Page 75 of The Final Vow (Washington Poe #7)

‘Before she attacked Veronica, Bethany spent a week filing down her incisors with disposable nail files,’ Doctor Gray said. ‘She did this until they were razor thin.’

Poe stared at the photograph in horror. Tried to imagine the pain Bethany must have endured to turn her teeth into cutting weapons.

The pain she must still be enduring. Most people had eight incisors.

Four on the upper jaw, four on the lower; the teeth at the front of the mouth that people used to cut food as they bit into it.

Bethany had filed hers until the ends were thinner than paper.

No wonder she’d been able to bite off Veronica’s ear so easily.

‘What happened to the ear?’ Poe asked.

‘Bethany ate it.’

‘She ate it?’

‘Bethany isn’t a cannibal, Sergeant Poe,’ Doctor Gray said. ‘She ate the ear so it couldn’t be reattached. She told me later that Veronica wouldn’t be bothering Clara for her reading glasses any more. That she couldn’t wear glasses when she only had one ear.’

Poe looked at the photograph again. ‘Jesus,’ he muttered.

‘Now do you understand why the Home Office was willing to fund all this additional security?’ Doctor Gray said. ‘Clara and Bethany have rights. We are not able to perform surgery without her consent.’

‘She won’t allow you to fix her teeth?’

‘Absolutely not. And that means we are legally obliged to let her keep her weapons.’

‘Which must make treating her problematic.’

‘It does.’

‘The additional security is to ensure she isn’t given access to anything else she can improvise into a weapon?’ Poe said.

‘If she’s willing to do this to her teeth, can you imagine what else she’s capable of?’

Poe couldn’t. He said as much.

‘Now, before I let you in to see Clara, our legal department has drafted this waiver, a release of liability,’ Doctor Gray said.

‘Why?’

‘When the logistics of managing this new, weaponised Bethany became apparent, the Home Office authorised special measures. Guards as well as medical staff. A unique, ultra-secure interview room. It was designed by an American who specialises in the no-human-contact wings on supermax prisons. We call it the Rubicon.’

‘What’s the problem with it?’

‘I didn’t say there was a problem.’

‘Then why the liability waiver?’

Doctor Gray sighed. ‘Because it hasn’t been tested yet.

Not with Bethany. We’ve run simulations and they have been incident free, but you’ll be the first person to conduct a live interview.

We’ve built in a sizeable margin for error, but still .

. .’ He picked up his liability waiver. ‘I can’t make you sign this, and I have no doubt that the man who forced our hand regarding your visit can force our hand regarding—’

‘Give me your pen,’ Poe said. Poe signed the form. Didn’t even read it. ‘Let me see her, please.’

‘Follow me.’

A guard opened another security door, an air-gapped one this time, and led them to Clara’s wing.

She had one to herself. It reminded Poe of ‘Lonely Man of Spandau’, a punk song by the Angelic Upstarts.

It was about Rudolf Hess and how, for twenty years, he was the only inmate of Spandau Prison in Berlin.

Doctor Gray stopped outside yet another security door. ‘Shaun will now talk you through the Rubicon rules. Please pay attention. This isn’t like pre-flight safety instructions; you need to understand them. He’ll then take you in and make sure you’re secure. Only then will Clara be brought in.’

Shaun the guard explained what the Rubicon was and how it would keep Poe safe. It wasn’t a difficult concept. When Shaun had finished, Poe said, ‘Can I see her now, please?’

Shaun nodded.

‘Don’t let your guard down, Sergeant Poe,’ Doctor Gray said. ‘Not even for a second. As Veronica can attest, Bethany’s got pretty good at pretending to be Clara these days.’

‘That’s good,’ Poe said. ‘It’s Bethany I want to see today.’

Shaun opened the door.

Poe stepped into the Rubicon.

‘Blimey,’ he said.