Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers - Martin Day [19]
‘With your permission, sir,’ the Doctor continued, ‘I would like to examine the body of this poor fellow. We may swiftly be able to clear up this unfortunate business.’
‘How can we believe what you tell us?’ growled Yevhen.
‘You will defend your friend, contrive some excuse to make his
“innocence” clear!’
Dmitri raised a hand to forestall any invective that might follow. ‘We shall make our own judgement on this matter, but we will allow the Doctor to speak. However, first we must establish what happened.’ He turned to Steven and his voice became lower, more friendly. ‘Steven. Where did you find the body?’
‘As I said, right at the bottom of a pile of stones I was asked to sort through. I pulled him out, but he’d been dead for a while.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if I’ve been framed.’
‘Framed?’
The Doctor smiled. ‘My friend merely feels that the body had been left there, and he had been sent to work on that rubble, with the sole purpose of incriminating him. The murderer hopes to remain undetected while Steven is accused of the crime.’
‘There is some foul play at work here,’ agreed Yevhen.
The Doctor nodded. ‘Unless this fellow died of natural causes, and somehow contrived to cover himself in a pile of stone rubble –’
‘And surely we have the culprit in front of us!’ Yevhen continued.
‘Oh, do stop talking nonsense,’ snapped the Doctor. ‘You have no proof that things are not as Steven said – that he found the body, and was moments later discovered by one of the soldiers.’ He turned to Mykola. ‘Did you come across Steven and the body?’
The man nodded.
‘Tell us exactly what you saw.’
‘I saw Steven crouched over the body of Taras. He had a great rock in his hand. There was blood on the face of the dead man.’
‘Of course there was a rock in my hand!’ exclaimed Steven. ‘I was still pulling the body free.’
‘And we must ask ourselves what motive Steven would have for murdering the builder,’ said Isaac, his voice of calm authority cutting through the tense atmosphere.
‘I have heard it said,’ Mykola interjected nervously, ‘that Steven and Taras often argued.’
‘What? I hardly knew him! We’d never argued about anything.’ Isaac could see that Steven was becoming a little frenzied now, irritated and perhaps frightened by the statements being made against him.
The Doctor fixed Mykola with his steely gaze. ‘Could you produce a witness to testify to the arguments?’
The soldier shook his head, staring at the floor. ‘I have only heard it said.’ He spoke as if he was reciting someone else’s words.
The Doctor looked at Dmitri. ‘I ask you therefore to ignore this hearsay and content yourself with the evidence.’
Yevhen turned to the governor. ‘Surely we cannot trust the word of this traveller over the word of one of our citizens?’
Dmitri glanced between the soldier and Steven; one refused to meet his gaze, the other stared back with a level gaze, defiant.
He turned to Yevhen and Isaac. ‘What say my advisers on the matter?’
‘The man is clearly guilty!’ exclaimed Yevhen. ‘We owe no obligation to these travellers who refuse to help us!’
‘And yet they volunteer to help with the fortification of the church, with the storing of food,’ said Isaac.
Yevhen glared at him. ‘We would all do wel to remember our circumstances,’ he whispered menacingly, as if for Isaac’s benefit alone. ‘Is it not possible that these travellers are Tartar spies, intent only on learning of our fortifications, our plans?’
‘You have said that about us since we first arrived,’ said the Doctor. ‘I can assure you, we are not spies, nor are we friends..
or enemies... of the Mongols.’
Isaac turned his head away from Yevhen. ‘In any event, we all know that there are rumours of a Tartar within our city. We should perhaps look elsewhere for their agents.’
The governor addressed Yevhen. ‘What do you think we should do?’ he asked.
‘Execute the murderer,’ said Yevhen bluntly.
Dmitri looked at Isaac. The old man was well aware that Yevhen’s unblinking gaze had turned in his direction, dark with menace. ‘It is