Doctor Who_ Foreign Devils - Andrew Cartmel [22]
'So Upcott's body could have been completely vaporised.'
'I suppose. Along with that of the faithful simian Sydenham.' The
Doctor didn't seem convinced. He glanced around suddenly. 'Do you
feel that?'
'What? That cool breeze?'
'Yes. Not exactly the sort of thing that's encouraged in a greenhouse. Where is it coming from?' He looked up. Zoe followed his gaze and saw that there was a ragged tear in the fabric of the building high above them. An irregular oval hole had been made on the north side of the tower, framed by a twisted loop of steel and spattered with gleaming nacreous clots of melted glass. 'That's where the lightning bolt came in.'
'Yes indeed,' murmured the Doctor. He stood up and looked at the hole in the ceiling and back down at the crater beneath the mango tree. He said, 'It's all a bit neat, don't you think?'
Just then there was the sound of the revolving door swishing somewhere beyond the immediate curtain of green foliage. The Doctor and Zoe both turned around; someone was coming into the arboretum. A moment later they heard footsteps and Carnacki appeared, a deep groove of worry dividing his young forehead. 'I was told I might find you here.'
'What's wrong?' said the Doctor. 'Is it Celandine?'
'No. She's all right. Or at least her condition remains as it was. Some kind of deep coma or trance. But I'm afraid something else is wrong.' He looked at them. 'I don't quite know how to put this, but there's been a murder.'
Chapter Six
Pemberton Upcott and his wife Millicent were waiting outside the billiard room when Carnacki approached, with the Doctor and Zoe following close behind. Pemberton moved forward to greet them, but his wife intervened, putting herself in front of him and intercepting the newcomers.
'Mr Carnacki, we are so pleased you could help.' She was a tall nervous woman with a thin lined face that had once been beautiful. She seemed to be seething with some kind of internal rage. Her eyes were smoke grey and appeared to alternate between inattention and fury, although at the moment they chiefly registered fear. She tried to smile, revealing small white teeth, and glanced back towards the source of her fear, the billiard room. Her husband stepped forward. 'We were hoping –'
But his wife cut him off. 'We were hoping Mr Carnacki that you could do everything in your power to try to help us resolve this unfortunate situation. We know that you are an investigator of criminal matters.'
Carnacki nodded, impatient and nervous. 'You must realise that my status as an investigator of criminal – and other – matters is purely unofficial. And I'm not sure how amenable this situation is to any final resolution. But within those boundaries, yes, of course. I'll do
my best to help.'
Mrs Upcott's eyelids dipped momentarily with relief. She flashed Carnacki a smile of gratitude and stood aside to let her husband take over – now that the important matters had been settled.
Pemberton seemed unabashed at having to operate in the shadow of his wife. He was evidently well used to it, even resigned to it, unusual as that might seem among the almighty male-dominated society of England in 1900.
Although maybe it wasn't so unusual, reflected Zoe. Throughout human history there had been no shortage of public tyrants who were privately henpecked.
Pemberton Upcott had seized Carnacki's hand and was vigorously shaking it. 'Thank you old fellow. I was hoping I might count on you, and your discretion.'
'Of course,' said Carnacki in a non-committal tone. The discretion was a new factor.
'The room has been left much as it was when we found it. We assumed you would want to look around.'
'Yes, perfect.' Carnacki looked towards the closed door of the billiard room, which by now could not have assumed a more sinister aspect if there had been blood seeping under it in a steady flow. The Doctor and Zoe exchanged a look. Zoe silently mouthed a question: What is it? In reply, the Doctor merely shrugged.
'So please go ahead,' said Pemberton Upcott, beginning to move