Retribution Falls - Chris Wooding [101]
Anyway, it was too late to turn back now.
“We’re nearly there,” Malvery said. “Do it.”
Crake drew out his small brass whistle. He put it to his lips and blew. It made no sound at all.
“That’s it?” asked Pinn, bemused.
“That’s it,” said Crake.
“So now what happens?”
“Bess has just woken up to find that she’s in a box,” Crake replied. “I wouldn’t want to be in the Delirium Trigger’s cargo hold right now.”
By the time the pallet bumped down onto the deck, the howling and smashing had begun.
“I SUPPOSE YOU KNOW I’m innocent, don’t you?” Frey asked.
Trinica was pouring two glasses of whiskey from the drinks cabinet. She looked back at him: a moon-white face partially eclipsed by the black slope of her shoulder.
“You’re not innocent, Frey. You killed those people. It doesn’t matter if you were set up or not.”
“The Ace of Skulls was rigged to blow. Those people were going to die anyway, with or without me.”
“Everyone is going to die, with or without you. It doesn’t mean you’re allowed to murder them.”
She was needling him and he knew it. It enraged him. She always had a way of pricking at his conscience, puncturing his excuses. She never let him get away with anything.
“You were in on it, then?” he asked. “The plot?”
She handed him his whiskey and sat down again. The card table lay between them, the cards facedown where they’d been thrown by Frey. Skulls, Wings, Dukes, and Aces, all hidden in a jumble.
“No. I didn’t set you up. I didn’t know you were alive until I heard you were wanted.”
“But you know now. You know that Duke Grephen is the man behind it all and that Gallian Thade is in on it too. You know they made me the scapegoat?”
She raised an eyebrow, blond against white. “My. You evidently think you’ve learned a lot. Was that your sucker punch? Should I be awed at how clever you’ve been?”
“A little awe would be nice, yes.”
She sipped her whiskey. “I assume you’re appealing to my better nature? Wondering how I could be part of such a terrible miscarriage of justice? How I could willingly let you take the blame for the death of Hengar when I know it was Grephen’s idea?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Because Grephen is paying me a lot of money. And because, frankly, I’d do it for free. You deserve it.”
“It doesn’t concern you to be an accomplice to the murder of the Archduke’s son? Don’t you think there might be bigger implications involved?”
“Possibly there are,” said Trinica. “But that’s none of your concern, since it’ll all be over for you very soon.”
“Come on, Trinica. Hengar’s death is only the start. You must know if Duke Grephen is planning something.”
Trinica smiled. “Must I?”
Frey cursed her silently. She wasn’t giving anything away. He wanted to push her for more information, but she wouldn’t play the game. Telling her that he knew about Grephen was intended to lead her up the wrong path, but he couldn’t reveal that he knew about the coup or her mysterious hideout. That would tip his hand.
“One question,” he said. “The ferrotype. The one on the Wanted posters. How did they get that, if you didn’t give it to them?”
“Yes, I was surprised too,” she said. “We had it taken when we were up in the mountains. Do you remember?”
Frey remembered. He remembered a time of romantic adventure, a couple newly in love. He was a lowly cargo pilot and she was the daughter of his boss, one of the heirs to Dracken Industries. He was poor and she was rich, and she loved him anyway. It was breathless, dangerous, and they were both swept giddily along, careless of consequences, armored by their own happiness.
“It was my father who gave it to them, I’d imagine,” she said. “I suppose the Navy had no pictures of you, and they knew you had worked for Dracken Industries before that. They were probably hoping