4-Aminobenzonitrile derivatives have two excited states of similar energy: besides the benzene-like L_b state (also termed “locally excited” or LE state) one with charge-transfer (CT) character that is slightly higher in the isolated molecules. The CT state can be lowered by solvents of suitable polarity, so that dual fluorescence can be observed in them. It is controversial along which coordinate this state is displaced, although the amino-group twist is a wide-spread assumption. We investigated a number of such compounds by transient ionization in the gas phase, initially exciting the higher-lying L_a state (S₂). Here we briefly review the previous results on 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile (the prototype of this class of molecules), 4-piperidino-, pyrrolidino- and pyrrolyl-benzonitrile and compare them with new results on 4-aminobenzonitrile and on the bridged derivative N-methyl-6-cyano-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline (NMC6). Although in the latter two molecules the CT state has never been detected before, we find the same relaxation path for all compounds: From S₂, the wave packet passes through a conical intersection (CI); from there part of it reaches the S₁ (L_b) state directly, whereas another part temporarily populates the CT state (also in NMC6), from where it goes around the CI also to the L_b well. The wave packet directly reaching the L_b well oscillates there along coordinates involving amino-group twist and wagging or molecular arching and a quinoidal distortion. These coordinates must be components of the CI displacement vector. A vibration involving bond-length alternation of the benzene ring is ascribed to a momentum caused by the electronic symmetry change in the CI, i.e., to the nonadiabatic coupling vector. Also the CT state involves amino-group twist, as to conclude from the anisotropy of the corresponding signal. The six-membered aliphatic ring in NMC6 hinders the twist and raises the CT state to an energy that is, however, still below the L_a state, so that it can be temporarily populated in a barrierless process. Also in aminobenzonitrile the CT state is between L_a and L_b and is reached from L_a without a barrier. The twist is rationalized by vibronic interaction with a higher state that is π-antibonding between the amino group and the aromatic ring.