04x11 - Bloodlust

[bunniefuu]

What have you, George?

Sir, the girl's name was Amy Goldham. Just a young thing, sir.

Apparently she snuck out after curfew last night, but there were no witnesses and no-one knows why. Or so they say.

Who discovered the body?

Samuel Lane, the Headmaster. He pulled her from this pool at 8am this morning.

Thank you, George.

Her lungs were full of water. She drowned.

But not before suffering numerous cuts and scrapes.

Perhaps running through the woods, away from someone.

Death occurred approximately eight hours ago, judging by lividity.

None of these cuts appear life-threatening.

Then how did she end up in the pond?

Well, there is this. A boot mark, perhaps?

So Amy Goldham was held down with intent.

m*rder, then.

We've asked the teachers to stay home today.

Not much appetite for studies, given the events.

No, I suspect not.

Poor Amy. A sweet girl.

Attentive in class. Considerate of her classmates.

Quite innocent. So I supposed.

You supposed?

Well, what am I to think when a girl slips out in the dead of night wearing next to nothing?

How did you come to discover her body this morning, Mr Lane?

I live in the coach house at the back of the school.

I inspect the grounds to check all is well.

She was cold as stone when I pulled her from the water.

I knew I was too late.

Have her parents been notified?

The Goldhams are travelling in Europe this time of year.

Most of the parents of our girls spend the bulk of their year abroad.

We have the Goldham's itinerary.

I'll need that, thank you.

Can you think of a reason why a young girl like Amy would steal away like this?

A boyfriend, perhaps?

I doubt it's that. The owner of our school, Mrs Irvin, she rather frowns on that sort of thing. I see.

A boyfriend? Absolutely not.

I lock the doors at 9pm and do a roll-call. Bedtime is 9:30.

Lights out at 10.

So after you retire for the night, the girls are unsupervised.

I sleep with one ear open, Detective.

What do I tell the parents who expect their daughters to be safe at my school?

How do I tell them that a girl has been m*rder*d?

Were you aware Amy had slipped out, Miss Dennett?

I didn't get to see Amy at all last night after dinner.

I was in the infirmary with a cold.

You just wanted a room to yourself.

That's untrue, Laura.

Ladies...

Amy was here in the dormitory last night. We all said good night and went to sleep.

SHE SOBS Sssh, Olivia!

Friends share secrets, do they not?

I'm not here to get any of you in trouble.

I simply need to know if Amy had a secret.

We don't know why Amy ran off, Detective.

But I think it must have been near midnight. Oh?

The clock struck 12 and then I heard the third stair squeak.

Mrs Irvin won't fix it so she knows if anyone tries to sneak out.

I see. And does this happen often, this sneaking out?

Have any of you?

No, never.

Never.

I see. Well, thank you very much, ladies.

You're free to go.

George?

Help me move this bed.

The secret lives of teenage girls.

Detective Murdoch.

Miss Dennett?

Amy always waited until she thought we were asleep, then she'd get those out and read by candle light.

I saw her writing, too, sometimes.

I think she was in love with an older boy.

And these letters are from him?

I saw her talking to a boy outside the downtown library once, Detective.

Then the letters started coming.

Did you get a clear look at this boy?

No, I'm sorry.

Well, thank you for your help, Miss Dennett.

Arlene.

Arlene.

Please catch who did this.

Amy used to be my closest friend.

We'll do our best.

In the meantime, if you think of anything else, please contact me.

Hard to keep your lunch down reading tripe like this.

What about this one, "I feel your warmth flow through me, like blush to my cold blue lips."

Bloody awful.

"Like rain to a desert you bring me back to life. You are my breath itself."

Huh! That one's not half bad, actually.

Signed "V" I assume?

Just like the others. Each one steamier than the last.

Did you ever write poetry to your sweetheart, Murdoch?

Oh, sir, I'm not much of a poet.

Though I do remember being quite proud of a rhyming couplet I wrote in praise of the family dog.

It was a very well-behaved dog.

Her last diary entry. Dated two days ago.

"I know who 'V' is. Should I tell him I know?"

He tried to keep his identity from her? A married man?

So, she finds out somehow, tells him. It doesn't go over well.

Face-down into the pond she goes.

No question she drowned, but she also had alcohol in her system and another substance I believe to be an opiate.

Was she interfered with?

No. She's intact.

But there is one other thing. Amy was missing almost three pints of blood.

Three pints?

But her cuts and scratches could hardly account for that.

