Blacke Harbor

“Oh,” said Erik, dismissing the idea with a wave, “I’m a patent attorney. No case I ever fought got that kind of attention.”

He turned to look at Catherine and found, to his surprise, that he could hear her heart beat. Its rhythm skipped as they made eye contact and Erik had to suppress a grin. Well that could make things interesting, he thought to himself. She finds me attractive. That’ll complicate my treatment nicely.

Jurgis’ voice interrupted. “I still can’t believe they paid you to go all the way to Mississippi to testify in a case they already knew they could win.”

“I think my testimony was more about shooting down a future appeal than it was a conviction.”

Before the old man spoke again he glanced around the room to make sure he could not be overheard. “You interviewed him, though, right?”

Catherine nodded then pursed her lips and gave her head a shake. “He’s not.”

It was Erik’s turn to glance around the nearly empty restaurant. “I want to ask you something,” he whispered. “You said in court you knew right away the man was faking because he didn’t meet any of the criteria for vampirism. How do you tell something like that just by talking to someone?”