Mind your own business. You don’t know anything about—”
Rick reeled back. “I don’t understand! Why do you have all that?”
Todd sneered and bit out some words that were lost in his clenched teeth. He caught my eye briefly then leaned closer to Rick. “If you tell anyone, they won’t believe you. But I have an offer. After the wedding, I will get you a good station off-planet. Great pay for your whole family. You have three little ones, right? It will be nice and safe for them.”
A chill went down my spine, then Todd looked up and stared at me for two beats too long. I could barely see him in my peripheral vision. He didn’t seem to recognize me unless he was an excellent actor, which I couldn’t put past a career politician.
I made a big show of finishing off my drink and shaking it at Raph. I mouthed, “Wait a few minutes,” and he nodded in agreement.
I resisted the urge to bolt from my seat, instead trying to embody the petulant, angsty energy of a youth angry with the world. I definitely had a handle on the anger part. I had done everything right, and yet my life had spiraled out of control and landed in the dirt. But even as I pushed through the crowd on a train that carried me ever closer to my fate, my brain wouldn’t allow me to lie to myself. I had lost a lot, but I had pulled through. Even with unknown forces stacking the deck against me in the trial, I had been found innocent.
And my reward? On one hand, I could say it was the worst job in the fleet, and I had been saying just that since I got the posting. But was it fair? I had been able to sock away money every trip to get me back to financial solvency, something I had lost during the trial.
Day by day, I had found people that respected me as a captain. That wasn’t a given for any captain, let alone one with a checkered past like mine. And it was more than chance. Chloe’s family had bribed someone to place her with me. Raph was being punished. Horton had sneaked onboard using his brother’s name.
None of us should have been together, but we were and had saved each other’s lives. It was almost like someone had a greater plan. I paused briefly to say a prayer of thanks and pat the Bible still tucked in my pocket with the gulper tooth. I had gotten this far, and in that moment, I believed with my very soul that I was going to survive this. But how?
“Is that your boyfriend?” a voice purred into my ear.
It took me a second to register that the young Cerulean with bright-teal eyeshadow that extended across fifty percent of her face was addressing me. I twisted back to point at Raph. “Him? No, just a friend.”
A second Cerulean wearing a black lace fingerless glove slithered up to me and gave him a wave. “I bet he has a huge pool.”
“What?” I pulled a face. “He doesn’t have a pool. Not even a house.”
They both gasped and stepped back.
The first one shook her head. “Uh, okay. That’s weird.”
Raph came up to join me just as they disappeared into the crowd. “What was that about? They looked interested.”
“That’s what I thought, then they asked if you had a pool and left when I said no.” I tried to push through the crowd and head toward the other car. I wanted to get as far from Rick and Todd as I could.
Raph hissed in my ear, “You told them that I didn’t have a pool? Do you know what that means?”
I was trained in diplomacy and should have known better than to answer a strange question without double-checki
ng local terminology, but I had a good excuse for being off my game. I shoved my way between two large groups and found a bit of open space on the other side to step next to Raph. “They weren’t literally asking about a pool, were they?”
“It’s a slang term for manliness, like being strong and a protector and such. I don’t know all the implications, but saying I didn’t have a pool was like saying that I am a bad man or unmanly. Basically, it’s an insult.” He scrunched his eyebrows together at the reflection on his reputation.
“Got it. Say no more. Let’s go—” I stopped and grabbed Raph’s arm to spin him around.
I had gotten a good look into the observation car, and I saw Officer Heather entering. I checked the entrance of the bar, and my heart sank to my feet when I spotted James at the door. He was moving in our direction.
We were surrounded.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I backed away and wedged myself between two Ceruleans at the bar. I pulled Raph in close so our faces were inches apart, our frantic energy bouncing off each other. Both cars were very crowded, and it would be difficult to move through the people, but that would only buy us a handful of minutes.
I cast my eyes to every corner of the train. Maybe once James moved past us, we could double back and exit the car. But stationed at the entrance was a new threat, an officer in a fleet uniform. Their backup had arrived. Our game of cat and mouse was no longer so simple.
Raph followed my sight line and nodded, instantly taking in the information. “Perhaps we could—”
My attention was dragged off him when the drunk female Cerulean next to me grabbed my arm and shouted into my ear, “Do you think people can change?”
I spun around and shouted at her face, “Seriously!” I was about to be squashed like a bug, and someone wanted to have a heart-to-heart chat?
“My sister is getting married to the man I love, and she’s a terrible person. She once tried to poison me because I spilled ink on her favorite dress. I think she’s done worse.” The woman squinted at me. “Do I know you?”
Space Murder Page 14
