Doctor Who_ The Nightmare of Black Island - Mike Tucker [20]
‘Is it for hire?’
‘Still trying to get out to Black Island, are you? Well, you can ask, but I can’t promise you’ll get a sensible answer from her.’
‘She didn’t seem the most popular lady last night in the pub.’
‘Popular?’ Bob gave a contemptuous laugh. ‘She’s mad as a box of frogs, that one. Lives in a right mess of a house on the west beach. Local council’s been trying to move her on for years. Bad for the tourist business, see? So she’s about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit.’
‘Yeah, that is unpleasant.’ The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. ‘Think there’s any chance she’d hire the boat to me?’
‘For a price, maybe, if she likes your face. But whatever happens, don’t let her offer to take you out there herself. I’ve had enough trouble with her and that boat over the last year, and I really don’t want to have to leave my nice cosy office to tow her back to shore again because she’s put herbal shampoo instead of engine oil in her outboard motor again.’
‘Shampoo?’ The Doctor’s hearts began to sink.
‘Herbal shampoo. Lavender and tea tree oil, I think it was. Thought it would be better for the environment. She’s very concerned about the seals.’
‘The seals. . . ’
‘Colony of them out on the island. You might see them if you’re lucky. Have a nice trip.’
Bob raised his paper again, settling back into his chair, smirking. The Doctor gave a deep sigh. The day was getting on and he had to make his way out to the lighthouse and back before darkness fell. He was running out of options.
‘Bronwyn it is, then. Let’s just hope she’s out of shampoo.’
49
∗ ∗ ∗
Rose was starting to get frustrated. The visit to the rectory had piqued the Doctor’s curiosity and he wanted to know more about both the ward and the mysterious masked figures that operated it. He had asked Rose to find the gang of kids they had met earlier. They had obviously seen more goings-on at the rectory than they cared to talk about, but it was becoming clear that Ali wanted to tell them something and the Doctor was certain that if she was going to talk to anyone, then it was going to be Rose. It had suited Rose fine. She liked it when the Doctor relied on her. Besides, how tricky could it be? Finding half a dozen bored kids in a place as small as Ynys Du? No problem.
The trouble was they were nowhere to be seen. Rose was baffled. When she was that age, she and her friends had hung about the shops, or the cinema, or that scrap of waste ground round the back of the estate that someone had tried to turn into a kid’s playground. Ynys Du was a very different place from the Powell Estate, though. The only shops to speak of sold groceries or catered for the tourist trade. There was no cinema and the playground was desolate, windswept and locked. She had been wandering around the village for nearly an hour now. What the hell did kids do in a place like this when there was no school?
Having exhausted all the possibilities in the village, Rose started to think about where else they might have gone. Her mind drifted back to the modern estate that she and the Doctor had come through when they first arrived. Perhaps some of the kids lived up there and they were playing football in one of the gardens. None of the little terraced houses in the village had gardens, so it was a possibility. Pleased with her logic, Rose set off at a brisk pace, trying to get some warmth back into her bones. It wasn’t raining but the air was damp and the wind off the sea was threatening to bring more bad weather as the day went on. The sooner she found those kids and got back to the warmth of the pub the better.
The road winding up from the village was steeper than she remembered and soon she had to unzip her heavy parka despite the chill air. 50
She crested the hill panting. God, you’d have thought with all the corridors she’d had to run down over the last few months she’d be fitter than this!
Catching her breath, she wandered towards the cul-de-sac where the Doctor had frightened off the monsters the previous night.