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Carol Thatcher still sewed her nairls&039; school, her s which had lasted a lifetime Griffin - less of a musicals fan than his Super - said he recognised Carol from his spell on the Ob Pub Squad, but official identification was necessary Models - that was the deceased&039;s profession on the tax books - habitually shared and stole fab gear, so there was a slim chance another bird was kitted up in her clobber Tiers to view the body Bellaver said he could go home after that, provided he didn&039;t stray too far

Before leaving, Ti she&039;d heard before

&039;Will she co-teeth with curled forefingers

&039;It doesn&039;t work like that, Mr Lea She&039;d have to have drunk vampire blood before, ah, death&039;

His face fell, hope squashed He got in the Austin with Rogers, who lifted her veil to drive B Division cars had slightly tinted s

&039;Did anyone tell him how Carol died?&039; she asked Bellaver

Bellaver looked at Regan, who shook his head

&039;Then how does he know?&039;

&039;Pian ,&039; said Kate

Bellaver looked at her, glumly

&039;Hoe know Carol&039;s attacker didn&039;ther?&039;

It was a longstanding irritation to the police that, by law, autopsy couldn&039;t be carried out until three days post ht turn That had happened, but rarely The three-day delaytheir thumbs before they knehether or not they were on a murder enquiry

&039;We couldn&039;t be that lucky,&039; Bellaver said, &039;but someone will sit shiva just in case She hite-lips&039;

White-lips She knew the expression A victim drained to death without the benefit of the Dark Kiss No tell-tale vampire blood about the mouth There were other callous terms: throays, non-returnable bottles, dolly mixtures

&039;I suppose the bastard could have wiped her off with a hankie just for jollies,&039; h a transitional state indistinguishable from death Kate&039;s lasted only six hours Three days seemed to be a cut-off point The feho turned after then were brain-dahouls, bereft of personality or intellect Different clergymen cited the fact that Christ rose on the third day to characterise vaal precedents had been hashed over for eighty years Turning soainst their as a crithy, expensive lawsuits, referred to in chambers as Tepes v Westenra cases The boon of potential iainst the social opprobriu vah proportion of newborns didn&039;t survive their first year A, out-of-control shapeshifting, self-destructivecondition whereby a new-born&039;s body literally ate itself fro ued that va the Dark Kiss on short-lived get should be subject to the penalty of lahich added to her already considerable unpopularity ah-handed and thick-headed undead

The dead girl ht resurrect and identify her assailant Kate couldn&039;t see it happening

Froh itinerary of Carol Thatcher&039;s last hours

Yesterday afternoon, she had been with the plastic surgeon Sir John Rowan Timmy tried half-heartedly to pretend she had a consultation about mole removal, then admitted it was sex for cash Sir John was one of Carol&039;s regulars Bellaver blanched at the list ofshots, famous entertainers, diplomats and crooks Timmy came up with He envisioned another Keeler Affair - the kind of scandal-festooned investigation which gets vast press coverage, but also leads to officers on the case being quietly deenerally shied away froht she&039;d never been bitten (before), but she was a sometime professional arm-ornament for Baron Meinster, a disciple of Dracula who proclaimed himself the late Count&039;s successor The Baron took the trouble to appear in public with a succession of glaals, especially since his 1953 conviction for &039;ients&039; conveniences around Chelsea Meinster was in Roer - so he was off the list of suspects

After leaving Sir John&039;s space age penthouse, Carol went shopping at Biba in Kensington, buyingthe Britain&039; bag She , where they tallied up her week&039;s take over fish and chips and a pint Ti - about sex, but blushed like a convent girl when the subject of the money was raised At the riverside pub, theyman with no visible source of income, and his latest discoveries, white-blonde ether&039; Timmy was in awe of Clive, who&039;d been tossed out of several posh schools and talked like a toff He&039;d also recently turned The five of them went to a &039;scene&039;, which is to say a party, thrown (but not attended) by the Persian-American millionairess Syrie Van Epp on the Fevre Dream, a Mississippi riverboat reasse pleasure palace Timmy dropped more names from popthis in-crowd Sebastian Newcastle, now a tycoon, bloated and replete after his hostile take-over of the Cyril Lord carpet e ex Mrs Michaela Cazaret, collector of art and artists Paul Durward, the pop singer Canon Copely-Syle, Black Cardinal in the Church of Satan, a frequent, coht Line-Up And Professor Caleb Croft, with a retinue of favoured students

Kate would love to pin Carol on Croft Again, they couldn&039;t be that lucky

The professor was uest list But she didn&039;t see hietting aith far worse for centuries As a prime specimen of vampire behaviour BD, he was the poster boy for rapine Born Lord Charles Croydon, he&039;d been an eighteenth-century Hellfire Club rake Even before turning, he used up and threenches, relying on title and connections to evade the gallows

Yes, there were drugs at the party Half the guests were on Bowles-Ottery Pellets, which Bellaver guessed one of Croft&039;s bright young things had likely brought along to spread the goodwill Of course, there was sex Kate felt sorry for Ti up Carol&039;s fees than having anything like a good time Even he couldn&039;t keep track of ith who, though he reckoned Clive tried to get Carol together with the twins to put on a show for a newspaper columnist who &039;liked to watch&039; He knew Carol nipped into a private berth with one or more members of the band Forever More, just for kicks More seriously, she balled the E up the tab A busy night&039;s work Tih the boat was solidly moored He didn&039;t say so, but Kate supposed Clive Landseer put soin fizz He was lucky not to wake up tattooed and ring-sore

Bellaver wasn&039;t happy with the jet set dramatis personae The sort of people it was hell to have as witnesses, let alone suspects Being famous, beautiful, wicked and rich in various combinations meant they all felt the rules - not to mention the law - didn&039;t apply to the them to answer questions would be a colossal chore Most would be too spacey to provide evidence which would stand up in court