Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [57]
‘So she may be gone. Or she may simply not be in that room any longer. Now what?’
‘Let’s go round the other side.’
* * *
Looking up from his third cigarette, Fitz spotted the tall, gaunt figure of Dr Chiltern come through the clinic’s doors. He jumped up, then hesitated as Chiltern turned and headed along the front of the main building in the direction of the old wing. There was no way to warn the Doctor without sprinting right across Chiltern’s path. Well, he thought, all right then.
‘Dr Chiltern!’ he yelled, running after him. ‘Dr Chiltern!’
Chiltern turned quickly, not exactly alarmed, but on guard. Fitz didn’t blame him. He waved a friendly hand. ‘Hello! It’s me!’ He panted up to the alienist. ‘Fitz Kreiner. Remember? We met at Mrs Hemming’s seance.’
Chiltern stared at him unwelcomingly. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Well, I...’ Fitz caught his breath. ‘I thought I needed treatment.’
‘Treatment?’
‘As a patient.’
‘Really,’ Chiltern started to turn away, ‘I don’t think –’
‘No,’ said Fitz desperately, ‘you’ve got to help me. I see things!’
Chiltern stopped unwillingly. ‘What sort of things?’
‘Horrible. You can’t imagine. People who turn into clocks. Beings from other worlds who look like rhinoceroses.’
‘Perhaps you should take up the writing of sensational literature.’ Chiltern moved away again.
Fitz followed right after him. ‘And there were these things – the Undecided, no, the Unnoticed – they had their stomachs outside slung beneath their legs dripping acid, and with worms in.’
This time Chiltern looked at him in revulsion. It occurred to Fitz that if he did too good a job with this he could end up in a ward himself, He glanced past Chiltern to where the old wing was now visible. No sign of the Doctor or Anji. He stopped. ‘Er, well then... maybe later.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Chiltern, and turned an abrupt corner around the main building. He hadn’t been going to the violent ward after all. Just as well, thought Fitz. Even if the Doctor was out of sight, who knew what he was up to?
* * *
At that moment the Doctor was literally up to another window, his fingers intertwined in the grid, his feet braced against the stone wall beneath.
‘Anyone?’ said Anji from behind and below him.
‘No.’ The Doctor dropped back to the ground. ‘There don’t actually seem to be any other violent patients.’
‘If Miss Jane’s gone, there may not be any.’
‘There are,’ said the Doctor grimly, hoisting himself to another window, peering inside, and dropping again.
‘Who?’
‘Chiltern’s brother.’
‘The mad brother?’ Anji remembered her conversation with Mrs Hemming. ‘Sebastian? Why do you want to talk to him?’
‘Well, Chiltern wanted me to. Only now he doesn’t.’
‘So naturally you’re going to.’
‘Well, I thought I would, yes.’
‘Are you just being contrary, or do you have a theory?’
‘I try to avoid theorising – it boxes you in. I just want to know why Chiltern changed his – Ah.’
The last was a soft exhalation. Anji looked up to where the Doctor clung to the grid. He glanced down and nodded, then pressed his face against the iron squares. ‘Dr Chiltern...?’
Inside, the tall figure curled on the little bed stirred. ‘Dr Chiltern,’ the Doctor repeated quietly. The figure turned to face him. Well, of course, thought the Doctor. Twins. ‘It’s me,’ he said. ‘The Doctor. Do you remember me?’
Chiltern – whichever Chiltern it was – stared at him bewilderedly. He was unshaven and wearing white hospital pyjamas. The Doctor couldn’t tell whether he was restrained.
‘Can you come to the window?’ Chiltern just stared. ‘The window? Please. I’d like to talk to you.’
Unsteadily, Chiltern rose – not restrained then, the Doctor noted with relief – and came over. He looked at the Doctor in amazement, as if there were a griffin at the window. The Doctor smiled gently. ‘Hello. How are you feeling?’
Tentatively, Chiltern put out a hand. He slid a finger through the grid and touched the Doctor’s face, then flinched back.
‘Do you remember me?’
Chiltern stared at him, hollow-eyed. ‘Nothing to remember,’ he said dully.
‘We met about