Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [32]
Rose stared. ‘I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’ Because why should her mum be worried about Rose, when she was in that state?
Jackie obviously saw that in her face. ‘He said he was going to get you,’ she said.
Rose leaned down, got closer to her. ‘Who did? Mum, what happened to you? Was it the aliens? Did they find my phone? Did they think you were in league with the Doctor or something?’
Now it was Jackie’s turn to stare. ‘What are you going on about? It was that Neanderthal Darren Pye.’
Rose couldn’t help herself, she almost felt a twinge of relief. Not aliens! Not her phone, not her fault!
But then she looked back at her mother, and the relief didn’t last.
‘They just told me you were in here, that you’d been hurt. What happened?’
Jackie looked reluctant. ‘You’ll only blame yourself…’
‘Mum!’ Now Rose really had to know.
‘Oh, all right then.’ Jackie propped herself up on the pillows. ‘I was trying to find you. I’d called Mickey’s but no one answered, but I thought I’d pop round, just on the off chance, on my way to meet Dilys. But I saw him. That Darren Pye. He was carrying a telly and I was willing to bet it wasn’t his, and I might’ve said something. And he… he said… he said things about you. And I couldn’t let him do that, so I gave him a piece of my mind.’
Rose closed her eyes, reluctantly picturing it, thinking of the sirens they’d heard, wondering if they’d been coming for her mum. If only she’d gone to investigate, if only…
‘And he said that he owed you one for hitting him or something – you didn’t hit him, did you, Rose, what d’you wanna go and do that for, asking for trouble? – and you were going to get it. But for now…’ Jackie stumbled. ‘For now, he’d make do with me.’
‘Mum!’
‘He just hit me a bit. Looks worse than it is.’
Rose knew that wasn’t true. And she knew that for her mum to put a brave face on it, not ask for sympathy, well, it had to be pretty bad.
‘Still, I got to jump the queue. There’s hundreds out there in casualty, and I just got wheeled right in like a proper VIP, cubicle of my own, nurses running around cleaning and stitching and what‐have‐you.’ She started to smile, but began coughing instead. Rose grabbed Jackie’s hands and held on tight, trying not to cry, trying not to feel so helpless.
‘Nicked everything I had, as well, that lout. Purse, keys, everything. Even my winning ticket,’ she said, and Rose couldn’t bring herself to tell her mum the truth about that winning ticket, not now, not while her mum looked so weak.
‘Oh, and your phone too, love. Sorry. I’ll get you a new one.’ Jackie sighed. ‘The police won’t get it back, for all their “we’ll do everything we can, Mrs Tyler”. One was in just before you, said they’d been looking for him around the estate and he wasn’t there. Well, of course he wasn’t. Even Darren Pye isn’t stupid enough to stay hanging around where he’d just mugged someone.’
No, he wasn’t that stupid. And maybe he’d think it’d be a good idea to get away until the heat died down. Maybe he’d look at what he’d nicked and see he’d got a winning ticket, a ticket that’d take him out of the country today. And maybe he’d decide to use that ticket.
Looking down at her mum’s bruised and bloodied face, Rose really, really hoped that he did.
* * *
The Doctor arrived back at the estate. He went straight up to Rose’s door, and rang the bell. After a few moments, he opened the letter box and shouted through. ‘Anyone home?’
But still no one answered. The Doctor shoved at the door, but it was locked. He peered through the letter box. No sign of life. So he left.
A couple of minutes later, he was outside Mickey’s door. No problems gaining entry here, the Quevvils’ violent approaches had seen to that. He knocked anyway, calling out, ‘Anyone home?’ as he breezed in.
‘In here,’ came Mickey’s voice, and the Doctor went through into the bedroom. Mickey was sitting by the computer, his leg propped up on the bed.
‘What d’ya do to yourself?’ asked the Doctor, gesturing at Mickey’s blister‐covered