Doctor Who_ The Banquo Legacy - Andy Lane [52]
I wondered vaguely if Stratford had yet spoken to Catherine other than formally at lunch, but George came in before I could ask.
‘How is Catherine?’ asked Miss Seymour when we had done with the courtesy greetings, and I gathered that George had sent her back to bed for the afternoon.
‘Just a few bad dreams, I think. She said she’d been sleepwalking.’
‘Had she?’ I wondered how she could know.
‘Oh I doubt it. Anyway, I gave her another shot a while ago, so she’ll sleep for a bit more. Should be as right as ninepence when she wakes up.’
‘What about Elizabeth?’ I asked him.
‘She’s gone off to get some sleep too.’
‘I expect they both need the rest,’ Susan Seymour said.
‘Don’t you, Miss Seymour?’ asked Stratford.
‘Obviously,’ she said at once, again with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Yet almost at once she seemed surprised at her words, and frowned. She looked from me to the inspector, then to Fitz Kreiner, her eyes wide and confused.
‘Please com–’ Kreiner again broke off, as if realising he was speaking out of turn. ‘That is, please come over here and sit down,’ he said after a brief pause.
She crossed to where Fitz was standing and sat down on the chaise longue nearby. ‘I am wide awake now and I see no reason to sleep merely for the sake of it. Especially since you say that you will wish to question me, Inspector.’
He had no more answer to that than I would have had, so Stratford responded by asking Wallace if he could look again at Harries’s body. George grimaced at the thought and Susan Seymour looked away.
‘Yes, of course, Inspector,’ said George after a moment. ‘I’ll show you.’
‘Thank you, Sir George.’
They were gathering themselves for the ordeal when Sergeant Baker entered. ‘Still no sign of the Doctor, sir,’ he reported.
‘I told you,’ Fitz said again. ‘What did I tell you? Missing. Gone. We should find him. I mean, where could he have gone? In this weather.’
‘The railway station,’ Baker suggested.
‘Caught a train?’ Kreiner’s disbelief was obvious. ‘Where to, for God’s sake? I mean… I mean we should be looking for him,’ he finished somewhat sulkily.
‘Indeed we should,’ Stratford said. ‘And we shall. But first things first.’
‘The body?’ Fitz asked. When the inspector nodded, he started towards the door. ‘Then I’ll come with you. Since the Doctor’s not around, you’ll need a forensic opinion from someone else.’
‘Will I?’ Stratford seemed almost amused at the thought. ‘But I have already been given the Doctor’s professional opinion.’
‘Then it’s time I gave you mine.’
‘Oh?’
‘The Doctor may have missed something that my training will pick up on. Or…’ He let the word hang.
Stratford took the bait. ‘Or?’
‘Well, it’s pretty obvious you think the Doctor’s done a runner. If he’s a prime suspect, then maybe he didn’t tell you the whole story. Covered something up.’ He nodded to emphasise his point. ‘You need my help.’
Stratford nodded. ‘Very well, Mr Kreiner. Let’s hear what you have to say, shall we? Sir George, if you’d be so kind?’
Wallace, a little grudgingly, led Stratford, Baker and Fitz out and I watched them cross the hall to the stairs.
‘What do you think he wants to see the Doctor about?’ Susan Seymour was standing beside me, also watching the others climb the staircase and turning the corner out of sight.
‘Oh, I don’t know. Something Simpson told him perhaps. I think he saw the inspector after the Doctor left last night. Or maybe he’s picked up on the coincidence of names that Richard noticed.’ I bit my tongue as soon as I’d said it – thinking out loud, not always a good idea.
‘What coincidence?’ she asked.
I pretended not to hear. ‘Actually,’ I said quickly, ‘he’s been acting a bit oddly recently as well.’
‘What, Simpson?’
I nodded. It was a little disconcerting having Miss Seymour standing so close to me. She suddenly turned towards me: ‘Oh, I wish I could just dematerialise and leave all this.’ She leaned forward so that her head almost met my chest. As a result she did not see my surprise at her choice of phrase. I put my hand on her shoulder, to steady and