Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [56]
‘Home?’
‘To America. One of the western states, I believe.’
And three. The Doctor stood up politely. ‘I won’t take any more of your time.’
Chiltern nodded curtly.
The Doctor paused in the hall outside Chiltern’s office and looked up and down. At one end, a nurse was assisting an elderly man through a door. Otherwise, he was alone. He turned and briskly headed in the direction of the violent ward.
He didn’t consider this an ideal course of action, but it was the one that presented itself. Sneaking back into the grounds and dodging guards and orderlies didn’t strike him as ideal either. Particularly in such a relatively unregulated place, walking confidently along as if he knew where he was going got him easily past the nurses and patients and occasional doctor he passed. The orderly sitting in a chair at the entrance to the ward, however, was another matter. As he looked up, the Doctor increased his stride and stuck out his hand. ‘I’m Dr Smith. Did we meet last week?’
The man had risen to take the Doctor’s hand. He was young, very big, and rough-looking, though groomed without a button or hair out of place. He squinted at the Doctor, half-suspiciously. ‘Don’t believe so, sir.’
‘Well, Mr, er...’
‘O’Keagh.’
‘Mr O’Keagh. I won’t keep you long. I had a question to Dr Chiltern that he thought you could answer.’ The Doctor looked frankly into the orderly’s eyes. ‘So I just nipped down here rather than have him go to the trouble of fetching you, though perhaps you wouldn’t have minded that, it must get rather dull standing about here all day with no one to talk to, tiring too, I’d imagine, perhaps you’d like to sit back down...’
O’Keagh’s eyes became even narrower. The Doctor reminded himself that psychotics, the overly-suspicious and – he glanced again at O’Keagh’s military neatness – obsessive-compulsives were almost impossible to hypnotise. He smiled in what he hoped was a winning and reassuring manner. ‘What I mean to say is, I saw Miss Jane a couple of times. Professionally. And I wondered if at any time on your shift, you heard her say anything unusual.’
‘Such as what?’
‘Just anything that struck you as out of the ordinary.’
‘Never heard her say anything.’
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor. O’Keagh regarded him truculently. ‘Well, that’s that, then.’ With another smile, he turned and went away down the corridor. He could feel the big orderly’s eyes on him. He hoped he wouldn’t run into Chiltern on his way back to the front entrance, that would be rather embarrassing and difficult to explain. However he didn’t, and as soon as he was out of the door be spotted Anji and Fitz on a bench by one of the gardens. He walked up to them. ‘Something’s wrong.’
‘What?’ said Fitz.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘How’s Miss Jane?’ said Anji.
‘Gone back to America. At least, that’s what Chiltern says.’
‘You think Chiltern isn’t straight?’ said Fitz, surprised. ‘Seemed soul-of‐the-Victorian‐gent to me.’
‘Yes.’ The Doctor looked around at the men and women strolling and talking in the bright grounds. ‘To me as well. But there’s something... Fitz, would you please wait here and keep an eye on the entrance? And if Chiltern comes out, come and warn us.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To get a look at the grounds over by the old wing.’
‘What’s in the old wing?’ said Anji as they crossed the lawn towards the grim stone walls.
‘The violent ward.’
‘Where Miss Jane was? Do you think she’s still there?’
‘I don’t know. We may be able to find out, though. I think I got a sense of the place’s layout when I was in there.’ The Doctor glanced back at the main building. ‘Unfortunately, we’re in sight if anyone in the hall looks out of the windows, so I’ll have to be quick. Shield me as much as you can.’
Anji didn’t think that would be very much. But she obligingly stood behind the Doctor as he positioned himself beneath the last of the gridded windows. ‘All clear?’ he asked, and when she said yes, she heard him grip the bars and hoist himself up to look inside. He dropped back almost instantly and led her away.
‘Empty. No sheets on