Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [17]
‘Jenny!’ She turned at the sound of her name to hear a door slam and saw Martha and the tall man approaching. She blinked. Had they both been in there all along, inside such a small accommodation? The shack was a strange thing, faint pearly light illuminating the windows around the top, and the soft glow of the lamp atop it throwing cool colour about the darkening alley. Even with the chill coming in as the sun began to set, there was something strangely warm about the little building.
‘Doctor, Martha,’ Jenny greeted them with a nod. ‘I came looking for you.’
‘Something we can help you with, Miss Forrest?’ he asked.
The teacher hesitated. She had since learned from Vogel, who fancied himself as the town gossip, of the Doctor’s meeting with Mr Teague and the sheriff, and the rumours abounding from it. People were already talking about the two new arrivals; no one seemed to have seen them ride into town, and Pitt’s livery was not caring for any visiting horses. But Jenny had been the subject of similar discussions in the past and, despite the fact that these two were new to her acquaintance, the schoolmarm couldn’t shake the undeniable sense that they seemed trustworthy. She sighed. ‘It’s young Nathan. I am very concerned about his wellbeing. When Martha found him today. . . I had never before seen him so shaken. I fear a firm hand is exactly not what he requires at this moment.’
‘Nathan has the dreams,’ said the Doctor, rolling the boy’s name over his lips. ‘Was he the first one to get them? Was he healed first?’
She nodded. ‘Right after the Lesters, yes. He took the cure before 42
the rest of the townsfolk.’
‘Longest incubation period, maybe?’ The Doctor offered the words to Martha.
She nodded back at him. ‘How about making a house call, Doctor?’
‘Can you show us the way?’ the Doctor asked the teacher.
‘I don’t think that will be possible,’ Jenny replied. ‘The boy’s alone at home. His mother passed away many years ago, you understand.
And his father. . . ’ She gestured in the direction of the street, where the makeshift festival was still in full swing.
The Doctor shook his head. ‘I don’t want to talk to his dad. I want to talk to him.’
‘But with his father out, we won’t be able to enter,’ she protested.
‘You think?’ The tall man eyed her. ‘I’ve learned that I can get into almost anywhere, as long as I have a winning smile and one of these.’
He produced a strange ceramic wand from his pocket. Like the shack, it had a blue light that glowed softly. ‘Lead on, Miss Forrest.’
43
The Doctor gave the heavy iron lock on the front door a quick bzzt from this sonic screwdriver and they were inside. Martha beamed; but the moment they stepped into the rustic dining room-cum-kitchen, her cocky grin faded. The walls of the place were dominated by racks that held a cavalry sword, Apache tomahawks and repeating rifles, even a tiny pocket-sized derringer pistol in a glass case.
‘What kind of a person lives in a house like this?’ drawled the Doctor, half to himself.
‘General Custer?’ said Martha. ‘I’m detecting a bit of an aggressive motif here.’
Jenny stepped past the orange-yellow embers in the fireplace and called out. ‘Nathan? Nathan, are you there? It’s Miss Forrest. I’m here with Martha and her friend, the Doctor.’
The boy emerged on the landing above them and came down the stairs. ‘Miss Forrest?’ He looked chagrined. ‘I was going to come see you in the morning. Apologise for all the fuss, like.’
‘Never mind that,’ said the Doctor. ‘Windows can be fixed easily enough. How about you?’
Nathan hesitated. ‘I’m fine, sir. Just had me a turn, that’s all. My pa says I’ll sleep it off.’
45
‘But can you?’ The Doctor crossed to him, taking a careful look at the youth. ‘Can you sleep, Nathan?’
He looked away. ‘In all honesty, not as well as I’d like.’ He sighed.
‘My pa, he’s not a bad man, you know? He’s worried about me but he can’t say it outright. Ever since momma passed, he’s been lookin