It appears she was bled.

There are two puncture marks in her neck.

They extend into the jugular vein.

One mark is slightly bigger than the other.

According to her writings, Amy would frequently leave the dormitory late at night to rendezvous with a man.

The other girls had to have noticed.

They must know something. I'm sure they do.

A teenage girl doesn't enter into a secret romance without making sure her friends know all about it.

But why would someone bleed her?

It's a vampire. Without a doubt.

What the hell is a vampire? It's a vile creature, sir.

A human corpse that rises from its grave after the sun goes down.

And to sustain its undead existence it drinks the blood of the living.

He's beginning to worry me.

Sir, a new novel called Dracula has been causing quite a stir.

It's based, of course, on a vampire.

It's a chilling tale not unlike my own m*rder mystery, although I must say, I find Bram Stoker's prose long-winded.

Bram Stoker? The manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London?

That's the one.

So a man who spends his time ironing actors' trousers writes a book and so Amy Goldham was k*lled by a vampire.

Sir, why else would that girl be down three pints of blood, with bite marks in her neck?

George, I didn't say she had bite marks. I said she had been bled.

But, sirs, vampires have a mysterious power over women.

In the novel, young girls flock to Dracula.

They offer themselves up in a wild erotic frenzy, and he, with his razor-sharp fangs, he bites their neck and drinks their blood.

It's true!

Werewolves, Martians, ghosts, now vampires.

What next, Crabtree? Abominable snowmen?

Sir, that is a fictitious creature.

Dreamed up, probably, by somebody who saw a sasquatch.

Now my Aunt Dahlia...

Looks like a schoolgirl.

Get out.

I overheard two girls talking about the mysterious boy Amy was meeting up with.

He was seeing someone else as well, apparently. Oh? Who was that?

If I tell, promise me you won't say anything to Mrs Irvin or Mr Lane.

I was sworn to secrecy. Of course.

Well, I consider a vow to be sacred, don't you, Detective Murdoch ?

As sacred as, say, a vow of fidelity between lovers.

Of course.

It's Laura MacFarlane.

She's been sneaking out to meet this man, too.

Arlene told you, didn't she? Well, she's a liar.

Miss MacFarlane, the man you are trying to protect k*lled your friend, Amy.

I don't know why. But I fear he may do the same to you.

He wouldn't. He's a romantic.

Arlene is just jealous.

She wants to meet him too but he doesn't want her.

Miss MacFarlane, would you please open your shirt collar?

Please.

I'm not the only one.

You mean besides Amy Goldham.

A young girl is dead. Who else here has been visiting this man?

Olivia.

Olivia Cornell.

I see. Can you describe him?

I'll try.

He's beautiful.

But I always remember him as if from a dream.

I was hoping for a somewhat less poetic description.

Is he short, tall? Does he have any distinguishing features?

Yes.

When he comes for me, he seems to glide on the air.

I should run. I know I'm in danger.

But I want him. He makes me want him.

Where do you meet?

In the cemetery. Near the school. Inside a mausoleum.

Are these encounters arranged?

He sends us letters. Little notes.

We always meet at night.

And what happens?

He takes me in his arms.

And I feel his sweet breath and lips against my neck.

It's like a kiss...

But more.

I feel his teeth pressing into my neck. It stings.

I lose all my strength.

He sweeps me into his arms, and the next thing I know...

I wake up on a bed of rose petals in the mausoleum.

We are his chosen ones. Amy, Olivia and I. But not Arlene.

No.

Arlene said she did meet him, but she was lying.

It was...pitiful.

Arlene couldn't understand.

He's chosen us for our beauty.

And our blood.

Your blood? Well, yes.

Isn't it obvious?

He's a vampire.

So these girls are hysterical, then? Avid readers in any case.

Clearly they've been influenced by Bram Stoker's novel.

But there is no vampire, right?

Not as such. I believe this man is playing into the vampire myth to take advantage of the girls.

But Dr Ogden said Amy Goldham wasn't violated.

At any rate, Laura MacFarlane and Olivia Cornell are with Dr Ogden now.

She will examine them to be sure that they haven't been physically harmed.

Other than being tapped for a few pints of the old red stuff.

Yes, sir. Other than that. KNOCK ON DOOR Good day, gents. Ah, look who's here, Murdoch.

Paddy Glynn. Fancy that.

Care to comment the rash of vampire att*cks at the Teppes School For Girls, gentlemen?

Mr Glynn, we are not investigating vampire att*cks.

