CHAPTER NINE – I JUST MET A GIRL NAMED MARIA

AHSOKA

"The police droids found no sign of Jack?"

"I don't think he even knew she was here," I admit. "I don't sense a presence that could be his anywhere, and if we send the droids to canvass the area he'll be gone forever."

Lux looks over to Maria in the back of the police speeder. "So she's the only one who knows where he is?"

"As much as I hate to admit it. If we're going to arrest him we'll have to get her to turn on him."

Lux groans. "It's like they're married; they're practically attached at the hip! She'll never betray him."

I reflect on what little I know about married couples, having met so few of them myself. In the end my thoughts circle back to three people: Anakin and Padme, and Mina Bonteri.

All imperfect examples: Mina was a widow and while Anakin and Padme aren't married, they sure fight like a husband and wife. Padme's even said once that Anakin and I are the most precious things in the galaxy to her.

It hits me. "I think there's one thing that could get her to talk to us."

There's only one bond deeper than the one between spouses.

"You have the wrong person." Maria insists. "What charges do you have? And where are you guys even keeping me?"

"This is the police station," I say, crossing my arms. "And we do have the right person, Maria. We found stolen goods in your purse, which gets you on possession of stolen property at the very least."

She places her hands on her belly. "Okay, so I got some stuff from a pawn shop. Is that a crime?"

Lux isn't pleased. "You can stop with the innocent act right now. Saw Gerrera identified you as one of the people who attacked him in his apartment and the Onderon Royal Milita is running your personal effects through the evidence databank. Odds are, they're going to get a match."

"You're on the security cameras in the Lessu spaceport using Dinah O'Donnel's boarding pass," I continue. "That's theft and fraud. And even if you didn't actually kill those men, you're still an accessory to murder."

"I just bought some stuff and moved to Coruscant with my boyfriend. Why are you telling me this?"

"We're just letting you know that you can cooperate with us, but if you don't want to then you're good for a lot of crimes. And since we don't have your boyfriend in custody, you're going down for the murders. That's life in prison."

I expect silence. I expect her to ask for a lawyer. I expect her to try and cut a deal.

Instead, Maria gulps.

"Not on Onderon, right? It's easier to try on Onderon."

I swivel in my seat. "Lux, refresh my memory. If the Jedi extradite her to Onderon, exactly what would her trial look like?"

"Well, the militia would have to question her and General Tandin would likely be at the head of it," he says. "She would be detained at headquarters until her trial -."

"That's the building Vern Kassel used to work, right?"

"Right. We would testify at the trial, obviously, and so would Saw."

"Saw Gerrera? Your friend, one of the heroes who helped to free Onderon?"

"Yes Ahsoka, that Saw Gerrera. Once the verdict is decided she'll be transferred to whatever facility the judge remands her, and in two months she'll give birth in the infirmary before going back to serving her sentence."

I feel a twinge of doubt in the force and lightly kick Lux under the table.

"And according to your grasp on Onderonian law, how long are we talking for a sentence?"

"With one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder? Twenty-five to life."

I open my mouth to ask about parole, but Maria beats me to it.

"The sentence doesn't matter," she says, her hands knit together. "I get parole because of the baby."

"It might have been like that on Ryloth, but on Coruscant and on Onderon with these types of crimes it isn't." I say, keeping my voice sweet and gentle, just like Padme's as she's roping in the other senators. "If you take all the blame for this there's no chance of parole, baby or no baby."

Her anxiety skyrockets in the force.

"We know you have a father, so once the baby is born we'll send him or her back to Ryloth to live with their grandfather."

"No!"

Bingo.

Maria's ghost-white knuckles clench the edge of the table for a second, and then she relaxes her grip.

"No," she repeats, calmer now. "My father threw me out when he found out I was pregnant; you can't give him the baby."

"Then who are we going to give the baby to, Maria?" I ask. "You're going to be in prison for twenty-five years at least. Someone needs to take care of it."

She gets an idea. "I could do house arrest."

"Not for murder," Lux snaps.

I look sadly at my datapads. "There's no way around the sentence if you take all the charges."

There's the hook. Take it.

Maria bites.

"I didn't do half the things you're charging me for."

You didn't, though I have no doubt you were planning on doing them. "You're going to take the heat for all of them unless you work with us to help divide them."

She looks down to her belly and I use the stolen second to shoot a glance at Lux. He nods.

"It was your idea only to target men without families, wasn't it?" I ask. "You showed Jack that holo of Saw and his sister so he wouldn't kill him."

"That was his sister?" she shakes her head a little. "I thought she was his girlfriend."

Lux breaks into the conversation. "She was the owner of the music box you and your boyfriend stole. And no, she wasn't his girlfriend." He pauses for a minute, as if debating his next words. "She was mine."

The words send a shock down my spine. What is Lux thinking, bringing his and Steela's relationship into this? And more urgently, why do I want to punch something thinking about it?

"I loved her for a time, and her brother is the best friend I ever had," he continues. "By saving his life you honored their family, and you honored me."

Maria asks the question on my mind. "Why does it matter that I honored you?"

