Doctor Who_ The Adventures of Henrietta Street - Lawrence Miles [107]
It seems likely that Sabbath believed Juliette could help him with this quest, just as the Doctor believed that the very presence of the TARDIS could help him recover his strength. If this was indeed the case, then very soon both men were to be proved mistaken.
In Sickness and in Health
Under normal circumstances the vault of the Church of Saint Simone, on the Caribbean island of St Belique, was a black hole. The walls of the vault were caked in dirt that nobody ever bothered to wash off, as the only people who ever visited the site were relatives of the dead who’d been buried under the cement floor, and as the last burial had been in 1710 the relatives were few and far between. The dense heat made the vault smell of damp and sweet fruits, although the cement at least stopped the dead adding anything to the smell.
But that October, the vault was a riot of colour. Or one colour, at least. The dirty walls had been scrubbed, so even if they were still black they were at least dry and black. Garlands of red flowers, orchids as well as dried roses, were hung in ornate rings which had been stitched together by women from the town: the island’s only real town, situated between the sea and the forest interior. The locals knew a thing or two about witchcraft and obeah, so they weren’t above helping with the ceremony that was to be performed there. Red paper blossoms and streamers lined the walls, some recovered from the cellars of the Henrietta Street House, some supplied by the infinite cupboards of the Doctor’s TARDIS. Moreover, the vault was hung with ornamental paper lanterns, in the oriental style. Indeed, there was something of an oriental feel to the place despite its Caribbean location.
This was hardly surprising. The man in charge of the decorations was the Chinese quack, Dr Nie Who. His transition from London to St Belique seems to have been unusually rapid, so either the TARDIS or some other arcane transportation may have been involved.
The evidence suggests that Who knew about the fate of Juliette almost as soon as the Doctor did, but he didn’t let it slow him down. The Doctor had asked him to decorate the location where the wedding was to be held, in order not to offend any of the guests, who would after all be representatives of at least thirteen major powers. The wedding legally had to be conducted in Church, but it had been Scarlette’s idea to hold it in the vault rather than the main body of the building, in order to give the affair a more ‘satanic’ feel. And where better than here, among the witch-poisoned roots of St Belique, where Christianity was only a technicality anyway? Dr Who had set about the task with aplomb, for a very reasonable fee. Not only would he arrange the gathering, he’d also handle the various needs of the guests, which meant making sure that groups hostile to each other didn’t spend too long in each other’s company. In modern terms this might be called ‘handling security’.
Back at the House, the Doctor was still holding out hope that Juliette would return. Scarlette wasn’t so optimistic. Take this extract from Lisa-Beth’s journals, the day after Anji brought the truth home with her:
When all of us in the House knew the import of what Anji had said, and knew that Sabbath was the one responsible, there was a silence in the salon. Some like Rebecca seemed only to reflect, but some like Fitz did not know what to say or where to look. It was only after some minutes [moments, surely?] that Scarlette made her move. She simply turned around and strode up the stairs… when she was followed she was found standing within Juliette’s room, staring at the dressing-table. Juliette had taken with her the glass splinter on a silver chain, the blood-shard of Mary Culver, which Scarlette had lent