Teenaged girls do talk, Detective. This one's a zingdinger of a story.

If you publish garbage like that, Glynn, you know the hysteria it will cause. Or don't you care about that?

As always, Inspector, you are right.

The fourth estate mustn't rouse the rabble.

But, thank you for confirming the story.

We didn't confirm a thing, Glynn!

And there are no bloody vampires!

Hello, Julia.

Don't do that.

Ah, it seems everyone is reading Dracula but me.

Yes, well, it is a most compelling story.

Indeed. And Laura and Olivia were most anxious that I read it.

Well, I've examined the girls and they appear to have been spared any interference.

So, sexual as*ault wasn't the motive? I'd say not.

What could possibly be motivating this man of theirs?

And though the girls have all shed their tears over Amy Goldham's death, why do they continue to revel in the fact that they've been chosen by this "vampire"?

A vampire represents something savage and forbidden.

He demands their complete surrender.

And the life force in their warm blood.

It's all fantasy, of course.

Julia, these encounters are all violent.

Do all women share this fantasy?

You're missing the point, William.

Some women long for uninhibited romance.

I've heard it said.

Ah, this must be the one here, sir.

It's just as the girls described.

Indeed, George. I almost wish I hadn't read that Dracula now.

It all just seems a bit too real at the moment.

Away you go, George.

Rose petals.

Just like the girls said.

No obvious signs of blood.

Well, sir, perhaps the vampire met the girls here but bled them elsewhere?

CLATTERING SHE GASPS Miss Dennett? I just wanted to see where the vampire lives.

I thought if I met him, I could ask him why he never chose me.

The rose petals are so beautiful.

Miss Dennett, this is a potential crime scene.

Please, call me Arlene.

Arlene, the constable will escort you back to your school now.

Him?

Him. Miss Dennett, after you.

Murdoch, look at this.

Glynn's got the whole city in a frenzy about vampires.

The telephone lines at every station house are jammed up.

And I hear there's been a run on garlic.

Why is everyone suddenly buying garlic?

Uh, I... It's been a while, Murdoch, but Paddy Glynn is looking good for the old black glove right about now.

Sirs, that was Mrs Irvin on the phone.

One of her students is missing.

Her name is Dorothy Cornell. Olivia's younger sister.

I did a second bed check at 11pm and Dorothy was gone.

That's her!

Dorothy? Dorothy!

Dorothy... what?!

George, wake up Dr Ogden.

Sir. There's a telephone on the dormitory floor.

All signs suggest that she was bled.

Dorothy, why did you go see the vampire?

I found a note in one of my school books.

He asked me to meet him at the mausoleum. What happened then?

The other girls said it was so romantic but on my way to the mausoleum, somebody grabbed me. It hurt.

Was it a man?

Yes. Did you see his face?

No.

A cloth was placed over my face and I must have fainted.

I think someone was carrying me.

It was horrible!

You're safe now.

This attack breaks the pattern. Indeed.

There's nothing romantic about being accosted and chloroformed.

No. He's dispensed with all of the vampire dramatics.

Almost as if he was in a hurry.

In a hurry for blood? What can that mean?

KNOCK ON DOOR Detective!

I'm very sorry, Detective.

I didn't know who else to go to.

It's quite all right, Arlene.

Why don't you tell me what happened.

It was him. The vampire.

He sent me a note.

It said to meet him at the crypt.

"Dearest Arlene, the time has come for us to meet.

"Tonight. At the mausoleum. I'll be waiting, V."

He said that he chose me because I was pretty.

He pulled me towards him. And then I just felt his fangs piercing my neck and then I think I fainted!

I'm cold, Detective.

Could you... could you hold me please?

You're timing is impeccable as usual, Doctor.

I asked the doctor to come while you were resting.

Doctor? I don't need a doctor, I just need to stay here for a while.

Let me take your blood pressure.

Doctor, these puncture marks on her neck look different from the ones on Amy, don't you think?

Yes. Not very deep at all.

Perhaps the vampire changed his mind.

No, he bit me.

Arlene, is it possible you pierced your own neck with this hairpin, and there was no vampire?

Her pressure is normal. She has not been bled.

I just wanted to see you.

But you only seem to care about the girls who get att*cked.

I feel like I'm left out.

Like I'm not even important any more.

I think I'll take my leave.

No. That is, Doctor, perhaps you could escort Arlene back to the school on your way home.

I feel like such a fool.

I wouldn't worry.

