Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [53]
‘Be quiet,’ said the than, ‘or I’ll break it.’
Scale shut up. He gasped shallowly. There were tears on his face. The man examined him indifferently.
‘I let you come in here because I was curious, but you don’t look very interesting.’
Scale didn’t know whether his best bid for safety lay in agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion, so he did neither. He didn’t really feel like talking anyway.
‘Why did you choose this house?’
Scale was distracted by a figure who had appeared behind the man – a young woman with a fierce, dark look about her. The man glanced down at her then back at Scale.
‘Is he all right?’ The woman nodded. The man smiled. ‘This is Miss Kelly,’ he told Scale. ‘I’m going to release you now. If you try anything, she will cut your throat.’
Scale believed him. The woman frightened him almost as much as the man. He cradled his throbbing hand, looking up at them. He had broken into some hellish place. Were all his fingers crushed? He was afraid to check. ‘Mercy...’ he whimpered..
‘I’ve had a trying day,’ the man confided, ‘and am not in a good mood. Answer me now: why did you choose this house?’
‘I followed the other fellow, the fellow in the green coat.’
‘And then decided to stay and rob a wealthy-looking residence. I see. Why were you following him?’
Scale was afraid to lie to the man, but he was even more afraid to tell him about the mirror. ‘He owes me money,’ he whined convincingly. ‘See, I run an exhibit at the carny, and I invited him to place a little bet –’
‘– and cheated him and he wouldn’t pay you,’ the man finished. ‘You really aren’t very interesting, are you? Stand up.’
Shakily Scale stood.
‘Now go.’
Scale stared at him wonderingly. The man nodded towards the other room.
‘The way you came in.’
Scale hesitated no longer. He dodged between the man and the woman, and in a moment they heard him scrambling frantically over the wall. The Angel-Maker frowned.
‘Why did you let him go?’
‘Because he was lying,’ said Sabbath. He went and looked into the garden, making certain Scale had indeed fled.
‘Lying?’
‘If he’d wanted money from the Doctor, he’d have robbed him in the street on the way here. No, he had some other reason. No doubt it has to do with the Doctor’s investigations; he tends to... annoy people.’
‘But if he knows something, you could have made him tell you.’
‘Why bother?’ Sabbath turned back into the room with a shrug. ‘He won’t know anything of importance. And if, inadvertently, he may lead to people who do, well then – the Doctor will be pulled into the thick of it, as he always is. And I can always find the Doctor.’ Sabbath smiled. ‘He told me how himself.’
* * *
Anji spent most of the time the Doctor was with Sabbath telling Fitz that the Doctor was going to have to Start Talking To Them. The rest of the time, she practised to herself confronting him when he returned and demanding explanations. But when he strode in, mouth grim and obviously angry, all that came out of her mouth was, ‘Tea?’
‘No,’ he said and went upstairs to the TARDIS.
‘Bravely done,’ said Fitz from his armchair.
‘I didn’t notice you trying to get anything out of him.’
‘That’s because I’m not all uptight about this like you are. He’ll tell us what’s what in his own good time.’
‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’
‘You trust him, don’t you?’
‘Of course I trust his intentions,’ she said, annoyed. ‘But you know as well as I do he’s always stumbling into something even he only knows half the story of, and when we don’t know any of the story we aren’t much help then, are we?’
Fitz threw his cigarette end into the fireplace. ‘All right, then, you go ahead and try to get him to talk about something he doesn’t want to. I’d like to see that, actually, but I’m off.’
‘Where to?’
‘Going with George to a lecture on Siberia.’
‘What?’ she goggled.
Fitz stood by the door, a little embarrassed, hat in hand. ‘Well, yeah. Why not?’
‘Why not? Because that kind of thing bores you stiff.’ She put her hands on her hips and eyed him suspiciously. ‘You haven’t been taken over by some pod species, have you?’
‘Oh