"Because I'm the Senator of Onderon."

The puzzle pieces click in my head. Lux Bonteri, you smart nerfherder.

"If anyone can get sentences reduced or charges divided, I can. There's not much in my power, but if you work with us I can get your charges reduced to manslaughter. Ten years, a possibility of parole. You'd have a decent shot as long as you were a model prisoner."

I reach into the force as inconspicuously as possible to ride the wave of emotions coming at me. From Lux, anger and triumph. From Maria, a cocktail of fear, grief, anger, and a primal instinct so strong it can only be one thing.

The question is whether it's for the baby, or for Jack.

I take a risk. "With parole and the reduced charges you're looking at five years. You would be there for the most of his or her childhood." I decide to follow in Lux's footsteps. "I didn't grow up with my mother. I would always wonder what she was doing, what she looked like, if she missed me." Is it the cheesiest plan of attack in the book? Yes. But I'm going to go for it.

"If you have a chance to be there for your baby, take it." I implore. "You deserve it. Your son or daughter deserves it, and you can help us close out this investigation for the families of the victims."

"They didn't have families," she protests.

"Yes, they did. They were bachelors, but they still had families. That apothecary you killed on Ryloth left behind three sisters, and Vern Kassel's father and stepmother are devastated."

She shakes her head. "No, I checked. That was my job. I checked to make sure they didn't have families – that's why I showed Jack that holo."

"Maria, the thing about bachelors is that most of them aren't decorators. They had families, they just didn't advertise it," Lux says. "I know I never did. You just got lucky that Saw displayed that one holo."

"No," she stands up. "That was the agreement. Families get the police involved, and that was the last thing we needed. We checked!"

I spin my datapad and search the HoloNet for the news segment with Vern Kassel's family.

"This is his father and stepmother."

Maria watches the segment, eyes huge as reality finally, finally sets in.

I shut off the video. "Maria, we need to stop Jack from doing this again."

She puts her cuffed arms on the table and leans on them, a new terrified look on her face.

"Since we're not on Onderon, I'd bet he's somewhere watching this news story," she shudders. "He likes the killing part. I just wanted a house, but he wanted to kill people for it. I didn't understand what he wanted until he pulled his gun on Rassk and – oh my gods!"

I look over my shoulder to the police droid guarding the door. "Can we have some privacy, please?"

The police droid walks out and shuts the door behind it. I wait a solid ten seconds

"Maria, does Jack scare you?" Lux asks. "Does his temper ever flare with no warning, or he'll act cruelly toward you or others?"

"Sometimes," she nods. "When I told him I needed to go get a scan because of the health advisory, he completely lost his mind. He started screaming and waving things around saying we didn't have the money and that I didn't care about anything but the baby." She wipes her nose. "And I do care, about the baby I mean. I didn't want to get pregnant, but now it's all I think about."

"And does he enjoy violent holos or things like hunting a little too much?"

"He can't get enough of them. He took me to the holo theater once and all he wanted to watch was this horrible, gory one."

Lux gives me a look which says everything: Combine a raging temper with a love of violence and gore, sprinkle in attempted murder and assault, and it's a recipe for instant trouble.

"He is dangerous," Lux implores. "And we need to stop him before he hurts someone else. He doesn't have to know it was you who told us; he doesn't even have to know you're here. We can make it so you can serve your time, get out on parole and raise your baby, and you will never have to worry about him again."

"You can't promise that."

Lux leans forward. "I can promise you that we will put him away until the day he dies. But you need to tell us everything so that we can tell the prosecutor you cooperated and they can build a case to put him away."

"And I'm a Jedi," I tell her. "He wouldn't get within fifty feet of you without me knowing about it."

Maria pauses.

"I can't think. Can I have a minute alone please?"

I stand. "The police droid will be here the whole time, and we'll be back in a few minutes."

"Do you think it's going to work?" I ask as soon as I'm sure we're out of Maria's earshot.

Lux shrugs. "I'm not sure. We've shaken her trust in Jack and now she's thinking about her son or daughter as well. We've done all we can."

"We should bring her father here. He can act as a character witness and vouch for them. Even if he isn't thrilled about her pregnancy, he has to love her at least a little. And we know he doesn't like Jack one bit."

Lux nods. "Good idea. Can you ask Barriss to alert the authorities on Ryloth to bring him over?"

"Of course." I pull out my comlink and send a quick message to Barriss asking her to do just that. "And what do you really think about reducing the charges? I could tell you were sugarcoating it a little in there."

"I was," he admits. "Manslaughter isn't happening. If I can prove she was under Jack's influence, which shouldn't be very difficult considering what she told us, then I can get her parole on a murder charge easily. As for him -."

"I take it manslaughter isn't happening for him either?"

"No," he shakes his head. "Maria just said it was her job to check the homes for evidence of a family. That not only makes her an accomplice to murder, it proves premeditation. Jack Vierson is going down for first-degree murder."

It's a delicate business, getting criminals to turn on one another. The question is whether Maria will go through with it after she thinks.

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Until next time,

LS