Detective Murdoch will soon forget all about it.

He must have many women falling into his arms, so why would he pay any mind to me?

I sometimes wonder if I will ever find true love.

Have you found yours?

Yes, I have.

Ah, Murdoch. Between the lunatics who thought they saw vampires and the other lunatics who think they are vampires, the whole constabulary was out all last night working across the city.

Were there any reports of actual vampire att*cks?

Actual vampire att*cks?

Vampire att*cks, you say? Can you give me an approximate number, Inspector?

I should stake you down, Glynn, before you can stir up any more panic.

Detective, are we any closer to apprehending this undead menace?

Why, yes, Mr Glynn.

In fact, he's safely in custody in our jail cells resting for the day.

I didn't know he had a sense of humour. I'll tell you something else you don't know.

How close you are to meeting my fist!

Ah. Jocularity.

That's, er...

Perhaps not.

Sir, something interesting from Station 5's case files.

There was an attempted sexual as*ault at the Teppes School for Girls three years ago.

A young lady by the name of Gail Baxter, and they put a name to the suspect.

Who was that? A young chap by the name of Daniel Irvin.

Mrs Irvin's son. I wasn't aware that she had a son.

Apparently Miss Baxter was chloroformed and awoke in a carriage with Daniel.

And where is she now?

She moved to England with her family.

Daniel Irvin was never charged.

I wonder why?

He k*lled himself.

The scandal proved too much for him.

He was such a sensitive soul.

I found Daniel hanging in his room the day that the police were to bring charges.

He was innocent.

Until the most recent att*cks on the girls, the pattern of abductions did not involve the use of chloroform.

But last night's attack on Dorothy Cornell did.

Like the one at the school three years ago.

But the suspect Daniel Irvin is dead and buried.

Yes, sir. I saw the death certificate.

So what's the connection?

Sirs! I believe I have solved the crime!

The Teppes family left the vampire-infested hills of Moldavia in 1850 and moved to...Canada.

In 1858, they opened the Teppes School for Girls.

Now it is my belief that members of the Teppes family are in fact vampires.

They have to move to frequently to avoid arousing suspicion, and they change their names.

So that's why the Teppes family called their school the Teppes School for Girls.

Right. Makes sense.

Well perhaps I don't have all the details worked out entirely, but the genius of it all is that the school provides them with an abundant source of fresh young blood.

George, have you any evidence of this?

Yes, sirs, because the vampire att*cks have not just happened this week and three years ago, but also nearly 40 years ago.

1859 - various girls from the Teppes school were abducted and then released.

Now at the time, Alexander Teppes was suspected of the att*cks, but like his grandson, Daniel, conveniently "died" before charges could ever be laid.

Note the similarities between these two men.

Here, a sketch of Daniel, and this man, supposedly, is Alexander Teppes.

What do you mean "supposedly"?

It is my belief, sir, that these two are in fact one and the same.

So he's lived for 80 years and hasn't aged?

Not 80, sir. Hundreds.

I believe that Daniel, Alexander, take your pick, both, are in fact, this man.

Vlad the Impaler! Real name, Vlad Drakulya. Noted vampire.

Again, notice the facial similarities.

And, sirs, Teppes is Romanian for Impaler.

Just wrap it up, will you, Crabtree.

Sir, Alexander Teppes hasn't been heard from in 40 years.

I can provide two witnesses who will identify him as their attacker.

That's him! That's him!

There is a way to prove my theory.

There are still several hours of daylight left.

If I'm correct, if Alexander Teppes and Daniel Irvin are in fact one and the same immortal creature, then one of their coffins will be empty and the other will contain a sleeping vampire.

We're not digging up graves.

We won't have to, sir. The coffins are in the Teppes family mausoleum. We've been there.

I don't for one minute believe we're dealing with a vampire, but something IS wrong here.

Well, George, it seems Alexander Teppes is at rest.

Sir, that could be anybody. Probably one of his victims.

Sweet mother of...! Sir, some animal. Is that a dog?

Yes, George. And it's definitely not the remains of Daniel Irvin.

I can't explain it. I don't know what happened!

Your son is alive, isn't he, Mrs Irvin? I was there.

I held his lifeless body in my arms.

Who else saw the body?

My husband, God rest his soul.

A doctor arrived, pronounced Daniel dead and then the police came.

There's no more to say. Was it an open casket funeral?

It was not.

Detective, someone desecrated my son's grave.

How is his soul to be in peace?

