Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [70]
There was the briefest of pauses before the last „girlie‟ had made the insult so infuriating that Sita‟s anger flashed over to cold control. She followed him. „It‟s impossible to get away from these places,‟ she said matter-of-factly. „It‟s a mistake to confuse girlie with stupid. You can tell your superiors that from me if you like.‟
„I have no superiors,‟ Ronick said. „None that I know of.‟
„You‟ve been promoted, Sergeant?‟ Sita asked, allowing all the cold haughtiness of her rank and background into her voice. „Or do you think I‟m really that stupid?‟
„I didn‟t say there weren‟t people in authority over me,‟ he said. „Now do you want to get out of here or not, Major?‟
Sita was slightly taken aback. Driftkiller was full of surprises today. „It‟s impossible,‟ she repeated rather lamely,
„to get away from these places.‟
„It‟s a police lock-up,‟ he said witheringly. „You need to know the right policeman is all.‟
„That would be you I assume?‟
He snorted. „No I can‟t get you out. But I know a man who can. For a price.‟
„How big a price?‟
He smiled and his eyes disappeared into the folds of fat. „If you need to ask you can‟t afford it. But I‟ve looked into your circumstances and I don‟t think you need to ask, do you?‟
Was that what this was? Sita wondered. Was it just a scam to get money from her. „You‟ve been investigating my background?‟ she asked coldly.
He ignored the question. Tell me about your arrest,‟ he said. „Everything you know about it.‟
„Why?‟
„Professional interest,‟ he suggested.
Sita was getting angry again. Don‟t push me, Sergeant.‟
Ronick stopped walking and turned to look back out towards the motorway. „It‟s no big trick to get you out of here,‟ he said. „Keeping you out is another question. A whole bunch of other questions as it happens.‟
Chapter Twelve
The Doctor had exhausted all the avenues of enquiry available to him from the office. He was uncomfortably aware that if he made too much of Leela‟s absence he could put her at greater risk than she might already be in. There was, however, a limit to the number of ways you could ask about the disappearance of someone without actually saying that they had disappeared. There was also a limit to the effectiveness of the questions you could ask using any communications device, no matter how sophisticated it might be, rather than doing the questioning face to face. As a famous detective once remarked: you can‟t tell they‟re sweating if you can‟t smell they‟re sweating - which the Doctor thought of as a rather unappealing way of saying it‟s mostly better to look people in the eye when you ask them questions. This might be something of a problem, the Doctor thought, for the overweight detective who had introduced himself as Sergeant Ronick and had sat himself down in one of the visitors‟ chairs, since almost any change of expression on the man‟s face seemed to hide his eyes within ample folds of flesh.
Ronick had barged in as the Doctor was on his way out to begin a systematic search for Leela based on his best guesses about the route she might have taken to the places she might have gone. „I‟m grateful to you for agreeing to see me,‟ he had said, unaware or unconcerned that the Doctor had done no such thing. „Just a few questions, I shan‟t keep you long.‟ He had then sat smiling, silently staring at the Doctor through narrow fleshy slits. The Doctor smiled back but remained standing where he was by the door. He waited without speaking, knowing the detective was using the same technique on him that he himself had used on his duellists.
The smiling silence stretched out until finally Ronick said, „If it‟s a bad time I can come back?‟
„Is there ever a good time to be questioned by a policeman?‟
the Doctor said, still smiling, and strolled back and sat down in a chair beside Ronick. „Fire away.‟
„Interesting choice of words,‟ Ronick said. „I‟m investigating a shooting.‟
The Doctor‟s first thought was Leela. Was she involved?
Had she been shot? But he dismissed that possibility immediately; he would have heard about