Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [80]
‘Rand...’ Dinah began.
Miranda was already on the landing. She could hear Dinah following, the bedsprings creaking guiltily, Dinah’s whispered command telling Bob to stay where he was.
Miranda was back in Dinah’s room, pulling her clothes on. The house and all its contents seemed a long way away.
Dinah came in, turned on the light. She’d pulled on a dressing gown, but looked bedraggled. There were tears in her eyes.
‘Rand...’ she said again. She didn’t seem to sense the rage Miranda felt. Right now, she could have taken Dinah and broken her in half. Miranda realised she wasn’t exaggerating. She really did want to kill her.
Miranda pushed past Dinah, but had to steady herself on the handrail before she could go downstairs.
Dinah was calling after her. Miranda ignored her.
She opened the front door – Dinah hadn’t even locked it; how irresponsible could she be? – and walked out into the night.
It was cold.
* * *
Ferran had found the perfect place to conceal himself, across the road from Dinah’s house. One by one, all the guests began drifting out and away into the night. He’d been watching them all night, counting them, memorising their faces.
Twenty-eight guests, not counting himself or Dinah. Now, twenty-six had gone. Only Dinah, Miranda and Bob remained in there.
Ferran had managed to get a good look around the house, inside and out. He watched the house lights as they went through a predictable sequence – the lights downstairs going off, the lights in the two upstairs bedrooms visible from the front going on briefly. Now all three were in bed.
Bob wasn’t a threat. Even if he shared the Last One’s bed, Ferran knew he could get to her and kill her. He would kill her as she slept, he decided. No doubt she would wake up at some point during the process; she’d know why she had to die.
Ferran dug his hand into the pocket of his leather jacket. His brother’s knife was there.
And the door opened, and the Last One just stepped out, alone, into the night with him.
Dinah was at the door, shouting something after her, but the Last One wasn’t listening. She walked out on to the pavement, started looking across the road.
Dinah went back inside, closed the door.
The Last One was alone.
She started to cross the road. She was heading straight towards him.
She could see in the dark. All her kind could see in the dark.
Was she coming for him? She looked tense, ready to lash out. Had she seen him? Was this the final confrontation he had dreamed of?
She was ten metres away, but hadn’t seen him.
He felt distanced from it all – as if it was happening to someone else, and he was just watching.
The reason for that was simple – he was acting automatically: he’d practised for this moment until, having drawn the blade, bringing it down was as easy as catching a ball or opening a door.
She turned and saw him. ‘Ferdy?’ she said. And she broke into a smile.
A car drove up, its horn parping.
The Doctor.
The Last One turned to see her father. ‘Dad?’ she said, baffled.
He’d escaped Sallak. He’d managed to escape.
The Last One had her back to him. Ferran stayed down, out of the Doctor’s sight.
‘Get in the car!’ the Doctor shouted.
She hurried towards her father, out of his reach.
Ferran felt the knife in his hand, but all the certainties of the moment had dissipated.
The Last One waved goodbye to him as she got into the back of the Doctor’s car.
And to his disgust, all Ferran found himself doing was waving back.
* * *
Chapter Eighteen
Escape to Destiny
Debbie wasn’t surprised that the Doctor was already up and about, fully dressed, when she came downstairs, or that he’d found himself a new coat.
‘Morning,’ she said, watching him as he busied himself with a coffee maker.
He smiled over at her. ‘You slept well?’
She nodded. Debbie had spent the day here yesterday and felt safe here. The house was vast, but she didn’t feel intimidated by it, or that she could ever get lost in