Chapter Three

Inference and Intimidation

'Well this is a serious case of déjà vu I'm getting.' Ashley said as she stirred her tea and looked down at the newspaper in front of her. They sat by the window in the café, the rain drumming on the glass. The Doctor sat opposite her, stirring his own cup of tea and looking at her.

'You see anything of interest in that paper?' he asked, nodding towards it.

'Well… the date is a week later than I had expected it to be.' She replied with a shrug. 'Which makes a change.'

The Doctor sighed and reached forward, tapping a tiny article in the bottom left corner of the page. 'Read that.'

Ashley leaned forward. 'The parents of sixteen year-old Victoria Hepple have put out an appeal for anyone who may have information on their daughter's disappearance. She was last seen with friends and reportedly ran away after an argument with her boyfriend. The local officials believe she is part of a runaway pact; a group of six other girls who have also gone missing from the area in as many days…' Ashley straightened up. 'It's continued on page four.'

'Now look at the main headline.'

Ashley rolled her eyes and sighed. She read the main headline aloud. 'Local man finds a dead mouse in his crisps…' She scrunched up her nose. 'Oh, urgh.'

'Now, correct me if you think I'm being irrational here,' the Doctor said, folding the paper over. 'But don't you think a story about seven teenage girls going missing over the course of seven days is a little more important than finding a mouse in a packet of crisps?'

Ashley sat back in her chair. 'Well if it were me eating the crisps…'

The Doctor looked at her disapprovingly. She sighed.

'Look, I just don't see what's so important. Kids run away from here all the time. If it's not entirely obvious this place is pretty dull. I wouldn't be surprised if a group of them got together and decided to run off somewhere.' She lifted her tea to her lips. 'They'll come running back home as soon as they realise that they don't have their mummies and daddies to give them money.'

The Doctor leaned back in his seat. 'I just think it's a bit strange, is all.' He turned to the window, watching the raindrops run down the other side as he drummed his fingers on the edge of the table. 'Seven young girls going missing in this day and age, and no one's that worried?' He shook his head and sighed.

Ashley rolled her eyes. 'Okay. I've cottoned on to the fact you don't want a tour of the town. Are you going to tell me your magnificent revelation to what's going on, or are you just going to keep on unsubtly hinting?'

The Doctor grinned and leaned forward quickly. 'I thought you'd never ask. Well, I saw-'

'Ashley?'

Ashley looked up at the person who had appeared at the side of the table. Annoyed at being interrupted, the Doctor frowned.

'Just a minute there, pally,' he said, holding a finger and turning back to Ashley. 'Well I-'

'Eddy.' Ashley breathed at the man. 'I uh… What are you doing here?'

The man who stood by the table was tall, with grey-blue eyes and closely cropped hair. He stood with his hands tucked into the pockets of his black, tracksuit style jacket, the wetness from outside shining on his shoulders.

'Just passing.' He replied with a small smile. 'Thought I'd drop in.' He looked to the Doctor and eyed him up at down.

At the mention of Eddy, the Doctor clamped up at frowned up at him. As the two men eyed each other warily Ashley shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. She swallowed, searching for words.

'So uh, how have you been?' she asked.

'Fine.' Eddy nodded, eyes lingering on the Doctor a moment longer before returning to her. 'I was just wondering if I can talk to you at some point.'

Ashley's stomach flipped. 'Um, sure.'

'Actually,' Eddy went on. 'I was thinking about now, if it's okay.'

'Um okay.'

Eddy pulled up a chair and sat down, smirking. 'Do you think you could go get me a coffee? I've got a killer headache. Didn't get much sleep last night.'

Ashley's chair scraped noisily on the tiled floor as she pushed away from the table. She stumbled a little when rising, and then hurried off towards the counter. The Doctor watched her go, and then looked towards Eddy. Eddy was grinning at him.

'So you're her new bit fluff, eh? Weird mind, you don't look like her type.' Eddy eyed the Doctor for a reaction. The Doctor only glared back. 'She's a good girl, you know. Does as she's told. Talented too, if you catch my drift.' He snickered and leaned forward. 'So I tell you what. You get your skinny backside out of here right now, and I'll forget I saw you in here with her, okay?'

The Doctor lifted his head and slowly glanced around. At the counter, Ashley was fumbling with the little packs of sugar. With a sombre face, the Doctor leaned forward to Eddy. 'I'll tell you what,' he said in a low voice. 'You get up, turn around and walk away, and I'll forget that you just said that.'

Eddy cocked his head, his confidence momentarily shattered. 'You what?'

'And you're going to leave her alone.' The Doctor warned. 'If she tells me you've spoken to her, or even looked at her again, you'll have me to deal with.'

Eddy laughed. 'And what the hell are you going to- Oof!'

The Doctor pulled Eddy's head down onto the table with a swift movement. The sudden bang caught the attention of most of the people in the café, including Ashley, who looked over curiously. Hand keeping Eddy's head on the table; the Doctor leaned forward to his ear.

'You don't want to mess with me sunshine.' He told him quietly. 'I've destroyed things bigger and stupider than you for less.'

He let go and Eddy shot upright, stumbling up and knocking the chair over. It clattered to the floor and he quickly hurried out of the café, red faced. The Doctor leaned back, watching him rush off down the street through the window. Ashley returned to the table and looked at the Doctor in disbelief.

'What happened?' she asked.

'Oh, he just had to go.' The Doctor replied, clasping his hands. 'Right, so where was I. Oh yeah I was going to enlighten you on my brilliant deductions. Tell you what, how about I show you?'

Ashley was still blinking at him and holding the coffee that Eddy had asked her to get – before he had stumbled out of the café.

'There'll be a police station around here, won't there?'

Ashley cleared her throat. 'Um… yeah. About ten minutes away.'

The Doctor's face lit up. 'Great.' He rose to his feet. 'Come on, time for some snooping.'