Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [12]
The curtains for her classroom had been drawn – the first members of the chess club must have arrived. She could hear the scraping of tables and opening of cupboards. She knew she would have to break the news that the match that the club had been looking forward to for a week wasn’t going to go ahead. She was disappointed for her pupils, but she knew that she was really disappointed because she wouldn’t be seeing the Doctor this evening, if ever again.
There were a lot of parents around, picking up their children. Mrs Castle recognised a few of them, and stopped to say hello. The parents had heard about her car accident – word got around Greyfrith very quickly – and they all offered their sympathy and support.
Then Mrs Castle saw them: a man and a woman in their early twenties, looking more like a twin brother and sister than husband and wife. Mrs Castle remembered their piercing blue eyes, and their plastic mackintoshes. When she last saw them, they had been sitting down, so she didn’t realise how tall and thin they were. They were standing right at the gates, looking at the children as they came out.
They watched her pass, in silence.
‘Good evening,’ she said, refusing to be cowed.
The two looked at each other.
‘Good evening to you,’ the woman said. Mrs Castle had forgotten how deep the woman’s voice had been. She was tall, with long thin legs like a fashion model’s. Mrs Castle crossed her hands over her chest.
‘Good evening,’ the man echoed in his woman’s voice.
‘I’ve seen you before,’ she said. She looked around for confirmation and – yes! – she saw their black Volkswagen Beetle parked over two spaces of the little school car park. ‘You didn’t stop for me on Saturday night, even though I told you there had been an accident.’
‘We’re not following you,’ the man assured her. The woman glared at her... brother? ‘I promise,’ he added, insincerely.
‘It’s just that we’ve been taught not to talk to strangers,’ the woman said smugly.
‘What are your names?’
‘Call us the Hunters,’ the man suggested.
‘You don’t have a child here, do you, Mr and Mrs Hunter?’
The two smirked back at her.
‘Then what are you doing, hanging around the school gates?’
‘This and that,’ the woman answered.
Mrs Castle dug her heels into the sludgy snow, and drew herself up to her full height and began telling them that she didn’t care what they were doing, but they ought to leave, before she called the police.
But Mrs Castle realised the pair weren’t listening at all: they were staring over her shoulder, the oddest expressions on their faces.
‘Must be going,’ the man announced.
Mrs Castle turned, and saw the Doctor sitting on the low stone wall, as if he had been there all the time.
‘Are you having trouble?’ the Doctor asked her.
Mrs Castle turned around, but the man and the woman had gone. She tried to see their car, but that had vanished, too.
‘No,’ Mrs Castle said, puzzled by the speed of their departure. ‘Did you see them?’
‘See who?’
‘The...’ She looked around. ‘There was an odd couple. I saw them just after the accident on Saturday night. It doesn’t matter. Er, hello. Bad news – the other team aren’t coming, so I’m going to have to cancel.’
‘Won’t the children be disappointed?’ he asked.
Mrs Castle sighed. ‘Of course they will be, but what’s the alternative?’
The Doctor frowned, unable to come up with the answer.
The school secretary was trudging towards them, arms crossed over her chest. She looked very cold – her big glasses were almost misted over. ‘Your Barry’s on the phone,’ she announced.
Mrs Castle rolled her eyes.
‘I’ll look after the chess club,’ the Doctor offered.
* * *
Barry hadn’t wanted anything in particular – he rarely did when he phoned his wife at work. He just did it to remind her who was