Could she be telling the truth?

I don't believe she is, sir.

I believe Mrs Irvin helped Daniel stage his death to avoid prison.

But why did all the girls identify the portrait of Alexander Teppes as their attacker?

Family resemblance.

Fine. How did the boy manage to stage his own death? Wasn't there a post-mortem?

If the cause of death was obvious to the attending physician...

No post-mortem required then. And if the doctor signed the death certificate the police would have taken that as proof that Daniel was dead.

Bloody lazy police work, if you ask me.

Who signed the death certificate? Doctor Lucas Harwick. George is looking for him now.

It's proving difficult, sir.

He was suspended from the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1894.

No-one seems to know what he's done with himself since then.

Why was he suspended? Some sort of malpractice.

Unfortunately the records are not very detailed. Of course not.

Doctors always protect each other. We know that.

In any case, there's no record of any Lucas Harwick in city records. Could be he's moved on.

Dr Harwick? The name isn't familiar.

What's your interest?

I have reason to believe he's falsified a death certificate relating to this case.

You mean to say that someone involved in the Teppes school case may be undead, so to speak?

Ah, yes, very good. Well, I'd be happy to ask around after this Harwick fellow.

Thank you, Doctor.

It's no trouble at all, William.

I... Thank you.

Dr Garland. Uh, Darcy. How are you?

Julia told me last night you were looking for a Dr Lucas Harwick.

Yes. Yes, I am. Please come in.

We used to work together.

Oh, I see.

This was at Buffalo General Hospital.

He was a visiting physician at the time.

Researching the immunological reactions in blood serum.

But he had larger ideas.

Such as? Harwick thought he had identified the flaws in the blood transfusion treatments.

Turns out he was wrong.

Oh? What happened?

He transfused blood from subject 'A' to Subject 'B' and there was no immune response.

But when he transfused from 'B' to 'A', subject 'A' died.

Their body rejected the blood.

Do you have any idea where he might be?

Last I heard he was teaching somewhere.

Lucas was a very stubborn man.

Personally, I expected him to continue his work on improving Lane's theories on transfusion, regardless.

Lane's theories? Yes. Samuel Armstrong Lane.

The first man to treat haemophilia with blood transfusions in the 1840s.

You know the name? The headmaster of the Teppes School for Girls calls himself Samuel Lane.

George!

Telephone Toronto General Hospital and find out if Daniel Irvin was ever treated for haemophilia.

Sir.

DOOR SLAMS Oh!

Where are they? Who?

Your son and Dr Lucas Harwick, or Samuel Lane, as he goes by these days.

My son is dead.

Your son is a haemophiliac. He and Dr Harwick have been abducting girls at this school to tap them for transfusible blood.

You helped your son stage his own death to avoid going to prison because you knew his disease would k*ll him.

Where are they, ma'am?

My son is dying!

Dr Harwick is his only hope. You mustn't interfere. Please!

Where are they?

In the coach house.

This fellow's blood is not compatible, Mrs Irvin.

They know, Lucas. Dr Harwick, where's Daniel?

He's in a coma. When he learned of Amy's death, he slit his wrists.

He loved her. He didn't want to cause any more harm.

Then that would explain the sudden increase in att*cks.

You needed more blood to replenish what Daniel was losing.

Not everyone's compatible.

If he doesn't get more blood in the next few hours, he'll die.

This man is unconscious.

What's he been given?

Same thing we gave the girls - a mixture of barbituric acid and heroin. He'll awaken soon.

George, telephone the station house and get half a dozen constables down here immediately.

Yes, sir. And call for Dr Ogden as well. Sir. Right then, you can start with me.

Now, Doctor.

Do not take more than one pint, Dr Harwick.

You may test my blood next, if you please.

Daniel's regaining consciousness. He's very weak, Detective.

No more than a few minutes, then let him rest.

Daniel. I'm Detective Murdoch.

I need to know what happened the night that Amy Goldham died.

She woke up. Here.

During the transfusion procedure?

She panicked. She pulled the tube out and she ran. I chased after her.

I had to explain. Where was Dr Harwick?

He was at the mausoleum, preparing it for me to bring Amy back.

So you chased after her?

Did you push her into the pond? No.

She knelt by the water.

She just fell in.

She probably fainted from the blood loss and exertion.

Why didn't you pull her out?

I did. I turned her onto her back then I ran off to find Dr Harwick.

Amy was breathing when I left.

I swear it.

Someone pushed her back in and held her down with their foot.

