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.
Chapter 76
The Rubicon was a box-shaped room, about the size of a squash court. It was named after a river in north-eastern Italy. The Rubicon was the river Julius Caesar crossed without disbanding his army. Generals were required to disband their armies before entering Italy, and Caesar deliberately choosing not to made armed conflict unavoidable. The resulting civil war led to Caesar becomingdictator perpetuo, dictator for life. Crossing the Rubicon was now an idiom for passing the point of no return.
A 1-metre-thick red line on the floor split the room in two. It ran from the doorway to the middle of the back wall. Straight as a pencil. do not cross was stencilled in white all the way along it. That wasn’t going to be an issue; Poe couldn’t have crossed it, even if he’d wanted to.
And that’s because he was tethered to his side of the room.
A wire rope was secured to the back of the leather jacket into which he’d been locked. The wire rope was attached to a steel bar that ran the length of the wall on the left. The steel bar looked like a ballet barre. The wire rope wasn’t fixed in place. It was on a ring that moved along the steel bar the same way curtains move along a curtain pole. Poe was free to walk anywhere in his own half of the Rubicon, but he could not cross the red line. The wire rope wasn’t long enough. Poe could choose to stand, or he could sit in the plastic chair provided. The other side of the Rubicon was the mirror image of Poe’s, the only difference being that Bethany’s chair was bolted to the floor.
Everything was a weapon.
Poe tested his restraints. They were solid. There was no way he could step into the other side of the room. He felt as if he wasin a Hannibal Lecter movie. Bradshaw had made him watchRed Dragonwhen they started working together. She’d said it was about the hunt for a serial killer named the Tooth Fairy, and that he might find it useful. Poe hadn’t. Real serial killers weren’t that flamboyant.
Shaun the guard tugged on the wire rope again. When he was satisfied, he went into a well-rehearsed speech. ‘Don’t try to touch Miss Lang. If Miss Lang slides something across the floor, don’t pick it up. If Miss Lang starts to spit, go to the back of the room and wait. If you have any doubts at all, raise your hand. We will be watching. Our response time is supposed to be eight seconds. We have it down to four.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Poe said. ‘Clara and I go way back.’
Shaun the guard grunted but didn’t respond.
‘One more thing,’ Poe said. ‘No sound.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘What Clara and I are about to discuss is highly sensitive. No one can listen to what we talk about.’
‘You’re the boss,’ Shaun said. He left the room. The door shut behind him.
After five minutes it opened again. Two guards walked in and stood either side of the door. Two more walked in and stood in front of Poe. They were wearing protective clothing; the kind prison officers wear when they have to extract combative inmates from barricaded cells. They also wore neck guards. Sensible when the patient had werewolf-like throat-ripping capabilities.
A minute later Doctor Clara Lang entered the Rubicon. She was escorted by four guards. They led her to the other side of the Rubicon. She took in the room in a single glance. She nodded in approval. It seemed she liked it. She was already wearing her leather jacket. She watched as they tethered her to her own wirerope. Just as they had with Poe, they tugged on it to make sure everything was secure.
Clara was a slight woman with long dark hair and a butterwouldn’t-melt expression. Pale with haunted eyes, as if she didn’t sleep, and when she did, she didn’t like what she saw. Poe knew the feeling well. He didn’t like going to sleep either. She stood still until the guards had left the room.
The moment the door clanged shut, Bethany, because surely only Bethany could walk like that, began prowling her side of the do not cross line like a caged tiger. She didn’t make it obvious, but Poe could tell she was testing her restraints. Just as he had. She licked her lips. Her sharpened teeth sliced into her tongue. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and smiled at the blood.
