Free High Stakes by Helen Harper

him against the databases of the Families’ vampires. That’s if Medici finally cooperates, of course.
    I scrub the base of my thumb over the photo, smoothing it across his mouth to wipe away a smudge. Then I frown as I realise the mark is part of the picture itself.
    ‘What’s this?’
    ‘Gold tooth.’
    Ah. I look at Corinne, who’s staring at the bedsheet. ‘Are you sure about this?’
    Her eyes fly to mine. ‘The gold tooth? It’s not a detail I’m likely to forget.’
    I think of Brinkish and his gleaming molar. There can’t be many dentists these days who provide that kind of service. It’s not the link between Kimchi’s owner and the perverted perp that makes me pause, however. ‘Gold’s a fairly soft metal,’ I say. ‘Compared to most others it’s malleable and allows for a lot of give.’
    Corinne’s brow creases until she winces when the action tugs on the edges of a deep wound higher up on her forehead. ‘So?’ she asks. Her tone is steely but I reckon I detect nervousness lurking there too.
    Foxworthy straightens. He nods with dawning comprehension.
    ‘It’s still a solid,’ I continue. ‘So it’s basic chemistry, really.’ Corinne doesn’t understand what I’m getting at. Despite her allegations, my heart goes out to her. ‘Vampires don’t have teeth like humans. Sometimes we have fangs,’ I open my mouth and allow my own ones to lengthen, ‘and sometimes we don’t.’ I retract them again. ‘Our tooth enamel is constantly shifting. I can’t explain the biology behind it, but I do know that it would be impossible for a bloodguzzler to have a gold tooth. Even if it was a back tooth, it wouldn’t last more than a week or two before the repeated loosening and tightening of the gums made it fall out. Which means either your attacker was faking his vampirism, Corinne, or you’re lying.’
    She presses her lips together. The silence grows, becoming more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Foxworthy steps forward but I give him a warning glare. He’s annoyed but he blinks in agreement, thrusting his hands in his suit pockets to wait Corinne out. Voices at the far end of the corridor drift down and I’m painfully aware of the loud ticking of the clock in the corner of the room.
    Eventually, she takes a deep breath. ‘I didn’t do this to myself.’
    ‘We know that.’
    She points at the photofit in my hands. ‘And he did look like that.’ She stares glassily upwards. ‘He just wasn’t a vampire.’
    ‘Was he human, Corinne?’
    ‘Yes,’ she whispers.
    ‘Why did you lie? You must know we’d have found out sooner or later. There aren’t enough bloodguzzlers in the country for a rapist to hide. The police can’t catch this prick if they’re looking in the wrong places.’
    ‘I’m a whore.’
    I’m taken aback by her vehemence. ‘Corinne, I don’t think…’
    ‘I sell myself for sex and the occasional hungry guzzler. Women like me get raped all the time.’ She looks at Foxworthy. ‘You know that.’
    He doesn’t respond. But, then again, he doesn’t need to.
    ‘The only way I’d be taken seriously,’ she says bitterly, ‘is if you thought a bloodguzzler did this. Otherwise I’m just another tramp who got what she deserved. I know the way the world works. There wouldn’t be reporters outside here screaming for justice if they knew the truth.’ Her bandaged hands paw uselessly at the white sheet that covers her frail body. ‘It was going to come out sooner or later. I ain’t a fucking dimwit. I just thought…’
    ‘…that if they started to care, they wouldn’t suddenly stop.’
    She nods. I regard her with empathy. Her lies are causing the vampires a lot of problems at a time when we can least afford them but I understand why she chose this path.
    ‘He was going to kill me,’ Corinne says. ‘His eyes were so cold. He’s evil.’ She shakes her head. ‘I ain’t lying about that. That man is pure evil.’
    *
    Foxworthy escorts me