Page 74 of The Final Vow (Washington Poe #7)

Doctor Gray led Poe back through the security doors and into the business side of the hospital. They stopped at a new door; one Poe hadn’t seen before. It had a passport control-style face scanner built into the wall. Fancy. Doctor Gray stared into it then invited Poe to do the same.

‘This wing is now the most secure in the UK,’ Doctor Gray said. ‘No one gets in unless they have an appointment and their face is preloaded into the system.’

The door clicked open. Poe stepped into yet more security.

Two uniformed guards – who definitely weren’t there last time – beckoned him forward.

He walked through a full-body scanner that could have graced a major European airport and stood in front of them.

He raised his arms while one of the guards ran a wand over his body.

The other completed a full search of his clothing.

When he’d finished, he gestured to a tray on a table.

‘Please put all your belongings in there, sir.’

Poe did as he was asked. He put his wallet, his car keys, some loose change, even his handkerchief into the tray.

‘Boots and belt too,’ the guard said. ‘We’ll provide paper shoes, but you’ll need to hold up your trousers if you’ve been dieting.’

‘Bit over the top, isn’t it?’ Poe said, bending down to untie his shoelaces.

‘No,’ Doctor Gray replied.

There’s been an incident . . .

One of the guards produced a laptop. He handed it to Doctor Gray.

‘We’ll have to watch this here, I’m afraid,’ Doctor Gray said. ‘We can’t take this on to Clara’s wing. We can’t take anything on to Clara’s wing.’

‘I remember,’ Poe said.

‘No, Sergeant Poe. You don’t. Things are different now.

’ He opened the laptop, found the file he wanted and spun it round so Poe could see the screen.

‘This is an association ward. As you can see, Clara is sitting quietly. She’s reading an article on recent advances in trauma therapy.

She’s not talking to anyone and she’s not causing any problems. Watch what happens. ’

Bullying. That’s what happened. Poe had an aversion to bullies.

He always had. When your first name was Washington you attracted the attention of bullies like Meghan Markle attracted the attention of Piers Morgan.

In this case, a woman the size of a small car approached Clara, said something to her then snatched her reading glasses from her head.

She snapped them, threw them in Clara’s lap, then walked off laughing.

‘The patient who broke Clara’s reading glasses is called Veronica,’ Doctor Gray said.

‘New?’

‘Yes. And unfortunately, she’s about to find out exactly who she picked on.’

Doctor Gray closed the video and opened a new one.

Same camera. Clara again. Sitting in the same seat, the same association ward.

It looked like she was wearing a new pair of glasses.

The timestamp suggested it was a week later.

Veronica approached Clara. She reached for her reading glasses.

But this time she wasn’t bullying Clara Lang.

She was bullying Bethany Bowman. And Veronica saw something.

Something she didn’t like. She reared back as though Clara/Bethany was on fire.

But she wasn’t quick enough. Nowhere near quick enough.

Bethany was on her in a flash.

She grabbed Veronica’s head, twisted it, then bit down on her ear. Veronica screamed – silently as the CCTV footage was either muted or it didn’t have sound – and tried to pull away. Bethany let her. The incident was over in five seconds.

Veronica staggered away, her hand clutching the side of her head. And that’s when Poe saw the blood. Lots of blood.

Where her ear had been.

‘I don’t understand,’ Poe said.

‘What don’t you understand, Sergeant Poe?’

‘Bethany bit off her tormentor’s ear.’

‘She did.’

‘But why the big fuss? Why all the extra security? Violent encounters in Moulsford, if not a daily occurrence, can’t be so rare that you need to change all your protocols. All I’ve seen here is a bully picking on the wrong victim. I suspect she’ll be more circumspect next time.’

‘That’s all you saw, is it, Sergeant Poe? I think we’d better watch it again.’

Doctor Gray pressed play. ‘Don’t focus on why the assault happened, focus on what happened.’

Poe leaned in and studied the attack again. It was brutal and premeditated and over quickly. Maybe too quickly. He frowned and asked Doctor Gray to rewind to the exact moment of the bite.

Poe was a veteran police officer. He was used to seeing bite injuries.

They weren’t restricted to dangerous dogs and unruly toddlers.

Bites were common during street fights, a primitive response to chaotic and violent situations.

The nose and ears were common targets. So were the neck and cheeks.

Hands and arms all got bitten. But outside of Hollywood and Mike Tyson fights, you couldn’t just bite off someone’s nose, ear, finger or lip.

The body wasn’t designed that way. Body parts could be torn off, but the way Bethany had chomped on her victim’s ear and come away with it in her mouth wasn’t natural.

‘What am I missing?’ he said. ‘How did she bite off Veronica’s ear so cleanly?’

Doctor Gray opened a file and removed a photograph. He handed it to Poe.

‘That’s how,’ he said.