Who was it? Dr Harwick?

No. I found him here.

I tried to tell him what happened to Amy, but I was so weak I just collapsed.

He had to tend to me or I would have died.

Then who k*lled Amy?

Your son didn't hold Amy under the water and neither did Dr Harwick.

There is only one other person who would have felt threatened by what Amy had discovered and that was you, wasn't it, Mrs Irvin?

Me?!

I didn't k*ll her!

You had one very good reason Daniel's survival.

The truth of what Dr Harwick had been doing could never come out.

I would never, not even to save my son's life.

You staged your son's death!

You would go to any length to save him. You love your son.

Before Amy, none of the girls ever suffered. I insisted on that.

If Dr Harwick hadn't agreed to my terms, I would have let my son die.

But someone turned Amy back down into the water.

If not you, if not Daniel or Dr Harwick, then who?

I can't imagine anybody who would wish that sweet girl harm.

She was the most popular girl in the school. She was?

But that wasn't always the case, was it?

Miss Dennett.

Hello, Detective.

Arlene, who wrote this note?

I wrote it myself and I am ashamed that I did. I truly am.

Actually, I've compared the handwriting to some of the entries in Amy's diary.

She wrote it, supposedly from the vampire to you.

Why would Amy do that?

For some time, you had been the most popular girl in the school and you couldn't understand why the vampire hadn't chosen you.

Isn't that right?

Yes. You and Amy had been friends?

Best friends. But all that changed when she met her mystery man, didn't it?

Suddenly all of the other girls were looking up to her.

You were jealous.

You were the prettiest.

The vampire should have chosen you, not Amy.

I suspect your relationship soured very quickly after that and that's why she played this trick on you.

I really thought that it was from him.

I thought that he'd finally chosen me.

So you went to meet the vampire, full of anticipation.

But he wasn't there.

And rather than admit this, you told everyone that you had met him.

They already knew the truth and you were humiliated.

How could she do that to me?

I would never have done that to her. Ever!

That's why you spent the night in the infirmary.

You were planning to tell on Amy when she got back from her rendezvous, weren't you?

But you were impatient.

So you went outside... and that's when you saw Amy fall into the pond and Daniel pull her out and run off.

And you saw your chance to get back at Amy for humiliating you, and becoming the new most popular girl.

She was a nobody when she came to the school.

She was scared every day.

I befriended her. I protected her!

She was only popular because I was popular.

How could she do that to me?

I was the laughing stock of the entire school!

What we did was wrong, but it was done to save a life.

Daniel's grandfather was a haemophiliac, who died because of a transfusion.

Explaining the disappearances at the Teppes school 40 years ago.

In any case, Mrs Irvin couldn't bear to lose her father and son.

And it's not just their lives, Detective, but thousands, millions, who could benefit from safe blood transfusion.

I believe that will happen, Dr Harwick, but you'll be in prison when it does.

You better not be writing that m*rder mystery on my time, Crabtree.

Sir, I'm not. In fact, right now I'm not writing anything.

I've almost finished what is sure to be a thrilling climax, but now I can't think of an ending.

I lie awake at night dreaming about the ending of your bloody story.

Goodnight, Murdoch. Goodnight, sir.

Perhaps what you need is a surprise dramatic element, George.

A twist, as it were.

A twist? Hm.

Where the villain isn't necessarily who we think it is, or some such.

Oh, for the love of...!

Julia. Oh, William.

How is Daniel? Well, Darcy says his wrists are healing.

Apparently the substantial transfusion we gave him allowed his blood to clot.

Saved his life. Very good.

And the young girl? Arlene?

Her parents have hired an army of very expensive lawyers to mount her defence. I doubt she'll hang.

She was clever, I'll give her that.

Playing innocent and defenceless.

Tools women frequently use to attract a man.

I don't believe I was aware of that where Arlene was concerned.

Of course not, but that's the way the mating dance works, isn't it?

The female sends out her signals and the male reacts.

She'll toss back her hair, expose her neck, her most vulnerable aspect.

Hence the visceral response to the vampire's bite.

Fangs and such.

Just so, yes.

And the lure of steady eye contact. Powerful and unblinking.

A clearer message could not be sent.

Julia. Darcy!

Have you given it to the Detective, yet?

I'm sorry?

The invitation? Oh, my goodness, yes.

I almost forgot. William, here.

It's the invitation to our wedding.

Yes. Of course.

Thank you. Thank you both.

I must be off.